On 2021-02-18 12:04 p.m., John Washington wrote:
> On Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 9:32:15 AM UTC-8, John Washington wrote:
>> On Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 7:54:40 AM UTC-8, Graham wrote:
>>> On 2021-02-18 6:04 a.m., Boron Elgar wrote:
>>>> On Wed, 17 Feb 2021 21:47:07 -0700, Graham > wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 2021-02-17 1:02 p.m., Boron Elgar wrote:
>>>>>> On Wed, 17 Feb 2021 16:49:07 -0300, Shadow > wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Wed, 17 Feb 2021 10:56:24 -0800 (PST), John Washington
>>>>>>> > wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Are blisters on the surface a good sign?
>>>>>>>> Toying with different conditions on maintaining starters and now my doughs result in huge bubbles and blisters throughout the surface.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A hint of what those "different conditions" are and a
>>>>>>> description of how you make your bread might help.
>>>>>>> []'s
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have always found that a cold ferment encourages blisters.
>>>>>>
>>>>> ISTR that although blisters are accepted, even welcomed on N.American
>>>>> sourdoughs, French bakers see them as a fault on their pan-au-levain
>>>>> equivalents.
>>>>
>>>> Bah! What do those Frenchies know?
>>>>
>>>> I am laughing, of course, but I do take it as a great success when I
>>>> get a well blistered surface.
>>>>
>>> I'd like to get a shiny surface like professionals seem to get all the time.
>> ...from just a natural bake? don't most of them coat their doughs with egg/milk mixtures to get a shiny surface?
> Also forgot to mention..really important....i also have noticed that while mixing my dough i'll see sporadic bubbles burst throughout the dough. It prevents me from kneading/folding because it will cause breaks in the dough. Is this the breaking down of the gluten structures?
>
I very much doubt it. You only get breakdown after a very extended
machine kneading.