October 8, 2008 - 7:59pm
Why does my loaf "blow up"?
Made these crown challahs today that have an apple butter filling. Taste wonderful, but look like they exploded. Any suggestions on what is causing this? Too much oven rise? How do I avoid that? It is a woven loaf not a pull apart bread which it looks like.
The one on the left is what it should look like. I made all of these and do not know why some look good and others look like they exploded.
Many challahs
Sharon
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the answer to this is time
which ones looked best i an ready to guess with almost 100% sure it was ether the first ones shaped or the last ones to gointo the oven.
when a braid breaks like that it means that it did not get enough proof. the strands were still tight and when the heat hit them they wanted to expand like rubber bands but because they were still tight and had not relaxed and rose enough they tore like a rubber band pulled to much.
if you baked more than once the breads waiting to go into the oven had more time to relax and rise so the first ones baked tore.
if you baked them all at the same time, the breads shapped first had more time then ones shapped last. so the last ones shapped will break.
I will eat no bread before its time... anybody have the time???
The funny looking ones were the last to bake, since I only have two ovens and can only make one loaf at a time in my food processor I was always braiding and always baking. It is very possible though that the one that blew up was the one that proofed on the counter rather than in the humid microwave that I put most of the other ones in. That would make sense -wouldnt it? I have seen other posts on this site for homemade proof boxes, I think I might try to make one and see if that makes a difference.
Thank you.
Sharon
www.thebraidedloaf.com
it is possible the the one that blwed-up cound have gotten a skin. a dry skin would crack in the oven.
try putting them in a plastic bag like a trash bag not used for trash of course and make sure the bag is closed air tight. dont press the air out of it just close the bag the lack of air movment will stop crust *skin from forming
couple tricks for you... which I learned from school (thanks Le Cordon Bleu)
- braid loosely
- cater wrap the tray & put the shpaed dough without egg wash into fridge if you can not proof it immediately.
- egg wash before proofing...
this way, you can braid all day.. bake all day.. and still have good looking challah.