February 7, 2024 - 7:09am
Boulle loaf fell flat
Thanks for the help!!
Okay, this was a King Arthur recipe for boulle peasant bread. I baked it on a baking stone.
I proofed 2 hours in a proofing basket but when I carefully turned it onto my peel, it didn't hold its shape.
Questions:
- If you can see the photo, crust great, taste great, but crumb too flat, too dense.
- Recipe didn't say how long to knead so I did 5 min. with dough hook.
- Recipe said to "tighten" loaf. This is 3rd try on this. I really worked the dough on the bench. No difference.
So either I am "tightening" wrong, or need a recipe for newbies!
Share
A link to the recipe would be very helpful. So would a picture of the crumb. Aside from being on the flat side you picture looks very nice.
Say more about what you mean by "I really worked the dough on the bench"? Have you made other breads that were not as flat?
I don't think the recipe is online. I have their cookbook.
On the bench, just before going into the proofing basket, I pulled the dough on my unfloured bench. They call this, "tightening." I have no idea what that is. I did this, rotating the dough, about ten times, then placed into the proofing basket. Rose very nicely.
This is the only bread I've baked on a stone. Everything else, in a pan or cast iron crock. This one had great flavor: sourdough, mostly unbleached all-purpose flour with about 10% whole wheat flour. Water and salt. No butter, no oil, etc.
Hope this helps!
Here's what that is about. As the dough sits around, the gluten relaxes. If it gets too slack, the loaf can't hold its shape as it proofs and relaxes, and it will slump out sideways. So you want the dough to be nice and elastic when it's shaped into a loaf.
The way to rebuild the springiness is to stretch the dough - gently so it stays airy. As you stretch it out you should be able to feel the strength and elasticity increase. Many people will round the dough into a ball at this stage and work with the ball to create a taut skin. But if you have pulled the dough out into a thin sheet and it seems to be building springiness you can shape it into the final shape. For a thin sheet, probably the easiest way is to roll the sheet of, stretching it as it is being rolled. Then roll up that cylinder along its axis. Then form that into the final boule. If the dough is too tight and springy to pull this off, just let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes to relax a bit and then finish the job.
If at this point the ball of dough is still a little too loose to quite hold its shape, you can do what' s called "stitching" on the underside. I'll let you search for videos that demonstrate these techniques.
These techniques are much easier to do than to describe. The main point to remember is that you have to be guided by the dough and how it feels, and not just by some formula in a recipe. That recipe can only be a starting point.
TomP
Nice! I'll look for videos. The King Arthur dudes say, "gently pat the dough then fold." Heh, that's not the way my grandmother used to do it! I'll keep trying b/c I like the taste and I need to learn how to do this. I'm not in VT anymore. Otherwise, I'd go there, maybe take a class, or ask them for some help :)
Ah, the KA campus - a great destination. I took a weekend course there once, baking pizza and other things in a great big woodfired stone oven.
Try this video - the dough is wetter than yours probably is, and he's not shaping the loaves into boules, but it will give you a good idea what it means to handle dough firmly but gently, and how many ways you can work and rework it -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbOyivhCL40