October 17, 2015 - 2:18pm
That hollow feeling
Hi all, I just joined the site and am eager to learn more about my recent bread baking hobby. I was hoping someone here could help me troubleshoot an issue I'm having this season (I only bake in the fall and winter) with my sourdough boules. As can be seen in the picture, they are coming out with this "hollowed middle section" in them. I'm using the basic loaf in the Tartine book and have had success in the past couple of years with the same recipe, but this season approximately 8 of the 10 loaves I've baked have had this issue. Is it the gluten development? Is my starter bad? I'm getting desperate here. Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers, and thanks,
Mike
Seattle, WA
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What hydration is your dough? It is possible that while folding your boule in your final step you are using too much flour because the dough is sticky. If it is the case, your are creating layers in your dough that actually delaminate while rising. One solution would be to do the exact opposite. Start with a lower hydration but use a bucket of water to wet your hands instead of using flour while stretch and fold. This way you will end up with a similar final hydration without those huge hole in your bread
Good Luck
Dan
Thanks Dan. It is a 75% hydration recipe so, yes, it's very wet/sticky. I'll pay more attention to the amount of bench flour I use or try your suggested wet method. Never would have thought of it.
Cheers,
Mike
Tartine posts here on site? Try typing in: hollow tartine or baker's bedroom
I would say that it needed a few folds to degas and reduce the size of the bubbles during the rise. Is the starter rising slower than the recipe? And the other Q... did you forget the salt?
If your batting average is 80% then it won't hurt while waiting for the final rise, to cut open a loaf and see what is going on inside. Pick the largest one. It could be that you are shaping too early and need a fold instead.
I have a friend who calls loaves like this "smuggler's" loaves.
I think it's the starter lacking strength. I've had a similar batch recently and I know I rushed on my leaven (not quite ready for the float test). I ended up with some hollowness but not as bad as what you've pictured. The loaf tasted okay but not great. Another clue is that the rest of the bread does not look well-fermented, not full of holes, lacking structure.
Try to help your starter get more active or see if you need to wait longer for the leaven to be ready, I guess.