The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Why does bread drop when cool?

Maureen Farndell's picture
Maureen Farndell

Why does bread drop when cool?

Morning all.

I made a 95% hydration loaf which was beautiful when it came out the oven but as it cooled it seemed to loose a lot of the "lift" (?) oven spring. I was aiming for a ciabatta type crumb, which I'm sure was there after the bake, but the loaf just dropped when cooling.

I understand that it looses steam and that would account for some loss but I think this was more a case of the gluten not holding it's shape. Am I over working the dough?

Hot out the oven.

After cooling - the top has dropped.

 

leekohlbradley's picture
leekohlbradley

According to KA, you've likely let it go too long before baking. Try baking it earlier.

http://community.kingarthurflour.com/content/why-does-my-bread-fall-oven

Also judging by the color of your crust, you could bake it a while longer before taking the top off. That might make the starch firm up even more but I'm kinda guessing at this point.

Maureen Farndell's picture
Maureen Farndell

Was a seriously over active dough........ I did not wait the full proofing time but I DO agree..... It should have had more time to bake! First time working with that hydration is all a learning curve. Thank goodness for TFL and all the help from members....... The general opinion is more bake!

Mau.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

so slack you couldn't possibly shape it into a boule in order to drop it into a hot DO.  90% hydration can be deceiving if using whole home milled grain and would be the right hydration for a boule made with those grains.

You could let ciabatta proof in a cold DO though and get some of the big holes.  I'm guessing that there wern't any big holes in your bread that deflated into smaller ones from the look of your crumb.  I'm thinking you got what you pretty much had.  Not bad either.  Did you bake to 205 F?  I like to take the bread out of the DO 5 minutes after taking the lid off so the whole boule browns evenly even if i have to turn the loaf on its top to get the bottom half as brown as the top.

Happy baking 

Maureen Farndell's picture
Maureen Farndell

It was soooo slack that I lined a bowl with paper and proofed it in that so it was ready and easily went into the DO paper and all. Oh what fun, it's all part of the learning curve. I baked it till the correct temp (95C) as I always check with a thermometer so it was right - just needed a little longer than I allowed which would have been better for the gluten. Very yummy taste...........

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

would be it or it possibly deflated when transferred to the DO  Deflating happens to me with slack dough as i pick it up and transfer.  I let the ciabatta proof on parchment on a peel and then slide it onto the stone- no deflating.

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi Maureen,

Good, you have worked out that the higher hydration dough needs more time to bake to drive off that excess moisture for the starch to set properly.   You would really help that to happen quicker if you could find a way to remove the loaf from the cast iron pot for the last few minutes of the bake.   The loaf might be too delicate to do this, but it would be the most effective way to bake out your bread properly.

Looks a cracking loaf by the way

Best wishes

Andy