"Kenneth" > wrote in message
...
....
>>The cold start loaf is ALWAYS higher, and has larger evenly distributed
>>holes. The second loaf gets done about 5 minutes sooner. But it's always
>>a
>>bit smaller, and the interior structure always shows a top-weighted
>>(larger
>>at the top), asymmetric hole structure. And no, I've never found a flavor
>>difference between the loaves.
>
> Hi Dusty,
>
> Of course, you may be correct, but...
>
> What leads you to believe that it is the cold start that contributes
> to the difference? Might it not be that the second loaf has risen
> thirty minutes longer? Or said another way, might it not be that the
> slightly less fully proofed loaf has more spring available during the
> bake?

Hi Kenneth & all;

Of course, that's certainly possible--most anything "out of line" is
possible... But, I'd submit that it's probably not the reason. Being the
busybody that I am, my loaves get into the oven +/- 2-hours or more... You
know, stuff happens...sometimes I don't get back to the house and they rise
hours longer than I'd like, and other times I've got other things to do so
they get baked with less rise than I'd like... Truth be told, I've never
found all that much difference. As someone had pointed out, less final rise
seems to yield more oven spring. Although ever since I've begun using your
S&F technique, ALL of my loaves have blossomed beautifully during that final
rise and during baking...

I've had a few that were over or underbaked, and *that* IS noticeable! But
the rise time hasn't made much impact so far. OTOH; I've never let one go
to way, way, way overproof it, just to see what happens. That's probably
something I should do one of these days...just to observe a problem in
action.

At the moment I'm doing another iteration of one of my new sweetdough SD
breads. It's similar to the Schiacciata l'uva I made last week. But this
time I'm using milk instead of water, and I dumped the grapes in favor of
some beautiful, ripe black plums. I also dumped the ground anise seed for
some cinnamon & cloves. I'll let y'all know how it goes... It's still on
the final ferment, looking for a bit more loft before I hit it with the
heat...


Later all,
Dusty
San Jose, Ca.


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