There was one idea that bothered me: if the flour was the problem, how come that French bakers achieved so gorgeous baguettes and bread? Could it have been that I was wrong in my assumption?
This was enough to motivate me to learn more, to find out if the culprit was maybe my lack of knowledge and practice. And I was right on both aspects: the flour was the culprit but also my limited skills.
I started by understanding the science behind bread baking focusing on one single type of flour. Then I looked for how to work with flour in my advantage.
The next step was to try different types of flours as additions to my bread and here things got more complicated. That is because each type of flour has slightly different properties than wheat flour. But by knowing how wheat flour behaves, you get a term of reference and all the flours you test will be always compared to wheat flour.
There is also another test to do. If you add 40% flour different flour from wheat the influence of that flour is substantial but you still get the properties of wheat flour to help you. To fully understand how one specific flour behaves you need to test the extreme: make bread of 100% special flour. Then you'll get the experience and you'll easily understand how it works.
Concretely, I reached this recipe by performing 4 attempts.
The first attempt
Spelt flour, compared to wheat flour:
- does not work well in the very hydrated dough
- it is very extensible
- it has a low % of gluten while high protein content.
- it has a weak gluten quality
- it rises quickly and over proofs at a lower volume increase
For this initial attempt, I tested first the recipe at 75% hydration (meaning 730g water). I performed 4 coil folds, shaped the bread at 50% volume increase but let the dough rise up until 75% before the overnight fridge retard.
The results:
- even with 4 coil folds, the structure was a challenge
- the hydration was too high and I've got a very wet dough feeling when shaping.
- 75% volume increase looked over-proofed
- the loaves were flat
- despite the above, the taste was fantastic
You can watch short videos of this attempt at https://www.instagram.com/p/CSP95fID6ej/
The second attempt
With the previous experience, I learned that the hydration had to go lower, as well as the volume increase. So, instead of 75% hydration, I jumped down to 70% and the dough behaved nicely in my hands. Also, the structure was easier to build.
For the percentage of volume increase, I stepped down and shaped the dough when it was at 50%. Then, it went in the fridge overnight, after 15
minutes of resting in bannetons at room temperature.
On this first loaf of the 2nd attempt, I simply forgot to sprinkle flour before scoring. Not really a big deal, it is more a matter of look.
But the surprise came when removing the lid at mid bake: a gorgeous detachment of the ear. Usually, an exaggerated ear is a sign of "it could have fermented longer". In any case, the look was outstanding and I was
very happy with it.
My joy was however short because it lasted just up until cutting the loaf.
The crumb look confirmed my inner fear that the loaf was under proofed. And in a serious way. A dense crumb with big holes looking like a chain of
caves/tunnels is the proof of under proofing.
Another lesson learned: while dropping the hydration was a good idea,
dropping the volume increase during bulk at the same time, was not.
The second loaf of the 2nd attempt of the 40% spelt bread was a little different than the first loaf. Why? Well, because sometimes little changes
can make a big difference.
First of all, for this 2nd loaf, I did not forget the flour before scoring and the pattern was more visible. Besides the look, this loaf does not have
the signs of an under proofed loaf: no exaggerated ear and no dense crumb
with tunnels, although the 2 loaves come from the exact same batch of
dough, the timing and steps being exactly the same. But the crumb and look
was different.
Let me ask you something: if I get such differences for 2 loaves of the same batch of dough, do you still wonder when you follow a recipe, why you
get something totally different than what the author shows you?
The mystery of the difference between the 2 loaves of this bake is simple.
When I put the bannetons in the fridge, my fridge was full. I rearranged the things and managed to put the bannetons one in the back and one in front on the same shelf of the fridge. But during the summer, opening the door of the fridge for a few seconds is enough for the temp to rise inside. Then, it takes a while for the temp to stabilise again to the setting of the fridge. If one of the bannetons is in front, the dough will get a higher and unstable temperature than the one in the back. Useless to say that if you place the bannetons on 2 different shelves you might get significant differences between them.
While in the fridge, the dough continues to rise until arriving in the fridge temp. It takes actually a few hours for this cooling process. But if
the fridge temperature goes up and down every time you open the fridge, the process takes even more time and the dough continues its rise.
So practically, my shaped dough was under proofed. The one in the banneton
in the back of the fridge had a less fluctuating temp and preserved the under the proofed stage while the one in front passed to a good fermentation
stage.
You can watch short videos of this attempt at
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSSkABmjtzb/ and https://www.instagram.com/p/CSXnKX1D0K1/The third attempt
As you may notice, the result was a lovely risen bread, with an impressive height. The ear in this case was less dramatically opened because the dough
expanded to a good state internally during the proofing stage rather than in
the oven and had very little power to push the ear up.
The second loaf (not in these photos) was flatter with a less height than this
one, making me think that passed a bit on the over-proofed side.
Without even seeing the crumb, I could have easily guessed that this bread had
an open crumb inside and I caught to bake it in the very last moments before
starting to collapse.
Oh, yes, this is what you can call an open crumb bread. The loaf is super
light in your hands and you can guess even without cutting it that you get
an airy crumb.
For a round loaf (well... my bannetons were actually squared but during baking, the round shape was quickly established) this is quite a nice crumb.
Usually, you get more chances of an open crumb using oval bannetons rather than round/squared.
