Proud of todays loaf

I have been playing around with different mixing techniques and fermentation temperatures and finally got to a loaf I’m really proud of!

3 things that made the largest difference:

1. Fermenting colder seems to result in a more uniform (albeit tighter) crumb for me – I have been fermenting at 60F overnight for 12-15 hrs

2. Using the right amount of dough for the size of my banneton – I tried loafs with 400g of flour or 500g of flour, and would get decent spring on the smaller loafs but they wouldn’t open the way I wanted them to. Using 500g allowed them to fill the banneton when fully bulked and the cross section of the fuller banneton just seems to spring more/better. Strange because the banneton said it holds 750g of dough but with 500g of flour, 375 water, 50g starter its significantly over the 750g spec the banneton lists.

3. Using a kitchenaid mixer @ 75% hydration with the paddle – mixing just water and starter first, then adding flour a spoonful at a time, pulling down off the paddle if it lifts away and then adding salt after about 2 min. So this was finicky because at higher hydration the dough never seemed to build strength, and lower hydration almost broke the damn thing. 75% seems like a sweet spot, I like mixing for 5 min because it saves my arm a bit and gets rid of all the clumps that drive me insane. This followed by a rubaud for 5min using a silicone spatula keeps your hand clean and the dough comes together beautifully! Comes right off the bowl and leaves no flour behind.

Recipe:

500g king arthur bread flour
375g cold water (helps not to overheat while mixing)
10g salt
~50g starter @ 50% hydration

Steps
1. Add starter and water to kitchenaid bowl, mix for 2 min on 2 setting
2. Gradually add 500g flour mixing continuously while adding a spoonful at a time
3. Add 10g of salt and continue mixing until dough separates from bowl
4. Rubaud for 5 min with hand or silicone spatula, pulling from the side of the bowl down and into the dough while rotating the bowl after each pull
5. Let sit for 30 min, then 2-3 sets of coil folds every 30 min
6. Shape and put into banneton (I shape after only about 2 hrs and let it finish bulk in the banneton) – the key for getting it to not stick is to use rice flour only on the banneton and use bread flour on the dough while shaping. I do like the burrito fold shaping then I roll again down the perpendicular seam to get max tension.
7. Put in a cigar humidor or wine fridge at 55f-60f overnight 12-15hrs, you have a super large window but basically with my banneton I know its done bulk fermenting when the dough crests above the edge of the banneton
8. Optional – put in a fridge at 38f for a few hours before baking, uncovered because the dough seems to hold shape and crust a bit better and is easier to score when a bit dry on all sides, you can also just do this for convenience if you aren’t ready to bake yet.

Oh and then bake at 450f for 25 min with lid on (spray the dough lightly with water) and 25 min with lid off.