A Bread Thread

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Been working with some new (I think it's just renamed) bread flour recently. Ended up with one of my best bakes in long time (imo). Somewhere around 30% rye and mid 80s hydro.

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I thought the same thing both times I made it. I think I calculated correctly.

60g starter (30g flour + 30g H20) plus
115g stiff levain (71g flour + 44g H20) plus
Dough: 440g flour + 363g H20 + salt

Flours, except in the original 60g starter, are durum (ground fine, not granular semolina) and KA bread flour. My 60g starter was not particularly ripe. I do the lavain overnight, then all the rest on day two. On day two, I hustled the proofing of the complete dough with extra warmth. But I’m in CT.

My starter is whole grain
Levain is all durum
Dough is 289g durum, 151g bread flour

I mix the stiff levain (30 g starter ingredients plus 115g “stiff levain” ingredients above), and rest it until double to triple in size. Then I mix the ripe stiff levain with the dough ingredients. Slap and fold on counter for 7-10 minutes. Proof until double in covered straight-walled container.
Scrape dough out onto counter, preshape it into a ball and rest (proof) on the countertop for 1 hour. I cover it by using a large bowl as a dome.
Final shaping is shown in the video, for a few seconds, starting at 6:05.



No scoring. Drop it into preheated covered vessel (500 degree preheat). Bake times are approximate because I changed the recipe and haven’t quite nailed the time yet.

Lower oven to 480, bake for 28 minutes covered
Remove cover, reduce oven to 450, bake for additional 12-16 minutes. Internal temp is 205 when done. If it hefts like a brick, that’s correct. It certainly doesn’t taste like one.
 
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Can I get some advice/feedback on why my sourdough is so dense/ not rising? I’m using the recipe from Tartine. Family loves the flavor, but I’d like more rise and a little lighter loaf.

I made loaves both Saturday & Sunday. Did a longer, warmer bulk ferment on Sunday, but no apparent difference between loaves.
 
AT5760 said:
Can I get some advice/feedback on why my sourdough is so dense/ not rising? I’m using the recipe from Tartine. Family loves the flavor, but I’d like more rise and a little lighter loaf.

I made loaves both Saturday & Sunday. Did a longer, warmer bulk ferment on Sunday, but no apparent difference between loaves.
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Could you show some example loaves/crumb shots? I have a feeling its going to come down to starter feeding/timing but lets see some bread first
 
so it sounds like you aren't giving your starter enough time, or its not strong enough. Try keeping less, like 20 grams and use your regular 100g water 100g flour feed. you'll likely have to feed the night before to have it ready at a reasonable time the next day

edit: your dutch oven size is a non issue here imo
 
AT5760 said:
Starter is only about a month old. Daily feeds around 6am 50g saved, 100g flour 50/50 whole wheat & white & 100g water.
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At that rate, you will go through 36 kg of flour each year just to feed your starter. That's not only expensive, but also unnecessary.

I keep 150 g of starter in the fridge. Once a week, I discard 100 g, and add 50 g of flour and 50 g of water. Give it a good mix to keep it aerated and let it stand on the kitchen bench for a few hours so some activity gets going. Then it goes back into the fridge for another week.

When I want to bake, say on Saturday, I feed the starter on Thursday night and again on Friday night. By Saturday morning, I have a really active starter that does a great job. That maintenance schedule costs me 5 kg of flour a year, which is a saving of around $60 per year at retail price compared to your daily feed.

I agree with the other posters that your starter is the issue here. You really want to give it time after feeding and wait until it has doubled in size. If you use it too early, the inoculation rate (bacteria concentration) for the dough is much lower and your rise will take longer.

How long do you let your dough rise, both after mixing and after pre-shaping? It could also be that you simply need to give your dough more time during bulk and/or final rise.
 
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AT5760 said:
Starter is only about a month old. Daily feeds around 6am 50g saved, 100g flour 50/50 whole wheat & white & 100g water.
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yeah I also struggled with this at first.

your starter does not have enough yeast in it (unless you're going off time and proofing at like 65F) most likely. daily 1:2 probably wont cut it, you likely need about a week of really juicing it up I'd guess. I'd give this video a watch:

this is how I got my starter up to being pretty strong. I feed twice a day, usually 1:4. though Im using 5g of starter, 20g of flour and 20g of water and if I want to bake a loaf Ill just make a bigger one that day. other than that I stick to the Tartine stuff.

Im getting 4 or 5x volume on my starter, personally.
 
Breakfast buns, been making these every Friday night (to bake Saturday morning) for a while now. They are my attempts to recreate schrippen and mohnbrötchen. Little bit paler and softer than usual as I didn't have milk so I subbed in heavy cream and water (500g of 2% to 400g Water and 100g 35%). They probably require a water spritz over a steam tray to get the proper crust but I'm actually quite OK with the less crusty in this case.

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I make these in batches of 10 but 1 is always eaten immediately by my Dad for qc purposes.
 
I’ve recently suffered many humiliating defeats in my quest for 110% by end of the year. So this weekend I went with a dough I’ve made so many times I can’t fail - 80% and 40% whole wheat. Good morale boost.
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Bigger than can fit in my combo cooker at home so had to use a pans with water and spray bottle, still got decent spring and crust which is nice.
 
ethompson said:
I’ve recently suffered many humiliating defeats in my quest for 110% by end of the year. So this weekend I went with a dough I’ve made so many times I can’t fail - 80% and 40% whole wheat. Good morale boost.
View attachment 279918
Bigger than can fit in my combo cooker at home so had to use a pans with water and spray bottle, still got decent spring and crust which is nice.
Click to expand...

Looks amazing. Some day I hope to get the kind of spring you and Lukas seem to get all the time.
 
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