More experimentation

Firstly, I'm pleased to say that the loaf I baked in the previous post didn't have any flying crust. The crust did shrink a little but it was still attached to the crumb and nice and soft, just not very even.

Over the last couple of weeks since my last post I have continued to bake bread trying out different ideas. I have managed some success and one failure. Three ideas I have been trying are to use potato water (that's just water used to boil potatoes), proving with less yeast at room temperature instead of the fridge and kneading in a different way. This is the use of three very short kneads over half an hour instead of a continuous 10 minute knead. It's the technique championed by Dan Lepard and used in his sour cream sandwich loaf (see my earlier post):

• After mixing the dough in the bowl, cover and leave for 10 minutes.
• Turn the dough out on to an oiled work surface and knead for 10 seconds. I think in practice I do it for longer.
• Cover and leave for 10 minutes.
• Knead for another 10s, cover and leave for 10 minutes.
• Do one more knead. So that's three kneads over 30 minutes.
• Clean out the bowl and put the dough back in and cover. (I use oiled clingfilm but you can also use a plastic bag or a floured cloth).
• Leave for at least an hour. I usually leave overnight or till the next evening (about 20 hours).

The failure was a 100% wholemeal brick. I used potato water and half the flour to make a sponge which was left for about 24 hours. I then added the flour and salt and left it for another 20 hours before shaping for the tin. It didn't rise in the tin and didn't spring in the oven. Although a nice taste it is just too heavy and so it will be blitzed in the food processor and given to the birds. I didn't add any sugar and I suspect the yeast ran out of food over the very long proving time. I thought the potato water would provide food but that's starch and not sugar.

The great success was 100% white bread. For the liquid I mixed a small amount of fat-free Greek yogurt (just what was left in the pot) and potato water and then made it up to the full amount with full-fat milk. I made two large loaves with 1200g flour and 720g liquid - about 500g of this was the potato water. I used about 4g of dry yeast and kneaded as described above. I left it overnight. Over this period I had to knock the dough down in the bowl a couple of times - the milk probably provided enough sugar for the yeast. I divided the dough in two and shaped each piece just by flattening it and then tightly rolling. I cooked the loaves for about 30 minutes at 200C. One loaf had risen by more than the other and it also sprang up in the oven quite well. So high temperatures and steam don't seem to be necessary for oven spring.

Last night's bread was for two large loaves as follows:

• 900g wholemeal bread flour
• 500g white bread flour
• 930g liquid (about half and half potato water and tap water)
• 15g salt
• 20g light brown sugar
• 4g yeast

Three quick kneads and in the bowl at room temperature until the next evening. The dough rose very well and had to be knocked down several times. Divided into two tins and left to prove. Baked at 200C for 35 minutes with the last 5 out of the tin. Reasonably successful but I would change a few things:

• Less liquid. The dough was a bit slack and so when it rose in the tin it spilled down the side instead of going up. This is a similar amount of liquid I have used before so perhaps the potato water affects this.
• More salt. I decreased the salt but probably by too much as it tastes a bit bland. Probably should have used 20g.
• Less yeast. Having to knock the dough down in the bowl several times shows there was plenty. Another option would be to put the dough in the fridge overnight but then leave it at room temperature during the day before baking in the evening.
• Knead the traditional way. I want to see if this makes a difference but I would need to compare two identical recipes for this to be valid.
• Bake at a higher temperature. The loaves are a bit pale and the crust is a bit thick. This may change after a day or two but I think going back to a higher temperature and cooking for less time would help this. At high temperatures I find the loaf looks burnt but isn't.

Variations

I have repeated my previous recipe a couple of times but with some variations. The first was to bake it at 200C for 40 minutes with the last 10 of those out of the tin. This was very similar to the previous except the crust was not as brown.

The other was to omit the sour cream and to increase the water to 465g. This rose a bit more in the fridge overnight and then again during the day. However, the rise in the tin, while OK, was not nearly as spectacular as with the sour cream. It seems as if the sour cream is not doing so much in the fridge and then putting in lots of effort in the tin. This was also baked at 200C. You can't tell from the photo but I am concerned that this may have a flying crust.

More sour cream

I added sour cream to one of my normal recipes:

400g wholemeal strong flour
300g white strong flour
125g sour cream
340g (approx) warm water
10g light brown sugar
7g dry yeast
10g salt

I mixed the sour cream, water, sugar, yeast and salt together first and then added the flour. I adjusted the exact amount of water to get the dough to the right consistency. I kneaded it in the normal way for 10 minutes or so.