If my target was just the open crumb, then I would have stopped here with the recipe development. I love open crumb bread but I also know that this is a risky business. You need to extend the fermentation to the maximum and catch the dough at the very right moment to get it like this. The first loaf was great but I cannot say the same with the second one from the batch. It was flatter and less open crumb than the first one, although still a lovely loaf. What was the difference? Well, could have stayed more closer to the door of the fridge and it fermented faster. I
would have then preferred to stay more on the safe side. I tried this bread at 50% volume rise and it was under proofed. At 75%, it was to the over-proofed limit. A perfect bread should have been fermented somewhere in the middle.
But yes, this loaf is fantastic. Not for sandwiches but suits so well a bowl
of soup.
You can watch short videos of this attempt at
The fourth attempt (this recipe)
With my second attempt at this recipe, I saw that a 50% volume increase was not enough and bread turn out under proofed. With my 3rd attempt, I saw that
75% was at the limit of collapsing due to over proofing. I've learned my lesson and I had only to ferment it in a range of 50-75%. I picked 65%, but this may be a matter of preference. I
wanted an open crumb (not a super open crumb) and I've got it. Spelt dough reaches the over proofing stage faster than wheat flour so then I had to find the sweet spot.
The photos and videos are speaking by themselves. There are some things though that the camera cannot get: the taste and flavour. I can tell you about them
but it won't be the same as if you would taste it by yourself.
The flavour... ah... travelling in time is the best description. Travelling somewhere in the medieval world in a countryside bakery. The taste is a
little nutty and sweet due to the spelt flour. Not convinced yet? Go to the kitchen and make this recipe...
Ingredients: (70% hydration)
-
180 g sourdough starter (100% hydration)
The starter was refreshed the evening before with:- 12g mother sourdough starter
- 84g water
- 34g spelt flour
- 50g strong wheat flour
- 600g strong wheat flour (14% proteins)
- 400g spelt flour
- 673g water
- 20g salt
Directions:
- [Day 1, Saturday, 8:30] Scaling. Start by scaling the ingredients using a balance and put them on the table to ensure that nothing is forgotten.
- Mix water + flours. Mix the flours with water until well combined. Do not knead at this stage, just ensure there is no unincorporated dry flour resting in the bowl and that's it. Leave the dough at rest for 1 hour.
- [Day 1, Saturday, 9:30] Sourdough starter. Add the starter over the dough and mix with a standing mixer for 10 minutes using a slow speed. After mixing, let the dough relax for 1 hour in the bread proofer at 25ºC.
- [Day 1, Saturday, 10:30] Salt. Add the salt and mix for 5 minutes at a slow speed. Let it rest for 1 hour.
- [Day 1 Saturday, 11:30] Divide and Stretch and Fold. Take the dough out of the bowl put it on the slightly wet table board and divide it into 2. Stretch and fold each piece on the board and place them in squared glass bowls. Let them sit covered for 45 minutes.
- [Day 1, Saturday, 12:15] Lamination. Take each piece out of the bowl and do the lamination. Let the dough rest covered for 45 minutes.
- [Day 1, Saturday, 13:00] Coil fold 1. Start now a set of 3 coil folds performed straight in the bowls. Do the first coil fold set in each glass bowl and let them sit for 45 minutes.
- [Day 1, Saturday, 13:45] Coil fold 2. Do a second set of coil folds in the glass bowls and let them sit for 45 minutes. Volume rise at 35% in the aliquot jar.
- [Day 1, Saturday, 14:30] Coil fold 3. Do a third set of coil folds for each dough and let them sit for 1 hour. Volume rise at 50% in the aliquot jar.
- [Day 1, Saturday, 15:30] Shape the loaves on the lightly floured board. By this time, the dough in the aliquot jar indicated a 65% volume increase. Place the dough face down into floured bannetons. Repeat the process for the second piece of dough. Place the bannetons in the fridge overnight.
-
[Day 2, Sunday, 9:30] Score. Before scoring, you need to preheat the oven at 230ºC. I baked these loaves in a wood-fired oven but in a classical oven, you should follow basically the same temperature. Inside the oven, I also preheat 2 Dutch ovens.
Take the dough out of the fridge and reverse the banneton on parchment paper. Score and decorate the bread as you like. Immediately after, slide the loaves in the hot Dutch ovens. I also place a small ice cube inside to create even more steam. - Bake at 230ºC for 15 minutes with the lid on. After, remove the lid and continue to bake for 25 minutes.
- [Day 2 Sunday, 10:10] Cool. The bread needs to cool for at least 2 hours until it reaches room temperature. The cooking process continues slowly even after taking the bread out of the oven, so this is why it is important to not skip this step and to resist cutting it too early. If you can, of course...
- [Day 2, Sunday, 12:10] Cut. Now is the big moment to enjoy a slice of bread...
4 comments:
400 gr organic whole wheat flour? And where is the spelt flour?
You are perfectly right! I noticed this mistake and corrected, but you were quicker than me in noticing it. It is not whole wheat is spelt, please see the correction above. Thank you very much for paying attention!
Hi.
I thought I had posted a message a few weeks ago, with question regarding the visible signs of fermentation one should be careful to, and also congratulating you for your work and photos. It was in french, I don't know if it's why it doesn't appear anymore?
Dear Fabrizio,
Somehow this comment did not arrive to me. French should not be an issue and more than this, I speak French :) Could you please repost them?
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