Hello sourdough lovers! Apologies I'm advance for lack of picture before I cut into this one.
This is about my 4th and best loaf I've had to date. I started milling my own hard red wheat and my starter has never been so happy. I followed the Amy Bakes Bread beginner sourdough recipe (https://amybakesbread.com/no-knead-rustic-sourdough/)
I used 400g fresh milled whole wheat, and the remaining 200g was bread flour. My past loaves were 100% whole wheat(store bought) and have always been super dense. I did not cold ferment, after my third stretch and fold I let the dough ferment on the counter for about 4.5 hours til it was doming, pulling away from the sides and had bubbles on top. It also stretched nice for the window pane test. I think I over worked on the shaping.
I followed the cooking instructions but left the lid on the Dutch oven for longer since my previous loafs following this recipe have gotten too dark on top.
I like the color of the top crust on this guy, but the bottom I could hardly cut thru(which has happened on all my loafs). It's slightly dense and a little gummy, probably from the whole wheat?
I let this cool over night (about 14 hours). I've always cut too early in the past.
Getting closer to a nice whole wheat loaf! What can I do to improve the dense/gummy texture? And prevent the bottom from being really hard to cut thru?
by thatmakesUthewaffle
14 Comments
Did you proof it or did u shape it and plop it into the oven after the bulk ferment?
Looks underproved
More gluten dev (add a stretch and fold or get rougher with each stretch and fold; you boss the dough around, the dough doesn’t boss you around haha) and bulk ferment longer. Do a couple test loaves and BF longer and shorter times to see the difference.
Also check the protein % of your flour as this directly relates to gluten dev. Might need to switch up your flour ratios
This isn’t slightly gummy or slightly dense. What was your bulk ferment temperature?
Underfermented, the recipe’s time will always vary for you, it depends on many factors as yoir starter, the room temp, the flour you’re using… Try long fermentation, sourdough bread can go for fermentation time’s from 4-12 hours before shaping, and after shaping can go from 8-72 hours cold fermentation (again, depending of many factors), try and experimnt yourself until you find whats best for you
You’re always going to struggle with that proportion of whole wheat. I’d suggest that you at least make it half/half with white or actually flip them around for now (200ww, 400 white).
I’m also a bit suspicious of your starter/levain. Was your starter properly fed and fully active BEFORE you used it to make the levain step in the recipe?
Finally, my suggestion is to just knead the damn dough to properly develop the gluten. These no knead recipes take far too long for no benefit in my opinion. All that constant fussing and folding all day can be substituted with some proper kneading up front!
I love how there are three authoritative answers in 4 comments, and all three are different
It looks over proof to me. Looks dense. Try the aliquot method to gauge fermentation. Everyone’s kitchen and climate is different so have to adjust time for that
Underfermented
Just underproved my dude
You’re leaving out two key pieces of information:
What’s your hydration %
What temp are you baking at and for how long?
I think that recipe won’t always get your starter/lavain active. I usually let mine go overnight. That recipe starts baking after 4 hours of feeding.
Lower the percentage of whole wheat and start using the aliquot method. It seems quite underproofed. The dough should be doubled which can be difficult to determine from the whole dough. https://www.pantrymama.com/aliquot-jar-method-for-sourdough/
It’s your starter. I had the same problem. Make sure your starter is super active before mixing your dough.