The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Chocolate and cherry bread from “Modernist Bread”

caryn's picture
caryn

Chocolate and cherry bread from “Modernist Bread”

  • So I broke down and bought the behemoth Bread encyclopedia, “Modernist Cuisine,” and for the most part I have been enjoying it and have made some good bread from it with a few hiccups. I discovered after making my first bread using his methods that I needed to reduce my oven temperatures a bit, because the first loaf that I made nearly burned on the bottom. I have been using the combo pot as I had done before I got the book and as Myhrvold highly recommends. Where he specifies 500 degrees F, I lowered it to 475 and then to 450 after putting the bread in the oven. I was a bit skeptical that these temperatures would apply to a bread loaded with dried cherries and chocolate chips, but assuming these recipes must be well tested, I baked this bread as I had baked the others, lowering the temperatures from his specified 500 and 470 to 475 and 450. I even lowered the temperature again to 445 after about 15 minutes into the bake. Well, the result was not good. The loaf is charred on the bottom. I am rather annoyed that this would happen in a book so highly touted!

Has anyone tried this recipe as written from his book? Apparently there is an adapted recipe by The NY Times that some have  posted http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/54189/chocolate-cherry-sourdough-bread-modernist-bread, but I would hope that the recipe directly from the book would be at least as valid.

So does anyone have any insight into this- Have any of you baked this as specified by Modernist Bread?

i am quite annoyed the a book that seems to pride itself on detail, would not at least express some kind of caution about baking this very sweet bread!!

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

I don't see any added sugar for this dough, so it shouldn't be particularly susceptible to scorching across the surface of the loaf (the cherries and/or choc. could ooze and burn in places, but that is not your issue).  Plus, if it is only scorched on the bottom, I think the issue is with your oven setup and not the dough formula

I would recommend putting something on a separate oven rack below the one your combo cooker is on (foil, cookie sheet, etc.).  I have to do this in my oven, or I get exactly the result you are getting.

I also think starting at 500F is a good general strategy for this type of bread.

caryn's picture
caryn

Hi bikeprof- So I should leave the pot on the middle rack and put a cookie sheet or maybe a baking stone on a rack lower down? I have not heard of this technique, but if it will help, I will certainly give it a try. I also had preheated the cast iron combo pot. Do you think it might be less likely to burn if I drop the dough into a room temperature pot?

 

I do not understand what adding something to the oven will do, but I guess it must temper the heat below the pot. I would appreciate it if you could clarify this for me. I really want to avoid this happening again. At least I was able to scrape the bottom, leaving a very edible bread. I would like to bake it again and have it come out burn free!

Thanks again,

 Caryn

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

Just what you said...I put a sheet of foil on a rack lower down in the oven and (at least for me and some others) makes a huge difference...tempering the heat coming up from the bottom of the oven.

Try the hot combo cooker again with this method and see...

caryn's picture
caryn

Have you tried only foil or might it help to add a baking stone either on the rack below or under the pot? Do you have any idea?

I may open up this question to a more general one on TFL to see what others have done to avoid burning the bottom in the combo pot

Thanks,

Caryn

 

Bred Maverick's picture
Bred Maverick

Only when I bake challah bread  do I use a double baking sheet to avoid burning the bottom of the egg bread.

Definitely it sounds like a frustrating experience particularly because the book is so expensive. I hope you have better luck with other recipes.

Diane

cgap's picture
cgap

I have burnt the bottom of loaves of all types in our oven at various times, so I now put 6 to 8 layers of baking paper (may be called parchment in the US?) under the loaf when it goes in the oven and now don't have a problem.

You may need to invest in an oven thermometer to check the actual temp in your oven.

Perhaps also reread chapter 17, vol 3.

caryn's picture
caryn

I have an oven thermometer, and it appears that my oven is actually accurate, so that can’t be the whole story. I re-read chapter 7, but other than his strong recommendation to use the combo pot as I did, I could not find an answer to prevent burning. I may try checking the bottom of the bread earlier and/ or putting foil or something in the oven.

I may open up this question to a more general one on TFL to see what others have done to avoid burning the bottom in the combo pot

Da Baker's picture
Da Baker

Several years ago I worked in a small professional bakery and have the owners recipe for this bread if u want it. I bake it at Xmas time to give out!

caryn's picture
caryn

Hi da baker- Thank you, but I don’t think the recipe is at fault. I need to figure out how to make sure the bottom of  the bread, any bread, is not scorching.

clazar123's picture
clazar123

An oven is "within specs" in terms of temperature swing if it has a 40 degree range. In other words, If you set it to 350F, it had a 40 degree range, ideally with 350 as the midpoint. This means the temp would drop to 330,the element would come on and it would overshoot slightly to 370-nicely maintaining an average of 350. Now let's talk about the real world. My oven  swung 50 degrees and that doesn't sound bad-a little out of specs. But  what it did was drop to 340 and the element would come on so extremely hot that within a few seconds, it shot up to 400. The element was on the bottom so every few minutes, the bottom of anything on the bottom rack was blowtorched while the top rack item baked relatively normally. It was very frustrating. Putting baking sheets on the bottom helped some.

So my dear electrical husband got tired of burned bread,casseroles etc. He put a PID controller on the oven. Now my oven temp holds 350 +/- 3 degrees. No more blowtorching the bottom. All my loaves are now evenly browned. This oven is about 5 yrs old and is a moderately priced mid-range oven. The 40 yr.old oven I used to have never had an issue like this one. Should have kept it.

So don't dismiss the oven. Oh...we also tried 5 different oven thermometers during all this testing. What a joke. None of them registered the same temp and they were all over the place.We finally used a thermocouple with a probe-just like a thermometer you would use poked into a roast with an external readout.

caryn's picture
caryn

Hi clazar123- Thanks for your reply. I am sure what you wrote is very true, but I would have no way to make such a change to my oven. I may try putting a stone and baking sheet on the bottom of the oven and maybe raising the pot one rack up to see if that may help as well.