April 3, 2009 - 9:03am
Dense Crumb
Baked a couple loaves yesterday and the crumb was dense and under baked on the bottom. Under proofed? Oven not properly preheated? I am looking for possible caused.
ccm
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Baked a couple loaves yesterday and the crumb was dense and under baked on the bottom. Under proofed? Oven not properly preheated? I am looking for possible caused.
ccm
How about some information on the recipe? Type of flour, hydrdation, whether it was a sourdough. Was it panned? Baked on a stone? Was the oven steamed?
Now, if a TFL baker correctly answers your questions without having any background information, I'm going to beg that person to choose the numbers for my next lottery tickets!
Honestly, the recipe is only loosely based on My Daily Bread. I started the starter more than a week ago and fed it a couple of times. Hydration would be a guess but more than 60%, acts just like the wet dough from MDB. After baking this bread more than twenty loaves I do it mostly by feel. I have been baking awhile and slack dough intensively for three months. Got a good instruction from KA Flour DVD on Artisan bread. So, I have mixed and incorporated technique. This is my "usual bread." Hence, the name My Daily Bread, really applies. No pan. Baked on a stone 550F to start, 465F after 5 minutes and then 25 more minutes. More than 200F internally by the thermometer when it comes out. Threw water on the bottom of the oven as I put it in, 'bout a cup.
Is this a sourdough only then? Have you successfully baked loaves with your starter or is this the first loaves made with this starter?
Or is there other yeast in the recipe?
TYpe of flour? Whole wheat? Rye? Oil/butter? Any sweetener?
How long did it raise? Autolyse? Proof? Did it retard overnight? These are different things that will effect the crumb.
OVen temp could also be implicated tho I think it less likely.
Are you saying you have baked this recipe and with this starter many times and those loaves turned out ok or that they always turn out this way?
Much clarification is needed if you want any meaningful troubleshooting done.
This starter is a little different since the starters hung around a week or so in the fridge with a couple of feedings. Flour and water. As per the daily bread recipe it has added yeast.
I have successfully baked loaves with this recipe but not letting the starter go so long. ConAgra bread flour. Four ingredients: flour water yeast and salt. I hand mix it by stretching and flipping 3-5 minutes, it is extremely wet and sticky at this point. One hour and flour sprinkled liberally around edge of tub and turned out with a dough scraper. Stretch and fold, another 45 minutes then stretch and fold. Divide and bench rest 10 minutes. Shape into loaves. Final proof 20-30 minutes. Start in a 550F oven, a cup of water on the oven floor. Bake 5 min. oven to 465F bake another 25 minutes. Loaves 200F + with a rapid read thermometer.
Happy to provide any other information you need.
ccm
ConAgra bread flour is bleached and probably bromated.
I understand the terms just not the effect. The 50 pounder was free, given to me by a friend. FTR: ConAgra is bleached but not bromated.
ccm
Benzoyl peroxide, chloride gas, and chlorine dioxide are all used to bleach flour. These chemicals are toxic and even if used in only small amounts, they can't be considered as healthy. I believe that bleached flour is banned in Europe.
Bleached flour contains less gluten, has a finer grain, and while I've never used it, I have read comments that it can carry a bitter aftertaste and that there is a marked difference in the consistency of the dough when compared to unbleached flour.
...was very dense too, and it's one I make every couple of weeks. I've never had problems with it before, and the starter is very active. It rose nicely and had good oven spring, but it came out quite dense. Could have been the weather, or, as my sister tells me, the look on my face, my mood, etc.
Good synopsis.
I wonder if the dough needed a little more proofing and if the starter was a little understrength? Combine that with a very hot oven with perhaps not enough oomph for a fast enough oven spring before the crust sets and you may have loaves dense on the lower part of the loaf.
If that is the case, just strengthening the starter and getting back to business as usual may be the solution. This may just be a hiccup.
If the flour is indeed bleached, it can effect the natural yeast.