First Two Loaves
I've been wanting to learn how to cook and bake certain things for a while -- especially bread -- and I finally did it. I made one loaf yesterday that came out rather doughy on the inside, hard crust, and even harder bottom crust. Here are the things I think I did wrong with it:
- I meant to make it a long loaf, but I made it oval with varying thickness.
- There wasn't any gas in the dough because I forgot to shape the dough for the second rising and started punching it down. Since I didn't want it to get a beery flavor, as lesson 1 warned about if you rise the dough too much, I just left it and baked it after the second rise.
- I think due to the odd shape and inconsistent thickness, the crust formed and overbaked long before the inside could fully bake.
It was edible, though, so I ate it.
For my second loaf, the loaf came out more thoroughly cooked, but still lacking the holes. However, it looked pretty similar to the bread in the first lesson, which didn't have many holes. It also had some bits of hardened flour in it, which I wasn't happy about. I would've considered it a success if they weren't there. Here's what I did differently this time that I think could've contributed to my imperfect loaf:
- I think I should've baked it a little longer. I only did it for about 40 minutes; the top was paler than the image in lesson 1 and was fairly crusty, but the bottom was already getting pretty hard (I'm wondering if this was because I'm baking it on parchment paper on a sheet pan -- maybe because it's so hot, it's cooking the bottom faster? If someone could let me know, that'd be great).
- I also baked it on the top rack this time (I baked the first one on the middle one).
- I decided to open up a bag of flour that I had had for a while (not due to expire until next year, though) instead of using up my boyfriend's sister's flour. She said I could use it, but I would feel bad if I used it all. Anyway, I'm not sure what kind of flour I was using yesterday, but today's flour is pre-sifted bleached all-purpose flour. I read through some comments on TFL and people said that you could use bleached, but it's better with unbleached.
- Instead of using a big spoon to mix the ingredients in the bowl, I used a smaller spoon that I already had out for scooping out flour. When I was mixing, I couldn't mix large amounts of dough at a time and it broke up the dough in smaller bits. I got a bigger spoon out and mixed everything together, but it came out kind of weird. I was hoping that I got all the clumps out while kneading, but perhaps I didn't.
I'm disappointed about the hard bits of flour (see that really white spot? Yeah, that's it). These are all over, but you can't really tell because the photo's blurry and that one you can see is one of the more prominent ones. I'm going to take another picture later because I didn't realize it focused the background instead of the foreground.
Here's one that I picked off.
This one was actually easier to cut into and the bottom browned quite a bit, so it was still a little tough to cut through, but it was better than yesterday's. I think it may be because of the shorter baking time and I took it off the pan to cool. Maybe even because I moved it up one rack in the oven?
I'll be trying it again tomorrow and I won't stop trying until I get it down pat. In the meantime, I'll be munching on these loaves. They aren't perfect, but I don't want to waste 'em.
Comments
If the hard lumps are in the flour itself then sifting the flour before you use it may help.
The bag says it's pre-sifted and there weren't any clumps that didn't fall apart easily, so I thought I wouldn't have to, but I'll give that a try. I do think the bad mixing in the beginning was also a problem. Thanks for the suggestion.
Hi - I'm impressed with your efforts! Don't give up... A few questions/answers will help us bakers to better guide you. Are you using dry yeast or a sourdough type culture? What temperature are you baking at? Are you using any steam in your oven?
Marie
Hi Marie, thanks! I'm using active dry yeast. I was baking at the suggested temperature in lesson 1: 375º for 45 minutes (sorry, I thought I mentioned that, but I think I must've deleted it while editing). However, for the second loaf, I only did it for 40 minutes because the crust was getting pretty hard at that point. I didn't use steam in the oven. I read about that in one of the other lessons and it sounds like it'd help my issue of having the crust get really hard when the inside isn't finished baking yet. I'll give that a try later today. Thanks for bringing it up!
From the pictures you posted it seems that your bread is underbaked. The crust should be a rich golden brown (on the darkish side). Check out some of the pictures on the site for reference. Yeasted breads don't really need steam to help them rise but if you want to try it, I use Sylvia's method - it's easy and works really well http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20162/oven-steaming-my-new-favorite-way
You don't mention your method for kneading so I will assume it's by hand. After the dough is mixed somewhat in the bowl with a spoon, dump it all onto your working surface and knead for 10-15 minutes. There are some great uTube videos for demos.
Good luck!
I think so, too, that they are underbaked. The crust for the first one was really hard, but the inside was still doughy. Also, when I tried eating some of my second loaf last night, it seems that the crust got softer after I baked it and the crust feels like I'm eating moist dough (this may be due to me storing it in a plastic bag while it was still a little warm).
