Sprouted grain wheat not enough oven spring
Hi all, I am on my bread baking journey and recently tried the whole grain recently from Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads with sprouted wheat berries. I followed the recipe from the book except that I didn't add commercial yeast before proofing and let the wild yeast do the job. It did seem to proof fine; however, there wasn't much over spring. Any suggestions why not? I was able to get solid oven springs with store bought bread flour before. And I understand that home milled whole grain and home sprouted grain flour have barn, etc. in them which interfere with gluten development, but so little oven spring was a surprise.
Before proofing:
After proofing (about 2 hours) and ready for baking (scoring didn't work out well as well, couldn't get clean cuts with a razor for some reason):
After baking:
Bottom side (I burnt it somewhat - I usually keep 500 F with the lead on for 30 mins and then 450 F without the lead for 15 mins):
Seem to me that 500 is high, especially with the dutch oven technique, it holds so much heat. I would try 450 and then 475 or so for browning. If I go over 450 for the initial bake, I get burned bottoms like that.
Commercial yeast will probably give you the oven spring you are looking for, you will just have to try it. The faster acting yeast will create more pockets and more gas than wild yeast, but if you are putting it in at the end it won't effect the taste as much.
I will have to reduce the oven temp as you suggested to eliminate burning. If this is of any interest, I didn't have this issue before I started milling my own flour: when I used store bought flour, the 500 for 30 mins and 450 for another 15 was just right and I didn't even have to user an internal thermometer after a few bakes to confirm the correct internal temp of loaves and there was no burning.
I will try to add commercial yeast as prescribed in the book based on your comment: "Commercial yeast will probably give you the oven spring you are looking for, you will just have to try it. The faster acting yeast will create more pockets and more gas than wild yeast, but if you are putting it in at the end it won't effect the taste as much." I also read in another threat that adding some butter may help with that, so I will add a little to see if that makes a difference.
Thanks
That is some nasty looking slashing for sure.- not even straight lines? Never seen anything like that made by a razor . it looks like the,of was baked seam side up and it cracked at the seams. Since you are using a towel for a liner, the cut side should be nice and dry and easier to cut - not harder
I preheat to 450 F non convection and baked covered for 20 minutes and then bake uncovered for 10 - 15 minutes at 425 F convection for a 750 -800 g loaf. I usually take the loaf out of the pot after 5 minutes of uncovered balking, once the skin has set and let and let it finish baking on the stone so the bottom doesn't burn.. Falling temperatures are the way to go.
The thing about whole sprouted flour is that it takes less water than whole un-sprouted flour when making the dough and it also is faster to ferment and proof.. If you are using whole sprouted grain in the mix I would start at around 30% of it in the mix and work my way up to get a handle on what sprouted grains do t your breads when fermenting and proofing. it just takes a bit of getting used to since it is different than regular flour
Not using the commercial yeast called for in the recipe will extend the ferment and proofing times quite a bit so watch the dough and not the clock.
The sprouted taste is worth the experimentation!
Happy sprouted baking
Thanks dabrownman, I will try your temps for baking sprouted grain loaves. The loaf I had was somewhat smaller than I usually get, so it definitely needed lower temp or less time in the oven!