Hey all, here is today's bake. I've recently fallen in love with Addie's (Breadstalker) method and it has taught me lots about how long to extend bulk, and key indicators of a nicely fermented dough. As such, I was searching her instagram for posts about a nice 25%-30% whole wheat loaf that I could try. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I just made up a couple ratios to my liking (learning the meaning of how sourdough isn't really recipe driven- it's a method!).
It's 30% stoneground whole wheat (bob's red mill), 70% King Arthur Bread Flour, 2% salt, 20% levain, 87% hydration. Autolysed for about 1 hour, then added ripe levain. 30 minutes later, added salt. 30 minutes later, did a lamination, followed by 4 coil folds (separated by 45 minutes, except for the last fold, which occurred 1 hour after third fold). Bulked for about 8 hours 15 minutes at 74-75 F.
Here's the dough after bulk- poofy, yet surprisingly still a little strong. I felt many air bubbles popping while shaping, which leads to mixed feelings (good since it means nice fermentation, bad since I don't want to pop so many bubbles during shaping!). The strength of the dough made me feel like I could have pushed bulk a little longer, but I wanted to go to sleep.
11 hours in the fridge, then I baked at 500 degrees for 20 minutes with lid on with challenger breadware, and a couple ice cubes. Lid off at 450 for 20 minutes. Foiled the bottom and sides halfway 10 minutes in at 450. After 20 minutes at 450, I then reduced to 380 and baked an additional 5 minutes to help dry out the loaf and create a thicker crust. The result was a very light loaf with nice color and shine. The crumb was creamy, tender, and had a slight chew. It was a sour- but not overbearingly so. However, I think I prefer white bread (or at least einkorn)- this tasted just a *bit* too healthy. And the ferment slice by slice was not perfectly even, and I actually think it could have been more proofed (maybe 20-40 minutes).
