Irregular crumb on freshly milled yecora rojo loaf
Hi everyone - newish baker here and would love your help troubleshooting an issue. I've been testing a new loaf with 30% freshly milled yecora rojo using a maurizio leo recipe https://www.theperfectloaf.com/sourdough-with-freshly.../ and I keep running into issues with an irregular crumb. It's delicious, I'm just a bit frustrated with the texture and feel like I'm regressing after a bunch of successful bakes using variations on higher hydration sourdoughs. I'm looking for something more even, open, akin to a tartine-style loaf.
My starter is active (fed 2x a day in the lead up). I did an autolyse of 30 minutes, then mixed, followed by 5 minutes of kneading/slap and folds, followed by 4 sets of turns for a total proofing time of 3.5 hours, a preshape, 30 minute bench rest, then into bannetons overnight (~12 hours) and baked in a dutch oven at 475 (top on for first 20, then uncovered for 30). I'm using a proofer to keep the temp consistent at 74f.
The dough felt quite strong to me, if anything maybe too strong? I am trying to handle the dough lightly towards the end of the bulk but I think I maybe overdo it with the folds and the preshape. I've also heard mixed things about autolysing with freshly milled flour - some people recommend an extended period and others say it's not necessary. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.
Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong here? Thank you and looking forward to learning more from this group!
Judging by the crumb and profile of that slice alone I’d say you need to ferment a bit more and also pop trapped gas bubbles more during folds and pat down the dough a bit during final shaping. The crumb overall is great but you might benefit from more fermentation. I won’t comment on the use of freshly milled flour because I do not own a mill.
Benny
thanks, benito. I'll give that a go and report back!