Hi there
I made a matcha pain de mie and it turned out good but IDK why the bottom is dense. I've read some theories online but I'm still not too sure what the real reason is. Someone said underproofed? But my banana bread which is not yeasted also has a dense bottom. Maybe that's just a coincidence? It appears the sides are a bit dense too? Can anyone weigh in please? Thank you !
LL
Since the bread doesn't have anywhere to go as the dough expands during baking, the top, sides, and bottom tend to get compressed. The dough nearest the pan is the first to expand, since it is the first to heat up. Later, as heat penetrates to the center of the dough, it begins to expand and winds up compressing the outer dough that had expanded earlier.
Question 1: What are the dimensions of your Pullman pan?
Question 2: How much dough, by weight, was in the pan for this bake?
The solution is to reduce the amount of dough in the pan. If you answer the two preceding questions, folks here will be able to give you some suggestions for how much dough to put in the pan.
Paul
Hi Paul
I kinda thought that too, like there wasn't enough room. It is a 500 gram flour loaf.
3⅓ cups (500 g) bread flour 1½ tsp (8 g) salt 2 tbsp + 2 tsp (40 g) granulated sugar 2 tsp (6 g) instant yeast ¼ cup (60 g) whole milk, room temperature 1 cup + 2 tsp (260 g) water, room temperature 2 tbsp + 2 tsp (40 g) unsalted butter, softened
. I've made this loaf before and don't remember it being dense like that at the bottom. the dimensions of the pan is 9x4x4 which is what the recipe called for. it doesn't explain why my banana loaf is like that 2 unless it's 2 separate problems. That's why i'm thinking it's the oven or oven temperature. I am using my counter top wolf oven which is like a toaster oven but not really. I used 2 oven thermometers to make sure it came to temperature and let it preheat for quite a while. the instructions say to place it on a cookie sheet to bake. which i did. Anyway it was nice and fluffy and soft in the middle. So my friend who i gave the loaf to was happy. Thanks for your help.
Use less water. Enjoy!
I agree with Paul that there might be too much dough in the pan, but you also have a problem with banana bread. Too much batter would rise and overflow, in that case. They could be separate problems though.
Could it be your oven? Do you have a thermometre to check its accuracy? The other question I would ask is whether your pans are particularily shiny?
I used the USA pan pullman pan. I think it's aluminum. I commented about my oven above. I'm not wanting to use my big oven in this summer heat.
If it is too much dough i can simply bake it without the lid on.
—and no more than 300g—of bread flour to make a brick-shaped loaf in a 9x4x4 Pullman pan, as long as the dough is sufficiently developed.
Yippee
Even less, say 270g. Unless there will be a lot of whole grain.
and not just the flour amount. I use the same pan without the lid and it happens to my bread sometimes.
The shiny USA pans need to be on a lower rack in a big oven and putting it on a sheet pan will block too much heat to the bottom and sides. A baking stone will brown the bottom but the sides will not get enough heat.
Shaping it tightly with a large seam on the bottom should be avoided as well as putting a warm dough in a colder pan with a cooler proofing temp.
I use 400 gr as the baseline for total flour and aim for the finished loaf to barely clear the top of the pan to keep the slices square
Don