Metallic taste in baguettes
Hello,
I work at a mid-sized bakery as the head baker. I have experience at two other bakeries but no schooling.
I have never been impressed with the quality of the bread at the bakery where I am currently working, as I feel it is cheap, industrial bread. That's just my opinion. But anyways, there is a concern about the bread sometimes tasting metallic, and we are trying to run through the variables to find out what it might be.
We bake in a four-deck oven with steam, and one of the owners swears that the metallic taste started showing up when the deck oven was bought (sometime before I started working there).
We use Oak 4146 flour, salt, malt, Puratos PS500, fresh yeast, liquid levain (made with Milanaise organic and Oak flour) and city tap water in the recipe for our baguettes. We use the same dough to make sandwich loafs, which are cooked in a different oven, and these have never been the subject of complaint for metallic taste.
If anyone has any insight I would be quite happy to hear it! Thanks!
The Zucchelli deck oven. We did enough tests to prove it - baking off baguettes from the same batch in each deck and in a different oven. I don't understand what specifically is making the bread taste metallic - I guess they are not sure whether it's the steam injection or the actual floor of the oven (which is a synthetic composite). The company that sold us the oven won't come to fix it until 2 weeks from now.
It's really a disgusting taste and we are losing clients. So disappointing!
As for the other quality issues I think I've about convinced my supervisor to stop using the PS500 (which contains ascorbic acid and azodicarbonamide). So that's a plus.
To find out if its the deck of the oven or the steam bake some bread with parchment paper to provide a barrier between the deck and bread. There could be an issue with the city water reacting with something metal in the oven too.
That is smart thinking Manna, we did actually do that test, with parchment paper on clean trays to make sure there was a good barrier. We tried it with and without steam, and were baffled to find out that there was still a taste either way, though it varied depending on the deck (the deck we use most often had the worst taste). The water is chlorinated, but according to independent testing the city has 'very good' water. So I really don't understand. Apparently this is not the first time Zucchelli has heard of this issue with some of their ovens. I don't know more than that though (and don't want to spread rumours). Will update once the oven has been serviced.