December 19, 2017 - 5:25am
Temperature guide for various stages of baking
Hello all,
I have some experience of baking, but am still learning. I have tried looking on the internet for the temperatures that tell you when different stages of bread preparation are ready (e.g. temperature of a sourdough starter when it is ready to use, temp of dough when proved, temp of loaf when cooked).
The few books that I have do not have this information.
I am trying to get more consistent baking results and guess that measuring the correct temperatures will help.
Anyone know where I might be able to find such information?
Andy.
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Hi Andy. That's a big question. Remember that you are controlling the temperatures. The different stages of building bread do not really create any heat energy - at least not much.
In a nutshell there are no ideal temperatures for the processes you describe. I build my levains at around 80 F, my bulk ferments run in the mid-70's, and my proofs run from 40 F to 75 F, depending on what I am trying to achieve. Other bakers may run their processes differently.
Higher temps make for aggressive development, faster processes, and a reduction in quality. Cooler temps do the opposite. I can get a bag of ingredients turned into a loaf of bread in under two hours. I also have breads that go from the ingredient stage to the oven in 36 - 48 hours.
What I would recommend is that you follow the directions very closely when you use another's formula. There is a good chance that they spent years perfecting the times, temperatures and ingredients so that you would have the best chance for a good bake the first time. This site, as well as other internet sources, will offer you a wealth of reliable formulas.
One of your questions is a question I wonder about myself. I keep reading that the loaf should read 190F to 200F when done. But I wonder if this changes at sea level vs high altitude. And I know for a fact that different thermometers (even if they claim to be "instant read") suck a lot of the heat away from what they are measuring due to the metal probe acting like a heat sink.
I have a very accurate thermocouple that is just a bare wire tip (no metal sheath so very little mass to act as heat sink) so I have to poke a hole in the crust first with something like a toothpick - then I stick the probe into the bread and I typically read 213-215F when my bread is done. If I pulled my bread when it read 190F inside it would be gummy.
I'm at sea level - so maybe that's why. But I'm puzzled why the recommendations I read are so much lower than the temps I read with my loaves.
213–215°F? That would indicate all the water was gone (or at least it's dry enough to resemble zwieback) unless you have a pot load of salt or sugar* in your loaf.
I use a run-of-the-mill instant read thermometer, Its calibration is easily within acceptable limits, as checked by immersion in ice water** or boiling water at 430ft elevation, neither of which do I compensate for.
Internal temps for my loaves range from 195°F for enriched loaves to 200–210°F for lean loaves. I have pulled satisfactory sandwich breads as low as 190°F, but personal preference (habit?) is for the higher temp.
gary
* The temperature of the boiling point is an indicator of the sugar concentration. When making invert sugar, a temperature of 225°F indicates 1) a thread state of the syrup {put a dab of syrup on a dish and when cool, dip your thumb and forefinger in. Put the two together, then pull them apart, you'll have threads suspended between} and 2) that the sugar is 80% and the water is 20% by weight; about the same as honey.
** No, I don't use a saturated solution of calcium chloride which has a stable freezing point of 0°F compared to a slightly variable 32°F for distilled water which I do use.
Yes I check my thermometer with boiling water and ice bath regularly. I get the same readings using a run of the mill digital probe type.
The bread is flour, water, starter and 2% salt - no sugar. It's not dry - it's soft and flexible.
Here's a picture with a standard, cheap kitchen thermometer showing the same temps I get with my more accurate thermometer. It has me mystified.
I recognize the "heat sink" issue with a probe type thermometer. I bake three loaves at a time and check one loaf at the thickest point, then immediately check another loaf while the probe is almost up to temp. In other words, use the first reading to warm the probe, then another to get a more accurate reading. I typically see 200-205F at finish.
I use a Thermapen Instant Read. I stick into the center of the loaf. Then take it out a stick into the next loaf.
I understand the principles of heat sink, but how is that affecting my readings using the method described above?
Dan
> 213–215°F? That would indicate all the water was gone (or at least it's dry enough to resemble zwieback) unless you have a pot load of salt or sugar* in your loaf.
Not sure that I agree with your explanation. That might be true if you were baking flat bread on a cookie sheet but certainly isn't the case when baking a loaf of bread. Yes, water boils at 212 F at sea level, and the water will remain at 212 F until all the water has evaporated. A crusted loaf of bread is a pressure vessel and 214F would require as little as 0.5 lbs of pressure. Different densities of bread will have different internal temperature/pressure values.
Poking a hole in a loaf of bread with a temperature probe is not like poking a hole in a balloon. There are a multitude of sealed chambers inside a loaf of bread and the probe is accessing very few of them. Even while you may have compromised the cells surrounding the probe, the sealed cells next to the probe will still retain pressure and higher temperatures.
To prove my point I will bake an extra loaf of bread, either Thursday, Friday or Saturday, and push the internal temperature to 215 F. I expect that pictures of the crumb will show an abundance of moisture. If you like I can vacuum seal the loaf while still hot to insure that the loaf doesn't absorb ambient humidity from the environment. Right now, in the throws of winter in Vermont, there really isn't a whole lot of ambient humidity.
My Thermapen MK4 was calibrated less than a month ago. Sounds like a fun experiment!
you might find interesting is the Rule Of 240
https://wp.me/P3QqUs-2jJ
For standard lean doughs, baking to an internal loaf temperature of 95C has always served me perfectly.
You can easily get round the heat sinking effect of the probe by pushing it into the loaf an inch, wait a few seconds and then push it in another inch.
Lance
Thanks all for the responses, very interesting.
I'll keep on checking the temp at various stages and see if it makes a difference to the finished bread.
I found these two pieces very useful:
https://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/a-few-tips-on-dough-temperature/
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/water/
Andy.