Finally a loaf I’m proud of (thanks to figuring out bulk fermentation)

I’ve been trying to make a decent loaf for 6 months now – the results were passable, but pretty much every loaf was a bit flat, the ear would dissapear during baking and crumb was quite tight. And I think I’ve finally found what I was doing wrong previously.

I’ve posted here about a month ago and got lots of helpful feedback (albeit confusing at times – some were saying my load was over-fermented, some that it was under etc). But the underlying bit of advice was to experiment.

So I decided to measure my dough temp and base the bulk fermentation on that – it’s cold where I am at the moment, so my dough was only 20°C. I left it to bulk ferment for 12 hours, then shaped, threw in a banneton and into a fridge for 2 hours just to firm it up (previously I’d only bulk ferment for 6 hrs and leave it in the fridge overnight once shaped). The result is my best loaf so far – the crumb is slightly inconsistent due to dodgy shaping, but otherwise the ear is pronounced, I got a good oven spring and the crumb is great despite being inconsistent.

The recipe is roughly as follows:

350g strong white bread flour
50g whole wheat flour
280g water
80 g mature starter
12 g salt

Mix it all together, leave for an hour. Then 4 stretches and folds with 30 mins in between each. Left to bulk ferment overnight (about 9 hrs).
Pre shape in the morning, leave for 30 mins.
Shape, put in the banneton and in the fridge for 2 hrs.
Bake at 235° C in a pre-heated Dutch oven for 20 mins with a lid on, followed by further 25 minutes with the lid off.