Flour, water, salt, yeast#

SLOP3422 · the plain tin loaf

Flour is 100 %#

The column sums to 167.7 %. That is not an error — flour is the ruler, not the whole.

Gluten is two proteins and some water#

• glutenin — strength and elasticity
• gliadin — extensibility, the ability to flow rather than snap

Dry flour has neither doing anything. Water hydrates them, mixing links them into a network. Bakers’ flour carries 11.5–13 % protein; plain flour around 9 %.

Hydration is the dial#

• 55 % — stiff, tight crumb, hard work by hand
• 65 % — handles cleanly, even crumb, this week
• 80 % — slack, open, sticky, and week 3’s entire problem

The straight dough#

mix → bulk 90 min at 24 °C → shape → proof 50 min → bake 230 °C

Every method after this week is a deviation from that line. Week 6 lengthens the ferment, week 9 adds fat and egg, week 10 folds butter through it.

Oven spring stops when the starch sets#

• gas expands, water flashes to steam, yeast makes a last burst and dies
• from around 60 °C the starch gelatinises, the gluten sets, growth stops
• a hollow knock means the crumb is set and the walls are rigid

Three ways it fails#

• under-mixed — the dough tears instead of stretching thin
• over-proofed — the loaf collapses the moment it is scored
• oven too cool — pale, leathery crust, no colour to taste