The overnight rise was ok but not amazing, although the fridge does seem to be colder at the moment (2C instead of 4C). I knocked it down and put it back. The following evening it didn't seem to have risen much so I was not too hopeful.

I left the bread to rise in the loaf tin for longer than normal - about 2 hours at 30C followed by 1 hour at room temperature. The bread rose spectacularly in this time. I was worried it may have over proved.

In the oven at 260C with steam for 10 minutes there was no oven spring - in fact it shrank a little. The top was quite brown so it was down to 200C for 15 minutes plus 5 more out of the tin.

The loaf is a day old and the crust has shrunk a little. It is now much softer than when baked - it is not burnt

No flying crust, despite my fears

A lovely crumb - very soft

Sour cream sandwich bread

I made Dan Lepard's Sour cream sandwich bread and it rose nicely with some oven spring although still not a huge amount. Even though the recipe uses 550g flour compared to my normal 700g it ended up taller than my loaf recipe although using 100% white flour must help. The sour cream may be the secret ingredient though and I will have to try adding it to my bread to see if it helps.

Too much salt and yeast

I managed to scale some of the ingredients for the bread incorrectly. I previously made two loaves with 500g of flour each. For my new, larger tin, I need 700g of flour. I should have scaled the recipe from 1000g down to 700g but instead I scaled up from 500g to 700g so, although I got the water right, I managed to use twice the amount of salt and yeast.

The recipe should be:
400g wholemeal strong flour
300g white strong flour
465g water
10g salt
7g yeast

I made the loaf again with the right ingredients and again it was good.

The dough stretched out to about three times the length of the tin.

The dough folded for the tin.

The dough patted down before rolling.

The dough in the tin before proving.

The dough nicely risen before going in the oven.

The baked loaf just out of the oven.

You can see where the loaf has sprung in the oven just above the tin line.

Nice crumb.

Success

Overnight the dough rose a decent amount so I knocked it back and put it back in the fridge. This evening it had risen again so I shaped it and put it in the greased and floured loaf tin. I followed the shaping process at breadsecrets.com where the dough is stretched out to three times the length of the tin, folded back twice and then rolled up.

After an hour and a half the dough had risen to the top of the tin. I preheated the oven to 275C with the grill pan. Once the oven was nice and hot I poured boiling water into the grill pan and then waited a minute. Sprayed the bread with water and then into the oven. After 10 minutes, grill pan out and temperature down to 220C. After 15 minutes I took the loaf out of the tin and put it back in for a final 10 minutes.

There was some oven spring but not a huge amount but it least the loaf hadn't shrunk like before.

So what was different this time:

• Making enough dough for the size of tin so it didn't overprove.
• Getting the right hydration. Instead of just putting in a fixed amount of water I put in enough to make the dough feel right - not too dry and not too wet and sticky.
• Simple recipe - I suspect the oil may have not done the gluten any good. Certainly the dough felt much better this time.
• Shaped the dough differently.
• I put boiling water into the grill pan a minute before the loaf went in.

Back to basics

I've decided to try some radical changes to see if I can make a better loaf.

The first is to increase the amount of dough I make. This is because my new tin is bigger than I had been using. It seems there is no such thing as a standard 2lb loaf tin. So, instead of using 500g flour, I am now using 700g.

The second is to return to a wholemeal/white mix rather than the oaty white that I am a bit bored of.

Finally, I am trying the most basic bread recipe possible - just flour, yeast, salt and water. No oil, sugar or vitamin C.

Here is what I have tried tonight:

400g wholemeal (Doves Farm strong wholemeal bread flour)
300g white (Waitrose Organic strong white bread flour)
465g water (this came from a cooled kettle so it was not warm but not as cold as tap water)
21g salt (Saxa table salt)
14g yeast (Doves Farm Quick Yeast)

The precise salt and yeast amounts were just the same baker's percentage as I always use.
I started with 450g water but added more as the dough was very dry. I suspect that other wholemeal flours might need even more water based on previous experience of Doves Farm wholemeal. I didn't use warm water as the dough went straight in the fridge. Slowing the rise down doesn't seem to be a problem when I won't be baking until tomorrow night.

I kneaded the dough in the usual way. It was less sticky than usual, probably due to the lack of oil. After about 12 minutes I was very happy with the windowpane test - it was much better than I have ever seen, even with white flour. Hopefully this is a good sign.

We will have to wait and see how the dough does overnight.