The Fresh Loaf

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Tacky loaves

Lady_C's picture
Lady_C

Tacky loaves

Hello all,

I am not new as such to bread baking but am having trouble. I live in Indonesia so it's hot and humid although I'm not sure if this is the cause of my trouble. The last 2 loaves have come out tacky when I cut them. The recipe I'm using is from the book How to Bake Bread by Emmanuel Hadjiandreo and is the basic white loaf.

300 g/2⅓ cups white strong/bread flour (I use the locally available bread dough) 

6 g/1 teaspoon salt

3 g fresh yeast or 2 g/¾ teaspoon dried/active dry yeast

200 g/200 ml/¾ cup warm water - I used possibly up to 230ml although this was not completely intentional. I tend to find the flour here makes very very dry dough so always add water but was a bit heavy handed when I poured it in so can't be sure. I don't think it was any more than this. 

It was a very wet dough so I kneaded it in the KA (maybe for 10mins) and then let it rise until it had doubled. I then knocked it back, folded it a few times to try to make a rectangular shape and popped it in my silicone loaf tin to rise. It just about doubled in size and then I put it in the oven. Herein lies a challenge though - according to my oven thermometer my (small fan assisted electric countertop) oven only goes up to about 180∘C. I didn't use steam in the oven though as I was worried about blocking the heat and having the temperature drop dramatically - which it does when there's more than one tray in there. I did get some oven spring - maybe 20%. I cooked it for about 30mins and checked it was done with a digital thermometer and got a reading about 207∘F. 

I'm quite pleased with the crumb although am not experienced enough to know whether I should be! When it's toasted the texture is a little like an English crumpet. 

What might be the cause of the tackiness and how can I remedy it? From what I've read on here it could be either undercooked or overcooked. Is it being overcooked that's causing my issue? 

To add I do have great success with the Ciabatta recipe that's popular on here (again always adding more water to the dough) and it always cooks wonderfully. 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

try reducing the hydration.   Roughly stir up the flour with the water making sure there are no pockets of dry flour.  Cover and let rest 30 minutes.  Then sprinkle the yeast and salt over the rough dough and knead until blended.  The bread shape (photo) implies the dough amount was a little small for the pan.  Might later on want to jump up to 400g flour  after first reducing the 77% water amount.  Up to you.  The gas distribution looks good I just think the dough too wet.  Every flour has it's lower and upper limits and I think with this flour it should be lower.

The formula for hydration is water weight divided by flour weight x 100 to get %.   I think you should try 60% and work a stiffer dough. You might also want to add a spoon of oil or little blob of fat for a softer crumb.  A few crushed and strained pandan leaves included in the water amount might give you some nice flavours.  :)

Mini

Lady_C's picture
Lady_C

for your reply. I'll try using less water and letting it sit for 30mins beforehand (an autolysis period I think?) and see how that helps. I'll have to double check the size of the loaf tin I used and see if it's too big and if I have the correct size. How much does this matter in the final product? Perhaps I'll try 300g of flour again and then maybe move up to 400g if the new method seems to be working. 

Hmmm pandan bread would be interesting although perhaps limiting in the bread's uses? Have you spent much time in this area? I assume so from your suggestion of pandan. :-) 

I'll let you know how I get on! 

Lady_C's picture
Lady_C

definiteky try adding some oil to the dough. --

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

:)

Lady_C's picture
Lady_C

:-) 

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

If your weather is hot and humid, you might want to mix the dough with cool water rather than warm as the recipe suggests. And maybe don't let the dough double on the final proof. Looks a little over proofed, perhaps.

Lady_C's picture
Lady_C

cool water when mixing as I'd read on TFL that that was better for tropical climates. I'll start with changing the water amount as minioven suggested and see what results that gives me and then the next time can consider the proofing time on the second proof.

Thanks so much!

Lady_C's picture
Lady_C

I baked another loaf today with 60% (cool rather than warm) water and 2% yeast and salt plus a tbs of olive oil. I autolysed the dough for 30ish minutes before adding in the yeast and salt. I then kneaded it in the KA for a few minutes although changed to hand kneading until I got a moderate windowpane. I then left it double in size before knocking back, shaping and leaving for a second rise. After about 30mins I checked the dough using the poke test and the dough didn't spring back so I put it in the oven straight away as I believe this shows it was over proved? I cooked it until it was 205∘F. I've just cut it now and am really pleased - it's cooked correctly and the loaf is lovely tasting and has a soft crumb. :-D 

Photo here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/clarainchina/37139562954/in/dateposted-public/

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Yay! 

Lady_C's picture
Lady_C

Thank you so much for your help :-) 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

...and yes, I've spent quite a bit of time in SE Asia.