Please help me improve my 100% sourdough rye bread - "gumminess" and top of loaf caving downwards
Greetings everyone. I am a novice 100% sourdough rye bread baker and hope to gain some insight from those more experienced on how to improve. I have benefited from reading some other posts and appreciate the knowledge here. I am wondering in particular where I can improve on the shape, as the top of the loaves cave in quite a significant amount, and also the internal gumminess. Any other feedback certainly is welcome though.
I am baking with very well seasoned Lodge cast iron loaf pans and my starter varies but for the most part seems to be great - sometimes it has a sort of champagne and fruity smell; it is pleasant. I use only 100% organic whole “wren’s abruzzi” dark rye flour for both the starter and the bake. It is also worth mentioning I do not measure ingredients at all - it is more fun this way! I feel like I get to “know” my starter and get a better feel for the process when I don’t measure. Also I prefer intuitive methods and it just feels more “earthy” to do it this way. I am stubborn and can’t be convinced otherwise so that one’s off of the table ;-) Anyway, pictures follow, but here is the recipe/procedure I have been working with.
Ingredients: rye flour, sourdough starter I keep and feed, local spring water (so good here in Alaska), maple syrup, ceylon cinnamon, and sea salt.
To feed starter and get the process going: in a stainless steel bowl, mix very roughly by volume 1 part starter to 1 part flour and then slowly add room temperature water while hand mixing until it seems to be the correct consistency. I pay attention to the ratios and outcome so each time I bake I can improve the consistency of the dough by trying to understand how the ratios of flour, starter and water work together. Let sit on top of fridge loosely covered with a cutting board for 4 hours. (Feeding my starter everyday, I have played around a lot with what ratios seem to work depending on the condition of the starter, although I am still learning and improving.)
Mix more flour into the bowl with a similar ratio and then slowly add room temperature water while hand mixing. Again, let sit loosely covered, this time for 3 hours. (For this particular bake, I believe I added too much water - not runny, but I don’t think the dough was nearly firm enough. I’m wondering if this is the ultimate factor in the gumminess/caving in… Also, I think I should have given it another hour on this second ferment?)
Grease cast iron pans generously with goat milk butter and then flour. Mix in some organic maple syrup, salt and ceylon cinnamon until well combined. Pour into pans until ⅔ full about. Turn on oven to 500F with cast iron skillet at the bottom filled with boiling water. Wait 1 hour. (This time, after 1 hour my starter didn’t rise the final third to the top of the pan, maybe I should have waited longer? Or perhaps too much water again was the issue?)
Place in oven and bake for 10 minutes at 500F, and then drop temperature to 300F and bake for another 2 hours.
Flip out of cast iron pan and place on cooling rack. Brush tops and sides of loaves with goat milk butter. Let rest for 36-48 hours minimum before slicing. (Upon removing from the oven the internal temperature was about 210F with a meat thermometer this time.)
Although initially I thought I may have needed to bake longer than this because of the lower oven temperature, I think I am cooking them long enough because of the internal temperature… This was my first time trying a longer bake time at a lower temperature as before I would bake at 350F-365F. Maybe I need to play around with the first and second ferment times some? I have consistenly had the tops of my loaves collapse so this is nothing new with this variation. Same with gumminess.
This is also only my second attempt using cast iron as before this I was using just regular non-stick loaf pans. I seasoned these pans each 5 times and the loaves slip right out, no problem. I don’t think I’d ever go back to those thin loaf pans.
Finally, I can be slow to respond since I do not have internet (or running water believe it or not) at my cabin out here in Alaska. The pictures also are not going to be very good quality either as I do not have a smartphone or camera - just my webcam on a 10 year old Chromebook. I like to live simply. Warm wishes to you all.