Four dense loaves before I got the water right

I threw out four loaves last Tuesday. They came out of the oven looking right and weighed like doorstops.

Protein flour drinks more water than the bread flour it replaces, and I had been running my old hydration number out of habit. The dough came together stiff every time. Stiff dough traps less gas, the crumb closes up, and the slice goes heavy.

Batch five got an extra 60 grams of water on the same flour weight. The dough went slack enough that my hand went to the flour bin, and putting that flour back would have walked me into the same dense loaf.

I left it alone. It rose, the crumb opened, and a slice tears like bread instead of crumbling like a bar.

13gof protein in one 60 g slice off Thursday's loaf. Most places quote you a number without telling you the slice.

Thursday's bake is six of them, seeded on top. Pickup in Carthage, 4 to 6. One oven, so six is six.