November 28, 2024 - 2:17pm
to spritz or not to spritz
I baked a un-scored covered pullman loaf yesterday and it split with a wide jagged gash down the middle and fell somewhat although when sliced the bread looked OK. This morning I baked two scored batards in a dutch oven after an overnight cold retard and although scored the loaves had a wide jagged gash down the center. I'm thinking I over spritzed these loaves before baking. I usually don't have this problem. Perhaps I don't even need to spray water on loaves if they are going to be baked covered. Opinions would be most appreciated.
Share
Definitely no need ever to spritz or slash or anything else when you are using a pullman pan with cover. The whole idea is to use the exact amount needed to fill the pan completely after rising/bake so that you have a uniform loaf on all four sides.
My 13" Pullman covered uses 1300 grams of dough if I am making a loaf that is at least 50% whole grains. I watch it with the cover ajar and as it nears the top I shut the cover and retard. Never open before baking and take the cover off about 15 min before the bake ends. The optimum result is a loaf that looks exactly the same on all 4 sides. You can look at some of my pullman bakes in the blog to see examples.
As far as baking in a covered pot of any kind again there is no need to spritz. The baking container should be optimally sized so that the natural moisture given off by the loaf as it bakes is plenty enough steam for the loaf to burst either naturally or with a score depending on your shaping and desire.
The only time a spritz is called for is if you are baking on a open pan or steel/stone then you can add moisture to the oven with fan off if that is an option. Hope this clears up your question. c
Thanks for that! I had a squiz at your blog article .... what is YW levain?
After baking today I figured that spritzing was the problem but experienced advice is always welcome. My first two pullmans were ok but low in the pan. Increased dough volume on the third and had a bit of a split but didn't think too much about it. Fourth go and Bobs my uncle, the Grand Canyon. I wasn't thinking this bake around. Those two batards were supposed to be rye like the the fourth picture but I had flip flopped bucket lids so I used the whole meal measure for the rye and rye measure for whole meal. Turned out OK except for the arroyo down the middle .... might just use that for my next pullman.
Aha! .... yeast water
I bake with and Apple Yeast Water . I use it in 100g amounts as part of the water , and I also make a levain with it and my choice of flour . I use it alone and I also do mixed levain using both YW and Sourdough. Lots of choices. Definitely do a search on how much dough to put in your pullman. It takes more if you use whole grains than it does if you use mostly white. It does take a bit of trial and error. Good Luck and there are lots of pullman loaf posts by many bakers here.Good Luck. c
Cheers!