Yes I know…it took me some time to get our #brotokoll Open Crumb Series kicked off. But step by step we made it and ended up with a great toolkit with a lot of hints and tricks for a proper sourdough handling.
Everything startet with The Sourdough Librarian Karl De Smedt, who showed us the worlwide unique sourdough library and the huge variety of available sourdoughs.
Open Crumb
Next was Open Crumb Master Trevor J. Wilson with a deep dive into the hunt after Open Crumb bread and insights from his Open Crumb Mastery.
Dough Strength
Kristen, better known as @fullproofbaking on Instagram´, joined us for a talk about dough strengthening methods, like an extreme stretch & fold variation: the lamination.
Tutorial
At the end, it was a whole tutorial – from the start with the right flour choice until the final shaping of your dough: HERE is everything you need to know and might help you for your personal Open crumb ride.
The first recipe
The first recipe of my Open crumb series is no CRIME Story. It is a FINE one. Definitely a story, as it took me quite a couple of weeks with baking trials and (of course) errors. And, as I absolutely love Kaffir lime leaves: here its is…our Lime Story…
Lime story
You absolutely have to try this – the amazing lime flavor which will be developed from the autolyse until the final loaf of bread is absolutely divine. The flours? Breadflour (high protein level), Swiss dark flour und Khorasan . You are seeking the extra crunch? Use Semolina Rimacinata for flouring your working surface and the bannetons.
Sourdough – Timetable
As most of you are maintaining your starters in the fridge for a couple of days during the week, it is extremely important that your sourdough is fed 3-4 times, before builidng the levain (the last feeding) for your planned bake. Those feedings will reduce the acid load and will increase your starter’s activity level. Have a look at the Tutorial-Video.
For the feedings, just work with very small quantities of flour and the according ratios of starter (the sourdough you have stored, or the amount resulting from the stages of the timetable-example shown below) flour and water. All produced discards can be perfectly used for making flavorful Fleur de Levain. HERE is the instruction guide.
Example (ratios):
Friday morning: 1:3:3 (4g starter: 12g flour: 12g water)
Friday noon/afternoon: 1:5:5 (2g from previous stage: 10g flour: 10g water)
Friday evening: 1:10:10 (2g from previous stage : 20g flour : 20g water)
Saturday morning: LEVAIN: 1:2:2 (previous stage : flour: water) – total amount as indicated in the recipe below
This example shall show you the way how you may plan your feedings. Observe your sourdough – and try to estimate the time it needs to rise until it’s peak at a certain feeding ratio. On your baking day, you’ll use your levain on the young side (4-5 hours young at its peak). This favors both, open crumb and ovenspring.
Go for it!
Ready, set crumb! Are you ready for an Open Crumb adventure?
It is all here – and remember (quoting Trevor J. Wilson): the passion for Open Crumb is like dogs chasing after cars. If the car is parked – where stays the funny part??
Happy baking and a thrilling Open crumb trip here on #brotokoll!
By the way: For even more tipps, tricks and recipes, join me in one of my upcoming workshops! Check out my #brotokoll workshops overview.
- 228 g Breadflour available at bongu.de
- 28 g Swiss dark flour available at bongu.de
- 28 g Khorasan flour alternatively: Semolina Rimacinata - available at bongu.de
- 58 g Levain
- 206 g Water cold
- 1 handful Kaffir lime leaves chopped; alternatively: lime zest
- 7 g Salt
- 5 g olive oil
TA (Hydration) 176 (76%) Ingredients
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Use your levain at an age of 4 to max. 4,5 hours (let it rise at an ambient temperature of 25 degrees Celsius).
I highly recommend using the same flour for building the levain, as you are using it for your usual sourdough feeding.
28g Swiss dark flour
28g Khorasan flour (alternatively: Semolina Rimacinata)
210g Water (cold)
1 handful Kaffir lime-leaves, chopped
Mix all the flour with the indicated amount of water and the chopped lime leaves and let the dough rest well covered for 2-3 hours at room-temperature (Autolyse).
58g Levain
7g Salt
5g Olive oil
Add your levain to the autolyse dough and mix it by hand for 5-10 minutes (follow the instruction-video in the basics-section: Basics | Open Crumb - Sourdough Series | Kneading). Cover the dough and let it rest for 20-30 minutes. Now add the salt and (after a minute) the olive oil and knead another 2-3 minutes. Put the dough into a greased container and let it rest well covered for 1 hour at an ambient temperature of 25 degrees (the temperature should stay at that level during the whole bulk fermentation).
The indicated recipe quantities are for 1 loaf of 560g.
Do you have specific questions or issues? Contact me via the contact form. I am happy to help you.
4 comments
Hello,
Thank you for amazing blog and site. Many tips… thx a lot 🙂
Last weekend I baked this bread but with few modifications:
28 g Swiss dark flour___I used wholemeal rye 2000
28 g Khorasan flour alternatively: Semolina Rimacinata – I used spelled flour 450
58 g Levain
206 g Water cold
4h autolyse
15h in fridge
Bread looks awsome but when i cuted, half bread has nice big holes another one fine-grained crumb.
Can you explain me where i made fault? I havn’t a lot of experience in baking bread but i try be good 🙂
Greetings from Cracow in Poland
Dominik
Hi Dominik! Thanks a lot for your feedback – very appreciate it! Well it sounds your always on half the way to your goal ;-)) for me it sounds like the loaf was underproofed – that’s why you ended up with a denser crumb as from a certain point. You could also send me a pic of the bread via mail. How long did you leave it at room temp (final proof) before you retarded in the fridge? Regards from Vienna, Austria, Alex