I've been baking sourdough breads for about 8 months now, and I'm having trouble getting a nice fluffy bread. I've had lots of success with denser breads perfect for grilled cheese sandwiches and toast, but haven't been able to get a nice fluffy loaf.
Any tips or insight?? I thought maybe it was due to not kneading enough, but I recently bought a KitchenAid and let it work the dough quite a bit, but no change in texture....
Thanks!
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Replies
Hi Anonymous,
i would suggest without knowing all the details, that you may not be allowing your loaf to prove long enough. i also use the kitchenaid to mix it and then i leave it overnight to prove and bake first thing in the morning. this has proved highly successful in getting a wonderful rise and texture.
alternatively - how lively is your starter? perhaps give it a feed - this can often improve the quality of the bread.
good luck
Hi,
Thanks for the response (sorry, "Anonymous" is me.
I typically pull my starter out of the fridge the day before baking my bread and use the majority of it in English muffins or pizza dough to use it up prior to starting bread dough. I feed it about 4 hours before using it to make the sponge (typically around 9 pm on day 1), and let it sit covered on the counter overnight. Around 8 am, i usually knead in the flour, let it sit for 30 mins, then add in the salt and about a tablespoon of olive oil. I let it proof in the mixing bowl for 4-6 hours, then shape it into the loaf pan. In the pan, it prooves again for another 4 hours, then I bake it in a steamy oven until hollow and a nice crust.
I've included a pic of my most recent loaf. It had a great flavour (just a slight tang) but it was still a little more dense than I would have liked.
Liesl
Hi there,
First, it depends on what you consider to be 'ideal', 'light,' 'fluffy', bread. If you mean the sort of thing that you buy sliced and wrapped in plastic at the supermarket then many would argue that you are striving for the wrong thing.
Anyway, it will depend greatly on the recipe that you are using and the procedures that you follow can also have an influence. Fairly obviously, lightness will depend on the amount of gas that is trapped in the dough during proving and baking and this will depend on the quantity of gas producing beasties present but it is also influenced by the amount of liquids (mainly water) present and their volatility. The openness of the crumb is affected by how well developed the dough is and, in my experience, by the energy that goes into the kneading process. The softness of the crumb will be affected also by the amount of water present but also by other additives such as milk, butter and oils. The crispness and thickness of the crust is affected by humidity in the oven, oven temperature and baking time.
So, perhaps if you can give more information about your 'ideal', your current recults (pictures would be good), your recipe and your method it might be possible to be more specific about what you can do to move in the direction that you seek.
Good luck with your projects.
Farinam
Hi Farinam,
I'm really striving for a nice, soft sandwich bread. The majority of the loaves I've made have had good flavor (slight tang but not overwhelming), but the texture has been off. They've made some good grilled cheese sandwiches and toast, but after the first day, the texture seems almost stale or dried out.
A friend and I adapted this recipe from http://treadingmyownpath.com
White Sandwich Bread
Sponge:
80-93 g starter culture
230g white unbleached bread flour
290-300 g filtered water
Mix and let ferment overnight
Dough:
Fermented sponge (see previous step)
275g white unbleached bread flour
11g salt
10 g olive oil
10 g honey
Knead flour into sponge for 5 minutes. Let sit for 10 (do this 4 times). Add in the salt, oil and honey and knead for another few minutes. Allow to proof in mixing bowl for 4 hours. When doubled in size, shape into a greased loaf pan and allow to proof 6 hours (I let it proof in refrigerator for 4 hours, then pulled it out and allowed to rise the last 2 at room temp (74 degrees F).
Slash then immediately bake in a steamy oven at 495 F for 25 minutes, lower temp to 395, remove steam tray and bake for 10 minutes. Shut off oven and leave the bread in there for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven, let sit for 2 minutes, and then remove from the loaf pan to a cooling rack, and allow to cool before slicing.
My baguettes are another story, but my friends ate all 3 loaves before I had a chance to document it... For now I'll settle on nailing down this loaf.
Thank you,
Liesl
Hello Liesl,
It could be that you are not giving it enough proving after you tin it. For one, the time in the fridge you can probably didvide by four to get bench top equivalent and then your benchtop time could easily be divided by two because of the time to come to room temperature so you are maybe only giving it the equivalent of two hours of proving time.
For two, you have an enriched dough (oil and sugar) and enriched doughs can need longer proving times than plain doughs.
So, my inclination would be to make the loaf again and give it the whole proving time on the bench. Provided that your recipe size is well suited to the size of your tin, the dough should be able to rise until the top skin reaches the edge of the tin without running the risk of over-proving. Alternatively, try to become familiar with the 'poke' test to judge when to go for the bake. Once you are happy with the result it will be OK just to go by sight.
Actually, don't be afraid to let one over-prove just so that you know what it looks like and what happens in this situation.
Good luck with your projects.
Farinam