Trouble with whole grain "lazy" sourdough
After gaining some confidence after baking some nice loaves with bread flour or bread flour mixed with whole wheat flour, I've been trying to master a mostly hands-off sourdough bread made with 100% whole grains milled in my new Mockmill. I have been trying to follow the method described here: https://breadtopia.com/slow-lazy-sourdough-bread/. I have used this recipe/method to make bread successfully with whole wheat flour, but have not been successful since I started using my freshly milled flour and I'm hoping you all can give me some advice!
My most recent attempt is a good example of the problems I've been running into. I milled a mix of approximately 65% hard red spring wheat berries, 30% hard white wheat berries, and 5% rye berries for a total of 1000 g of wheat berries. I mixed the resulting flour, 800 g of water, 20 g salt, and 2 g of my established starter albeit from the fridge around 10 PM (last fed a few days ago and it doubled in <12 hrs). Kneaded for about 10 mins with stretch and folds and Rubaud style. Dough temp was about 76 F. I left the dough out in my kitchen where it's cool overnight, and around 6 AM the dough was 65 F and there were no signs of fermentation. I performed about 4 stretch and folds over the next couple of hours. Dough would form a windowpane. I had to leave my house around 11 AM, so I put the dough in the fridge and took it back out around 6 PM and checked in on it probably every 45-60 mins. The dough became more jiggly/airy and had some bubbles forming, but almost no rise. At one check around 10 PM, my bulk ferment container looked as if the dough may have risen to about 50% and then fallen, so I decided to shape for fear I was over fermenting. The dough was quite slack and spread quickly on the counter top while preshaping, but it was not terribly sticky. I shaped one half of the dough into a boule and the other half into a loaf pan and put them both in the fridge. At around 6 AM the next day, the dough had risen slightly but looked a bit flat and the boule spread after I placed it in my preheated ceramic oblong baker. I baked at 450 for 25 mins and then lid off and baked another 10-15 mins.
The resulting bread was very flat and rather dense and gummy with some large holes near the top of the loaf (picture included). I had thought I over proofed the bread, and the fact that the dough spread so easily reinforced that thought. However, from my limited sourdough bread baking experience, it almost looks as if its under proofed?
I would very much appreciate any thoughts or advice you may have!! I am trying to stick to 100% freshly milled whole grains if possible.
Freshly milled flour will likely have more enzymatic action which can break down the gluten network in your dough. Reihnart discusses this at length in "Whole Grain Breads". If you really want to stick with whole grains you might consider picking up a copy as he also uses some different methods to get the most flavor out of the breads including the use of soakers in conjunction with biga/sourdough starter/and mashes. He then combines these two doughs into one using an "epoxy" method along with a spike of commercial yeast to help in the final rise.
My guess is that you did have a combination of over fermentation along with such a long time spent proving / autolysing that the fresh enzymes got the better of you.
If time is not of the essence with your baking I would also recommend that you move away from using the starter from the fridge method in such small quantity and build a fresh levain instead. Take that same 2-3 grams out and feed it a few times to build enough young active starter to be about 20% inoculation. Ultimately there is no "right or wrong" method to bread, but this is what I have found to work best for me and it might work well for you as well. As long as the bread is edible in the end is all that matters, right?
-Steven
Absolutely as long as the bread is tasty I’ll eat it happily! That being said, I would be elated to see some more form to the loaves. I will try my best attempt with a 20% levain and let you know how it goes. The book looks excellent as well, I’ve seen Reinhardt’s name pop up so many times here!
Having used a mill for 20 years for my rye and whole wheat flours, I prefer aging the flour which essentially oxidizes in a beneficial way.
Once ground I freeze the flour and thaw as needed. Freezing does oxidize while preserving the essential oils too. If you cannot freeze, would suggest aging three days on up to one week. This is based on my personal experience thru trial and error. I found when I immediately used fresh ground flour, the result was a subtle green or grassy taste that aged flour did not have. And the dough was slacker as the aged flour breads also rose better. Try a test batch, betting you will note a positive difference! Hope this helps.
This link is useful too:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2165/flour-open-discussion-about-aging-and-enriching-flour
Definitely some improvement with aging the flour for 3 days! I think I likely over proofed this one so not the best oven spring, but definitely a major improvement from my last attempt and delicious! I also baked one with aged flour and a 20% levain and I think it was slightly better but not too dramatic.
The loaf that used the levain is on the left
This is the loaf without the levain.