I decided that I’d try scaling up my bake and try four loaves instead of my normal two. I’ve a friend that wanted me to bring some bread to an event. As I think about this I’m always asking myself “What has to be true for THAT to be true?”
It started with me making 2x my normal batch of leaven.
I also decided to also pay close attention to temps since it is now cooler in my home now that it is fall. The first thing was to put my leaven into the proving box set to 82°F. I added tape to monitor growth by time and temp.
A couple of hours into the process I began my autolyse. My flour temp was 72°F so I aimed at the high 80’s fir my water temp. I microwaved my water to bring it to 89°F and, once mixed my dough read 81°F.
My leaven more than doubled in 5 hours it read 89°F when I took it out of the proving box. The microbes were hungry and working up a sweat!
I follow led my normal process of mixing in the leaven, waiting 39 mins then adding my salt. The only change being that I kept the tub in my proving box.
It took longer than I expected to have the dough bulk to double in volume … especially since I kept the temp at 82°F. It would have taken much longer at the ambient temp of my kitchen today.
I divided out 4 x 840g pieces of dough and preshaped.
After 15 minutes I did my final shaping, coated in rice flour and put them into their bannetons.
The loaves are in the fridge to rest overnight. My Dutch Ovens are in my stove and set to preheat tomorrow morning.
Baking tomorrow… we’ll see how it goes!
Baked By Bear Sourdough 