74
My first loaf
(thelemmy.club)
My very first loaf. It is very crunchy, but kinda too dense.
Im in a very low humidity zone, I believe I let it dry out while it was in the fridge. Also next time I'll cut deeper.
It's made out of unbleached all purpose, 500-350-100.
Very nice! Well done.
A little hard to tell from the crumb (looks like there is a line of larger bubbles), so my instinct is that it could ferment for a little bit longer, and that will make it less dense.
Yes, there is a row of couple big bubbles.
I will try to give it more time, I was doing 30 mins mix just water - 1 hour rest - and 3 more hours for stretch and fold, then shaped it and left it in the fridge for about 16 hours.
Would you let it rest more outside of the fridge, begore forming it?
I'm also thinking trying to mix the water with the starter first, so it actually gets evenly mixed in.
All good questions!
The most important thing is how strong the starter is and the number of hours that the dough can have at a temperature in between 22 and 27 degrees C (71-80F). It is at those temperatures that your starter can be active and do what needs to be done to raise your dough.
If your kitchen is cold or your starter is new and not very capable yet, then perhaps three hours at room temperature may not be enough. A lot of people measure things like how much the dough has increased in volume as a way to assess if it had enough fermentation time, and that is what I would recommend: looking for the dough to double, even if it would take say six hours if your kitchen was cold.
Thank you for the pointers! I will look for the size next time!