BBA´s Potato Rosemary Bread

Submitted by zeldush on October 10, 2009 - 5:18am

BBA´s Potato Rosemary Bread

Hi,

I just took the two loafs out of the oven and though I followed P.R.´s instructions to the letter (and I am not an absolute beginner...) the bread turned out almost as flat as pita bread!!!

My husband's comment that a pita that took two days to bake must be a very special kind of pita only adds to my frustration.... :) Any ideas what I did wrong?????

Thanks

Filed under:

Artisan Baking

Submitted by LindyD on October 10, 2009 - 6:26am.

Am guessing you may have overproofed the loaves. Step six calls for a final fermentation of one to two hours, or until the dough doubles. That's pushing the envelope; if the dough is fully risen before you put it in the oven, there's no place for it to go but down.

Try loading when the bread has risen to 85-90% - before it has fully proofed.

Submitted by zeldush on October 12, 2009 - 12:12am.

Thanks LindyD

for your reply. It was my first recipe from the BBA and I guess I got a bit discouraged but I will of course keep on trying..... Maybe also the fact that I hand-kneaded this time instead of using the mixer had something to do with it. Actually the problems began when I got to 5. which is when you are to do the "boule" or tightening of the surface.... the dought kind of went limp in my hands..... The first rise was perfect but i might have given it too much time though.

Submitted by rainbowz on October 10, 2009 - 11:06pm.

Impossible to say without the details

We could go look up the recipe but that doesn't give us any clue as to what you did in your kitchen.

Several people have made this bread following the given recipe and had success, so we can be pretty certain the recipe itself is not the issue, so the culprit likely lies somewhere in your process.

LindyD has already addresses the possibility of over-proofing. So starting from there, I'd ask:

Do you do a "Mis en Place"?

This is a useful step to do in order to make certain you not only have everything you need and don't go rushing to the store while the dough's rising, but it also helps make sure you USE everything. If you've mixed up your dough and there's a small pot of salt still sitting on the counter, you know you missed it. If you didn't have it in a little bowl, you wouldn't know it was still not added until everything was baked and tasted, well, tasteless.

Here's an example of my "Mis" for the BBA French Bread, even though it's extremely simple:

Other than that, we'd have to know things like temperatures, how long it proofed, etc. before anyone could say with any certainty "This is what caused that".

However, because many people HAVE made this successfully, it is probably wise to suggest you try it again since the recipe works. Keep notes, if you think it will help. Get a notebook at the local office supply shop and write stuff down when you're playing with a new recipe so you can go back and see what you did and where it may have gone amiss.

So fill us in a bit on what you did even though you followed the recipe to the letter; maybe there's a clue in there we can spot.

Submitted by PeteInAz on October 17, 2009 - 8:13pm.