Daily Loaf Challenge #15: Halfway!

A perfect little handheld loaf to celebrate the midpoint mark. The husband is on a diet to combat the middle-age spread so my loaves are downsizing 25%.

300g bread flour. 200g water. 100g starter. 6g salt. Hydration: 71.5%. Total loaf weight: 606g.

Same manual method: Autolyse 2hrs. Work in starter and salt. 2x S&F + 3 C&F 20-30min apart. Bulk ferment till 50%. Preshape, benchrest rest 30mins and final shape. Cold proof. Bake 30/15min at 230/210C.

1. ⁠⁠⁠Height: Really got some height on this mini loaf. Surprising. 9/10

2. ⁠⁠⁠Ear: Was really careful to score at a 45deg angle. 8/10

3. ⁠⁠⁠Belly: Very nice! 8/10

4. ⁠⁠⁠Crust: Crisp with a nice medium golden colour 8/10

5. ⁠⁠⁠Blisters: An even distribution 8/10

6. ⁠⁠⁠Crumb: Open, with a good distribution of small, medium and large holes 8/10

7. ⁠⁠⁠Taste: Beatrix’s germs taste great as usual. I used white bread flour in the feed for this loaf so the sourness is really light 9/10

Final verdict: Small is beautiful. One of my better ones. Going to stick with a smaller loaf size moving forward. 8.3/10

Some reflections and learnings at the halfway point. I can’t believe I baked bread for 15 days in a row! The biggest takeout so far is how flexible bread baking can be. I’ve had some doozy of busy days and bread has been fairly forgiving of loosey-goosey timings, forgetfulness and not-so-accurate measuring. Some loaves that I thought would be a goner turned out to be some of my best. I also love how I can make loaves bigger or smaller to fit only what can be consumed.

Planning ahead was also a big learning. NGL, it’s tough staying on schedule when life gets cray so double batches of dough makes life a lot easier. The longer cold proof also makes for tastier and prettier loaves.

I made a double batch yesterday. Today’s loaf had a cold proof and the other dough did a long cold ferment. I’m only shaping yesterday’s dough for baking tomorrow and making another double batch of dough today that should be good till Friday.