January 29, 2017 - 4:27pm
Bottom of loaf tough to cut
After advice on this problem, I tend to bake all my sourdough loafs straight from the fridge into either a preheated dutch oven or straight onto the hearth of my wood fired oven. This works for me as it makes the scoring easier of higher hydration loaves and also I find my bloom on the loaves are better. The one problem I have is that the bottom crust can sometime be difficult to cut through or a lot harder than the rest. Is this cause by the direct contact of the cold loaf onto a hot surface (should the loaf be left 1-2 hours at room temperature before loading) or the oven heat and surfaces are unequal? or something else? Any advice to remedy this would be great.
Thanks
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of the loaves with clean water as they come out of the oven. This speeds up a process of softening that usually takes a day to resolve. A nice 4 to 6 inch wide brush works well and a wall paper paste brush is even better. :)
Is there anything in my method that you can suggest changing before the sourdough goes into bake to eliminate the need for the brushing?
I appreciate any advice/techniques
hey!
how are you storing the loaf in the fridge? Is it covered and how long is it in there?
Sometimes the bottom of the loaf, (top while in the fridge), can dry out, then when it bakes it becomes a tough thick bottom crust that's pretty uncutable.
Thanks for your advice. My loaves are in the fridge no more than 12 -16hours and are in cane bannetons with a plastic bag covering them. They dont appear to have dried out but I will take better notice next time.
...and I do not proof loaves in the fridge. I don't know the cause, but I don't think your issue is fridge-related.
The crust softens up over time as the moisture in the loaf redistributes itself.
My loaves do seem to cut better after a day or two. Maybe its the temperature of baking surface then? Cheers