Slow Bread

Notes from one home oven. Mostly failures, kept so they are not repeated.

Everything here is a single loaf at a time, in a domestic oven that runs about 15 °C cooler than it claims. Hydration is given as baker's percentage. Nothing is a recipe; these are records of what happened.

Recent bakes

Loaf	Hydration	Bulk	Result
Plain white, commercial yeast	68 %	3 h	good crumb
Overnight levain	75 %	12 h cold	flat
Rye, 30 % blend	72 %	4 h	dense, fine
Second attempt at levain	70 %	9 h cold	good
Semolina, seeded crust	66 %	3 h	burnt base

The flat one. Too much water for a starter that was not ready. The dough spread the moment it left the basket. A starter that has not doubled in four hours is not going to rescue a 75 % dough, whatever the schedule says.

Things that turned out to matter

Oven temperature, measured rather than trusted. Steam for the first ten minutes and none after. Letting the loaf cool completely before cutting, which is the hardest part and the one most often skipped here.

Flour changes more between bags than most adjustments change between bakes.

Things that turned out not to

The shape of the basket. The brand of salt. Scoring patterns, beyond one deep cut that actually opens.