My bread is too soft to cut!
Hi,
I finally had success baking a bread that my husband and I both like for making sandwiches. Right now I am using the no knead type of recipe and my bread maker to do the mixing. The recipe is roughly 1c. wheat flour (+1 TBSN). , 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 c. water and 1/2mL instant yeast. After the mixing cycle I put it in a loaf pan and let it rise 8 to 12hrs. Then I bake it covered in a roasting pan with about 1/3 c. water. At 425F for 25 minutes and then uncovered for another 10. It looks lovely and the interior is spongy and soft, but when I go to cut it, it collapses. I realize that the crust needs to be tougher because it is the force of the knife that squishes the bread down. Once I can make a decent cut through the crust, it will saw fairly well even though the interior is soft. My loaf pan is glass, so I am not sure if that is part of the problem.
Any advice would be much appreciated. My next step will probably make the bread, but make mini sub buns instead, at least I just have to cut it once to make sandwich. Should I be looking more at at open oven format instead of trying to steam in a roasting pan? I am not really sure what the steaming does for the bread anyways, because I don't seem to be getting an oven spring anyways.