Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough
I took another shot at Vermont Sourdough today. After my attempt a couple weeks ago, I wanted to see if the tweaks I made to my starter maintenance would speed up the bulk ferment. Ironically, I think it actually went slower.
Overall, can't complain. Got decent oven spring, a nice color and crispiness to the crust, and the aroma is pleasant with just a bit of tang. I think it will taste good. Was shooting for my typical sandwich loaf type crumb, and will see tomorrow if I hit that.
With the bakes I have planned tomorrow morning and the rest of the day's schedule, I just needed to wrap this bake up today. I moved to shaping after 7 hours of bulk even though I was only at 60% on the aliquot jar. Dough was rising and had some jiggle, but not where I wanted it to be. After 3 hours of final proofing, I was getting close to 90% on the aliquot jar and decided to call it a day.
I love the flavor I get from this bread, but if I keep making it, I may need to change my schedule for this recipe and make it an overnight BF.
EDIT: Crumb shot added. Everyone has their preferences, but for me, this is the ideal crumb! Makes me rethink my complaints about fermentation time. Maybe this is one of those recipes where I have to adapt to fit its schedule. :-)
Comments
Hi,
Just a suggestion; else ignore all the following. When I make this bread it does not take more than about 7 hours from the time I start mixing. Have you tried making this as per Hamelman's formula, timings and temperatures? I make this regularly and alternate between whole rye and whole wheat. The bread flour I use is 11.5% protein. I suggest going back to basics and control the temps throughout. I make the final build of the levain at 5 pm the evening before and start the mix at 7 am. Benny would think this is sacrilege, but I suggest putting the aliquot jar in the cupboard until you try my suggestion.
I have a blog entry for this bake at Vermont Sourdough with whole-wheat | The Fresh Loaf
I'm not sure if you have the book so I've included a short version of the formula and process. This is a 750-gram dough to suit my banneton.
VSD formula.jpg
VSD process.jpg
Cheers,
Gavin.
Thank you, and at this point, I'll take any and all suggestions I can get! :-)
At about 10 hours into fermentation, I was thinking about that. Thought back through the bake, and at the 2-2.5 hour point, my dough had zero signs of fermentation. Wasn't even puffy, let alone jiggly. Shaping would have been done on a piece of unaerated dough. It did have some fermentation by the 5 hour mark, but not sure how it would have looked in a banneton.
Do you have very little gas formation during shaping?
I get good fermentation development during the bulk. The first signs are at the 50-minute folds and then at the 100-minute folds a distinct lightness to the dough with surface bubbles appearing. Af the 150-minute end of bulk fermentation the dough is very light and airy feeling with surface bubble evident. I gently knock out the large air bubbles during the pre-shape and then shape 20-minutes later.
What you describe points to your starter not being strong enough. I think your starter may be weak and needs a pep up.
I have a forum thread going on that very topic and I agree. :-) Sounds like I'm not letting the levain build go long enough. Going to try some of the tips from mariana the next time I make this bread.
You may be interested in reading how I solved my starter weakness. Take what you want from it.
Solved my starter issue | The Fresh Loaf
Cheers,
Gavin
Will take a look. Thanks!