I have been baking on and off since 2020. My loaves are delicious, but I never got the dramatic oven spring that I saw on here, it was always a little bit dense.
Then I cam across a comment here that said to just let it overproof and see what happens. So for the last few loaves I let it go on for longer than I normally would. And BAM, they came out perfect.
The poke test, window pane, double in size, etc., none of that worked for me. Instead, I go by the way the dough jiggles now, so once every 30 mins I jiggle jiggle jiggle and shape when it looks like it would deflate if I jiggle any harder. If it still holds its shape and doesn't go wild when I jiggle, it can sit a bit longer.
I also switched from stretch and folds to coil folds, I think it traps more air that way.
First loaf in the picture is a marbled rye, and next time I would reduce the cocoa powder by half, because it just tastes like a chocolate bread.
https://youtu.be/Ng1uUOD6Rj4?si=Dcnj6ge31riKSvXX
Second loaf is multigrain
https://vanillaandbean.com/multigrain-sourdough-bread/#wprm-recipe-container-26921
by zotopia
4 Comments
I left my dough out overnight once, and granted it was cold, but it more than doubled, and was incredibly informative going forward. As far as your comment about feel, that’s what experience will do. I’m not the best baker, but I got excellent loaves all week away from home. I didn’t measure flour, water, or starter (I did measure salt), I didn’t look at the time, and I didn’t measure rise, I did everything by feel and intuition, which is more useful than following arbitrary directions. Also, I agree with you about coil folds, but I like lamination at well.
Looks divine!!
This is really the truth, once you figure it out once it all clicks into place! Glad you got it ☺️
“He’s starting to believe” – Morpheus
Hehe. But what you are describing is being an accomplished baker that knows how to read their dough. Congrats!