January 14, 2011 - 8:18pm
Good oven spring but then some "oven shrinkage"
Like others I have been trying to perfect my baguettes, I use the KA recipe although my last attempt got good oven spring (I was even worried they'd touch each other on the 3 baguette pan) but after complete baking (before cooling) they had shrunk down quite a bit. Consequently the crumb was tighter than I'd prefer. I thought maybe I'd overproofed them but wouldn't that result in a poor oven spring? Also in the spirit of full disclosure, I didn't do a very good job in scoring the loafs, but I don't want to open that whole scoring discussion right now (unless you feel that was an issue). Does anybody have an idea what would cause that spring than shrinkage?
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sounds like your loaves overproofed, and then collapsed mid-bake because it couldn't handle the amount of expansion.
yy,
Can an overproofed loaf still get good oven spring?
when they come out of the oven and cool down. (That's why many of us try to take their picture before they're cold! Lol)
Too much gluten will cause excessive shrinking and so will overworking the dough. If the scoring is not opening up the dough to expand, then it could also be an issue with a tight crumb. Let's see... then there could be overproofing and underproofing or a cold oven, not enough steam in the first 10 minutes. The more info you give, the easier it is. You could tell us the hydration or just show us a crumb shot. Or... look up a blog with a long history of tweaking a baguette formula. Use the search box and type in: baguette journey KA fluffy and see what turns up. (or change fluffy to dense or too heavy or include all those words.)
Mini,
Thanks however the shrinkage occurred while in the oven, not upon cooling. I'll do some more searching here with your suggestions, but as of yet I haven't come across this same problem.
It would be overproofed then, or allowed to rise too long before baking. The only way to save it is to pull it out of the oven before it starts to bake and reshape & tighten the surface of the dough, giving it a very short rise (shorter than the last one) and bake.
If it helps, there is a trick, save a small ball of dough and let it rise in a tall schnapps glass. First press it flat, mark it and when it reaches the "doubled" mark, you are pretty close to baking it.
Cause of spring then shrink in the oven? Steam stretching the dough too far and then escaping from the loaf instead of being trapped while the crust sets. You want to get the dough into the oven sooner.
Mini, Thanks. I also appreciate the trick (it gives me another excuse to pull out my Schnaaps!)
I have got a batch rising as we speak.
I've had the same experience the original poster described which I attributed to overproofing.
Does a small piece of dough rise quicker than loaf? I always have trouble guessing when the loaf has proofed dough has doubled.