I did knead it by hand. I looked at these two videos for guidance [here and here], but I'm not sure which one to follow when it comes to determining when you're done kneading. One video says when you stick your fingers in the dough and it doesn't spring back, it's done. The other says the opposite. My second attempt didn't look silky or elastic like the two videos said as well as lesson 1 of TFL. It started getting hard to knead (I think I did it a little too long) and I think I may have worked too much flour into it, but it still seemed kind of wet when I poked it with my fingers -- it was still a little sticky. I didn't think I should knead it anymore or add more flour because it was getting tougher to knead, so I let it rise.
Toranky, The best way to tell if a loaf (or anything else) is done is to take its temperature. 180°f is minimum for white bread, while bake most heavy wheat/rye loaves to 205°f. If your baking a lean, basic loaf it will not develop much color, For additional color, add a teaspoon of sugar to your recipe.Allan
Hi toranky, Your bread looks good, with nice scoring too. I had a couple of thoughts regarding the light color. Could the 375 F indicated on the dial, be a different temperature inside your oven. Would you consider an inexpensive oven thermometer to double check? If it is off, then depending on how far off, it might just require a simple re-callibrating. I keep mine in my oven all the time. Are you baking at a higher elevation? Sometimes this affects color. When you knead are you incorporating too much bench flour? If you are the little bits of hard flour might be from the bits that stick to your fingers and hands, and when they are cast off, sometimes make their way back into the dough. If the dough becomes heavy from adding too much flour, it tends to take longer to bake than lighter doughs. Try weting your hands with water to prevent sticking, and with the help of a bench scraper, and patience, it might give you a higher rise, and lighter overall bread. Hope one of these helps. Ray
Hi Ray, thanks! I was considering in investing in a couple of thermometers for the fridge and oven. I currently live in Las Vegas. Wikipedia is giving two different levels of elevation, but it provided 2001 ft and 2030 ft above sea level. I had no idea that this could affect the outcome of baking bread!
I think I did add in too much extra flour when kneading. It got a little tougher to knead, too, but somehow it was still sticky when I poked it with my finger to see if it was done. I mentioned in a previous comment to MarieH that two videos I watched on kneading gave contradictory ways of telling if you're done kneading. One says if the dough springs back when you stick your fingers into it, you're done. The other says the opposite.
I found out when I ate some of the day-old second loaf that the crust has gotten softer and it is kind of like eating barely moist dough, so I think maybe I underbaked it. Maybe that's why the color is still very pale. I will still look into an oven thermometer, though, in case that may be playing a part as well.
Hi again toranky, your bread color looks very much like the bread in lessson one. I should have checked to see that it had no sugar, butter etc. I am rather embarrased, looks like you are right on the money afterall. So....... "Nevermind."
Ray
Oh, don't worry about it! I still think I botched the second loaf by not baking it enough and you also provided some very helpful tips that I'll keep in mind the next time I give this a go. :]
using bleached flour is probably also contributing to the very pale crust. For breads from now on, unbleached is always the best way to go. Crust color aside, the flavor will also be much better. Also, for the type of loaf it looks like your'e aiming for, a temperature increase might help as well. Try baking at 450 degrees next time, and definitely steam the oven for the first 15 minutes or so. An easier way to do this is to invert a very large stainless steel bowl over your loaf to trap any steam that comes out of your loaf in the first few minutes. While this method may not give you the most steam possible, it is pretty effective, and I always use it because I'm feeling lazy :-)
Thanks, I'll have to pick up some unbleached the next time I'm at the store then. I mentioned it in my responses to other comments, but I think the second loaf is underbaked. The crust went from feeling kinda hard to barely moist, but still kind of crusty dough. I'll try steaming next time.
using bleached flour is probably also contributing to the very pale crust. For breads from now on, unbleached is always the best way to go. Crust color aside, the flavor will also be much better. Also, for the type of loaf it looks like your'e aiming for, a temperature increase might help as well. Try baking at 450 degrees next time, and definitely steam the oven for the first 15 minutes or so. An easier way to do this is to invert a very large stainless steel bowl over your loaf to trap any steam that comes out of your loaf in the first few minutes. While this method may not give you the most steam possible, it is pretty effective, and I always use it because I'm feeling lazy :-)
Nice idea ...no harm ...most likely everybody does it anyway.
But not real. A bag of "sifted" flour that travels several hundred miles in a vibrating truck isn't "sifted" any more.
"Sifting" doesn't last forever. Do your own at the time of baking, no matter what the sack says was done before.
Hi toranky, thanks for letting me off the hook. Back to my suggestion of using an oven thermometer. If your oven proves to be at temperature dialed, then at least that cause can be eliminated. It can't hurt, and will help towards knowing your oven a bit better.
Ray