September 4, 2018 - 6:45pm
PLEASE help--huge blisters on side/bottom of bread.
This has been happening on nearly all of my loaves regardless of how I shape/fold. I shape by hand. Divide, rest, pre-shape, rest, final shape, bake. Sometimes it looks as though the crust cracks and the inside, uncooked dough comes pouring out. Other times, as in some of the pics, its like the side splits and out comes the dough. Any suggestions will be helpful. Thanks!
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It would be helpful if you would quantitatively describe your formula and process in some detail.
Just from the photo it looks like you are very high on whole grain and very much underproofed but it is hard to say more than that without more data.
Here's my recipe:
-50/50 Blend of white and whole wheat
-75% hydration
-25% starter
-0.02% salt
I mix, autolyse 30 mins, then stretch & folds every 30 mins for 2.5 hours. It then goes into the fridge for at least overnight, sometimes up to 24 hours. I remove from fridge and divide while still cold. Let rest 30 mins, preshape, rest 30s mins, final shape, and bake while still pretty cold from fridge temp. It's possible that it is underproofed, but I was under the impression that baking cold, basically right from the fridge, is ok too. Thanks for your reply!
That's 2% salt?
That's correct. 2% (not 0.02% sorry.)
I agree with Doc Dough that it looks under proofed. I think your method is ok till the final proofing. It's ok to fully bulk ferment the dough and refrigerate when shaped then bake straight from the fridge. But to refrigerate the dough in the bulk ferment stage, shape straight from the fridge and bake while still cool the dough hasn't been given sufficient time to final proof. In other words it needs more time after shaping at room temperature. Allow it to rise by 80% then bake.
Will try that!
For it to burst out from the under the bread or the sides it means the top has crusted over too quickly. It needs steam for the first 15-20 minutes so it can oven spring. Or you can bake it in a pot and removing the lid for the last 15 minutes.
It is possible that the bulk fermentation has not gone long enough at the point when you transfer the dough into your refrigerator, and if your fridge is cold (a good thing), then the starter might not have completed its work. What is the temperature of your kitchen during the bulk fermentation phase? What does the dough look like during the period of stretch-and-folds? Does the dough grow much? Can you see any (or many) bubbles forming under the surface?
This is a peculiar and interesting case. Especially since this type of outcome is your norm. I have two thoughts for your consideration.
It may be the dough is lumpy, bulging, and blowing out because the gluten skin is damaged during the cold shaping process. Things that are cold are not as pliable as they would be warm. Care should be taken when shaping cold dough.
1 - My first choice would be to bulk ferment, then divide, preshape, and shape. Place the shaped loaves in bags and refrigerator like you normally do. The next day, or 8-12 hours later remove, slash, and bake cold in a preheated oven.
2 - Try mixing your bread with flour only, omitting the whole wheat for now. Try this if #1 doesn’t work, but I think it will :-)
I am in agreement with the Abe that suspects shaping cold and then placing the cold unproofed dough in the hot oven. Many of us bake cold. But we either BF @ room temp the refrigerate. The dough is removed, then shaped and proofed, and the n baked. Or, the easiest way (IMO) is to BF @ room temp, then shape and retard in frig. Then remove from frig, slash and bake cold (no warm up) in a preheated oven. The nice thing about the latter method is that you don’t need to worry about oven preheat timing as it coinsides with the room temp proof.
Try changing 1 or 2 variables per bake until you isolate the problem. Once the issue is discovered, you can eliminate it and go bake to your desired formula.
HTH
Dan
I strongly support your No. 1 advice, and try always to do that myself. The only difficulty I have is when I have to bake several loaves, and then they take up so much more room than a single bulk container. :(
Jeremy
Good point Jeremy. I now use a dedicated retarder so that is no longer an issue. But when I did use a refrigerator I used to stack the bannetons. My frig is always full.
Danny
A slash or more will control where the dough pushes out from the crust, and give a nice form to the loaf. The large bubbles make me think that the dough was not degassed before shaping.
Ford
Don't be afraid to let it proof warm. It needs time to build the CO2 that will give you the right amount of oven spring. If you find it hard to handle, you can put it back into the refrigerator for an hour or two to chill it before you bake it. There is nothing wrong with baking direct from the cooler. At most it means a couple more minutes of oven time. And the cold dough is so much easier to handle /slash.
I suspect that a good exercise for you would be to make a large batch of dough and divide it into small loaves then let them all proof for 2 hrs after which you can start baking them sequentially. Record the proof times and and photograph the proofed and the baked loaves for comparison. There is a general tendency to bake way too early (perhaps for fear of having the loaf fall/fail), but until you do this experiment (actually until you have had a failure) you don't really know what an overproofed loaf looks/feels like or how long it takes to get there in your kitchen.
How small could I make the loaves in order to get a good visual of the results? In your opinion is 100g too small or should they be larger? I’d like to morph from grossly underproofed to grossly overproofed. I think it would be a great learning tool.
Dan
At 120g (a large roll or mini-batard size) the small volume interferes with what you are trying to observe, so I would double that. And a boule, being a sphere already, will be stable to a larger/later point in the proof. An intermediate point might be a 240-260g demi-baguette which (for you) might better replicate your beautiful baguettes. Since the smaller size bakes a little quicker, you get a slightly shorter sample spacing. I found that 15 min between oven entries was about the minimum useful interval; 20 is better; 30 is perhaps a bit long because you are likely to have one collapes about 45-60 min after you are inclined to think the first one is fully proofed. But for this experiment it is not about the finished product as much as it is about sampling the process so no fiddling with the oven temperature or taking the loaves out and reversing them for even browning. Just set it and forget it and run according to the clock.
I moved this request for help with an under/overproofed experiment over to a new topic so as to not hijack this one. Please go to this link. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/57309/experiment-learn-under-and-overproofed-dough
I hope you have time and are inclined to help me with this experiment. I want to get this test right.
Thanks
Dan
A single long slash that runs the length of the loaf will define the weak spot for it to split as the oven spring expands the loaf volume. Here is a link to a video that illustrates what is going on in the oven
Slashed dough opening in the oven w/ steam
The dough surface does not stretch very much and the required surface area expansion comes from fresh dough exposed by a break in the surface - either where you facilitate it or at the weakest point (usually along the side close to the bottom)
Call the blister the "top" and you've even got something like a good ear going there.