May 20, 2011 - 2:44pm
Golden Raisin Bread - Fail?
I made Jeffrey Hamelman's Golden Raisin Bread (from Bread) today and was so excited for it until it came out of the oven.
The ONLY change I made to the recipe was to use regular raisins, I followed everything else to the T. The loaves feel heavy for their size and don't look like they had much oven spring, you can see the score lines didn't open well. The loaves ended up touching just a bit but I don't think that's what affected the bake.
I had a pan with a towel and hot water for steam and shot a few quick sprays of mist from my pump sprayer during the first 5 minutes so I think there was enough steam in the beginning. I baked on a stone at 460 for the first 15 minutes and finished it off at 430 for 25 minutes.What did I do wrong?
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At first glance, I think they could have used a longer bake to brown them more, but that could also just be lighting. Using an oven thermometer, you might want to check the temp of the oven to see if it's as warm as the setting. A baking stone often takes longer than a half hour to warm up, more like 45 minutes to an hour. If the stone was not heated through, then your loaf isn't getting the needed heat under the loaf for good spring. How's the bottom of the loaf? If it seems pale to you, then I suggest preheating the stone longer.
I often push the raisins on the surface back into the loaf with my finger so they're less apt to burn as the crust browns.
Did you get a crumb picture? The loaves look pretty good. How do they taste? (Looks like a section missing on the left loaf.) :)
Just cut into it and it's pretty dense, not horrible but a lot more dense than I had anticipated. The crust is thin, crisp, and chewy.
As far as preheating the baking stone, I preheated it for the entire final rise which was an hour. The missing section you see is where the two loaves joined during baking.
Could I have let the bulk rise go longer? I let it go for 2 hours, folded once after the first hour. Maybe the final rise? It was 1 hour.
Maybe it's the mixer? It has 2 dough hooks so maybe I overmixed?
The dough felt good and rose well both times but didn't have much oven spring.
What water temp was used?
Jim
I didn't check with a thermometer but it was slightly above room temp. Final dough temp was to be 76, it came out at 77.
You get a gold star for reaching the DDT. The second rise/final proof should be less than double with the oven providing the final boost and a half. The raisins in the bread will usually make it a little heavier than without. If you timed the first rise, the second one should be shorter.
Jim
I'm not familiar with that abbreviation, can you translate? :o)
I was checking to see if that section of the book was read. DDT = Desired Dough Temperature. It's in the back of the book. It may look complex at first, yet it's worth the effort to get consistent results; especially for a home baker whose kitchen temp can change.
Jim
I've read about it on here but not in depth like the book describes, I'm only about halfway through the book at this point. I've had issues with dough that comes out too warm so I've learned to adjust my water temp to compensate, just not as calculated as JH describes it.
There's no such thing as a failure when it comes to baking, only learning experiences. You said the crumb is dense. Is it moist and dense or is it dry and dense? Moist and dense could mean that the bread was underbaked or it was underproofed during the final rise. Dry and dense could mean too much flour or not enough liquid and/or the bread was underproofed.
It's not dry at all but I couldn't tell it it was moist from the raisins or if it was underbaked.
for my yeasties and maybe that is the only problem. You did follow the recipe to the "T." Funny how I happen to have a bookmark in my book at that very recipe. Which formula did you use? Home or Baker's % ? Did you use added yeast? Maybe up the % to 1.5 and see if that helps.
Mini
I haven't gotten into bakers math yet.
(I just love my spoon scale!) so my suggestion would be along the lines of upping the yeast to 1 1/2 tsp. to see if that works out better next time.
Mini
I make a raisin/walnut bread and recognize some similarities to my past loaves in the pictures you have. My recipe has some honey,spices,whole wheat,raisins,craisin, and walnuts. All these affect the crumb. One of the things I've learned is that you must really work at gluten development before adding the raisins/nuts. You don't have to struggle or knead for 5 hours-time and stretch and folds can do it.
Another lesson is that it takes longer to rise initially. Make sure it doubles or the crumb is quite delicious but dense.
The final proof is also harder to judge with the raisins/nuts and it is easy to overproof. I still have trouble with that one. The up-side is that the dough is delicious almost no matter how it comes out. If it is too dense/moist-keep it in the toaster longer.
Finally, this type of bread is much more delicious if it is very well browned. The carmelized flavor of the crust adds to the taste. I usually start my oven at 400 for 10 minutes and then decreas it to 375 to an internal temp of 190. Steam the first 10 minutes.But I am baking a 100% whole wheat-it needs a lower heat and slightly longer bake time to dry the crumb. If your recipe is all AP/or Bread flour, it will take the higher heat for the whole bake time.