Gruyere and Sun Dried Tomato

Sourdough is easy, only the first 200 loaves are hard.

I'm finally getting the oven spring that I'm looking for in my loaves, for me the difference has been measuring the pH and waiting for it to drop so that I know I'm at peak fermentation.

500g Bread Flour
250g starter
650ml water
11g salt
100g dried tomato
200g gruyere

I autolyse for two hours and use a stand mixer for about 5 min to mix in salt and starter.

I ferment until about 40% rise @ 75 degree, I stop bulk when the pH drops to 4.5, then I shape and let it sit until the pH reaches 4.3, then cold retard overnight with a pH target of 4.15.

Then I score and preheat oven to 420 then turn off the oven and bake it the still hot but turned off oven inside a combo cooker. At the 12min mark I rescore the bread, replace the lid and turn the oven back on, baking for 12 min. Then remove cover and allow it to get to the color I want, about 25 min.

I turn the oven off so that the bread does not develop a thick crust that prevents it from rising, this has given me better spring.