It's clearly got a big air bubble at the top, but the general consistency is probably the best I've had so far! Probably my 5th loaf now.
Ingredients
233g room temperature water
89g starter
7g sea salt
352 strong bread flour, 13% protein
Process
mixed around 9:00am – stretched and folded every 30 minutes 4 times.
Let it proof in oven with light on until about 2pm when it seemed good to fridge – maintaining a pretty consistent 24°c dough temp throughout.
I was worried it may have overproofed at this stage by the feel of it.
pre-shaped, and sat for 10 minutes, and shaped and into banneton (image attached). Cold proofed until 10:30am next day. had some air bubbles around the edges. Gave it a squidge and it felt perhaps over-proofed (didn't spring back). When i put it into the oven it flattened out quite a lot.
Current set up is pre-heated baking steel at max oven temperature, then put it along with 300ml of water at the base of the oven, blocking my oven vent a bit to increase steam (not sure if this is good for the oven)
20 minutes + 20 minutes at about 210
Attached a photo of it when it came out of oven too – never seem to be able to get that oven spring/ear…
Any tips welcome!
by superpope99
10 Comments
how do you figure bulk fermentation is done? that seems underproofed to me by the look of it and the amount of time. you can also check the crumb structure chart for comparison and test different durations for bulk fermentation.
Not over proofed, if anything a bit under, but still excellent. Some people work very hard to get that crumb.
Your oven steam setup doesn’t seem to be working.. try flipping some kind of oven safe bowl upside down over your loaf instead of the steam setup. You can also throw a couple ice cubes under there or spritz the dough before you put it in. You’ll get a much better crust.
Crumb / fermentation looks really nice. The issue your having is with your baking set up. I think its a combination of not enough steam, and it might be too hot when you’re putting in the oven. You also might not be scoring deep enough. Basically your crust is setting too soon so the score is not opening properly, which is leading to the huge air bubbles at the top
Overbaked (thick, hard crust) and under fermented (big gaps at top) but you’re definitely getting there! If your starter is new, it took about 6-8 weeks for mine to be really strong so it could be that as well. Edit: just read your baking time, that shouldn’t overbake it. Did you use a vessel with a lid? That will help keep the crust from getting too hard.
I’m going to disagree with the other comments and say this is slightly overproofed. Big holes do not automatically mean something is underproofed. If you take a closer look, the biggest bubbles are situated at the top and the form and arrangement indicate to me that the gluten network is close to collapsing, a typical sign if overproofing. Aside from the top, the crumb looks fantastic. An Underproofed crumb would have tighter bubble structure with big holes dispersed in between.
Recipe amounts seem random (233g of water? Not 235), but otherwise I’ll quote “Uncle George” from the “Little Rascals”: ” Yum-yum eat-em-up!”
My butter and jam would be all over my plate.
Looks absolutely delicious!!
All these critics lol I find it absolutely perfect and if you put a large heel or slice in front of me with some butter I will tell you how delicious it is
Oven is running too hot and is sealing the score before it can expand
Looks pretty delicious no?