Like most readers of this blog - I've been doing a lot of baking recently. I usually bake quite a bit, but with the global COVID-19 pandemic and associated shelter-in-place orders, I've had even more opportunities to bake and experiment.
Bakers Ratio - 72%
Though because baking is so popular now, there are shortages of flour I usually use. I'm keen on using %90 King Arthur Bread Flour (450g) and 10% King Arthur While Whole Wheat Flour (50g) at 72% hydration (360g of liquid, which is usually about 320g filtered water + 40g starter) plus 10g of salt.
Note: It's essential to vary the amount of starter and keep the total liquid portion to be 360g to maintain a bakers ratio of 72%. If my starter is very active, I will sometimes go as low as 5g or as high as 50g depending on various environmental conditions and timing.
Flour Types
While I had a large stockpile of KA Bread flour, it only lasted so long, and eventually, I had to find an available replacement. I settled on a 50lb bag of generic All-Purpose flour from Costco for $11.39.
To most people, these loaves look and taste great, but they aren't up to my standards.
Experimentation
While I usually don't like YouTube videos with numbers in the title ("top 10" or "10 tips", etc...) this video is a bit of an exception - he goes over a great way to experiment and visualize how to get the hydration right with the water and flour you are using.
Timing
Update on timing - I usually follow this schedule:
Friday morning - taking the starter out of the refrigerator to wake up.
Friday evening - 7 pm - mix the water, flour, salt, starter into a dough, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside on the counter. I also refresh the starter and leave out overnight.
Friday night - 11 pm (4 hours later) - Wet my hands and punch-down & rotate the dough ball, and then re-cover with plastic wrap.
Saturday morning - 8 am (9 hours later, 13h total))
- Carefully transfer the proofed dough onto a floured surface, divide into the desired number of loaves (I usually do two) and gently shape.
- Note: My sourdough starter is very active, so adding only 40g (and sometimes less) means my dough is very airy and filled with CO2 filled gluten pockets.
- Place the dough on parchment paper and place that in a cold dutch oven, cover with the lid, and set aside.
- Turn on the oven to preheat at 500-550F.
Saturday morning - 8:30 am (~20 minutes after shaping, pretty much when the oven is done preheating)
- Remove the lid from the dutch oven, score the loaf with a lame, put the lid back on and place the dutch oven in the preheated oven.
- If necessary, lower oven temperature to 500F.
Saturday morning - 9:12 am (42 minutes after placing in the oven)
- Carefully remove the very hot lid from the top of the dutch oven with oven gloves and get a feel for how browned the crust is.
Saturday morning - 9:22 am (10 minutes after removing the lid, about 52 total minutes of baking time)
- Check that the crust is sufficiently browned and then carefully remove and place on a wire rack to cool.
Saturday morning - 11:30 am (about 2 hours after removing from the oven)
- Cut & enjoy!
Bake some bread! 😃
- Matt
Posts
