More Bread Developments

Back in July I wrote about the worst loaf of bread I had ever baked.  It might not have been the very worst.  I have had some rye loaves turn out pretty badly, too.  But July's loaf was definitely a D- (at best).

I noted in July that "I might need to adjust the stones in my mill."  That was indeed the case.  My emmer grain is all gone for the moment, but ordinary white hard wheat was on the table for last week's bake.

I finally checked my Mockmill and found that it was indeed grinding coarse.  It had drifted to about setting 3 (1 is finest and should be calibrated to where the stones just barely touch when the mill is running empty).  I moved it back to 1 and was pretty pleased at the fineness of the grind.  It wasn't as powdery as some commercial whole wheat flours, but it was comparable to some (e.g., King Arthur red).  This was probably the finest whole wheat flour I have worked with in several months. 

It's still summer here, so the house was very warm.  In the overnight rise, the dough almost filled the bowl. That's usually not a good omen for the loftiness of the final loaf, so I was prepared to be disappointed.  I think I got the dough form a little misshapen when folding it over and getting it ready for the proofing basket.  During the second rise in the proofing basket, once the oven was warming, the loaf got a little more distorted. Normally there isn't much rise because I have cut the second time short to just the preheating time: about 25 minutes.  However, this time it did noticeably bulk up.

The final product was pretty good, if asymmetric.

As you can see, the rise is very decent and the crumb is okay (or at least as okay as it ever is with my efforts).  There will be substantial slice size variation, but I have long ago learned to be satisfied with asymmetry and sandwiches of all sizes.

I'll have to wait until the next baking session to see if this was just a serendipitous confluence of factors that can't be replicated or if it is something I can do going forward.

Update: the next baking session has come and gone, and the results were similar--a pretty good loaf.

This I can definitely work with.  The first rise was about 9 hours and the second, as normal, about 25 minutes.