November 30, 2008 - 10:05pm
Troubleshooting Help: No Oven Spring
Put some bread in yesterday and it came out of the oven almost the exact same size it went in. I assume I let it proof too long and the yeast ate most/all of the sugars so nothing left to oven spring with. Is that right?
Share
That would be my guess too assuming it rose well during it's final rising time. Did it taste and look okay otherwise?
Marni
Yes, it did manage to really do a heavy push in the last 15 minutes of proofing, lots of rising then. Taste was fine, but bland, not tasting any sugars at all.
From my experience, just let your loaf/loaves double in volume (no more than double) during final proof. Otherwise you risk having it deflate slightly (or in extreme cases of over proofing, collapse) as you put it into the oven. Also, score the tops to allow for expansion (I also score the tops of loaves bake in bread pans, end to end, to allow for expansion) during oven spring, which takes place during the first 8-10 minutes of the baking cycle. For more flavor try using an overnight poolish, sponge, etc. and for some types of breads you can retard the loaves overnight in the fridge to increase the flavor.
Howard