The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

would like thorough critique of why bread was gummy

joanh@exit109.com's picture
joanh@exit109.com

would like thorough critique of why bread was gummy

Scoring with a dull knife and baking in a thunderstorm.

I went camping last weekend. I chose to mix a dough at home, composed of 500 gm KABF, 100 gm sprouted spelt, and 100 gm sprouted Khorasan, 150gm WW levain. This was a high hydration dough that was elastic enough to require high hydration shaping techniques. I did eyeball the water measurement. My reasoning for using wheatish flours (which I now think was faulty) was to have a dough that could retard for an indefinite time period. The last proof, done after the retard, was uncontrolled time wise. It spanned the time of the drive, cabin check in and oven preheat. My guess is that the retard was about 8 hours and the final proof between two and three hours. Car temperature with AC most of the time.

I forgot my lame, so I used the only unserrated knife with which the cabin was supplied. The loaves were shaped before the downward drive and dumped  in loaf pans, lined with parchment for the trip downhill. Since I didn't bring a baking stone, I baked them in the same loaf pans. Baking at 500F, turning down to 425, until internal temperature was between 195 and 205F.

Humidity was high and the barometer was low. Ferocious thunderstorms during baking process The dough itself was transitioned from 3000 feet to 1000 feet during the final rise. The final product I found gummy. I served it the toasted slices next day (storing all loaves in a cool oven overnight) at the potluck. People enjoyed the bread anyway. I was disappointed in the gummy texture and peculiar rise, even in those loaves that appeared to have had successful scoring. There were no signs of an over rise in the dough. I wonder about the oven thermostat.

Would appreciate the group's thoughts on my results.