Finally got winter fermentation right!
So proud of this loaf!
I posted a few days ago about how I was struggling to ferment my dough in winter, I’ve kind of figured it out now, along with a few changes that made the bread even better.
First off, not because of any faults, I did change the recipe I was using out of curiosity. https://alexandracooks.com/2017/10/24/artisan-sourdough-made-simple-sourdough-bread-demystified-a-beginners-guide-to-sourdough-baking/
100 g bubbly, active starter 375 g Cold water - rather than warm (I did this because I started late in the evening and didn’t want to end up over fermenting the dough) 500 g bread flour 12 g fine sea salt
4x stretch and folds + 1x coil fold in attempt to increase air bubbles, from 5:30-8:30pm
Bulk ferment from 8:30-11:30pm —> put into the fridge overnight so I could continue fermenting in the morning
Took it out of the fridge at 10am, let it bulk ferment further until 12:30pm Took it out and shaped the dough, just spread it out slightly and then folded it into itself and pushed and pulled. Sprinkled with rice flour and the flannel I was going to use.
Then, I put the shaped dough into a different mixing bowl than I was using that is about half the size for the overnight ferment. I was hoping this could perhaps give me a better oven spring and volume and I believe it has helped that. Previously, one of the reasons I believe my bread was flatter was due to proofing in such a large bowl.
Fast forward to today, I preheated my oven to 250c for an hour and then put the bread in covered. Uncovered and decreased to 200c for 15 minutes and there we go!
Only thing is I wish the attempted wheat scoring was a bit more visible, not helped by me forgetting to put rice flour on top again before scoring lol.
So proud of this loaf!
I posted a few days ago about how I was struggling to ferment my dough in winter, I’ve kind of figured it out now, along with a few changes that made the bread even better.
First off, not because of any faults, I did change the recipe I was using out of curiosity. https://alexandracooks.com/2017/10/24/artisan-sourdough-made-simple-sourdough-bread-demystified-a-beginners-guide-to-sourdough-baking/
100 g bubbly, active starter 375 g Cold water - rather than warm (I did this because I started late in the evening and didn’t want to end up over fermenting the dough) 500 g bread flour 12 g fine sea salt
4x stretch and folds + 1x coil fold in attempt to increase air bubbles, from 5:30-8:30pm
Bulk ferment from 8:30-11:30pm —> put into the fridge overnight so I could continue fermenting in the morning
Took it out of the fridge at 10am, let it bulk ferment further until 12:30pm Took it out and shaped the dough, just spread it out slightly and then folded it into itself and pushed and pulled. Sprinkled with rice flour and the flannel I was going to use.
Then, I put the shaped dough into a different mixing bowl than I was using that is about half the size for the overnight ferment. I was hoping this could perhaps give me a better oven spring and volume and I believe it has helped that. Previously, one of the reasons I believe my bread was flatter was due to proofing in such a large bowl.
Fast forward to today, I preheated my oven to 250c for an hour and then put the bread in covered. Uncovered and decreased to 200c for 15 minutes and there we go!
Only thing is I wish the attempted wheat scoring was a bit more visible, not helped by me forgetting to put rice flour on top again before scoring lol.