Of course cake is not bread, is this why Americans are fat? You confuse cake with bread? - Steven Adams

Recently Rin explained the theory of a “soaker”, which is a terrible name, being simultaneously obvious and obscure. Per his explanation, the idea is to soak things that take a long time absorbing water, overnight. This can be ground grains, rye, whole wheat, etc, or whole grains, seeds, and nuts, though with the latter it is suggested that you use boiling water initially. I’ve also seen some folk auto-lyse overnight, which seems to indicate that a soaker is the square to the auto-lyse rectangle, but that’s a discussion for Sophists. Regardless, I soaked the whole wheat portion of my dough overnight, with a ratio of 1:1 whole wheat and water, not because this is what I read, on the contrary I searched google / youtube / bread boards for about fifteen minutes and couldn’t find the ratio easily so I decided…to wing it (surprise). The soaker ran for about 11 hours. The next morning my levain was not ready. I had proved a poor steward and let the starter go way too far and it was covered in a thin layer of boozy liquid, so I should have set the levain in a warmer area to give the yeast a little help but I did not.

I started my auto-lyse by mixing the bread flour (250 g) and 150 g warm water, hoping to get a good mix, but the soaker, flour, and water weren’t homogenizing as well as I wanted so I added another 50 g warm water, pushing the hydration up to 90%. I set the auto-lyse and levain in the oven with the light on, turned the oven on for about a minute, then turned it off. About two hours later the levain was ready so I mixed it and the auto-lyse and added salt then gave a few folds.

Three more folds with thirty minute breaks later and I let the dough do its thing in the oven, still with the light on. I didn’t turn the oven on at periods, so the temperature of the dough was about 70°, and by nine pm the bulk ferment was “mostly done”. I put the loaf in the fridge for an hour to cool it down, with a 90% hydration I wanted it to be a little colder, though an hour wasn’t much help, but the soaker was, considering the dough wasn’t nearly as soft and sticky as previously.

I turned and shaped the dough, let it sit for 20 minutes, during which time it did flatten a bit, but not too much, then I folded the dough, set it in a banneton, and final proved for about 14 hours. I did not buy disposable razors since the last loaf, so I had to use a kitchen knife. Additionally, I seem to have used far too much parchment paper as it confined the rise of the loaf, forcing it into an odd and inelegant shape, but got decent crumb and good rise nonetheless.

I’m baking at 475 because I think my oven is about 10 degrees lower than what it says. Rin had also mentioned baking for the first half in the dutch oven, as is The Rules, but putting the loaf into the oven outside of the dutch oven, rather than simply removing the lid, so I tried that. The loaf ended up much darker than previous at similar temperatures, I’ll continue this method. I generally bake in the upper middle section of the oven, as well, which I know I can play around with if I want, but haven’t yet.

Dough
250 g bread flour (King Arthur Brand Organic)
250 g whole wheat flour (King Arthur Brand Organic)
450 g h2o
90% hydration
10 g salt

Levain
10 g starter
50 g all purpose flour (Kirkland Brand Organic)
50 g water

What I did right:
I followed (some) of the things I’ve noted as errors, shill the dough before shaping, rest the dough after shaping it, try a soaker shooting entirely from the hip (I still haven’t read Peter Reinhardt instructions on how to do it properly but intend to), use wet hands and wet scraper when shaping, use flour for the final fold.
What I did wrong:
I still haven’t done everything I want to. I need to use a smaller piece of parchment instead of reusing one I’ve made cookies on that’s too big and impacts the final product. I need to buy disposable but I keep putting it off because I want to go in person to the spot instead of doing it online (blah blah blah). I’ve forgotten to add a spritz of water to the dutch oven when I first add the dough and bake top on. And I still can’t get big open air bubbles.
What I learned:
Even with 90% hydration, because of the soaker and the lower temperature, the dough was so much more workable. Previously I’ve been hesitant, for no real reason than ignorance, to start an auto-lyse long before I add the levain, but it seems maybe I was mistaken and can be a little more free with how long I let the auto-lyse run.