Collapsing english Muffins HELP
Hi! I'm a bakery manager that specializes in English muffins. We are running into a strange challenge with our muffins and are in need of some resolution ideas. We have muffins that are sporadically collapsing upon themselves, almost as though they are undercooked. It's happening to maybe 1 to 5 in 25 muffins, so it's not a large percentage. We are trying to determine what is causing the collapsing but there doesn't seem to be any constant factor contributing to it.
Our dough is a high hydration dough (60%) with no artificial ingredients. We mix the dough for about 25 minutes at one speed, and we check gluten development for each mix.
The muffins are cooked on a grill with a small amount of canola oil. We temp the muffins to 208 degrees before removing them from the grill. The ones that collapse, start collapsing within 5 minutes of removing them from the grill.
We've looked into the hydration of the dough, oil usage, mix time, and proof time.
Looking forward to hearing any suggestions or ideas.
Not that I'm an expert but could it be that there is there a cold spot on your grill?
Collapsing can be caused by a few different scenarios. It may mean the dough is undercooked so the crumb isn't set. When it cools then the bubbles deflate and it collapses into a slightly gooey center. But you tested the temp at 208. They should be set. UNLESS, the ones that collapse are on a cooler part of the grill and aren't up to temp as suggested by gillpugh. Take a look at the grill temps.
If the dough is overproofed then the dough raises but the walls are too weak to hold the bubbles and collapse. That usually happens after baking or at the end of baking. The center is cooked but dense. There may be 1 or 2 large bubbles but not an even distribution of bubbles.
Underproofed muffins probably would just not rise as high and be short rather than being tall and collapsing. They'd just be flatter.
Did this happen after a change in temp such as the kitchen is warmer and they are proofing faster?
Where are they sitting when they are proofing? Is there a heating element involved? Is the edge of the pan (where those 5 out of 20 muffins sit) closer to the radiator?