Scaling Down

[Willy]

I'm thinking of trying to make some loaves at half weight--half of Chef Jacob's sour dough boule, that is. Will this have an effect on overall bake time? Any other unexpected consequences?

[scottranda]

Breadhead Has all the answers. But, Yes. Likely.

[MBMorgan]

It'll almost certainly bake faster ... but since you're cooking to color and IT (195 F) you shouldn't have any issues.

[Willy]

Breadhead The trouble is I'm not sure what cook time to expect for a half-sized loaf (620 grams).

[Breadhead]

Willy... do this. Preheat your oven, baking stone and the bowl to 500°. All stoves are different but that will take 45 to 60 minutes. Put your boule on the stone, cover it with the bowl and leave it on for 15 minutes. Remove the bowl and turn you oven down to 460°. Cook to color.

[Willy]

Breadhead Sounds like a plan--thanks.

[RonB]

I bake to color, but I do insert a probe in everything. If it gets much above 200*, I'll take it out before it reaches the right color, but that doesn't happen very often. You could raise the temp just a bit to get good color faster.

[Breadhead]

Ron... I've cooked to as much as 210° to get the color I want... it doesn't affect the crumb hardly at all. To me... the crust is more important than the crumb, just because I find the crumb does not make a noticeable change from 203° to 210°. A hard crispy crust is glorious.👍 A crust that you have to scrape off of the dinner table because every time you bite into it small pieces of the crust fall on the table...😜

[RonB]

Breadhead - I'll have to remember that if I'm not getting the color I want. I worry about the crumb drying out.

[Breadhead]

If... you haven't over fermented/proofed your dough and depleted ALL of the sugar content you will get the color you want baking at 500°. If there's no sugar left... your loaf will NEVER brown. They call that a blond loaf. The crumb will not dry out after the crust hardens! The steam can't escape.😎

[Willy]

Regarding the proper temp—like I said I bake strictly to color and it’s working out fine—nice shattering crust. Early on, I did probe the loaves just for the info (they were always around 200°F), but, I’m kinda in Chef Jacob’s camp on this. There’s just something unseemly about poking a hole in a fresh loaf. I’ll also note that, best I can tell, neither Reinhart or Forkish take temps either.

BTW, I weighed my last finished loaf. Starting out at 1240 grams it ended up at 970 grams.

[Breadhead]

All beginning bread makers are grasping for information, I was one too. How long to cook? How do I know when it's done? How do I know when it's ready to bake? You like most of us figured it out. I don't bother checking the IT of my loves anymore either. The weight loss is the steam.

[Willy]

Thinking about bread temps—if someone is at higher elevation, I’d guess ("guess" being the operative word) that it’d be harder—take longer--to get the internal temp as high as someone who cooks at sea level since the water turns to steam at a lower temp higher up and is then lost to evaporation. For fun, I’m going to do a loaf soon and I’ll seriously over-bake it, noting temps, crust color, and weight vs time. It won't be edible, but it might be educational.

[Breadhead]

Guys with MBMBS need to recruit friends, family and neighbors that appreciate great bread. Once you have that affliction you can't possibly eat all the bread you make.😎

[Willy]

Breadhead: I likely won't do as much as you have done, but I'm having fun AND enjoying excellent bread. The first loaf I gave away got this response back to my wife in the form of text: "OMG!!! This bread!" (I don't text--LOL). I was, needless to say, pleased.

[Breadhead]

It is a great honor when someone really loves your bread. Most people have never had the pleasure of tasting real Artisan bread that has no shelf life extenders and other gunk in it and they usually are quite surprised.