July 8, 2016 - 6:12pm
Uneven oven rise and soft bottom
Hi There,
I just baked my first loaf of sourdough and I had a couple questions for this group! The dough rose lopsided in the oven and I'm wondering if anyone knows why this would happen? Also, the bottom crust stayed pretty soft, which I thought was unusual? I attached a photo
I baked this loaf at 475 on a bread stone.
Thanks!
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in a good way. I think. I see slices, got a crumb shot for us too?
Did you cool the hot loaf on a rack? Looks good from this side of the world. Could be lopsided if rushed into the oven a little early,
Not bad for a first loaf! :)
Did you let the oven temperature come to equilibrium? That is, did you wait at least a half hour at temperature before inserting the dough. It takes that long for the stone to come to the proper temperature.
Ford
Thanks for the advice. I didn't let the oven rest at cooking temp for long enough. I will try that next time!
You are welome. I do hope this solves your problem. Let us know.
Ford
I have been having this problem with almost all of my sourdough loaves. I have left it in the fridge for the bulk rise after I’ve formed them to bake them in the morning. One load came out good but then the next one did this funny rise again. The crumb actually comes out okay. I have noticed that my scoring isn’t as deep but it always explodes at the bottom.
AE98A0B3-CF10-4E04-8335-DA56E8445D63.jpeg
Nowhere for the escaping gas to go but through the weakest point. Since the crust has formed on top the only way is through the bottom of the loaf. How is your loaf baked?
Hey, that makes a lot of sense. I have been baking my loaves on a pizza stone with a baking sheet under it where I put ice in for the steam for the first 20 minutes. The loaf that I did before this turned out fine, didn’t rise like this. But I’ve been having this problem a lot.
Is very difficult. Here are some ideas...
1: bake your loaf in a Dutch Oven or equivalent. Preheat the pot, carefully drop the loaf inside which can be done by first turning it into a piece of parchment paper and the lowering it in and bake with the kid on. Remove the lid for the last 10 minutes for a nice crust.
2: this can also be done by inverting a lot over the dough and baking it on the pizza stone. Remove the lot for the last 10 minutes.
3: if your oven has elements below and above and they can be toggled then switch the elements above the bread off until the oven spring is finished. If your fan can be switched off then do that as well until the oven spring is done.
4: mist the top of the dough with a spray bottle. Obviously just the ice cubes aren't helping and spraying top of the loaf will help. But DO or equivalent is best.
5: find a more efficient way of introducing steam.