Help! Hard crust every time
Hi All.
I need some advice/help. All breads I've backed so far have all given me very hard crusts. When I try to cut the loaf with a bread knife I wind up crushing the loaf. I feel like I'm having to saw it like a piece of wood, once it gets going its ok. The first several breads I made I used different recipes, but the last 5 loaves I've made were using the San Francisco Style Sourdough found on this site. Any ideas what I may be doing wrong?
I'm using the Oregon Trail starter from Friends of Carl and follow the ingredient list. I'm using Pillsbury bread flour, table salt, and tap water. The only 3 things I've changed is the amount of flour based on how wet it is, retarding it in the frig, and the method of kneading. Half the time I knead it by hand and the other half I've kneaded using my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I usually put it in the frig but the last 2 times I did not.
Thanks,
Chris
how you steam and for how long.
Hi dabrownman,
I put a pan of water in with the very first loaf I made but not with the rest. The crust on that loaf came out thick and tough and was hard to chew.
the bread goes in and that it is really producing stream for at least the first 5 minutes of baking. O like to put a rolled up kitchen towel in the pan or better yet lava rocks. The more steam the better. Yiu don;t want to set the crust until it has fully sprang adn bloomed - about half way though the bale.
I am posting this link because this is how I solved my tough crust problem. Have not yet invested in Lava rocks, but it could happen!
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20162/oven-steaming-my-new-favorite-way
as I got a nasty steam burn on my dominant hand last week. My hand looks like I punched someone.
Hi Danni3ll3,
Thank you for the warning. I hope your hand is doing much better. My daughter gave herself a nasty 2nd degree steam burn to her hand when she opened up a microwaved bowl of rice. It was a good thing my wife was a better nurse than the ER doc was, but that's another story.
Chris
Make sure you use tongs and mits, because Steam burns are the worst!
Hi Truth Serum,
Thank you for the link, I appreciate it. I will have to give that a try too.
Chris
Thanks dabrownman, I will give that a try and let you know how it turns out. :)
Any fat or oil in the recipe? Was there a reason that you switched from your original recipe?
Gerhard
Hi Gerhard,
Thanks. There is no fat in the recipe. I calls for about 4 C white flour, 1.25 tsp of salt, 1 C minus 1 Tbs of water (with wet starter), and 1 1/4 C starter. The first 2 recipes I made did not turn out right so I settled on a 3rd recipe (the one above) and made 5 loaves (about 1 a week). I thought I would stick to that one recipe until I could do it well then move on to other recipes.
Chirs
Here is the recipe I've been trying to do.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com//handbook/san-francisco-style-sourdough
My crusts were coming out like concrete and someone said I was overkneading. I tried a no-knead recipe and that was the end of my concrete crusts.
Hi doughooker,
I'm not sure if I'm over kneading or not. Whether I do it by hand for 15-20 minutes or 5 minutes in the mixer, I think I am getting a window pane with both.
Chris
Just for fun, why not try a loaf without kneading and see if it helps your crust? I'd be interested in knowing if it does nor doesn't help. If it doesn't help, the culprit must be something else and we'd have to figure out what it is.
Woo Hoo!!!
Steam worked!!! I can actually cut the loaf without crushing it and it is a lot easier to chew. Thank you all for your help, I greatly appreciate it. I put a hot steaming tea towel in a loaf pan and placed it in the oven with the dough half way through baking. If I put the steaming towel in at the beginning, will that make any changes to how the bread comes out?
Oh, and I knead to ask, how do you use the lava rocks? That sounds like it might be fun to do. :)
Thanks, Chris