Help needed

Hi Ryan,

A couple of things stand out in your post. First, not knowing anything about the ingredients available to you in South Africa, cake flour in the U.S. is generally low protein and will not make bread that has a lot of rise. If you can get bread flour, try that. Look for flour that has a protein content of at least 11.5%. 

Second, you say hot water. If the water is hotter than about 115*F (46*C) it will deactivate the yeast. 

Third, you didn’t mention kneading the dough. In order to develop a gluten network that will hold its shape during the bake it requires kneading. Hopefully this is just an oversight in your write up. 

Other than that, the recipe seems to have the correct proportions. You need to keep an eye on the loaf so that it doesn’t expand too much. Generally you can eyeball the dough until it doubles in volume, gently deflate it, then shape it as desired for a free form or a pan loaf, then let it double again before it is baked. 

-Brad

It's been almost 10 years since I lived in ZA but I remember some of the adjustments that I had to make, having moved there from the U.S.

Cake flour in South Africa is similar to All Purpose flour here in the States.  It's a medium-strength flour that has lower protein content than bread flour.  Consequently, it absorbs less liquid than bread flour.  Neither of those traits are problems; one simply has to keep them in mind while working with it.

Since I don't know how you fill a cup with flour (scooping or spooning), it's possible that there is too much water in the dough.  If one spoons aerated flour into a cup, it will weigh between 120g and 130g.  If one scoops the flour, a cup might weigh 150g or more.  So, at the low end, you might be working with 360g of flour and at the high end 450g or more.  If you are using 250ml cups, there's 375g of water in the dough.  With cake flour, 360g of flour and 375g of water will make a batter.  At the other end of the range, 450g of flour and 375g of water make a dough with 83% hydration.  With cake flour, that makes a gloppy dough.  That might explain the wet crumb in the baked bread.

How hot was the hot water?  Hot enough to harm the yeast, perhaps?  What is the temperature in your house at this time of year?  Rather cool, I expect.  Even if the yeast wasn't damaged by the water temperature, that small an amount in a dough left at room temperature for three hours probably wouldn't have much chance to leaven the entire dough mass.

Here are some suggestions for your next bake:

1. If you have a kitchen scale, use it to weigh the ingredients.  If you don't have one but can afford to buy one, do so.  It will change your baking.
2. The recipe, revised for weights, would look something like this: 500g of cake flour, 300g of warm water, 1g of yeast, 10g of salt.  That will give you a dough with 60% hydration, which will be much easier to handle.
3. Mix all ingredients.  Knead for 8-10 minutes.  Let rise in a warm place (think T-shirt and shorts temperature) until approximately doubled.  Shape into one loaf (be careful not to pull raw flour from the counter into the loaf).  Let the loaf rise until it is slightly less than doubled in volume.  When the loaf is nearly risen, preheat your oven with the Dutch oven inside.  Follow the baking instructions for the recipe you used before.
4. Once the loaf is baked and out of the oven, cover it with a towel and let it cool until it no longer feels warm to the touch.  If cut while hot, or even warm, the interior won't be fully cooked, leading to that stodgy texture you noticed.

That should get you closer to what you want your bread to be.  Good luck!

Paul