Submitted by AngelaT on January 18, 2009 - 8:49pm
Help! My breads keep "splitting" on the side. It doesn't matter which type of bread, whether free form or in a pan, whole wheat or white, I have tried leaving the dough more moist, slashing the top, nothing seems to make a difference. The bread doesn't actually split, the bread seems to separate leaving an ugly ridge along the side. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas?
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Without seeing a recipe this
Without seeing a recipe this is a total guess but it sounds as if you are underproofing the dough resulting in too much oven spring which in turn is leaving a split/ugly ridge.
Jeff
What do you mean by
What do you mean by "underprofing"?
I just think you need to work
I just think you need to work on your shaping. Of course if your seams are not sealed properly you will get tears in the weak areas. Even with slashing weak seams will be a weaker area than your slashes and of course your oven spring is going to go for the path of least resistance.
underproffing
The rise after you shape the loaves, before they go into the oven, that is called proofing. If you don't let it rise long enough and put it in the oven too soon, it is underproofed. If you wait too long and put it in the oven after you should have, it is overproofed. Recipes will tell you a time to let the dough proof, but because the conditions where you bake (especially temperature) will never be the same, you need to learn to 'read' your dough and know when it is ready to go in. Recipes will sometimes say "fully proofed' or "3/4 proof" when it should go into the oven.
Jeff is suggesting you try letting that rise be longer,
I'm getting pretty better at judging when my dough is fully proofed. But I feel like you have to have made the dough at least once before to ge able to estimate when it would be fully proofed and then figure back to guestimate when a loaf is at 3/4 proof for recipes when it is to go into the oven at that point.
you are 100% correct but lets
you are 100% correct but lets not forget than not enough steam (if the bread needs steam) will also cause the bursting on the side.
in the baking biz this is called a cripple and crippled loafs were frowned upon where i come from. in the home who cares it's going to taste just as good and it all finishes up looking the same if you know what i mean.
if you are trying to make a cookbook picture loaf proof more and more steam if called for
otherwisw don't sweat it
Splits
I'm having the same problem and I follow the directions exactly, but no matter what I do I still have the split along the side of the bread. I make my bread using a bread machine, but I set it for dough (which is an 1 1/2 hour). Then I shape it and place it in the oven at 350F for 30 minutes in a standard bread pan. Any suggestions?
Are you allowing the loaf to
Are you allowing the loaf to rise a second time (proofing) after you shape it and put it in a pan?
Jeff
I have had the same splitting at times.
Sometimes I get that dreaded side splitting as well. I dont think it has anything to do with how I shape the loves. Sometimes it is not that severe and other times it is. I am glad that I am not the only one that has this problem.
Maybe not enough of a "skin
Maybe not enough of a "skin tension"
The only time I tend to get splits is when the loaf isn't pulled tight enough (for lack of a better term). For example, when shaping boules, they should be stretched until they have almost a skin to the outsides. I get side splits when I get lazy and just get them to round, but not firmed up
splitting
I've been baking bread for 29 years and had that happen frequently...I read in a bread cookbook (don't have a clue the name of it) several years ago that if the bread hasn't risen enough in the bread pan, and it is put into the oven, it will split. The reason is that the heat from the oven makes the bread finish rising...and it does it quickly because of the heat...so if it is too under risen when it is put into the oven, the quick heated rising makes it split along the side. I'm sorry if this isn't clear...but I do know that when I started letting my bread rise longer than I thought it should, it quit splitting along the side. I hope you find a solution.