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Squashed Loaf - Tell me what I'm doing wrong

Paul Joynes's picture
Paul Joynes

Squashed Loaf - Tell me what I'm doing wrong

I've just got in a bunch of new baking equipment and have been trying to adapt an old recipe to work with the new equipment. So far I've had two fails where the loaves have horribly sunken sides. I realize that I could just change one variable at a time until I find the culprit, but I figured that someone more experienced than me might read through this post and see a glaring error in my procedure. If you have a suggestion it could save me multiple misshapen loaves of bread while I grind through all the various permutations.

 

 

The old procedure that worked:

The dough was mixed in a Bosch Universal mixer at medium speed for about 8 minutes. Bulk ferment was done in the mixer with the lid on and would typically take about 45-60 minutes. The mixer was then turned on again for 30-60 seconds to knock the dough down. The dough was then formed into two loaves that were about 775 g each. These would be placed into well-oiled 9"x5"x2.75" steel pans with a dark non-stick coating, The dough would then rise for about 45 minutes. After rising, I would score the top of the loaves and bake in a 350-degree F oven for 30-35 minutes and remove when the bread reached an internal temperature of 195-205 degrees F.

 

The new procedure that results in misshapen loaves:

The dough is mixed in a Sunmix 6 Spiral Mixer. Ingredients are added to the bowl and blended at 70 rpm for 2 minutes. The dough is allowed to hydrate for 10 minutes and is then mixed at 150 rpm for 3 minutes. The dough is allowed to rest for 10 minutes and then mixed for an additional 3 minutes at 150 rpm. The dough is then moved to a 6-quart Cambro box and allowed to bulk ferment until doubled in size. This is taking about an hour, maybe a little more. The dough is then divided into two 900 g loaves. The old bread pans have been replaced by 1/4 size x 4" deep steam table pans made out of 22-gauge stainless steel. Since these aren't non-stick, I've been oiling them and then dusting them with white rice flour before putting the dough in. The dough is then proofed in the loaf pan for about 35 minutes which yields about 70% growth. Once the dough has risen, I score the top of the loaf and then liberally spritz with water. A second steam table pan is placed inverted on top and held in place with binder clips. I’m doing this to promote a high steam environment similar to cooking in a Dutch oven. The covered loaves are placed in a 450-degree oven for 20 minutes at which time the oven temperature is lowered to 350-degrees and the lids are removed. The bread is then baked until an internal temperature of 205-degrees F is reached (25 additional minutes). 

When I remove the bread from the oven it looks beautiful, lots of oven spring and the score mark has opened to the full width of the loaf cap, but the loaf then starts to implode upon itself as it cools. I have cooled it both on a wire rack and in the pan and both methods worked equally poorly. I have also tried poking holes in the crust (6 equally spaced around the perimeter of the loaf cap) using the instant read thermometer thinking that it would allow air to enter the quickly cooling loaf of bread and counteract any vacuum that may be forming within the crust as the bread cools. 

 

The dough recipe

560 g Water, 105 degrees F

10 g Yeast

45 g Instant Mashed Potato Flakes

60 g 7 Grain Cereal

885 g All Purpose Flour (13.3% protein)

15 g Malt Powder (This is a new addition)

16 g Salt

45 g Powdered Milk

35g Honey

60 g Oil

2 eggs

 

I look forward to reading your sage advice.

jl's picture
jl (not verified)

What does the crumb look like? Does the same thing happen if you remove the malt?

 

Here's a probably relevant excerpt from Stanley Cauvain's Baking Problems Solved: 

 

 

Benito's picture
Benito

After you remove the loaves from their pans, place them back in the oven for 5 mins out of their pans.  This will help set the crust better so that they do  not implode.  I found the same thing when changing to a deeper loaf pan so I added a further baking time with the loaves out of their pans and they don't implode anymore.

Benny

MTloaf's picture
MTloaf

The color needs to be darker and the malt will make it brown even more.  You should feel a solid wall of dough when you squeeze it and a hollow sound when you thump the bottom.

Paul Joynes's picture
Paul Joynes

Here is a photo of the loaf's crumb.

 

Crumb photo of squashed loaf

Benito's picture
Benito

That does look underbaked, MTloaf is correct.  You can see lines of underbaked dough where the collapse has occurred.  I’d bake longer in pan, and then pop them out of the pan and bake free form for another 5 mins to ensure that the crust is fully set to the bread can support its own weight.

MTloaf's picture
MTloaf

Jeffrey Hamelman explains it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH3Cwn9iuJU 

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Don do you have a time that we can use in the video to see what Jeff says pertaining to shrunken loaves? The video is over an hour

MTloaf's picture
MTloaf

Maybe I did that part wrong but it begins at the 50 minute mark. There is also this https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/67186/using-thermometers-test-bread-doneness

Paul Joynes's picture
Paul Joynes

Thanks for all of the great feedback! I’ll make another couple of loaves later in the week and incorporate your suggestions. Malt powder will be out and I’ll go for a more done loaf. 

Am I better to increase the cooking time at 350-degrees or am I better to leave the oven temp at 450 for the whole bake?

Paul Joynes's picture
Paul Joynes

Thanks for all of the great feedback! I’ll make another couple of loaves later in the week and incorporate your suggestions. Malt powder will be out and I’ll go for a more done loaf. 

Am I better to increase the cooking time at 350-degrees or am I better to leave the oven temp at 450 for the whole bake?

MTloaf's picture
MTloaf

I start my pan loaves at 425 for 5 minutes and then reduce it to 350. Every oven is a little bit different. 

Benito's picture
Benito

It depends on how dark you prefer your crust.  If you want it darker, then stay at the higher temperature longer.  If you don’t want it to be darker, extend the 350ºF cooking time.

Paul Joynes's picture
Paul Joynes

Thanks for the great suggestions folks.

I made another two loaves today and followed your advice. The malt was replaced with AP flour and the cook time was increased to 20 minutes under cover at 450 degrees plus 35 minutes at 350 degrees uncovered. I'm really happy with the final product.

HeiHei29er's picture
HeiHei29er

Congrats on getting things figured out!  Looks like a great couple of loaves!

Benito's picture
Benito

Glad your loaves turned out well with the adjustments.

Benny