Sadly didn't nail BF on this one as I had to extend it over 2 days, but with that in mind, very happy with how it came out (barring a bit of a shaping issue.

I am increasingly adamant that the more of the BF can be done during the final proof (within reason), the better, when it comes to getting a nice open crumb.

Re: recipe

800g loaf
76% hydration
100% Cotswold Wychwood bread flour (i LOVE this flour, nothing else in the UK has come close for me)
20% starter

  • Split the dough into 2 batches, for the blue batch i steeped 1.5 tbsp dried butterfly pea flowers in 250ml hot water for 15 mins – 150ml of this was used for the eventual dough once i brought it back down to approx room temp
  • both doughs got a round of stretch and folds followed by 3 sets of coil folds, separated by 30 mins.
  • i let these bulk until they got to around 30% rise before we had to go out. I was aiming for 60% at 21°C
  • they went in the fridge over night then came back out this morning to get to room temp and hit 60

  • dumped them out and pre shaped

  • shaped into rectangles, put the blue on top of the white (i.e. white on the 'outside', touching the counter

  • shaped as normal – did not account for the extra time and manoeuvring leading to a stickier dough which was annoying

  • let rise at room temp for around 3-4 hours then into the fridge

  • Cold proofed for around 5-6 hours

  • baked at 210°C uncovered for 5 mins, scored again, added ice cubes and spritz with water

  • covered for 35 mins

  • Uncovered for another 15

With benefit of hindsight, I'd have liked to give this a longer cold retard and probably avoid that overnight bulk as it just threw the fermentation progress off slightly (came out feeling a bit over-fermenty for the rise % achived)

All in all though very happy

by General_Penalty_4292

7 Comments

  1. I like that you can’t really tell from the outside, so it is like a surprise when you slice. Looks really cool!

  2. philosophyofricecake

    Very interested in the post shaping rise at room temperature for 3-4 hours! Can I ask what is guiding that number? I feel like the most I’ve seen after shaping is an hour and then into the fridge.

  3. real_justchris

    That looks epic! Totally agree on a lot of BF being done in final prove – definitely a recent thing I found and it’s made my loaves so much better.

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