June 5, 2020 - 10:56pm
Gummy/rubbery crumb around edges of sourdough tin loaf
Hi all,
I baked a hybrid (starter + some commercial yeast) tin loaf yesterday and noticed that the crumb was a bit rubberygummy (especially with a gummy line running near the edges/crust of the loaf). I've had this happen a few times with bread I've made. I know the responses are often that the bread is cut open too soon or it's under-baked, but that doesn't appear to be the case for me.
Details:
- 500g (70/30 strong-white/whole-meal)
- 12% starter inoculation (roughly 50/40/10 white/whole-meal/rye composition, 100% hydration)
- Overall hydration (including starter hydration): 67%
- 1/8 tsp yeast
- 2% salt
Process:
- Autolyse 1.5 hrs
- Knead 8min
- Bulk ferment for 5hrs @ room temp (+- 68°f)
- Bench Rest 30mins
- Shape & then final proof for 7hrs @ room temp (+- 68°f)
- Scored the loaf
- Bake at 200°c for +-50mins (used boiling water in tray underneath for steam. No pizza stone or anything else)
- Internal temp was around 210°f when I took it out
- Allowed to cool for 2hrs - it was cool to the touch before cutting into.
Pics:
The crumb had a bit of a rubbery/gummy feel...with a distinct gummy line near the edges of the loaf. I'm really at a loss because I read the internal temp at 210f before taking the loaf out and I think I allowed it to cool for long enough. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps it was over-proofed? Any ideas?
Thanks.
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Good evening,
Not an expert but I'd say your loaf has got more heat from the top than the bottom. The upper part of the loaf seems properly baked and the bottom half less so.
Is this the first time this happens to you?
You might want to position your oven rack closer to the bottom next time if that's possible, or bake on top of a well-heated baking stone or steel plate (1 hour oven preheating compulsory! :-))
If it's an electric oven, are you sure the bottom element didn't die on you? Just wondering.
Just my 2 cents.
Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I've had this issue before with many loaves so I think you may be right...could be to do with the heat distribution of my oven. Perhaps upper/middle parts of the loaves are being baked correctly but the bottom not.
I don't have access to a pizza stone at the moment (temporarily stuck overseas due to the lockdowns) but I'll try lower the rack and perhaps add a baking tray underneath or something to see if that helps.
Thanks very much for the feedback.
Putting the steam pan directly under the loaf pan assures that the pan surface stays quite cool relative to the oven set point. This explains the under cooked look of the bottom crumb. So my first suggestion is to put the steam pan above the bread rather than under it, and only put enough water in it so that it lasts 5-7 minutes before it runs dry. The BF and proof times seem really long for a 12% pff formulation so I suspect that your guess that it was over-proofed in correct. 68°F is a little cooler than I usually hold in the kitchen, but at 12% pff and an 86°F post mix dough temp my BF time is 2:00; divide, rest/shape takes 40 min; and proof is about 90 minutes plus perhaps an hour of retard at 40°F to facilitate dough handling when loading/slashing. So even if the growth rates are off by a factor of two your BF and proof times are still long. The fact that you are not getting much oven spring is also an indication that you are over-proofed. Your specific stickiness issue is not something I have encountered so I have no directly relevant experience.
Thanks for the info. Good point regarding the steam...I'll take that into account on the next bake. I agree that I probably just let the fermentation/proof times go on too long...I'm still experimenting with the different parameters (temps, % leaven, times, etc.) so prob just got it wrong.
mentioned by Doc and would further add that the autolyse is too long, try 30 min as the starter is included. That time is also part of the total fermenting time if starter is in it.