Breadliest Catch
I have so much white flour, I decided to add some to this loaf, making what Ken Forkish refers to as a “field blend”, which in this case means white flour, bread flour, and whole wheat.
I mixed the flours and added warm water (~95°) then auto-lysed the dough for two hours. Again, kept the dough in the oven, turning it on occasionally to keep the temperature in the 80s, the dough was bubbly within about 8 hours, when I turned the loaf. I let it rest for 20 minutes before folding, and let the final prove run at room temperature for an hour. I turned the oven to 550° to heat the dutch oven, then butchered the top of the loaf with a dull razor blade and baked it, 25 minutes top on, 30 minutes top off, I should have dusted a little to show the caramelization better.
Dough
200 g bread flour (King Arthur Brand Organic)
200 g whole wheat flour (King Arthur Brand Organic)
100 g white flour (Kirkland Brand Organic)
400 g h2o
80% hydration
10 g salt
Levain
10 g starter
50 g all purpose flour (Kirkland Brand Organic)
50 g h2o
What I did right:
I didn’t fear the dough, I kept the soft scraper wet when shaping the dough and let it sit for 20 minutes post shaping under a bowl.
What I did wrong:
I baked a loaf that doesn’t look great, I added too much flour to the top of the dough when putting it in the banneton so it finished baking covered in a dusting of flour, nor did slice it well with the razor, and I give the dough time to rest in the fridge before baking.
What I learned:
A lot of what I’ve worked on is habit, and trying to develop good habits, the habits I have developed have me regularly producing good tasting bread with decently open, if regular, crumb. I need to work on the last leg of the race, my shaping, folding, scoring, adding a little spray of water to increase the humidity in the oven, so that my finished product looks better.