Humped Pain di Mei
Hi all - I used to have an account but wasn’t very active and tended to drop in when I needed something specific. Anyhow, as I’m sure a lot of people were want to do over the past year, I got back into making bread. Mainly boules, but I also picked up a Pullman pan with lid (took months to find one in stock last year!).
I’ve probably made a good dozen now - mostly with KA’s Beekeeper recipe. The results have been fine, but all the loaves have been humped in the middle and don’t fully fill the pan when baked so I’m not getting a boxed end product.
I’d been tinkering with the recipe, but went back to the base recipe. I did do an overnight in the fridge for ~12 hours. I was even careful to shape uniformly and not press the ends. I let rise (~2 hrs) until loaf was evenly about an inch (maybe less) from the lip. Alas…
Any ideas? Try new yeast…let rise longer…let work longer to develop more gluten?
You don't mention whether you tamped the dough into the corners of the pan but you do say that you didn't allow the dough to rise as much as the recipe directed. The recipe calls for the dough to be just below the rim of the pan but you stopped when the dough was still an inch below the rim.
Try again and allow the dough to get just about up to the rim. You should be able to slide the lid on without snagging the dough, but only just having enough clearance to do so. Then the oven spring should be enough to fill the remainder of the pan before the crust sets.
Shaping the dough so that it is a uniform shape from end to end can be a challenge. I know that my own loaves tend to be larger in the middle unless I really focus on how I handle them.
Paul
Thanks for the feedback. Another set of eyes is always good, as I wasn’t reading the recipe in the same manner. Next time I’ll let it go until it’s just below the lip of the pan.
Hopefull it’s that simple, but I’ll feel silly if that’s all it is!