Duck Rabbit Stout Bread
Baking a loaf of bread for a buddy, so he can have roast beef and swiss cheese sandwiches. I thought a beer bread would be tasty.
Here is a picture of the final proof.
Formula:
500g bread flour
350g dark beer
50g water
13g salt
1/3 tsp dry active yeast
30 min autolyze
30 min stretch and fold, 4x
1 hr bulk rise
overnight cold ferment
come to room temp 2 hrs
shape boule
proof 1 hr
bake 500 with lid on 20 min, 450 with lid off 25 min
Smelled great out of the oven.
The crumb was weird as hell. My thoughts are that I am cooking the loaf in a pan that is to short. When I took the lid off the top of the loaf was flat. I think that is why the crumb is more dense in the middle. When the bread is sliced it doesn't look as noticeable.
Texture, flavor and aroma are spot on. I think I'm going to need to invest in a proper dutch oven, but who's got the money for that.
Any opinions on the irregular crumb?
Comments
That sort of crumb is more likely, in my view, a result of either:
1. Bad shaping: either using too much flour or not brushing off enough; not degassing properly. Sure, you want to keep the crumb as open as possible, but those huge bubbles are unseemly.
2. Overproofing.
This is from experience, happens to me from time to time, it's usually my shaping.
Wouldn't over proofing result in a lack of oven spring? I also did the poke test and it sprang back. Bad shaping could certainly be the case. I'm still working on my technique. I think I also didn't degas it enough because I did notice large air bubbles when I was shaping the loaf, I didn't want to degass too much, but maybe I did too little.
Thanks for the tips.
Duck Rabbit! I just left Asheville where I had more then my share of duckrabbit!
Duck Rabbit is tasty!
causing the hole problem - you have to be more careful to make sure you get all the large air bubbles out when shaping a loaf with commercial yeast.
Still it has to be tasty and the blisters are nice.too. At 00% hydration it is getting pretty wet and the practice with wet dough using white flour is helpful in the long riun too.
Happy baking
Thanks for the feedback. I will be more attentive with the degassing next round.
Find a TJ Max and go to the pots and pan section in the back and look around, you can find a DO (Dutch Oven) for cheap. (Marshalls as well) Or if you have a Cost Plus World Market, search there too.
Shaping, needs work. Try proofing overnight in the fridge too.
Cheers,
Wingnut
I will look into TJ Max, when you mentioned that it hit me that I had seen them there before. Good call. I'm trying to learn dough right now in general. There are so many variables. I think I'm doing okay building the dough, but learning to handle it is challenging. Hopefully with continued practice I will improve. Thanks for the feedback.
I use for bread at Goodwill on Dollar Thursday's. I have a favorite Thick aluminum one that heats really fast and bakes a great loaf but works even better with just the bottom as a cloche. Slide the bread on the stone and cover with the DO bottom. A SS mixing bowl works this way too.
Lots of options are available when baking bread and most of them work great.