October 4, 2016 - 9:34am
under-baking
I bake a lot of enriched dough breads. Especially challah and similar breads. I find that sometimes, even though the dough was produced the same way, I have under-baked the bread. Usually the crumb is just 'a little' too moist, but sometimes there are areas of unbaked dough in the middle of the loaf. This happens especially when I bake a boule and less often with dough shaped for a loaf-style pan. I know about 'listening for a hollow sound', and it sounds hollow! But when completely cooled and sliced, it's not completely baked. HELP!
Share
You might need an oven thermometer as well as a dough thermometer. They are both incredibly helpful. I had been working w a busted oven for a while with the coils inconsistently and unevenly heating. So getting a dough thermometer was crucial for me. Here's a TFL discussion about dough thermometers: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/7297/thermometer-doughbaking-bread
Also, how long are you preheating your oven?
hester
Thanks. I will check the actual temperature, not just the 'dial' temp.
Clearly, if your bread is underbaked you did not bake it long enough. Have you tried to extend baking time?
Of course. The difficulty is that I want to use the turbo function for more even heat distribution in the oven. How do you calculate the reduction in time (or temperature) when using turbo?
You mean convection? The standard rule is to reduce the temperature by 25 F.
So, reduce the temp by 25F but leave the time the same. Is that right. I work in celsius so I would reduce by about 14-15C.but keep the same time.
Check the interior temperature of the loaf; it should be 195°F (91°C) or more.
Thanks. I will check the interior temp of the loaves. Bit of a pain, but well worth it. Also the actual oven temp.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/comment/148105#comment-148105