Given that my first attempt at this bread lacked the volume that I was aiming for I wanted to take a second crack at it while the dough was fresh in my mind.
When I mention volume in the context of a finished loaf, I am not referring to the doughs growth during bulk fermentation, but rather the burst of growth which happens in the first few minutes of loading a bread into the oven, known as oven spring. Proper oven spring can be the result of many variables, and can be thwarted by even one of them. A lively (or not) yeast culture, good gluten development during mixing and folding, enough tension during shaping, correct timing for the bench proofing, proper slashing of the loaf, heat of the oven, and the presence of steam all play a part. So when I wanted to correct my earlier mistakes I went through this list based on the bread I had made:
Yeast- I am using commercial yeast and the bread is developing at a decent clip, so that's probably not the cause.
Mixing- I have noticed my doughs feeling somewhat slack when it came time for shaping which points heavily to me not developing the gluten well enough during the mixing and folding.
Shaping- Most of the time I worked at the bakery I was responsible for shaping bread so I can pretty safely rule this out as the culprit
proof time- I followed the timings as listed in the the formula
Slashing- The slightly sticky nature of the dough had caused the bisecting of the Fendu loaf to re-seal, so that was a problem.
Heat of the oven - While this could have been an issue, my oven has been fairly consistent, and I load it with enough pizza stones to ensure it doesn't fluctuate too excessively temperature wise.
Steam- I can safely say I am getting better steam now than I ever have in the past home bakes thanks to my new contraption so this can be ruled out as well.
The end result of this parse: I decided to increase the mix time by 50% and add a second bench cutting between the second and third times in the mixer, and when it came time to shape I would flour the bisected loaf more heavily to ensure the slash opened when baked.
I did manage to get better gluten development, and for what it's worth this made working with the bread easier from dividing through shaping. Thanks to my handy dandy note-taking I was able to maintain as many aspects of the bake as possible. Today was a good deal colder than Sunday and as such I had to use a warmer water / potato temperature, but I managed to pretty much hit the mark on final temp. And apart from the addition of thyme and roasted garlic, the other stats were nigh identical. Yet, in the end I still wound up with a Fendu loaf which more or less refused to budge in the oven, only splitting slightly more than attempt one. Here are the pictures of the loaf and the crumb:
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So the culprit remains at large, but we have checked off a few more names from the list. Looking back through the earlier check list I suspect that the prime offender is the bench proof time in between shaping and the oven. In reference to this step in baking Hamelman has this to say:
"Just as we fall onto our noses if we lean over 100 percent, so too will the loaves tend to collapse if they receive a full 100 percent proofing before the bake. It is difficult to quantify with unvarying certainty the perfect degree of rise, since there are so many variables involved; however, 85 to 90 percent rising is a fair approximation to begin with. With careful and consistent observation of each bread, the baker's eyes and hands will soon learn the parameters that work best."
And there we hit upon the real challenge presented by this finding. The goal of this project is to make a bunch of different doughs which I have not made before, and my lack of experience with each dough will impact my ability to decide whether or not said dough is properly proofed. To address this I will be dividing the next few breads I make into 3 loaves and baking them at intervals at and around the prescribed proofing time. For example if the proof time is 1:30 , I will bake one loaf at 1:10, one at 1:30, and one at 1:50. I promise to take pictures so you can learn along with me.
Here are the details from the bake:
Room Temp: 66.6
Water Temp: 93.6
Flour Temp: 66.2 (WW) & 66.3 (BF)
Preferment Temp: 69.5
Potato Temp: 104
Final Temp: 74.9
Autolyse: 20 min
Mix: 3 minutes on speed 2, followed by cut on bench, followed by 3 minutes on speed 2, followed by cut on bench, followed by 3 minutes on speed 3, finished with incorporation of garlic and thyme
Bulk Fermentation: 1.5 hours with one fold at 20 minutes and one at 55
Bench Proof: shape, 20 minute rest, shape, 90 minutes (15 extra to account for cooler room temp)
Bake: ~35 minutes @ 450 degrees
Steam: 1/2 cup plus misting
Thanks for reading!
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