…and had so many regrets lol.
Used this recipe, but 400g of water instead of the 375. And x2 for two loaves. Husband is convinced that I mismeasured somewhere along the way.
All in all, it worked out even though it was a miserable experience. I added more and more bread flour until I got a decently workable dough. Couldn’t tell you how much I ended up with in total though.
Even though the loaves clearly did not rise as much as my past loaf (see last post), the smell and flavor was incredible. Crumb pretty decent too if I do say so myself.
All this is to say NEVER AGAIN. Might attempt a 77% in the future after I have recovered from this traumatic experience.
What’s the highest hydration you’ve successfully done and what recipe did you use?
by Caff3inatedCunt
10 Comments
I feel like I’ve done some baguettes in the high 70s… like 78 maybe? I need to find it in my journal…
Well, I’m apparently a maniac and LEARNED how to make sourdough at 80% hydration lol…so now I’m equipped for anything. It’s not for the faint of heart…yours looks pretty dang decent!! Getting the shaping down is the key…
I have done a few 85% hydration loaves and am mostly comfortable at 81%.
Here’s what I usually do:
1) autolyse minimum 1 hr (mix just water and flour).
2) with wet hands, incorporate the starter. I found that if I feed my starter e.g. whole wheat flour, I can see it clearly against the white bread flour dough so it’s easier to mix it thoroughly. The way I mix it is by stretching / lifting and releasing the dough. Leave for 30 minutes.
3) after 30 minutes, again, with wet hands, mix in the salt, mixing happens in a similar way, you sprinkle salt on top of the dough and kinda massage or lift and release until the crystals are gone. That’s called rubaud and you can check the technique online.
4) I do coil folds instead of stretch and folds, at this hydration the dough is willing to expand. I did 2-3 coil folds 1 hour apart with my 85%, but based on what I am reading now, there should be more of the handling to develop gluten in the loaf at this hydration (so I plan to increase the amount of them).
All of this helps build more gluten that will (should) eventually result in open crumb and should also hold the loaf together during shaping.
Once your bulk ferment is done, shaping can get tricky. What I did last time was: dusted the counter with rice flour, dumped the dough on the counter. Went around the bottom of the dough with bench scraper and rice flour, so that at least the dough would not stick to the counter (kinda like shoveled a bit of rice flour under), every time it got caught, I was using the scraper, and at some point I was pushing with the outer side of the palm to roll the dough into a log, because it could not handle the pressure from my fingers.
Also, I didn’t preshape, I just did my best from the first try. Once the dough was in the basket, I pinched the sides together again.
Finally, I bake at higher temperature than Ali, I prefer to preheat at 500 F, bake at 500 F for 20 mins with lid on, and 15-20 mins at 460 F with lid off. I also always have an empty baking tray under my Dutch oven to prevent burned bottom.
Based on your result, it was probably the shaping that wasn’t tense enough that made the loaf spread, and maybe the temperature too!
Make sure you measure your water right next time, maybe start with less water and add a bit more if you are comfortable with it. Adding flour back results in painful mess.
What flour were you using? I occasionally make 80% hydration doughs, but usually KAB bread flour or better and a bit of whole wheat. It does not puddle like you are showing, but does make a lower loaf than I prefer. And to clarify that is when I make 80% hydration I get a lower loaf, plenty of people on this sub get normal height loaves! I am sticking with my comfortable zone of 70-75% hydration.
Looks like you did alright tbh. My regular loaf is 80, and I’ve gone up close to 90, though 90% isn’t worth the effort.
I would try an autolyse before you mix in the starter, it might help strengthen the dough early. Bread by Elise on Instagram has a good recipe and pins the method as a story (called bake with me.) check it out and see how you do. Shaping is important but it seems like the dough didn’t come together enough for that to be the problem. Good luck!
90% is my highest, but that included whole wheat flour, which is quite thirsty. My standard recipe is 85% – check out the perfect loaf.
Hydration really depends on the flour you use. 80% might be high, could be low. I just mixed this morning a 50:50 blend of t85 and an ancient whole flour, that thing soaked up water. 80% is basically the floor of what I’d use for that blend.
All purpose? 80% would be my ceiling, depending on miller/brand.
lol I’ve been struggling with this recipe too, but at the 375g, not 400g! Your results look way better than mine.
Can I ask at what stage you added extra flour?
Slap and folds will actually make this somewhat more same. Machine kneading only goes so far for me at this hydration.
80% is my default, might do as high as 90% (though it tends to be denser). White flour.
If I am adding inclusions I usually lower the hydration to 75%.
1 hour autolyse. 3-5 stretch and folds (rotating bowl 90 degrees between each fold), wait thirty minutes, repeat 4 times. Move to parchment paper sling, put in bowl, cover. Whenever it’s risen enough, transfer to dutch oven and bake.
All of the times aren’t exact. I sometimes forget it for a while. I know this is a supremely unhelpful thing to say but I tend to just wing it and go off of how the dough looks and feels. I do measure my ingediants precisely though.
Your resulting loaf looks quite nice though, if flat. If I had dough that looked like your first picture I would probably just do a few more hours of stretch and folds.
Is the first picture is before you added the flour to make it more workable?