Hydration and the open crumb#
SLOP3422 · ciabatta
Eight points past the baguette#
| Hydration | What the dough does |
|---|---|
| 55% | stiff, tight crumb, hard work |
| 65% | holds a ball, takes a seam, week 1 |
| 70% | rolls to 45 cm without snapping, week 2 |
| 78% | flows to fill the tub, this week |
| 85% | a batter with ambitions |
Same four ingredients. Different substance.
Slack is the point#
Dilute gluten stretches further before it tears. Thin bubble walls are what an open crumb is made of.
A stiff dough cannot produce this crumb at any fermentation length.
You cannot knead soup#
- no resistance to work against
- twenty minutes of slapping develops almost nothing
- a coil fold takes ten seconds and stretches the whole mass
Four folds, thirty minutes apart. The waiting does as much as the folding.
The holes are gas you already made#
Bulk fermentation produces them. Shaping only decides whether you keep them.
Overnight arrives already fermented#
- poolish — 100% hydration, pours into the mix, flavour and extensibility
- biga — 50% hydration, slower, more acid, the Italian habit
About 40% of your flour turns up pre-fermented either way.
Wet hands, floured bench#
Dough sticks to dry skin and to bare wood. Water on your hands, flour on the bench, a plastic scraper for everything else.
Tip the tub out. Do not pull the dough.
Cut and dimple#
Straight down with the bench knife. No punch, no pre-shape, no seam.
The rectangle is the shape the dough was already in. Fingertips only, and only on a piece domed enough to bake unevenly.
Three ways it fails#
- puddle — no folds, spreads to 15 mm, bakes flat
- tight crumb — degassed at shaping, holes thrown away
- gummy centre — pulled at 90 °C, the middle never finished setting