Weekly Bake - Ears inspired by Kat
Got my weekly bake done today, and all went smoothly. The only real adjustment to my usual process was due to an early dinner that we had scheduled to celebrate our youngest daughter's birthday with her grandparents. Instead of my usual 1.5 hour final proof at RT (before retarding for a few hours), I only let it proof at RT for .5 hours, then into the fridge for about 6 hours. Everything came out well (no crumb shot yet, but I expect it will look the same as usual, perhaps a little tighter based on the dough feel, and how it looked out of the fridge.)
950g AP flour (Gold Medal)
80g WW flour (KA)
80g Semolina (BRM)
40g Dark Rye (BRM)
760g Water
250g active starter (100% hydration)
26g salt
The other minor change to my process was to try to replicate Kat's perfectly vertical ear from her blog post earlier today (HERE). I dropped my scoring further down on the side of the loaf, whereas my usual scoring is just a bit to the side of the center line. On the first loaf, I think I was a bit hesitant with my slash, and this resulted in a bit of a wavy ear:
I approached the second one with a bit more confidence, slashing in one motion (I also move the slash location up just a bit....more toward center), and I got much closer to a "soldier" ear (standing at attention):
Other than that, I got good spring, nice color, and some good blistering, too.
I'll keep working on this scoring technique, as I find it somewhat visually appealing. Thanks for the inspiration, Kat! :)
Rich
Comments
and did not expect such a prompt bake! That ear somehow reminds me of beautiful wooden 'boats' resting on the shore upside down...no wonder as I live near the sea and river with lots of boots around! ha. ha...
Very happy, if my posts were of use to someone....... Kat
I already had my dough in bannetons when you posted yesterday, so it was very timely for giving me something new to try!
I see what you mean about the upside down boats..... :)
I sliced open one of these loaves this morning for my usual toast for breakfast. This is my typical crumb, perhaps a little tighter than usual, and with a nice mouse hole! ;) Tastes great, and the crust is nice and crunchy (and a little thinner, as I reduced the amount of time in the steam.)
Rich
Do you think that the different scoring had an impact on your usual crumb?
I find that if I do a double score that I seem to get a less open crumb than with the middle score...
Looks the perfect open and lacy sandwich bread!!!!
Kat
I don't have the lightest touch on the planet, so my hands are the reason for my crumb! :) In truth, I prefer this level of (or lack of) openness, as I think it does a better job of keeping things like butter and mayonnaise on the bread, and not on my fingers! :)
Rich
Absolutely gorgeous bakes Rich, those ears are what I'm hoping someday soon I'll be able to achieve.
Benny
Thanks, Benny! Probably the biggest reason I bake the same bread every week (other than the fact that I really like it) is due to the fact that I've got my process down and it's really predictable. I need to branch out some more to some other breads, but I just keep coming back to this one. :)
Rich