Question about loaves splitting?
Hi,
Just wondering if anyone else has ever had a problem with their loaves of bread splitting on top while it's rising. I live on a farm with my parents and siblings--we raise our own wheat and mill it ourselves. It's a hard red wheat. I bake bread to sell and its aggravating when the loaves split and aren't ''sellable'' any more. I use all whole wheat freshly ground. I've tried everything I can think of but it's still splitting sometimes. Sometimes it's just a little split and other times it goes across the whole top of the loaf. And sometimes a whole batch will be fine and the next time every loaf will be split. The ingredients I use are fresh ground flour (it does make a difference!), water, oil, honey, yeast and salt. I have a hobart mixer so I don't have to do it by hand which is nice. I can mix seven loaves at a time--that's how many fits in our oven. Any suggestions would be helpful!!
Breadprincess
Could you be clearer about when the loaves are splitting, and what exactly you mean by a split?
Is it a crack in the crust, or a wide split? Does it happen while the loaves are in the oven, after they're cool, during initial proofing?
A little more info might help with the diagnosis. Some pictures would be excellent, as well.
-Joe
Sorry I wasn't more specific....I'll see what I can do about some pictures--don't have any right now. The loaves are splitting while I let them rise before baking them. And sometimes it is just a small crack that kinda spreads out as it bakes and other times it's a big split all the way along the loaf that looks like someone mangled it with a knife. ): I've tried not letting them rise as long but that affects the texture. I've tried less flour and more flour, less yeast and more yeast......I'm still just learning at baking bread so I don't know a whole lot about it. Let me know if you have any more questions.
-Breadprincess
I am by no means an expert on things like this, but I would think
maybe the tops of your loaves are drying a bit, hence the split,
but maybe a spray of water while in it's final rise to keep them moist may help.... qahtan
If you cover the rising loaves with Saran Wrap or something similar, that should keep a crust from forming during the rise. Sounds like the tops of the loaves are drying out, and then, as the bread rises, the "crust" cracks.
Sound right?
It can be hard to avoid the splitting with rye and pumpernickel recipes. My first 5 ryes were perfect, but since then I get a split or breakout at the bottom about 1 of 3 times.
You could also provide some mechanical support. This item is from Chicago Metallic but King Arthur claims it is exclusive to them:
http://shop.bakerscatalogue.com/items/Bread_Pan___Hearth_Rye.html
If that pan had holes in it like Chicago Metallic's french bread pans I would buy it immediately.
sPh
Since you use all whole wheat could it be too much? Maybe try less. I find whole wheat doesn't develop well during fermentation and therefore might be unsuitable for using 100% as your flour in your bread. Try less.
Happy Baking,
Ryan
I find that whole wheat needs rather more water than ordinary white flour. When I use whole wheat, I add quite a bit more water than usual (up to 10%) to make a fairly sloppy dough and leave it about 20 minutes before mixing - this allows the flour to absorb the water and swell. Then I mix for a very short time only - whole wheat prefers a very short kneading time.
It also comes out well with only a single proof - i.e. mix, brief knead, shape, proof and bake.
When I used to try to treat whole wheat like regular bread flour it used to regularly "split" but now it is much better behaved.
I agree that whole wheat needs more liquid -- I suppose all the bran absorbs a lot of water. But I've not found whole wheat needs less mixing. I don't often do high hydration breads, though, so my experience might be off. Nevertheless, I make a 100% whole wheat sourdough loaf every weekend, and I have to knead 15 to 20 mintutes to get it to the point I want it. If I undernead, the loaf doesn't rise nearly as high.
I do an autolyse for about 30 minutes before adding salt -- that helps a TON.
I use Dan Lepard's method of kneading with wholemeal and find it works great. Which is this - mix dough up and knead gently about 10 seconds. Leave 10 minutes. Meanwhile, wash and dry mixing bowl and lightly oil it.
Scrape dough off work surface into a ball hape, and knead gently for 10 seconds. Place in oiled bowl, cover, amd leave 10 minutes. Knead 10 seconds, place in bowl, cover and leave 30 minutes. Knead 10 seconds, cover and leave for I hour.
Next stage is to pat out dough lightly (trying not to deflate any bubbles) then fold in three, like folding paper to put in an envelope. Leave covered for an hour then repeat folding and leave for an hour.
Now shape, leave to prove until almost doubled and bake.
This method saves any hard kneading and helps to prevent the bran and rough bits in wholemeal flour from tearing the gluten strands. And produces well risen, well textured wholemeal bread!
Andrew