November 25, 2018 - 9:22am
Checking for Doneness
I would welcome any tips on how to check when a loaf is baked and ready to come out of the oven.
I thump the bottom of the loaves and it sounds hollow, and the internal temp is 190-210° F, and the crust is crusty. But this often happens on the very low end of the suggested baking time.
After the bread cools, the crusts are soft presumably because of the steam still coming out. This suggests that the bread was underbaked. The crumb seems fully baked, though.
So how should I check for done? If it makes a difference, these are usually lean doughs with a lot of whole wheat flour.
Thanks
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I prefer to bake to 205F - 210F.
The crumb will always have more moisture that causes the crust to soften over time. If you want the crust to stay crisp longer (or extra crispy), once the loaves are at your target temperature, turn the oven off, open the oven door a few inches, and leave them in the oven for 5 - 6 minutes before taking them out to completely cool.
I baked a loaf today the full time time per the formula; it called for opening the oven door a crack for the last 16 minutes of a 50 minute bake. The full baking time (plus the steam and the open door) finally got me the crust I wanted (not counting the part that was slightly burned).
Final internal temp was 210° F.
In addition to time and temperature, I use visual appearance and smell as doneness indicators. The sound of a thump may seem to imply doneness, but if color and aroma are not right, it's not done for me.
Thanks for the suggestion. It will be a while before I have a good idea what fully baked looks like.
"It will be a while before I have a good idea what fully baked looks like."
I agree with the comments regarding temperature (I always go for 208-210 F) and appearance (if the internal temperature is there but the crust is pale, keep baking). What you want is caramelized, which is in contrast to burned. The darkening of the outside will enhance the flavors. If you find that the outside is getting black, however, that is the start of burning, and the loaf should be removed.
Suppose that the outside is getting dark, but the internal temperature is only 185 F. Too early to pull the loaf out, but you fear it will burn. The solution is to put a tent of aluminum foil over the loaf. It will continue to bake (thereby increasing the internal temperature as more moisture is eliminated), but will not burn.
Happy baking.
I have read that some bakers turn the oven down if they see their loaf getting too dark too soon.
The burnt crust covered maybe 1/3 of the loaf - perhaps the oven is not uniform. If I had rotated the loaf partway through maybe I could have avoided the burning.