No matter what I do, I can't seem to get rid of the "gumminess/stickiness" of my crumb. I bake longer: I get stickiness. I bake hotter: I get stickiness. I wait five, six hours before slicing my loaf after cooking: I get stickiness. What the heck am I doing wrong? I use my trusty levain, hydration of 78%...I can put all of the ingredients down, but I'm completely at a loss and it is SOOOOO frustrating. Any help or suggestions would be most appreciated! Thank you!
First - use less water.
Second is the starter - which is tough to tell. My bet is the starter. But At least the two may help. I should note - without detailed info help can be difficult. Enjoy!
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a go.
I second the suggestion that your starter is the culprit, I don't think it's related to your hydration as 78% isn't that high. What is your feeding/storage of your starter in the days/week leading up to your final mix and bake? What is your flour?
Than you for your comments. I don't think it is the starter. I created a whole new starter, 1-1 flour to water. Was doubling in volume very nicely after a few hours. I used the "float" test to make sure the levain was filled with gas and proper for the recipe. The starter had been out of the fridge for a few days, getting fed 2-3 times a day.
As I read more - it is a starter problem. At that ratio it would be weeks - at least - till ready. Enjoy!
It looks like it's under-proofed.
I agree with Tony, the crumb looks under fermented to me and that can lead to gumminess.
Benny
I was thinking it might be both under fermentation and sluggish starter.
It is easy to start worrying that a bulk ferment is getting too active (enzymatically) and mistake that for fermentation, if the starter is a little slow and the dough is getting slack and to then move to proving and baking too early.
Getting the starter well active and being more accurate with volume growth using some measuring device could be a good idea here.
All that said, the crumb doesn't look bad. I don't mind a little chewiness in a nice rustic type loaf like in the pictures.
Think the problem is minor, a little under proofed based on the crumb I see.
One more thing, try an additional tray on the shelf underneath the one your bread is on to get rid of that dark bottom!
Good luck 🤞
-Jon
Terrific suggestion! Thanks!
I"m looking at the top crust where it tore so lovely and all the moisture in the crumb there. I agree with using less liquids in the recipe. I also think the crust bottom is too dark, maybe temp slightly too high. Lowering oven temp down a bit and baking a tad longer might solve it as you're not too eager to take it out of the oven when it starts to smell like it"s burning. Give more time for that moisture to bake out.
I've definitely been keeping the loaves in longer to bake out more moisture, but that doesn't seem to solve the gummy crumb issue. There can be times when the loaf is in the oven for more than an hour. I typically bake in a Dutch oven with the top on for 30 minutes at 450, then I decrease the temperature to 400 and leave it uncovered. If/when the top fo the loaf begins to get too dark, I put a sheet of aluminum foil over it, but theres plenty of space for steam to still escape.
Aside from baking time and temperature, what is the temperature inside the loaf at the end of baking? That's what really counts. And even with a high enough internal temperature, sometimes the bread needs to stay at temperature for a time to drive off more moisture.
If you haven't measured bread temperature, run right out and get a probe-type meat thermometer, the kind with a thin probe that you stick right into the meat or bread. You should bake this kind of bread until you get to 209 - 210 deg F at sea level. If you live at altitude, look up the temperature to boil water and knock off two degrees.
If you still get gumminess, then we'll really be scratching our heads. Then it might be something about the flour.
TomP
Great comment! I have measured the temperature in the middle of the loaf and most recently it was 205.
Try 210 or even 211, and see if that matters.
q. what kind of oven are you using -- gas or electric? How accurate is the thermostat?
a. you might want to completely remove the loaf from the DO after the first 30 minutes. This might end the bottom scorching problem & perhaps allow for more of the moisture to bake out. You might also consider shortening the lid-on time.
Rob