June 2, 2019 - 11:19am
Crust overcooked, crumb undercooked
100% wholemeal seeded, 75% hydration.
Crust overcooked, crumb undercooked (it was sticky, although I only cut the bread when it was completely cold).
I cooked it for 1h30 @ 200C.
I'm thinking of trying 1h @ 190C then 40 min @ 180C next time.
Any other suggestion?
1. Don't suggest to cook it less long at a higher temp because my oven doesn't go over 200C
2. Don't suggest to cover it because it raises too much to be covered by the only lid I have.
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Crust overcooked, crumb undercooked: Try lower heat for longer time. You certainly don't need any hotter - it's obviously too hot already.
Is the bottom of the loaf overcooked too, or only the top? If one surface (top, bottom, side, whatever) is cooked much faster than the other surfaces, then you may need to change the position of your bread in the oven (down lower, for example), or use a different container. But lower heat may fix this problem by accident anyway, so probably try that first.
Oh - I forgot - if you do change the bread's position in the oven, you might find out that you need to re-adjust your heat setting a little bit.
Some ovens are just a problem. If you have an oven that always ruins bread even after you try changing things, you might need to get a taller container so that you can cover your bread... However, if the problem is "top crust always burns, everything else is OK", then maybe it would be enough to just lay a piece of aluminum foil on top of the loaf after it starts to get a little bit brown.
Thank you David. Most appreciated. I'll try a lower temp for longer and I'll cover it with an aluminum sheet (how come I didn't think about that?) It's overcooked on all the sides so I don't need to change it's position in the oven, just lower the temp.