Gummy bread
This is my second loaf of sourdough bread. It’s gummy with a thick crust. I’m wondering what I did wrong.
Room temperature may be an issue. My kitchen stays at about 70F. The oven light keeps my oven at about 82F so I put my starter, autolyse and dough during bulk in the oven and just periodically turn the light on and off. The dough’s temperature was consistently 79-81F. I’m thinking of getting the Brod & Taylor proofing box but I’d love to hear from someone who has used one before on how well it works and whether it’s worth the money.
Autolyse: 350g organic bread flour mixed with 90g organic spelt flour at room temp. 320g of 90F spring water (chlorine strip was negative). The autolyse rested for two hours.
Starter: 15 day old 100% hydration starter fed 1-5-5 8 hours earlier. Starter was 70% organic bread flour 30% organic rye flour for days 1-12 and since then 90% organic bread flour. Fed every 12 hours. Reliably over doubles in bulk by about 6-7 hours. It never quite triples. This starter passed the float test just before adding to the autolyse.
I added 90g of the starter by hand and pincered it in for about 2-3 minutes and the rested the dough for 20 minutes.
I then added 8g of kosher salt and pincered it in for 3-4 minutes and the rested for 20 minutes.
Lamination followed by a 20 minute rest.
6 stretch and folds over 2 hours plus some in the bowl strengthening by hand.
*** This dough had clearly fermented to some degree by this point - bulk had increased, there were a number of large "bubbles" on the surface of the dough and the dough felt somewhat "lighter." BUT, it was nowhere near as light, bouncy and pillowy as I'm used to when using jarred yeast. I'm thinking either the dough needed more time to bulk up and/or I overworked or mishandled the dough during one of the prior steps ***
I shaped this on the countertop and used a little flour to make shaping easier.
I left it in the refrigerator in a floured basket overnight - about 8 hours.
I put my cast iron Dutch oven in the oven at 500F for 1 hour. I gently turned the loaf onto parchment and scored it.
I baked The loaf at 500F with lid on for 25 minutes and then 475F for 25 minutes with lid off. I brought the loaf out of the oven when the internal temp was 212F. The bottom was nearly black but not burned. The top was a honey brown but not dark. The scoring/ear did not really rise much.
I cooled it on a wire rack for 2 hours until the internal temp was 105F. The loaf sounded hollow to the tap. The crust was loud and crunchy as I cut into with the bread knife but when I tried a piece of crust it was more chewy than crispy or crunchy. Great flavor though!
I’m a long time pastry, yeast bread & soda bread/biscuit home baker, but sourdough is a whole different beast! Thanks for your help!
I bet my money on underproofed, the bulk probably just needs to be extended a little longer. Depending on how cold your fridge was, it might have also needed a little longer for the final proof as well. I've heard that anything below 38 degrees will pretty much completely halt yeast activity (although below 40 degrees will still slow down the dough quite signifigantly).
As for the Brod and Taylor proofing box, I really like mine. I pretty much only use it for sourdough since commercial yeasted doughs aren't too temperature dependent but it hey, it works great if you also want to try your hand at other kinds of fermentation (I've had great success with yogurt making!). It also says that you can use it as a slow cooker so there's that I guess. My only complaint would be that I wish it was a little bigger; I get that the whole appeal is to have a proofing box that fits on the countertop but you can't really fit any more than a single banneton in it.
Thank you Scrollin' Trollin'! I truly appreciate the feedback and the advice.
Dense and gummy on the bottom and large holes at the top generally means under proofed. With 9% prefermented flour you probably needed about 4 hours for bulk fermentation at 78-80ºF. It sounds like your starter is doing great so isn’t likely the issue, you needed to push bulk fermentation longer.
I have a Brot and Taylor proofing box and I really like it. I does work very well keeping the dough fermenting at a really steady temperature that you can adjust in 1ºF increments. I used to ferment in the oven with the light on and door ajar, but the Brot and Taylor really gives you so much more flexibility. Sometimes you want to extend bulk fermentation by proofing at a lower temperature and the proofing box allows you to do that.
Sourdough really is quite different from baking yeasted breads or making pastry. A year ago I had been making pie pastry, cakes and yeasted breads and ventured out to sourdough and had some pretty bad early bakes. But you learn quickly especially around here with all the knowledgeable bakers who are very generous with their knowledge.
Give it a go again and push bulk farther, look for signs of fermentation, bubbles along the sides of the dough in the bowl, dough that is convex at the top rather than flat across and some bubbles at the top. It should be a bit jiggly when you gently shake the bowl. Perhaps aim for about a 50% increase in volume.
Benny
I appreciate the advice and encouragement!
I also have the Brot and Talor.
i makes proofing more predictable especially in a colder climate as we have here in the Netherlands.
What temp do you normaly set it Benny.
Dirk
Most often I’m proofing at 78-80ºF. Sometimes a recipe I’m following will recommend 74-76ºF. But living in Canada being able to control the proofing temperature in the winter makes a huge difference.
Yes here is the same here in the Netherlands we have a few days where we get 78° Or higher. But mostly or kitchen temp is about 70° and in the winter 64 at night.
Benny is spot on. Temperature control provided by a proofer gives the baker predictability and allows the busy baker to keep to schedule and provides consistency from bake to bake.
Gavin