Help me understand my bread and where it went wrong !
Hi all,
Alongside weekly bread baking experimentations, I have been baking a tartine style boule once a week, as I can now get fairly good results from it. Every week the bread has been getting better and better. However this weekend it did not come out of the oven as planned....
- The dough was very difficult to handle during / after the bench rest (it drooped away a lot more than it usually does. It usually holds its form quite well on the initial bench rest).
- It did not achieve anywhere near the usual oven spring I get from this recipe.
- It tasted more sour than usual.
I have been trying to understand what factor(s) were changed/different to create the above issues. I believe for maybe the more experienced bakers of you the above issues point towards where the error could lie?
I stuck to the exact same recipe, same timings, same measurements etc. I believe the dough was proofing at the usual temperature... I do it in the oven, with the light on and a cup of hot water inside. And bulk fermentation in my fridge overnight, again as usual.
My rookie assumptions / guesses:
- Maybe the temperature of the dough was warmer than usual and thus I took the initial proof too far? I usually take the temperature of the dough every half hour but this time I didn't, as I have been getting consistent results from the previous weeks, so got cocky.
- It's possible it may have been proofing for longer than usual (maybe an extra half hour) and thus over-proofed?
- Maybe my fridge dial got knocked and the fridge temperature was lower than usual for the bulk fermentation.
I'm glad this happened however, as it has taught me that I need to try relying more on intuition (how does the dough look and feel during the initial proofing process) to gauge when it is ready to bench rest / shape, rather than sticking to a rigid routine of timings, which ultimately change depending upon the environment the dough is being created in...
Thanks in advance for any advice you throw my way !
Best regards to all,
Johnathan
Gluten can be hydrolyzed by overproofing because of the acid conditions of the sourdough. Ovens differ, in my case the oven light will get the oven temperature to about 95°F. At this temperature the yeast is not very active but the hydrolysis of the gluten will take place and the dough is very slow in rising. You are right -- do not rely on timing alone -- use your judgment.
Ford
and once that happens you can sometimes remedy it by degassing it, re-kneading it and letting it prove again, or just throw it in a hot oven and hope for the best. (but with sourdough, it's getting even more sour though - as I think you've experienced)
Start doing the "finger poke" test. dust some flour on your finger and poke it into the dough as its rising - if it springs back immediately then it's not ready yet, if it stays in then slowly starts to spring back to about half way, then you're there, but if the hole stays there you're over...
Yeasted breads can over-proof in under 15 miuntes from the time you last checked and it felt under proofed, sourdoughs sometimes a little more forgiving - depending on the activity of the starter, so it's always wise to check well before you think it might be ready - just in-case.
And when all else fails, throw it in the oven and make toast.
-Gordon
Thanks for the info guys.
So looks like I shall start doing the finger test to understand the stage I am at, whilst also taking a visual note of what the dough looks like. If the dough is in a clear container and when poking it, you achieve the perfect half-way-back spring, how would you expect the dough to be looking in general?
I remember the dough in question that failed had a tonne of air bubbles around the sides of the container.
All the best,
Johnathan
Like snowflakes, but different. I have been making the same bread pretty much weekly for more than 10 years, in addition to the 108 bread project. Though most of these weekly breads do well with the standard recipe, I have found over the years that some bags of flour - from the same company - require a little less water to a lot more, even double the water. If you have had much success making your bread, it could be variation in the flour and not anything you did.
In over 2 years of exclusively using one mill and one type of their flours to make my (white) breads, I've never had a bag different from the others - not that I could tell, anyway.
Double the water? I'd seriously be looking for a different source of flour if that were the case.
-Gordon
seems a bit much, isn't it? I mean, it'd take a 50% hydration dough to 100%. There's no way that any dough made from any flour would have the same consistency at 50% that it does at 100%. Are you sure you're not exaggerating a little =P
thanks for the heads up 108, i never realised this could occur if it was from the same company.
ford, drogon, taken your advice on board and now more eyes/hands on with the dough during proofing. Intuition here I come.
...Until the next dilemma,
Best regards,
Johnathan
In 15 years of using the same flour and making the same bread almost weekly, there has been a small variation, with the exception that twice (well under one percent of the time) the flour has needed considerably more water than usual. Under one percent is acceptable as an anomaly.
On average, however, the flour works pretty much the same week after week. I wouldn't be surprised if a similar pattern of average consistency and unusual variation happens with most flours.