August 28, 2016 - 6:07am
Moist bread after cooking
Hello
Question relared to cooking no knead bread in a Creuset pot.
Looking for suggestion for good practice when cooking my bread. I often get too much residual moisture in my bread. I do check internal temperature reaching 205 f'. I do wait a minimum of 1hr after the oven to slice it.
Is there a way to know by touching if a bread is fully cooked?
Some info:
I set the internal oven temp to 450.
I tried the baking using the cold method and the regular one by heating the creuset for a minimum of 30 min before.
- Cold method: 30 min with the lid and 30 min lid removed
- Hot method: 20 min with the lid and 25 to 30 min lid removed
I do use parchermin paper
Any info or suggestion appreciated
Martin
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1 hour resting time after baking is the barest minimum and may not be enough time for the residual moisture to redistribute in the loaf. I baked a semolina loaf yesterday, rested it 1.5 hours and it could have used more resting time. Spelt and rye loaves require several (4 or more) and I have read some rye loaves are sliced after 24 hours rest time.
Next bake, try 2 hours rest time. If there is too much moisture, try 4 hours rest time on the next bake.
Good suggestion.
I will try also to reduce the temperature to 425 and cook for a longer time.
By touching or looking, is there a way to define that the bread is properly cooked?
Martin
days to make sure the crumb is dry after baking and cooling. It is onky another 5 minutes and the crust is bolder and mire flavorful too, You can also eve the bread in the oven, turned off, with the door ajar for 8 minutes after baking to improve the crust and crumb.
How is the texture of the bread? If the internal temperature is over 200F then it certainly should be cooked. But what I'm finding is that the 'no-knead' breads actually require some kneading to develop the dough properly, otherwise you can get very dense and sticky interiors, even though technically it's 'cooked'.
1. Internal temperature of 205dF
2. Thump the rear of the loaf - a hollow sound indicates the loaf is done
3, Let the loaf set at least 20 minutes (it's the law in France) before weighing or slicing the loaf open for a taste
4. Remove the bread from the cast iron cruet to brown for a longer period
Wild-Yeast
depends on what kind of bread we're talking about. In the case of 75% sourdough's, one deals with a LOT of water; and often I find that I need to turn the temp down at the end, tent loosely with foil to prevent further browning, and continue until the internal temp gets up close to 212deg! But, even then, after resting allows the water to redistribute, often the dough will still be wet. This tends to make a once crackling crisp crust leathery as the water comes back to the surface; but, 10 to 15mins at 350deg will crisp it right back. Also, this brings an advantage to sourdoughs, and that is they have a very long counter life if one is careful to keep the cut sides wrapped.
Sometimes, just turning off the oven and crack the door a bit also works.
Hope this helps.
Steve