June 19, 2009 - 5:20am
Please help with my deformed loafs
These were supposed to be two 1 pound boules of Thom Leonard's Country French. The shape was perfectly round when they went in the oven but they expanded in the most unusual ways and look like they have tumors.
Can anyone tell me if this a problem of shaping or slashing or what?
Thanks
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I would guess that they were underproofed and instead of experiencing oven spring you underwent oven explosion.
Jeff
It does look as if you've underproofed too much and the bread is struggling to break free as it bakes in the oven. Give them a little more time in the final proof and that should help? You're not looking for quite double the original shaped size, but a little under that. When you poke the dough with your finger, it should spring back still (if it doesn't, you've overproofed).
it's weird, because sometimes I won't proof at all, and the bread wil look just fine.
maybe it also has to do with the primary fermentation?
Maybe it's also a question of how tightly you shape it? if you shape too tightly, and underproof by too much, it could also contribute to the blow out? But if you shape more loosely, the gluten net would have more slack to expand
The underproofing theory makes sense. After shaping I proofed at room temp for about an hour and then put into the refrigerator. In the morning, I baked them cold in a preheated 550F oven which was lowered to 450 after 10 minutes.
I've done this routine many times before but never had a blowout like this. It was a pretty dense, compact dough which may explain things.