The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Last rise poops out

April 3, 2011 - 9:15pm
cogito45's picture
cogito45

Last rise poops out

I bake bread using the sponge (Tassajara) method.  Every once in a while, the last rise poops out and I end up with a brick.  The last time I was really careful about the temperature, the water and the proofing, and it still happened.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated

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cranbo's picture
cranbo
Apr 3 2011 - 9:24pm

In other words, you're not getting oven spring? Or are you talking about final rise after shaping? 

If your final rise after shaping fails, your dough is probably already overproofed.

Some tips:

  1. Don't let your dough double during bulk fermentation; instead, take it to almost double (i.e., 3/4 of double, etc). 
  2. Watch final rise carefully and check that it's right: Let it rise for 50-75% of the time listed in the recipe, and do the "poke test" at that point: poke it gently with your finger, if the indentation remains after 5-10 seconds, it's ready to bake! If not, let your dough rise 10 minutes longer, and check again with poke test. Repeat poke test until you've confirmed that the dough is ready. 

Yumarama's picture
Yumarama
Apr 4 2011 - 6:15am

You will want your oven ready and hot in advance of when your recipe would have suggested. Waiting another 1/2 hour for the oven to preheat could mean the proofed loaves get overproofed.