I got the magic stove, any loaf I can bake once, I can bake twice - 50 Cent

Having made about a gallon of étouffée two days earlier, I had a bunch of fresh parsley (Italian) and green onions leftover that I didn’t know what to do with so I decided to mix into the dough, and not being satisfied with herbs, I decided to add chèvre as well as there was a chunk of it in the fridge that I didn’t know what to do with. My baker friend, the one who has told me to get a baking steel, razor blades, and more or less shepherded me through this entire project and shall be henceforth referred to as Rin Tin Tin, told me that the biome of chèvre might affect the yeast development during the bulk proof, he suggested if I were to add cheese, I should do it during the turn and shaping. While Rin has over five years of baking and knows vastly more than I, I decided to shoot from the hip and add the cheese. Whether Rin’s prediction was correct or not, I don’t know, but I do know that the end result of the bread had a very mild flavor of cheese, nearly indiscernible, and if I add cheese again, I will have to be more specific about amounts. Nor could I taste the parsley or green onion.

After reading more Forkish, I decided I wanted to try 90% Bread Flour, 10% Whole Wheat, and a 75% Hydration Percent. I auto-lysed for 25 minutes before adding the levain, then let the bulk proof go for about eight hours.

In a stroke of luck, Rin was came over to hang out as the bulk proof was ending and spent the afternoon holding a one student seminar at Bread U. We went on a quick adventure to the store to buy a soft and hard scraper as well as razor blades. When the bulk proof finished he showed me how remove the dough from the cambro using the soft shaper so that I knocked as little air out as possible, then cut the dough in half with the hard scraper and folded and turned each of the loaves, one as a boule and the other a batard. We then placed each loaf into a bowl lined with a floured linen towel for the final prove of an hour and a half. I scored the batard down the center with the new razor blade, and the boule with a square at the top. Rin then made me put the baking steel on the lowest level in the oven. We brought the oven to 500 degrees with both dutch ovens, then baked with the lid closed for 30 minutes then with the top off for 45 minutes.

The loaves turned out better than any I have made so far thanks to the guidance of Rin. I have since done the final proof at room temp for an hour and a half rather than overnight in the fridge and this has proven quite helpful in several respects. First it means I can finish a loaf of bread in a single day, second it avoids the cambro taking up room in our fridge. I need to continue to work on folding and turning and am excited to continue playing with flour and hydration ratios.

Dough (split more or less evenly into two loaves)
900 g bread flour
100 g whole wheat
750 g h2o
25 g salt
~ cup and a half parsley
~ cup green onions
~ half cup chèvre

Levain
20 g starter
100 g bread flour
100 g h2o

What I did right:
I got a much better, more open crumb, I baked for longer, I folded and turned the bread better (with assistance).
What I did wrong:
I still want to get a more open crumb.
What I learned:
Folding and turning well make a big difference in baking a good looking loaf.