On Feb 16, 6:35 am, "Monte" > wrote:
> I'm relatively new to the bread making process and while I think I'm
> improving, I'm not sure how far, how fast and don't really know where
> I'm headed.

The wine scale you mentioned is highly suspect. Get 10 people in a
room and see how far the scores for one bottle range. (seasoned wine
drinkers are even worse) Or try three to five wines and get 10 people
to rank them <g>. It's all over the board. What I think is 88 and you
think is 80 doesn't change the wine.

Samartha and Mike Avery (google them) both have good spreadsheets.
Easy to use and easy to print. They are good for recording materials
like flour, water, stater. If you add a few words about fermenting
time, temperature, and dough handling you'd have a comprehensive log.
Take a picture and you have a complimentary visual statement.

My guess is that you are having more variability with temperature than
you realize. This affects flavor. If you read Jeffrey Hamelman's book
you'll see how comprehensive the process can be. He controls the water
temperature, the flour temperature, the dough temperature...
Temperature is taken before and after mixing... It's pretty eye-
opening. Of course... in his world as a professional baker he's got 20
breads going and each has a specific appointment with the oven. So his
dough-to-oven windows are very precise. You don't have to go that
far... but a look at his formulas should help you understand how
intricate things really are.

You might find that a bit of temperature management helps you in the
flavor department. My starter makes different bread at 60 F than it
does at 80 F. It makes better bread retarded at 50 F. overnight and
pushed to 80 F for the final proof. At least my wife says so <g>.