The Fresh Loaf

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Cut doesn't open

katarina_kne's picture
katarina_kne

Cut doesn't open

Dear all, I need help. Recently, my sourdough has not opened on the cut during the baking.

I've been using Hamelman's Vermont sourdough formula with one hand long autolyze followed by hand kneading, 4.5 h bulk fermentation (S&F at different times) and about 12h bulk.

Can anyone point me at what I could improve inorder to get the open cut.

 

Thanks a lot

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

Unless you've made others on top which haven't opened.

katarina_kne's picture
katarina_kne

Well I would my scoring to open up really a lot and to make an ear or at least to separate more.

Hope you understand what I mean :-)

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)

the more difficult it is. Having said that, Hamleman's Vermont should be easier. It's not too high hydration.

So four things at play here. Shaping, how you're scoring and making sure your bread doesn't crust over too quickly preventing this from happening. And all of this will be affected by how well the dough is fermented.

A scoring will open up nicely if the shaping is done well. You need to make a taut skin but don't over stretch it that the skin breaks. You'll know you've done it well when it comes to scoring as it'll open up like a zip. To get an ear you need to hold the blade at a slight angle so the scoring goes under as well as along. And finally you need to prevent the dough from crusting over too quickly and that is where steam comes into play. And of course for all this to work you need to have fermented the dough and final proofed correctly.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

if you want more opening, try to shorten the time between the final rise and scoring while the dough has some tightness from shaping.  If you want to have a "roll back" desk sort of opening, the loaf has to be shaped into a tight coil or roll, a short rise and before it relaxes too much, a long shallow score cutting across gluten strands.

HansB's picture
HansB

If you want more of an ear, cutting at an angle helps too.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

want to lift up part of the skin.  

katarina_kne's picture
katarina_kne

Thank you for your suggestions!

I do steam the oven and make the cuts under angle. However, I did not shape the dough very tightly. I was afraid it would destroy the air bubbles inside the dough.

I guess I am not very skilled at shaping bastards.

I will try tonight once again and I will shorten the bulk time and let you know how it goes!

Gill63's picture
Gill63

Yes, a  much better name than a Bâtard .  Don't you just love predictive texting ! --------

HansB's picture
HansB

But meaning is the same!