The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Large bubbles near skin of dough?

tortie-tabby's picture
tortie-tabby

Large bubbles near skin of dough?

I feel like this is a common problem, and most of the answers I've seen claim that the cause of the issue is under-developed gluten. However, I have good reason to believe that's not the case since I repeated exactly the same steps as I did last time I made these baguettes (300 french folds, 3 S&F with 20 minute intervals). I could feel that the skin of the dough was separated from the rest of the mass by big bubbles, the center of the dough was firm and dense.

Is it possible I didn't let the dough rise for long enough so large bubbles developed on the outside first (since the exterior of the dough is less weighed down by the rest of the dough), and didn't have time to form in the middle. (In other words, do bubbles develop evenly during proofing , or do form outside-in).