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Good dough + good dough
= better dough

This week we have an interesting thought experiment: what if you had two bread recipes you loved and wanted to make a new recipe using these two as a base?

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Sort of like a fifty-fifty recipe that takes the great things about these two recipes and mashes them into a new recipe that's sure to please.

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The premise is this:

At first glance, this might seem obvious. But it's worth investigating a bit more to gain insight into how ingredients, baker's percentages, and the interplay between them all work.

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This week, I also revisited a delicious banana tea cake and made a loaf of my Pane Siciliano encrusted with white sesame. I can't think of a better collection of deliciousness.

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In this week's newsletter:

• Guide: How to make your own bread recipe by combining two favorites
• Recipe: Bread baker's date and banana tea cake
• Recipe: Pane siciliano
• Baking Question: I baked a disc!?
• Links: An inside look at an Italian restaurant and Britain's bread "problem"

🍞 How To Make Your Own Bread Recipe By Combining Two Favorites

Andrew's latest at TPL is a thought experiment on combining multiple doughs into a single dough. The interesting bit is that if you already know the ideal hydrations for these doughs, you can also quickly calculate the ideal hydration for the new dough—without trial and error.

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🍞 Bread Baker's Date and Banana Tea Cake

Beautifully moist, rich (but not too rich), and wholesome, this whole-grain banana tea cake is a quick loaf that's both satisfying and easy to whip together.

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🍞 Pane Siciliano

I made this Pane Siciliano again recently with some new durum I have in the kitchen, and it just reaffirmed my love for this wonderful grain. Yes, the bread's interior is tighter than other grains, but that's precisely why I love it—it's all about the flavor and texture!

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BTW, this bread makes incredible sandwiches, but also, as I recently discovered, pretty mean French toast too.

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💬 Member Discussion of the Week

Usually, spreading in the oven when scoring is a sign of under-strengthened or over-hydrated dough (or a combination of both, as they are related). If you find you’re still getting significant spreading, try adding another set or two of stretch and folds during bulk fermentation (or you can knead the dough a bit before bulk begins, check out my guide to the slap and fold kneading technique). If that doesn’t help, reduce the dough's hydration by 2-5% to increase strength.

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Finally, it’s also possible your dough is overproofing, leading to a breakdown and excessive spread in the oven. If your dough felt strong and you shaped it tightly, try pulling back that final proof time a few hours (if you’re cold-proofing) to see if that helps. If it does, continue to dial in that proof time until you have a strong dough when baking.

👋🏼 Join the membership

Support The Perfect Loaf and get baking discounts and tools designed to help you become a better sourdough baker.

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🛟 2 Ways I Can Help You Today

• If you throw out lots of sourdough starter, keep a sourdough starter cache in the fridge instead!
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• Summer is coming. Warming temps are just around the corner. Review best practices for baking bread in the late spring/summer.

📙 What I'm Reading and Watching

• ​How a Master Italian Chef Runs an Elite Restaurant | On The Line (Bon Appétit​, YouTube). I love pasta almost as much as I love bread, and this is a great look behind the scenes at one of Chef Funke's restaurants.
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• ​Britain’s bitter bread battle: what a £5 sourdough loaf tells us about health, wealth and class (The Guardian)

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Until next week, happy baking!

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Maurizio Leo