Again, again!

The recipe:

2 c. WW flour
1 ¼ c. water
mixed together and let soak in the fridge overnight

1 c. WW flour
1 c. King Arthur white bread flour
¾ c. water (71ish degrees)
1 2/3 tsp. salt
1 1/3 tsp. yeast

So, obviously I changed the flour to be ¾ WW and ¼ white bread. Also, I microwaved the soaker until it was about 71 degrees, and added a half cup more water and a tiny bit more yeast. The amount of water seems exorbitant, but it might be necessary for the hydration of the wheat. Even after the first kneading, there’s a huge difference. The dough is more pliable (my shoulders don’t hurt quite so much) and the gluten looks happier already. I think it really likes being above room temperature.

This time, I put the bowl with the dough in the oven to rise, after I had let the oven warm up to about 150 degrees and then shut it off. It worked great! My mom brought to my attention that our kitchen is very drafty and can get randomly cold, which I don't think the dough liked much at all. So this time, it rose very well, in much less time than I expected (I thought it would take maybe 3 hours, but I think I shaped it after about 2). I tried a new shaping technique I had learned at work, but because the counter is so high for me, I wasn't able to be as gentle with it as I should have been. Then I put the loaves in their couches and put them in the oven.

They were looking really promising; a nice squishy bounce to the dough after just an hour. Then Mom took them out of the oven to cook dinner, which had the double effect of changing their temperature and keeping them from baking for another hour (dinner was delicious, though!). Though they looked really great right before I flipped them onto the peel, as soon as they were on a flat surface, they began to fall, and didn't rise much in the oven. So, though these loaves were distinctly less brick-like than the last batch, they were still pretty dense. I would speculate a few reasons for this:

1) Too-tight shaping
2) Too much yeast
3) A combination of too high a proofing temperature and too long a proofing time, leading the loaves to overproof and fall at a crucial moment.

So next time it'll be back to 1 1/4 tsp. yeast, as well as either a cooler proofing temperature or a shorter proofing time.