Got a funny shoe shaped bread from spreading. Definitely a learning curve to not able to rely on the “walls” of the combo oven as the challenger pan has a much wider surface area. Any tips on tighter shaping ?
Recipe:
78% hydration with 20% whole wheat.
3hr 40 min bulk at 77 degree, 3 stretch & folds
Cold proof for 20 hrs
baked at 470 covered for 20 min and uncovered for 25 min
Image
specifically I'd love to get any resources on how to shape tighter and prevent oven spread. I've been baking for 3 months and are finally starting to get comfortable with fermentation but shaping is a constant hit and miss, most of my loaves seems to suffer from some form of oven spread. Combo oven has been a life saver but w/ the new challenger bread pan, I'd love for the loaf to maintain its shape instead of spreading all over.
Try to get more gluten development by doing more folds or try slap and folds. Also extending the bulk ferment will strengthen the dough. An under fermented dough will be loose and will spread. A picture of the crumb will help identify the issue.
here’s pic of crumb, great flavor and pretty open overall. I might have gotten a bit of flour in the middle causing some tunneling . Do you think it’s underproof’d?
I would hope others would chime in but large holes above dense lower crumb tell me that it was proofed too long. If it spread before putting it in the oven.The 20 hours in the fridge may have been the culprit. Does the loaf rise much in the fridge? Is it domed shaped in the basket before baking?
There is a Community Bake (Kristen Fullproof Baking) on this site using the same recipe. I would look for some answers there.
That’s interesting, 20 hr is the longest Proof I’ve done as well so I suspected it might be the culprit. The crust did get quite dark which I always thought An overproofed loaf would have lighter crust.
it didn’t rise too much in the fridge, maybe 20%? Not significantly more than usual.
just for comparison, below is a loaf At 10 he fridge. You can see slight spread but combo cooker caught the edge to allow it to grow.
Hi,
Did you ever solve the shoe loaf issue? I recently bought a Challenger pan and have exactly the same issue. Before I was getting great results in a Lodge. Using the same recipe/technique I was getting junk from the Challenger.
Thanks
TD
I just got a challenger pan myself (2 weeks ago), and some of the best bread i've done has come out of it.
I think the problem he had there was to do with fermentation (given the bulk times he was talking about, i suspect it was under), and dough development. The dough needs to have a really good structure in and of itself before it goes into a banneton. If it does it will not spread too much once in the pan.
I've had a loaf with poor oven-spring come out of the pan a couple of days ago. I think my problem was with the shaping... but on the flip side, the crumb was super honeycombed / lacy and the crumb was custardy to eat.. So flavour / texture > Ovenspring imo.