The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Asiago Loaves results- good and bad

Carol Cuevas's picture
Carol Cuevas

Asiago Loaves results- good and bad

In my introduction to The Fresh Loaf, I described my history of bread making, in that moving to the Deep South from West Virginia negatively effected my bread making. Here are the results of Asiago Loaves using a biga in my kitchen in Mississippi.

Proofer: Old, crappy oven. Maintained a temperature of 77.4F (25.22C) using both manual and digital thermometers....I blew it on humidity because I forgot to add hot water to the oven and didn't record it from the digital thermometer.

Biga : Proofed for 21 hours--had a very spongy consistency that produced a very stretchy and somewhat sticky dough. Excellent aroma.

Bulk Rise: 2 1/2 hours with 2 stretch and fold sets after the first and second hours.

Final Rise: 45 minutes.

Bake: 450F (232.2C) for 22 minutes.

Results:

Negative--Not what I intended. I wanted a flatter bread that could produce bread sticks and hot soft croutons. What I got were actual loaves. The dough domed up during the bake way more than I expected.....I would have liked the crumb to be more open.

Positive.--- My husband loved the bread. I loved the bread. The crust is chewy and the bread spongy and flavorful. We made muffaletta sandwiches with it.

Suggestions welcomed.

culinarick's picture
culinarick

One option is to use more flour to reduce the airiness of the dough. The crumb of the loaves becomes more open due to a higher amount of yeast or leavening agent