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No knead sandwich bread - Alcohol smell lingers in loaf after baking

SaqibSaab's picture
SaqibSaab

No knead sandwich bread - Alcohol smell lingers in loaf after baking

My no knead doughs for sandwich bread are baking up great, nice crumb, crust, etc... but with a foul, very noticeable bad alcohol smell. The smell is in the finished bread after for days and when we eat it.

When I do traditional or fridge risen doughs, they smell great in dough and baked forms. But no knead? Smells, every time.

Any tips on how to fix? Here's the bread I'm making.

Ingredients

266g KA white whole wheat flour

133g KA bread flour

21g honey

170g milk

135 water

14g vegetable oil

1 tsp instant yeast

2.5 tsp Kosher salt (Diamond Crystal brand)

 

Method

1. Mix all ingredients except salt until shaggy, let sit 30 mins in covered bowl.

2. Mix in salt until all dry flour incorporated. Cover and let rise 12-24 hours at room temp.

3. (Optional) Transfer dough to fridge for 1-3 days. (Last dough I moved to fridge for 6 hours, have done 1, 2, 3 days, etc.)

4. Turn out dough, knead briefly, shape into log, place in greased loaf pan. Let rise until doubled in size, passes “poke” test (when poked with floured finger, indentation doesn’t fill back in much).

5. Slash and bake at 350 F with boiling water in cast iron skillet below. Pull once bread reaches 190 F (I use a Chef Alarm probe thermometer and check with Thermapen Mk 4)

- -

What can I change? Thanks!

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

Eeeek, 12 to 24 hours at room temperature with a teaspoon of instant yeast? No wonder it smells like alcohol - the yeast is probably starving by that point! Try letting it ferment at room temperature for 2 or 3 hours, then put it in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. I'm surprised you got that nice spring and crumb after all that. :)

SaqibSaab's picture
SaqibSaab

That's what I was thinking. I've done no knead recipes like this before with only 1/4 tsp of yeast. But was trying this suggestion which is 1% yeast by weight.

Should I:

1. Keep yeast at 1 tsp (1%), ferment for ~3 hours?
2. Drop yeast to 1/4 tsp, go the 12-24 hours?

Thanks!

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

I would keep the yeast the same (1 tsp) and change up the time / temperature of the bulk ferment. You will need more yeast in an enriched bread (i.e. with fat / dairy / sweetener) to raise it properly, so 1/4 tsp probably wouldn't be enough.

kenlklaser's picture
kenlklaser

It is an enriched bread! However, the honey is less than 6%, so you don't need osmotolerant yeast. I would try for 24 hours, and first use 0.4 g instant yeast, maybe reduce it to 0.1 g, and maybe even less. If it was a lean bread, I would use as little as 0.02 to 0.03 g for 20-24 hours. You need a thousandth of a gram scale to accurately measure those small amounts. As a comparison, 1/4 tsp is about 1 g. You could start at 1/8 tsp, and reduce until you find an amount that works well enough.

gary.turner's picture
gary.turner

Starvation can cause yeast into ketosis, i.e. instead of alcohol, ketones are the by-product.

A different, and totally foul smelling and tasting by-product of a slow starting yeast growth is butyric acid. Unlike ketones and alcohols, it is not evaporated and will remain through baking.

The purposes of kneading (ignoring the physical, e.g. making small holes from big holes) are to introduce the yeast to fresh sugars and starches, and to oxygenate the dough. Yeast, during its initial growth stage is an aerobic process. Not enough oxygen early on and the yeast starts slowly and does not re-incorporate the butyric acid it produces.

Sugarowl's picture
Sugarowl

The milk probably spoiled too. In my friend's No-Knead book it says to only let it sit out for about 1-2 hours if it has milk or eggs in it. Refrigeration is the way to go!

SaqibSaab's picture
SaqibSaab

Went at it again.

This time Lazy Loafer's suggestion of keeping yeast at 1 tsp and fermenting for 3 hours at room temp, then transferred to fridge for a ~20 hour retard time. Took it out, shaped it into pan, let it rise 2 hours until just crowned, slashed, baked up nice as before....

... but this time no smell! Thanks!

However, there was really no smell. As in, it was devoid of any fermented scent, pleasant or foul.

My wife described the bread to smell "like Wheaties." Her descriptions are always on point. Because while the texture, crumb, crust were good, the bread didn't have much in the way of flavor. Tasted kinda straight up like flour.

Where to next? :)

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

You didn't forget the salt, did you? :)

SaqibSaab's picture
SaqibSaab

Y'know, I thought about that, too. I don't think I did. But even before your comment, I thought that maybe I did, or just skimped.

Only one way to find out... another loaf and make sure salt is in.

This time I think I'll try kenlklaser's suggestion of 1/8 to 1/4 tsp yeast for 20-24 hours and see how it goes. Thanks, again.

gary.turner's picture
gary.turner

When putting the dough together, a mise en place can be a lifesaver. Measure out each ingredient separately in their own containers before mixing. It is all too easy to think you've added an ingredient when you haven't. When each is measured and sitting on the counter, it  is obvious which you've added and which you haven't.

The second desirable protocol deals with modifying your method or ingredients. Only change one thing at a time. Change two or more and you don't  know which did what.

gary