The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Bread bursting at the bottom

tomaszj's picture
tomaszj

Bread bursting at the bottom

Hi folks,

I'm rather at the start of my baking journey - posting here for the first time to try resolve a problem that has been annoying me for the past 10 bakes.

I'm trying to bake the perfect sourdough boule before moving to other breads, but the loaves keep on bursting at the bottom.

I can see three (potentially related) issues:

1. In the first few breads I think I constantly under-proofed them, so I started to proof them for longer, using the finger dent test to determine when it's good to go - it still could've been underproofed.

2. The scoring area spreads only a bit and doesn't burst at all.

3. Last bake made me think - is the round banetton I use simply too big? That could explain the slightly disc-y shape.

I live in the UK and I use Marriage Miller's the "Very Strong Canadian Bread Flour", flat is rather warm lately. Should I try different flour maybe?

 

I follow a slightly down-sized Emmanuel Hadjiandreou's recipe, so:

480g of flour, 9g of salt, 24g of rye starter, 288g of water.

Method - in-the-bowl-stretch-and-folds, rise until double in size, shape, proof for 2-6 hours. Last time I proofed it for 5 hours on the counter and then for 8 hours in the fridge.

Baked on a reversed tray starting pre-heating to 250 C (482 F), then going down to 220 oC (428 F).

Any ideas and suggestions (about any features of the loaf) are much appreciated. Thanks!

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

I think you need to find a good way of introducing steam into your oven or bake inside a preheated Dutch Oven (or equivalent). It seems to me that your bread is crusting over too quickly not allowing sufficient oven spring and the steam, from the dough, escapes at the weakest point. 

Otherwise your bread certainly looks very nice indeed. 

tomaszj's picture
tomaszj

Thanks Lechem, fair point. I've tried spritzing so far, but I think the oven is ventilated all too well. Do you think a cup of water in a roasting tray should suffice?

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

Modern ovens are very well ventilated. Introducing steam is very difficult and any attempts quickly evaporate. Spritzing might not be enough. A preheated roasting tray and then pouring in a cup of water before loading the dough would be a step up I would think. However unless this really suits your oven and works a treat nothing really comes close to baking in a dutch oven for the home baker. 

tomaszj's picture
tomaszj

I know! I'm trying to hold off getting that beautiful Le Creuset gear for the next couple of months, so I'll start with a tray during the next bake and see what happens.

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

Whenever I'm shopping I'm eyeing up the Le Creuset gear. Something to work up to. 

Best of luck. 

P.s. a casserole dish would suffice or any iron or clay pot. You can improvise by using an overturned pot too. 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

if you don't want them ruined, with discoloration and cracking.  Just get a large stainless steel mixing bowl and cover the dough for the first 20 minutes of baking then remove the lid and turn the oven down.

You can also add mass by doubling or tripling the overturned jelly roll pans you are baking on.  You won't be able to tell the difference between those loaves and the CI combo cooker which I have found to be the best to bake in.  You don/t need anything fancy or expensive to make great bread including a mixer or an oven for that matter.

The best bread I make is my counter top convection toaster oven with a stainless steel bowl over the top.  Total investment was $100 for the oven and bowl.  The only restriction is that the dough needs to be no more than 800 g for white bread and 900 for whole grain ones or they will expand and get too close to the top elements.  When it gets to be 110 F here in AZ ,I bake outside on the patio with my toaster oven and SS bowl.  This SS bowl was $1 at Goodwill on Dollar Thursday

Here is one example

 http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34520/9989-whole-grain-sesame-flax-seed-sourdough-whey

Happy baking

tomaszj's picture
tomaszj

Hi! The bread from your link looks gorgeous!

A metal bowl is probably the easiest way to keep me going. What are the dimensions of the bowl you're using?

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

is 9 1/2 " x 3 3/4 ".  I have a Pyrex bowl that is 9" X 4" and it fits too.  If I don't use the vented top I have another 9" 4 1/4 SS bowl that fits too

tomaszj's picture
tomaszj

Great, thanks!

phaz's picture
phaz

I use a cheap thin metal bowl big enough to cover the loaf, including expansion. Holds a remarkable amount of steam. Lightly mist the inside of the bowl for even more steam, although I found that was way to much.

tomaszj's picture
tomaszj

Hey phaz! I've noticed a few people mention metal bowls, I might as well try it too. What are the dimensions of your bowl?

phaz's picture
phaz

Well, I have a few, but as long as its big enough to cover the loaf, with something like 4 inches clearance above the loaf to allow for spring, it should be good. They are thin, and I'm sure it's cheap metal, but they don't melt at 450F, and it sure holds steam. I think I got them at a restaurant wholesale place I used to go to with a buddy who had a pizza/sandwich place.

Gill63's picture
Gill63

I usually use an earthenware 'chicken cooker' I bought years ago from Pampered Chef - sadly I don't think they still trade in th UK. Tried baking 2 loaves together with one in a Le Creuset, and the knob disintergrated  -  put in at 240 and immediately turned down to 220, and then to 200 12 mins later. Oven spring and crust were also better in my earthenware baker (with no need to expend loads of elbow grease and bicarb on cleaning it up). Will be sticking to baking one after the other.

tomaszj's picture
tomaszj

Hi folks, thanks to your comments, I did a bake today using the metal bowl which I got somewhere on Amazon for £7. The bread spread along the scorings nicely and the boule has a better-lookking flat base (i.e. looks more like a boule!). I'll work on fine-tuning the recipe, but I'm very happy with the outcome. Thanks to everyone's contributions here!

One note - this loaf has been done with wholegrain flour, so the texture is expectedly slightly different.