I think it only has ascorbic acid added as a dough strengthening agent but no enzymes (they have written it strangely on their bags)
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Ooh, is the 85% hydration like a ciabatta or something? How did it turn out?
No, just rustic sourdough bread. It’s really tough to build sufficient strength that it doesn’t just flop. Fermenting conditions have to be just right as well. Maybe i’m exagerating and it was 80.
here’s one guy i trust on the matter
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Okay, I’m back at it again. Based on feedback from y’all, I’m trying to build more gluten strength.
I decided to try the rubaud method of mixing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgz0oAhgwyg). 10 mins of mixing, 5 min rest, 5 mins more of mixing. My arm is very sore. But this is promising:
I have a relatively coherent dough. This is often what it looks like after my folds. But, this time around, I haven’t started my folds yet! Bwahahahaha. Wish me luck.
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Nice! Good luck!
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Amazing!
Gorgeous! Love the branch on the side.
I had to manhandle the dough after the bench pre-shaping and bench rest to get it to form a ball. But it’s actually DID form a fairly taut ball, which is sadly not the usual case. Still, I doubt it’ll stand up as well as yours does. What’s the hydration on that? And how did the finish loaf look???
Edit: just stuck my dough into the oven after an 18 hr fridge proof. It didn’t spread out TOO much, and it actually seemed to open up where I scored it (which, again, doesn’t happy too often for m). I’m cautiously optimistic…
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Well done!!! This one was around 73% but lots of strong flour added , and whole grain which need more water. Looked great. Didn’t get a pic
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It’s still baking, but there wasn’t much oven spring at all. 
But, unlike my other disappointments from late last yr, the shape is otherwise nice, the dough burst open at the seam, and there’s a ton of air bubbles on the top surfac. So I’m hoping that this will still have a decent crumb inside and be good to eat.
I think I’ll try more folds and a more conventional fridge proof (ie., 8 hrs instead of 18) next time…
Edit:
I’m using a clay “hearth” baker now, and bread seems to be bake faster… Quite a bit darker than I like.
After the 18-hr fridge proof:
I’ll cut into it in a few hrs or tomorrow morning.
I think I am on the right track now, though.
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Interior shot:
I know sounds like damning w/ faint praise, but this was not a disaster. Crumb is moist and not gummy or dense (despite cooling for “only” 3 hrs), the crust is considerably thinner than any of my other attempts and is really tasty. Both partner and I went in for seconds. 
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What flour are you using ?
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Old World bread flour + KA bread flour.
The starter is AP flour.
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Great job. That’s a nice baking vessel there! it’s what I need .
Wonder what’s giving you that pretzel like crust look
To add to that, I’m still not sure why my boules aren’t getting the lift they used to get (b/c I got more lift even previously while not doing much kneading and still w/ the long fridge ferment). Starter seems quite vigorous when I fed it, but maybe it needed even more feeding (it had been in the fridge for months and only fed starting a few days prior to use).
While the Old World bread is > 1 yr old, I’m pretty sure I bought a new bag of KA flour late last yr (when I was doing my holiday baking).
I’ll continue to tinker to see what’s going on.
First time using it. I wanted something lighter than the dutch oven (and it’s MUCH lighter) and where the loading part is more shallow.
The packing had the longest continuous piece of padding I’ve ever seen (red line shows the outline of the original box):
I don’t know why the crust looks so different, either. Aside from the Rubaud mixing, so change in any of the ingredients or technique. Bread is so weird…
I am wondering if it is worth adding some gluten to your dough. Normally there should be enough from your flours but you don’t get great oven spring yet
That’s not enough of a feeding schedule for the starter to remain strong. It shows active when feeding, sure but i dont think it has the strength when scaling up in bulking. I twice a week and bake once a week.
kneading, proofing discipline, shaping technique, timing of all the steps all play a part in oven spring.
between your kneading and putting it in the fridge did your dough have several hours and rise at least 50%? if yes that should’ve had enough proofing time, hopefully didn’t overproof (dont let it double).
but it looks good, bread is bread and it’s fun to keep trying to get it better.
is that clay vessel able to sufficiently preheat? you do need a level of temp to get oven spring… and dough going from cold to hot.
Perhaps. But I got great spring one time when I tried all KA bread flour (and reduced the hydration). But then not much at all another time when I used KA bread flour. So I’m thinking it might be more of a “me” thing. But at least time time the texture was WAY better than the loaves last yr.
Is there some sort of basic guideline for how much gluten to try to add?
Oh, I hadn’t considered that activity during feeding might not be enough to scale up. I’ll feed the starter more regularly for the next one to see what happens. Certainly wouldn’t hurt.
But I did get a ~50% rise 5 hrs after finishing the last fold. But do you mean after the kneading or the folding (since the folding itself takes a few hrs)?
I hadn’t even thought of that. I pre-heated the way I usually do for a dutch oven (sticking it in a cold oven and then waiting an additional 45 mins after the oven hits 490 deg b/f plopping in the dough). Does clay pre-heat different than cast iron???
I’m really sensitive to temp and normally I feel like my face is kind of on fire when I pull the dutch oven out. Don’t recall the same sensation w/ the clay hearth. So maybe it didn’t hit the right temp…
Would I use an IR thermometer to test the temp? I think we have one…
i just meant total bulk. including the folds… i’m just making sure it proofed enough so it increased but not doubled.
from watching the vid on that clay baker site a half hour preheat is good enough…i think i want to buy one of their long bakers thanks to your post
In at least one of the YouTube vids from Trevor J. Wilson (I posted his Rubaud mixing above), he seems to go straight from last fold to fridge proof (and did a 24-hr one!). So maybe I am actualy overproofing since, if you’re talking total bulk, my dough is probably doubling… Hmmm…