Scoring: Live and learn
I'm posting this b/c of problems I've had w the last 2 bakes and lack of good oven spring. I was worried about my starter (it's fine and healthy) and about the stone not being hot enough (so waiting a full hour before dumping the poorly-shaped batards onto the stone), but today I discovered I wasn't scoring deeply enough.
I'm doing Hamelman's Vermont SD and the bake last week was too flat. Looked like the same thing was happening today but one loaf was springing much better than the other and it was more deeply scored. Next time I will score even more deeply and especially more deeply at the ends. I have been too cautious thinking 1/2" was the max depth I should score, but for those loaves more deep scoring will be better, I think. Live and learn.
hester
1/4"and 1/2" The wetter the dough the more shallow the cut. If you are scoring 1/2" now with a wet dough then it may be too deep. I would say the spring problem isn't a scoring one but a a proofing one instead. Here is David Snyder's scoring tutorial
Scoring Bread: An updated tutorial
Happy baking
1/4" and 1/2" with with wetter dough scored more shallow. IF you are scoring a wet dough at 1'2" it might be too deep and not too shallow. Sounds like a proofing problem instead. Here is David Snyder'[ scoring tutorial
Scoring Bread: An updated tutorialHere's pic of the crumb. It's delicious but not quite lifted enough. I wish I knew how to solve this.
and the bottom hardy brown at all? Make sure your stone is at proper temperature by allowing it to heat an additional 15 minutes after the oven says it is at the 500 F preheat mark and make sure the bottom element is working right. Make sure you are using Mega Steam and put it in when the oven hit 500 F and 15 minutes before the bread goes in to make sure it is billowing. Turn the oven down to 460 F when the bread goes in. The most important thing is to make sure the bread goes in the heat at 90% proof is a majority white bread and 85% proof if it is a majority whole grain one,
Can't see a picture of the bloom to know what is happening for sure but that should clear up the less then adequate spring.
Thanks again for all the help. So I was letting the stone heat for a full hour but only @ 460 dF not 500. Also, using steam just b/f and just after the breads went in. So I will change that... But additionally, my proofing isn't right once it's refrigerated. Perhaps I need to have my stater stronger next time.>> Take it out 2 full days in advance and feed it before making the final build. I dunno.
But thanks IMMENSELY for the long and detailed reply. It was SOOOO Helpful.
hester
And based on your pics, it seems almost certainly that your problem, or at least your primary problem, is heat distribution. Heating for a full hour at 460 should be adequate for Hamelman's SD. What I would be more concerned about is the possibility that your bottom heating element is broken, or that perhaps your oven is on the broiler setting. Uneven heat originating from the top of the oven will cause the top of the bread to form a crust quickly and hamper oven spring tremendously. This is why the best breads are still baked on a hearth, with heat radiating entirely from the bottom. If you have a deck oven, set the top setting to 220 and the bottom setting to 270 (both celsius)...this, I find, best mimics the effect of a wood fired hearth.
Dabrownman has been commenting on the pale bottoms of my breads. Well, I have an old old oven. And there are no parts for it anymore.... So it needs replacement.... When that will happen is anyone's guess.
Oh, and b/f is before. Sorry.
And thanks again
Could it be the pan of lava rocks, below my rack and stone but above the heating element. My loaves done in the dutch oven are nicely bottom browned. Not so the ones I do as a messy-shaped batard on the stone with the pan of lava rocks below.
You are probably right that the proofing is the issue. I find my bulk fermentation slower than it should be and my retardation in the fridge is very flat. Now I'm again puzzled as to why.
recipe and ready for the oven is the hardest thing to master for bread baking in my book. I was having the same problem. I thought i was proofing to 100%, which was the wrong amount to begin with and all my breads had little or no spring and bloom. So I posted pictures of the boule in the basket before and after proof and Mini Oven immediately chimed in that I was proofing 150% or more rather than the 90% I should have been for that white bread. Know when 90% proofed really is in your basket sounds like the problem.
Happy Baking