A while ago I posted about how I was only getting flat loaves. I finally got a semi nice looking loaf back then after trying so many things.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Sourdough/s/qoj3ECCYOM
After lurking around on this subreddit for a bit I noticed people talking about lowering hydration to get better oven spring.
Up until this point I was under the impression that higher hydration was “better” so I was attempting 70-75% hydration. I got good at shaping the dough using the bench scraper and everything.
For this loaf I decided to lower hydration to ~65% and I GOT AMAZING OVEN SPRING. (For my standards at least 😂)
Ingredients:
* 205g flour
* 135 g water
* 50g active starter
* “some” salt
Process:
- 07:00: mix starter at around 1:5:4 (starter:flour:water)
- 12:30: mix dough
- 13:30 – 15:30: stretch/fold ~30m apart
- 15:30 – 17:30: bulk rise
- 17:30: pre-shape
- 18:00: shape, into floured basket upside down
- 18:30: “stitch up” the somewhat relaxed dough in the basket, then cover and into the fridge
- cold proof overnight
- 07:00: pre heat the oven with Dutch oven inside at 230C
- 07:30: get the dough from the fridge, score, into the oven with the lid on
- 07:50: remove the lid, bake for 15-20m
- let it cool on a rack for > 1h before slicing
by jessevdp
9 Comments
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Nice job!
Well done! I had similar results once I decreased the hydration. I wasn’t counting my water in the levain towards my hydration, so it was a game changer once I figured that out!
I’ve had better oven spring using a Dutch oven and either spraying the loaf with water before cooking and/or tossing some ice cubes in with it to add steam.
That made a huge difference. High hydration is so hard to work with, I can feel my anxiety from the last loaf that was gloppy.
It’s hard to figure out what it will be like, when a recipe has the starter mixed into the water and then flour into that. I guess I’m going to have to start recalculating every recipe.
I had even started relying more on a Pullman pan so almost all mistakes are forgiven with the side support, but I miss the crusty boulles and batards!! Your loaf looks great and the crumb is perfect
Looks great. I started making sourdough bread only last week and I made it 3 times and it’s always gummy inside. It looks good outside but not good inside. It has something to do with it’s rising
I have you at 70%. — 160/230
I wanted to say- hydration depends heavily on the flour you are using. Some flour can handle higher hydration while others not. Either way, this is good job!
I don’t worry about hydration too much. As genegenet said different flours absorb water differently. I work to the water level each of my flours can handle.
The Bread Code has a good video for how to hydration test your flour so you know the total amount of water your flour can handle.
https://youtu.be/s1gM_jziXcI?si=GFMhyNCVPv9ohcJn
My high hydration loaves keep becoming runny and impossible to work with. I changed to 60% hydration and now the loaves are edible.