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multigrain bread falls apart when slicing

myra byanka's picture
myra byanka

multigrain bread falls apart when slicing

I thought was a very wet dough (used buttermilk), mixed 7-8 minutes, 2 rises, second in loaf pan. Dough doubled nicely, good oven spring. Beautiful loaf. Let sit 2 hours or more. Crumbled when I tried to slice it. Any suggestions, please?

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

What's the recipe?

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

can cause something like this as well.  I see it now and then, in varying degrees, in the enriched potato bread loaves I bake (based on the Potato Roll recipe of MCS you can find here) when I let them rise too much before baking.  The more over-proofed they are, the more the center of the loaf breaks down.

Lechem is right:  no real help available without the formula and process you use for this bread.  A picture of the crumb would be nice too, but not essential.

OldWoodenSpoon.

myra byanka's picture
myra byanka

Will post recipe in a bit - when I dig it out of the trash. The loaf cooked through, not under-done in the middle, but began to crumble when I first tried to slice it. I thought it might be the bread knife (new) but it's been ok with other breads. Anyhooo, the birds and squirrels liked it.

clazar123's picture
clazar123

Well hydrated recipe is good for whole grain but you MUST allow the grain time to absorb the water or it will crumble when cut. This means building in some time for the dough to sit so all the grains and branny bits can get soggy absorbing the water. If you don't, then after you bake the bread, the branny bits will absorb the moisture from the crumb and the dried starch of the crumb will...crumble.

A simple illustration would be to put 1 tbsp. whole grain (either wheat berries or rice) in a bowl with 3 tbsp. water. In another bowl put 1 tbsp. AP flour with 3 tbsp. water. Stir and wait 10 minutes. Which one is a paste with all the water absorbed? Are the whole wheat berries getting softer? Still some crunch? Wait about 4-6 more hours and see if they are soft. This gives you an idea of why whole grain needs absorption time-an autolyze, a retard, a sponge, a preferment, etc. The softest whole grain loaves will soak ALL the whole grain flour-not just a portion.

Recipe-hydration level is important. It must have enough water to make a slightly sticky dough that becomes barely tacky after a good rest. Whole wheat is very different from AP flour.

Search box- shreddable whole wheat, soft whole wheat, crumbling whole wheat

myra byanka's picture
myra byanka

Thanks for your post. I used a 7 grain cereal with some rolled oats and cornmeal and let them soak 30 minutes in hot water. Apparently, not enough time. What you wrote described exactly what happened, so am making an overnight soaker and see if that works better. I've baking bread for several years, mostly white, rye, whole wheat, but a friend loves multi-grain. If you have a good recipe, is it posted?

 

Thanks

Windischgirl's picture
Windischgirl

I've run into a crumbling problem when my family tries to slice into a loaf that hasn't fully cooled.  For some reason they are obsessed with eating hot bread, and I've been trying to teach them that the fullest flavors in sourdough, rye, and multigrain breads develop after a good cooling...overnight is best.  

I'm forced to distract them with some other food--pizza or cookies are most effective...

I also get crumbling with whole wheat and wondering if gluten needs to increased.  I've been using KAF's Lancelot (increased gluten) and like the textures and chew better, even with multigrain and wheaten breads.

myra byanka's picture
myra byanka

It had cooled several hours. I think Clazar's explanation might be the cause of the problem, so I soaked the whole grains overnight in a sponge with a bit of yeast and flour, and am going to bake the dough today. If the experiment works, I'll post the recipe.

Also, I looked up "Cook's Illustrated's" advice on bread knives and found that their recommendation was a 25 dollar Mercer 10" and I ordered a straight  and a curved one to test. 

 It's tough to resist the urge to eat fresh hot bread with some butter!