Tartine explosion
This time around I made the leaven Thursday morning (1 tbsp starter, 200 grams freshly milled flour and 200 grams water).
I also ground 700 grams of flour to mix with 300 grams of all purpose flour 765 grams of water, and let it sit in the fridge until 5:30 pm. By 7:30, I mixed the leaven and the dough, added the 20 grams of salt and knead/turned it all in to a mass.
I turned it 4x over 2 hours and then once at the end of hour three, before sticking it in the fridge. I had the oven quite warm for the pre-fridge turning. And the dough was developing nicely ... maybe a little too nicely.
When I woke up Saturday morning, I saw that the top of my dough could not be contained.
Not to be deterred, I scraped out the cold dough, cut it in half, pre-shaped and let it bench rest for 20 minutes before shaping and sticking it in the fridge by 7:30 a.m.
By 10:30am or so, it looked ready to go. One came out fairly easily, the other stuck a bit, but left no dough behind.
I have no crumb shot, but the bread came out delicious and moist. It is not an airy crumb at all, unlike my first attempt at this formula. I think it would have come out better without the overnight retarding and I will try this again this weekend, only I will shape and bake the same day.
I can't count how many times my bulk dough exploded in the fridge. I've decided to divide and shape and then proof in the fridge to avoid this.
Lots of power in dough. Perhaps setting the container in a quick cooling down ice bath before the fridge might help or chilling the dough sooner. Moving the container to the back or lower part of the fridge. (The top shelf is often the warmest.) Or a bigger container. Or shorten the counter time before chilling or use less starter. What ever appeals to your situation.
It is also possible to temporarily remove the violet o-ring in the lid carefully with a blunt pointed toothpick (don't nick the seal) to snap down the lid and yet let gas escape all around the top of the container. That way if a large dough bubble rises near the opening, it won't block the escape of gasses forcing dough out the only opening.
Waiting on a crumb shot! :)
These seem to have turnd out great. I had spelt explode in the fridge once but now I usually shape and proof cold instead of bulk fermenting cold - No worries.
Looks like it still came out pretty well.
My rule of thumb for putting leavened stuff in containers is that it should only fill the container about halfway (or less) when it first goes in. Then there's room for doubling (or tripling).
That said, I'm also mostly of the camp of doing long retarded proofs of already shaped dough in baskets these days.
My dough has never risen like that, but then again, I seldom let it get so warm during the initial stages of bulk fermentation. At least now I know it is possible and will adjust accordingly.
I could not shape and retard because it was late and I'd have to have foregone the bench rest, which I did not want to do. But more importantly, I have found that an overnight retarding has made my dough stick more than I can handle when trying to remove it from the basket.
I am still muddling my way through things. I will post a crumb shot tomorrow. It looks more like a sandwich loaf with one or two "normal" large holes in it. Thoroughly enjoyable!
Here is how it came out -- I think I need to add a little more water next time because the bread is just slightly drier than I like.
This is the kind of crumb that I like, not to big holes, you can still spread Jam and Marmelade on it:)
Lovely.
The crust has the right thickness and it looks very tasty!
My sister keeps raving about the strong "wheaty" flavor that he bread has. Obviously she can tell the difference freshly ground flour can make. I don't know what I think of it compared to the 80% AP loaves (because I don't ever make them side by side), but I know that I enjoy eating it! And, I like benefits of whole grain flour even knowing that I might prefer the whiter loaves in a side by side taste test.
Here in my family we love Bread with at least 40% Strong Wholemeal flour in it, it just gives so much to the taste.
I used to only use strong Breadflour, now that we do not do that anymore I realise how * bland * the taste has been compared to a mix of Strong Bread Flour and Strong Wholemeal Flour.
The other day we had a Goulash Soup, one of my Son's brought a few friends home, so they ate with us, they said they never had such good bread, they did not talk about the Soup but the bread, it made my Day, or better, Evening.
Nothing beats rave reviews of the breads we bake. I brought a loaf to the home of a friend. Her mother was visiting and was a wholesale baker. She was so impressed with the bread, it made my weekend. :)
Now, I know better. Of course a loaf made over the course of 2-3 days is going to be better than what you get in most bakeries!