My breads look fine but compress really easily and turns into dough
I can't describe it...my breads all look fine structurally, but when they are touched they compress very easily and seem doughy. Why does this happen? I bake all my breads until they're at the correct internal temperature but it still happens. Thanks everyone!
and procedure would be helpful. Could be anything from dough stage to baking. What kind of bread is this? If it's high hydration are you baking for long enough? Are you leaving it to cool? For instance a Rye bread needs at least 12 hours (preferably closer to 24) before cutting. Too many variables until you give more info.
I have been baking bread for ages without any trouble - and it never occurred to me to check internal temp before, until I started reading about it just this past week. I have a good thermocouple probe digital thermometer I use when roasting coffee - I checked a loaf that I baked the way I always bake them and it read 210F inside. Yikes - all the info I've read lately says it should be 185-190F and indicated I must be way overbaking my bread.
So yesterday I baked a loaf with the thermo probe inside and I took the bread out when it read 195F (this was about 5 minutes sooner than I normally would have removed it) and today it is sticky and a bit doughy inside (I can slice it thin and toast it and it's fine).
I'm confused by the internal temp info I've been reading and why my bread needs to be so much higher temp to be right.
I'm baking 100% whole wheat (home milled) about 75-80% hydration and I'm adding a lot of seeds (to the dough, not on the outside). I'm at sea level and I generally bake 375F for 5 minutes and then drop it to 350F for another 30 minutes. I'm going back to my tried and true method and not go by internal temp.
to 185-190F but I bake my breads to over 205F. I bake them till nice and dark and if I am not sure they are done, I will use the thermometer to check. I don't really care what the final temp is as long as it is over 205F. At the temp you state, my breads would be totally gummy and gross.
Well I may have misunderstood what I read :) but in any case, I'm going back to the way that's always worked for me. Thanks for confirming the temps you bake to as that matches what's worked for me.
I've been reading about having steam for the first half of the baking (never tried that) so I'll probably screw up a few more loaves experimenting with that. And I've ordered a baking steel (mainly for pizza - but we'll see if I can learn to bake bread on it) so I'll probably mess up a few loaves learning how to use that too. It's all fun!
BTW .... if you do a forum search for the term "190F" you will get a ton of forum posts saying that 205F is way too high internal temp and it should be done at 185-190F. So that's where I read it - right here on TFL forums. Puzzled why so many posts saying that when my own experience (and yours) is different (guessing because we're baking WW bread and maybe those guys are baking white flour bread?)
I have a thermometer marked at 205°F for rye and 210°F for wheat lean breads.
Bread doughs with more sugar, eggs and fats (think cake) will bake done lower with longer oven time to evaporate moisture once temperature is reached. So it's a combination of not only temp but the amount of time baked at that temperature and the hydration of the dough that determine the done internal baking temperature. Get used to squeezing and tapping loaves too for doneness. A probe doesn't tell the whole story.
Temps range from 195°F to 210°F depending on what is being baked.
and procedure would be helpful. Could be anything from dough stage to baking. What kind of bread is this? If it's high hydration are you baking for long enough? Are you leaving it to cool? For instance a Rye bread needs at least 12 hours (preferably closer to 24) before cutting. Too many variables until you give more info.
Also, are you letting them cool completely?
I have been baking bread for ages without any trouble - and it never occurred to me to check internal temp before, until I started reading about it just this past week. I have a good thermocouple probe digital thermometer I use when roasting coffee - I checked a loaf that I baked the way I always bake them and it read 210F inside. Yikes - all the info I've read lately says it should be 185-190F and indicated I must be way overbaking my bread.
So yesterday I baked a loaf with the thermo probe inside and I took the bread out when it read 195F (this was about 5 minutes sooner than I normally would have removed it) and today it is sticky and a bit doughy inside (I can slice it thin and toast it and it's fine).
I'm confused by the internal temp info I've been reading and why my bread needs to be so much higher temp to be right.
I'm baking 100% whole wheat (home milled) about 75-80% hydration and I'm adding a lot of seeds (to the dough, not on the outside). I'm at sea level and I generally bake 375F for 5 minutes and then drop it to 350F for another 30 minutes. I'm going back to my tried and true method and not go by internal temp.
to 185-190F but I bake my breads to over 205F. I bake them till nice and dark and if I am not sure they are done, I will use the thermometer to check. I don't really care what the final temp is as long as it is over 205F. At the temp you state, my breads would be totally gummy and gross.
Well I may have misunderstood what I read :) but in any case, I'm going back to the way that's always worked for me. Thanks for confirming the temps you bake to as that matches what's worked for me.
I've been reading about having steam for the first half of the baking (never tried that) so I'll probably screw up a few more loaves experimenting with that. And I've ordered a baking steel (mainly for pizza - but we'll see if I can learn to bake bread on it) so I'll probably mess up a few loaves learning how to use that too. It's all fun!
BTW .... if you do a forum search for the term "190F" you will get a ton of forum posts saying that 205F is way too high internal temp and it should be done at 185-190F. So that's where I read it - right here on TFL forums. Puzzled why so many posts saying that when my own experience (and yours) is different (guessing because we're baking WW bread and maybe those guys are baking white flour bread?)
I have a thermometer marked at 205°F for rye and 210°F for wheat lean breads.
Bread doughs with more sugar, eggs and fats (think cake) will bake done lower with longer oven time to evaporate moisture once temperature is reached. So it's a combination of not only temp but the amount of time baked at that temperature and the hydration of the dough that determine the done internal baking temperature. Get used to squeezing and tapping loaves too for doneness. A probe doesn't tell the whole story.
Temps range from 195°F to 210°F depending on what is being baked.