Einkorn Red Fife Sourdough No. 3
Third in my series of Einkorn bakes. This time I increased the Einkorn to 20% and reduced the Red Fife to 9% all of which was in the preferment. Other changes I used the aliquot jar and ended bulk fermentation at 40%. I did a preshape, bench rested for 15-20 mins then final shaped and into the banneton. I left it out on the counter until the aliquot jar showed just over 50% total rise (not 50% additional rise) then put it into a 2ºC fridge for cold retard. Next morning baked as usual expect that since I got new oven gloves (The Ove Glove) yesterday after waiting 3 months for delivery, I was able to take the loaf out of the dutch oven to finish baking on the roasting rack after the first 20 minutes. I think this helped me get a much more even colour on the crust which I’m really happy with.
Comments
Nice one Benny!
You got a really bold bloom there and I especially like the ears of wheat scoring on the sides. Well done!
Michael
Thank you Michael, I’m still working on dialing in the bulk fermentation and finding the right time to stop it and shape. Using the aliquot jar to gauge it I think is really helping now rather than really guessing at percent increase. I’ll post the crumb tonight.
Benny
Beautiful loaf! I'm curious about your reference to an aliquot jar, I've never heard of this before. Can you tell me what it is, and how to use it?
Bob
Thanks Bob. I’ve always found it hard to determine the degree of rise with the dish I bulk the dough in. I’ve started to use a small jar, in this case a clean specimen container and I put about 30 g of the dough into it after the first stretch and fold. I can quite precisely gauge the rise using this jar. This is allowing me to fine tune my sourdough bakes to a degree I wasn’t able to before. I’m still trying figure out the ideal rise for my doughs when to shape.
I‘m playing now a bit with seeing how long to leave the shaped dough in banneton on the countertop. I want to see the effect on the crumb. So this one shaped at 40% rise then placed into the fridge at around 50% rise. I could never measure the rise after final shaping but now with this jar I can.
Benny
Thanks for the explanation, that's a great idea. I also struggle with the timing of both the bulk and the shaped dough, these seems like an easy way to add some precision to the process. I have a set of small graduated cylinder measuring cups that should work perfectly for this. I'll give it a try for my next bake.
Bob
I’ll be interested in what you think of it when you have a chance to use it. Please let me know.
Beautiful loaf and Bien Cuit! I love the wheat stalk scoring. You’ve inspired me to try that, thanks.
Thank you, I’m glad I was able to inspire you. Happy baking.
Photos of the crumb. Definitely better than bake number 2. I think I can push bulk a bit more, but for 20% einkorn and about 29% whole grain I’m quite pleased.
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Love the crust and crumb on this one. Great ear as well.
Interesting idea with the jar. Sounds like it's helping you.
Regards,
Ian
Thank you Ian, with the jar, at least I know how far I went with bulk fermentation and can adjust it to try to get a better crumb. This one isn’t particularly under or over proofed but I would try to go a bit further with bulk next time and maybe reduce the slap and folds to see if I can get it a bit more open, more lacey. I do realize that einkorn doens’t have the best gluten, so much more open might be a challenge, but we like this particular bread enough that I will try making it again.
Benny
Benny, about the 50% rise for the proof phase. Was 50% measured from the begnning of the proof phase (you reset the mark on the jar) or from the beginning of the bulk phase (you kept the same mark) ? And when you folded/shaped the main dough at the end of the bulk, what did you do with the 30 grams of dough in the jar?
Thx.
Dave, I removed the ~30 gm of dough after the first stretch and fold and flattened it as much as I could in the jar. That is the mark I made for the starting point of bulk fermentation since not too much rise happens early on. When it had risen to 40% I pre-shaped and then final shaped. I did not make a new mark on the jar. I allowed the shaped dough in the banneton to proof on the counter until the aliquot jar indicated a full 50% rise from the original marked level. At that point I placed the shaped dough in banneton into the fridge for cold retard.
The 30 g of dough was just discarded, it could not be added to the shaped dough.
The other thing was I was wondering if the 30 g dough was also taken-out-shaped-put-back-in when you shaped the main dough. You're saying you left it untouched, to get the last 10% ?
Yes the total rise in the aliquot jar is 50%. I do not take it out and shape it when the final shaping is done on the main dough.
Each time I coil fold, or stretch and fold, there will be some degassing. So looking at rise, the aliquot jar may underestimate the total rise in the main dough. But I can assess fermentation quite well with an objective measure I wasn’t able to before. It maybe that the optimal rise based on the aliquot jar is greater than 50% since the actual dough being manipulated will degas a bit each time. With each bake I will learn more about using the aliquot jar and my dough readiness for ending bulk fermentation.
Hi Benito, it is a very nice loaf inside and out. Great crumb, crust and ears. What was the total hydration of the dough used in this bake?
Thank you Pul I’d say the hydration about 82%.