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hard crumb and crust when toast french toast

yummybaking's picture
yummybaking

hard crumb and crust when toast french toast

 

hello,

 

newbie need some hint!

 

i made a simple french toast, with bread four, yeast, and salt, and water only.

the hydration rate is about 70%.

when it came out from oven, it looks fine.

even 24 hours later, it still ok.

 

when i tried to toast a slice(i mean, cut into slices, and put it into toaster), then the problem emerge,  the crumb and crust is noticable harder than the toast i bought from grocery store.

is it because i didn't add oil/butter to dough, or it is the proble with the baking procedure?

is there any other way to improve it?  i mean besides add oil/butter.

make things easier,i upload the pics

 

in a  sealed box for 24 hours

 

 

cut into slices

 

 

just out of toaster

 

 

thanks!

flournwater's picture
flournwater

I am intrigued.  "French toast" in kitchen parlance of my experience describes a slice of bread dipped an egg based batter and fried; often with spices added.  You describe making a loaf of french toast and that has me stymied.

Could you help me better understand what it is you're making?

Stale bread can be revived by heating it to about 140 degrees to gelatinize the starches so having a bread dry out in the toaster, unless it's left in there too long, further confuses my little brain.

yummybaking's picture
yummybaking

i am doing a plain french white bread, using flour, water, salt, yeast only, nothing else.

 

 

Donkey_hot's picture
Donkey_hot

Would be nice to see a formula... 

flournwater's picture
flournwater

Without a great deal of factual data to work with (formula used, dough handling and fermentation process, baking temperature, internal temperature of finished loaf and how it was cooled) it's difficult to analyze your issue with a high degree of confidence.  However, it is my best guess that the bread was overbaked.  Can you tell us what the internal temperature was when the loaf left the oven?

yummybaking's picture
yummybaking

the internal temperature is about 208 when it is out of oven.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

The toast dried out in the toaster, the edges got hard and that happens with a french type wheat bread.  I can relate. Those edges are sharp enough to cut your lip if not careful!  

The trick here is to either mist the outside crust before dropping it into the toaster or find another way of toasting it... like in a hot fry pan or one of those hinged electric grill thing-a-ma-bobs used for cheese toast sandwiches.  French bread made soft then sliced and toasted would also be an idea.   Steam softens the bread.  Because it dries out so quickly by toasting, I have often sliced this type of bread thicker, too thick to stick into a normal toaster and end up using a broiler (oven) or  small toaster oven to toast such delicacies.  

If your oven is hot, run the whole french bread (not the open crumb) quickly (1/2 a second) under the running tap, cover the open end with foil (another 1/2 second -- the foil was ready) and toss it into a hot oven until the crust is no longer wet or sticky.  Remove from oven, slice and toss into the toaster on high or onto a hot surface like a frying pan or griddle.  A lot of action for one or two slices of toast.  But for a crowd... ?  Forget holding the bread over a candle, it will taste like wax.  Got yourself a gas kitchen torch?   Or a gas diffuser?

One thing that you might want to think about is that a toasting type bread is often made with milk and added fats.  This keeps it soft as it toasts unless it is very dried out to start with.  Even then, a dried out milk based bread (Melba) will give way when biting.

flournwater's picture
flournwater

I'm in total agreement with you; almost.

What threw me was the part of the statement that reads "...the crumb and crust is noticable harder ..."  and the images reveal a slice of toast that isn't, IMO, even toasted  -  just dried out.  The crumb, which might be expected to dry out under a broiler, shouldn't dry out in a toaster where both sides are exposed to equal heat and only the surface is browned.  Under those conditions, the surface should become crisp and brown but the center of the bread slice should remain relatively soft.  Perhaps I read too much into the problem description.  It wouldn't be the first time.  Thanks for the normative reasoning lesson.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Maybe the toaster is too slow or not hot enough,  trying a higher setting might help.  

flournwater's picture
flournwater

Another example of your analytical genius.  It never occurred to me that the issue might be with the toaster ....  and the theory you express is perhaps the most logical.   Guess I need to spend more time thinking outside the box.

yummybaking's picture
yummybaking

in order make things easier, i upload the pics,