Basics: 20% Rye, 30% AP White, 60% Baker's Field bread flour (with germ). 80% hydration. 7 hour levain countertop, 80 degree day (wasn't ready at 6 hrs). Bulk rise 5 hours with coil folds almost every half hour.16 hour refrigerated final proof. Scored and baked cold.
Thoughts: Best bake day in a while. (Yesterday - I am not quite so cruel as to fill my house with bread the day before fasting for Yom Kippur, but almost.) As per previous posts I had been pushing the limits on how loosey goosey I could get and still turn out good bread, and kind of hit a limit, though also I think I hit a flour I didn't know how to work with.
Here I went back to 20 rather than 30% rye, have been feeding and using my starter more regularly, went back to some basic AP white as my third flour rather than (for now) turkey red heritage. And the weather has cooled, and I did the bulk rise at room temp and the final proof in the fridge - vs. recent one day bakes, where my scoring on warm loaves is not up to snuff. I also turned the oven down a bit from 500 after the bottoms had been burning a bit more than I like and bakes maybe a bit dryAnyway - really nice flavor and crumb just how I like it. I don't like the holes too big - butter falls through. But some of my recent bakes were dense, and even tough (the last one). This tears lovely and is chewy, and has a nicely sour but gentle flavor - part of the reason I'd started experimenting with using more starter, longer fermented levains, longer proofs etc. was that using Tartine method I was not getting as much of a sour flavor as I like, so this is just right. I gave one loaf away, sliced the rest - most of which is going in the freezer till we need it.
Oh, and I almost forgot, first time using my new plastic bin for bulk rise, in which I can see what's going on but more importantly can fit all four loaves in one bulk instead of my two biggest bowls. This will be especially useful come winter when I sometimes do the bulk in a heated upstairs closet, and this will save me a trip.
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