August 20, 2024 - 10:35am
Oven spring in 100% WW
Hi all,
Recently got back in to sourdough and am trying to work with 100% whole wheat for the 1st time. My first 2 attempts are decent starts but I have achieved very little oven spring both times. I am using this recipe. The one difference is that, due to schedule with my infant, my bulk fermentation was ~1.5-2 hours longer than the recipe calls for.
Would greatly appreciate any advice people have about how to achieve better oven spring with whole wheat!
Thanks!
Ari
Share
It looks fine - and normal for whole wheat. Enjoy!
That's a lovely crumb for 100% whole wheat. How do you like the flavor? It doesn't look crumbly at all, which is nice.
Mine gets bubbles just below the top crust when I overferment (which is quite often in summer especially, lol), along with much less oven spring. But neither of those bother me, and the bread never lasts long (as in gets eaten right up).
Your doing great!
Mary
Thanks for the feedback. Is it common to not get much oven spring with whole wheat? I'm used to a decent one with the 90/10 white/ww I make. Flavor is good!
Glad you like the taste! It makes eating the evidence much more pleasurable, lol. 😂
I definitely get more spring when I use at least some bread flour in the mix. And lowering hydration just a little bit can help , but it depends on the flour and the formula I use. I'm definitely not an expert, but do enjoy the process and appreciate mostly whole grain breads.
I bake almost exclusively with 100% home milled whole wheat. When baking boules, I find it very rare to get a nice oven spring ( meaning ears ). When shaped as a batard, I do get more oven spring. I have had this experience so many times it can't just be the timing or shaping, i think it is that the shape of a boule, it is harder to get a good spring in whole wheat. I made 3 loaves this weekend , all the exact same recipe and mostly the same timing, 1 was okay, 1 had a very good spring, and 1 was very poor. I find I get the most open crumb when i overproof slightly , though of course, not as much spring. Regardless of the oven spring, I enjoy the taste of sourdough whole wheat.
That's a good looking crumb and volume for 100% whole wheat. I would even say it looks very similar to the photo in the recipe, the only difference being the ear.
If you want it to be taller, you could try the following:
Thanks everyone! I'll experiment with different shape and lower hydration to start and see what I get :)