07/04/07

Flour test- Harvest King flour -Round 2

Last week's test was a flop as I had added too much water to the flour and this time round, I decided to see how the flour will perform with a sourdough starter. I used my standard sourdough recipe with 70% hydration. The starter was built up in 2 stages and constituted 30% in baker's percentages.

After mixing, the dough was refrigerated. When I returned from work this evening, the dough was folded twice, shaped and proofed for an hour.

This time round, I opted for moderation in all my processes. I am currently having a re-think on my processes which I believe is contributing to a thick hard crust as well as a tough crumb. This is totally un-acceptable to local palettes. All this has set me thinking about the possibility that I was building up too much strength into the dough. I was reminded of what Hamelman said about bakers overdoing the steaming just because they have spend tens of thousands of dollars on their swanky ovens. Thinking back, I have been a bit trigger happy about pressing the steam button.

The result was a golden crust and since the loaves are still too hot to cut, I do not know how the crumb will turn out. However, the crust felt softer than normal.

I cut the loaf this morning, the crumb texture of the baguette was pretty good. There was a slight tang with a rich flavor. This was comparable to the breads made from my regular flour.

The baguette crumb was pretty good.