20100820 Experiments with my new tools continued…

I’ve been having lots of fun with my new tools.  They have brought additional peace of mind to the bread making process and have put an end to my frustration about oven temperatures. More importantly, they’ve delivered good results. Loaves in this bake all turned out crackly with a color that was neither too dark nor too light, and was just right to my liking. They were light in feel and the superb oven spring made them puff like a cute blowfish. 

I learned of the impact of subtle temperature changes on a loaf by baking several sourdough pain de campagne in a roll and established my reference.  I usually don’t make too much bread at a time. This was my largest production ever.  Not only did we have abundant slices to put on the grill, but I also had surplus to gift away to my friends who came to our end-of-summer BBQ.    

Again, I used a simple formula very similar to that  I’ve been playing with since the beginning of this year.  It was of 68% hydration, 17% prefermented flour from an un-refreshed pate fermente, which was also at 68% hydration.  I felt a big relief when all the old dough that didn’t make it to a bake long time ago was finally put to use.  My next bake will be geared toward learning how to utilize my new tools on dough that is leavened by systematically built levains.

Fermentation schedule

Bulk ferment:                                           86F – 3hrs

Final prove:                                              59F - refer to pictures of each loaf for timing

Bake

Oven preheated to 485F

Baking temperatures and timing:                also varied, refer to individual pictures as well.

Here are some pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41705172@N04/sets/72157624809186674/show/