I will be making this bread using the increased whole grain flour and increased fermentation temperature from now on. Interestingly, the flavor seemed more complex overall. Just as I had hoped and Josh predicted (see below), this second bake, with more rye and whole wheat and a higher fermentation temperature, was markedly more sour. The second loaf rested for about 8 hours before I sliced and tasted it. One of these loaves went to a friend whose Winter Solstice party we attended this evening. I went for a walk, and, when I came back. That took about 4.25 hours.Īnd here are photos of the second bake with increased WW and instant yeast: I bulk fermented at 76 dF and let the dough get to 2.5X the initial volume. (The levain contains 160g AP and 40g WW flours.) That is, the final dough flours were: 500g AP, 200g WW and 100g Rye. For that batch, I increased the WW to 24%, keeping the rye at 10%. I made another batch of pain de campagne dough, wanting to increase the whole grain proportion and also the flavor complexity and the sourdough tang. The flavor was less sour than I remember this bread being but quite nice. The fermentation times were just a tad longer than Forkish specified for the bulk fermentation, which could be due to my leaving out the instant yeast. I followed Forkish's procedure for mixing and stretch and folds, but I fermented the levain and the dough in my Brød & Taylor Proofing Box set at 72 dF. I modified the formula to 10% medium rye, 15% WW and 75% AP flour, and I left out the instant yeast for this bake. It is a pain au levain, but is spiked with instant yeast.

As given in the book, this is a mostly white bread with a bit of whole wheat.

So, I have begun revisiting some of Forkish's breads. Well, now it is Winter, and my Kitchen is about 68 dF. I figured it must be due to my warm Summer kitchen, which was in the mid- to high-70's (F). When I got Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast and started baking from it last Summer, I found the breads and pizza doughs to be delicious, but the fermentation times for both levains and doughs was very much shorter than what were given in the book.

Ken forkish bread book