March 26, 2010 - 6:18pm
lumpy loaf
with my last couple of sourdoughs, i've been having that thing happen where during the final proof, there is separation so, technically, there is no need to slash, and further, it makes the loaf somewhat lumpy.
what am i doing wrong?
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Separation of the dough?
Perhaps if you post the recipe you are using, the problem can be figured out.
the recipe is the KA Sourdough.. extra tangy with the overnight in the fridge ferment.
sorry for being so vague... ugh.
Providing the formula would help, but it appears to me to be more of a dough handling issue so describing your process might also provide some clues. Based simply on what you've written thus far, appears to me that the natural expansion of the dough (oven spring) is forcing CO2 to the surface area and it has to go somewhere so it breaks out at the weakest point and that some of thee CO2 bubbles get tapped just below the surface of the dough causing the "lumps".
i think it's in the shaping, but sometimes my shaping is good and other itmes it isn't.
basically, it goes thorugh its whole cycle perfectly until i go to shape; maybe i should knead it a tiny bit more into shape? i don't usually have this problem with other breads, just the sourdough.
I agree that more info would help. Perhaps I am misreading your description but it sounds to me like you are forming the loaves with too much flour on the surface so that the loaf has poorly attached seams where the fold the surfaces together. Then, when you bake it simply splits at the seam and opens up. I have gotten away from using flour to facilitate handling (I use water!) except on the surface of the finished loaf to help keep it from sticking.
Hope that helps!
Jay
it woudl split at the seam, too, but it's splitting in other places, too. i'm guessing it's a surface tension thing, now that i'm writing it all out.
but i don't want to handle the dough too much, right?