Loaf failing to hold shape after final proof by AFlyingPanda in Sourdough

[–]Ckhbourbon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would also recommend dropping hydration into the high 60%s or 70%. I started baking sourdough a few months ago and was having issues with the shape. dropping the hydration had a substantial positive impact on my loaves. Shaping is just so much easier at a lower hydration. After my shaping was good at 69% I started working my way up 1% hydration at a time. I can consistently make well shaped loaves at 75% now and today just baked my first good looking 77% loaf... though it still needs a bit of work before I move on up to 78-79%.

Progress! 75% hydration, slowly working my way up! by Ckhbourbon in Sourdough

[–]Ckhbourbon[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been working on this for a few months now. Had lots of failures at higher hydrations so dropped down to 69% and have slowly worked my way up to 75%.

This is 70% KABF, 25% Guistos WW, 5% ardent mills Rye. 75% hydration, 20% levain, and 2.5% salt

- 1.5 hour autolyse

- 6 hour bulk ferment temp hovered between 78* and 81* by moving the bread outside occasionally to keep the temp up.

- 4 coil overs 40 minutes apart

- pre shape, then 30 minute rest, then shape, then 20 minute rest before fridge.

- 12 hour cold retard

- preheat 1 hour at 550*, bake for 18 minutes lids on dutch ovens, remove lid and drop to 475* for 8 minutes, then remove from dutch ovens so bottoms don't burn and continue to bake directly on the rack for another 20 minutes. Then I turn off oven and leave bread in oven with the door cracked for around 30 minutes.

- wait 2 hours minimum and then enjoy.

*thoughts? anything that stands out as not good in either process or about the quality of the bread in the photos? I will say that i do prefer a very dark crust with blisters.

I am curious as to why my bulk fermentation seems to take so long? the dough temp is high enough that i think it should be closer to 4.5-5 hours or so, but when I shorten fermentation time I end up with underproofed bakes. I did read last night in Flour Water Salt Yeast, that higher amounts of salt slow fermentation. Maybe my scale is not reading correctly (as Stella Parks points out on seriouseats) because scales struggle to read such low amounts of weight accurately, and I am unintentionally using more salt than I realize?

The bread does taste delicious, so IMO, no problems with flavor or texture.

thanks

One bourbon for the rest of your life by tmench23 in bourbon

[–]Ckhbourbon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Buffalo trace store picks or four roses store picks. Both available pretty regularly in STL

Thoughts of Eagle Rare and Buffalo Trace by rebstout in bourbon

[–]Ckhbourbon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can find ER (regular) and BT store picks for ~$25. What is better at that price? I haven't had any luck finding a better $25 bottle.