- Joined
- May 21, 2019
- Messages
- 248
- Reaction score
- 125
Wahh-wahh. Sad trombone here. Yes, I made the attempt and was well aware I might fail...and, well, did. I actually suspected it was failing early on because it just didn't seem to be proofing during the four hours in the tub. And, of course, when I pulled it out of the refrigerator this morning and it didn't look like it has puffed up at all, that kinda gave me a clue. But I took it to the end simply to get used to the steps. And because I had this vain hope that maybe, just maybe it would pop up in the oven.
No such luck. I got something the shape of a flying saucer.
Where did it go wrong? Possibly my starter/levain wasn't strong enough. But I suspect that that the pre-shape and shaping were to blame. I honestly did follow the Perfect Loaf instructions to the letter. But pre-shaping and shaping tripped me up. Because his instructions don't include video—there is some video he has online of what to do, but he just quickly demonstrates with no audio to explain what he's doing or why. And watching other bread shaping videos didn't help much. There are so many variations. Some just use the bench scraper and hands to tuck away the dough into a ball for pre-shape. Others slap and fold then tuck into a ball for pre-shape. Then, for shaping, some say, "stretch it out and tuck up for shape," and others say, "no do the tuck and shape"....I'm really confused.
I suppose the biggest problem was that there was no one at my side to say: "You need to do more to this before you try to turn it into a round ball..." or "Go easy here, don't do too much..." Pre-shape and shaping is supposed to take 5 minutes each, but it certainly didn't go smoothly enough to be that fast. The dough was very wet and sticky, and the folding and such never seemed to transform it from a wet and sticky mass into that smooth elastic ball.
Back to the drawing board!
No such luck. I got something the shape of a flying saucer.
Where did it go wrong? Possibly my starter/levain wasn't strong enough. But I suspect that that the pre-shape and shaping were to blame. I honestly did follow the Perfect Loaf instructions to the letter. But pre-shaping and shaping tripped me up. Because his instructions don't include video—there is some video he has online of what to do, but he just quickly demonstrates with no audio to explain what he's doing or why. And watching other bread shaping videos didn't help much. There are so many variations. Some just use the bench scraper and hands to tuck away the dough into a ball for pre-shape. Others slap and fold then tuck into a ball for pre-shape. Then, for shaping, some say, "stretch it out and tuck up for shape," and others say, "no do the tuck and shape"....I'm really confused.
I suppose the biggest problem was that there was no one at my side to say: "You need to do more to this before you try to turn it into a round ball..." or "Go easy here, don't do too much..." Pre-shape and shaping is supposed to take 5 minutes each, but it certainly didn't go smoothly enough to be that fast. The dough was very wet and sticky, and the folding and such never seemed to transform it from a wet and sticky mass into that smooth elastic ball.
Back to the drawing board!