Flat, burnt, damp -- I give you... my bread

[Sobaicecream]

Yikes! Feeling nervous and presumptuous to be asking my amateur-home-baker questions of you, Mr. Reinhart. Thank you so much for sharing your time with us!

When making a sourdough boule, for example, I've read that you should heat your oven up as high as it will go before sliding in your bread. But I've read elsewhere that if the oven is overly hot, a crust will form too quickly and prevent oven spring. Which is correct?

Although I know there are many factors involved, my problem in a nutshell: a flattish bread with a quickly burnt crust and a damp interior--which, to me, sounds like the work of a too-hot oven. However, I don't use quarry tiles or anything of that sort. All I have is a small electric oven turned to 240 degrees celcius. Could it really be producing *that* much heat? Or is my problem something else entirely?

[Peter Reinhart]

Yikes! Feeling nervous and presumptuous to be asking my amateur-home-baker questions of you, Mr. Reinhart. Thank you so much for sharing your time with us!

When making a sourdough boule, for example, I've read that you should heat your oven up as high as it will go before sliding in your bread. But I've read elsewhere that if the oven is overly hot, a crust will form too quickly and prevent oven spring. Which is correct?

Although I know there are many factors involved, my problem in a nutshell: a flattish bread with a quickly burnt crust and a damp interior--which, to me, sounds like the work of a too-hot oven. However, I don't use quarry tiles or anything of that sort. All I have is a small electric oven turned to 240 degrees celcius. Could it really be producing *that* much heat? Or is my problem something else entirely?

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Hi,

It could be a variety of issues but I'm guessing that if your dough is flat going into the oven it either over-rose and fell or, more likely, needed more time before going into the oven. If the dough is flat and dense the heat can't get to the center and gel the starches. By the time it does, the crust has over-caramelized (ie, carbonized!), and you feel like a failure. BUT it's not you--it's just your dough. Here are a few tips: make sure you get a good and proper first rise. This is critical to a good final rise. When you shape the dough after the first fermentation, be gentle with it and try to retain some of the gas from the first rise while, at the same time, firmly giving it its final shaping. Then let the dough rise until it's at least 1 1/2 times the original size (it doesn't have to be doubled, sometimes this is too much for a hearth bread and it has nowhere to go but down when it goes into the oven). Keep your oven very hot until after you spray or steam the bread (I'm assuming you're steaming it with either a spray bottle or with hot water in a pan), and then reduce the temperature to the equivelent of 450 degrees fahrenheit (I'm still not good at those conversions). If the dough has sugar or other sweeteners in it then this temperature would be too high. You need to be at more like 375-400 degrees fahrenheit. Otherwise, the crust will, again, carbonize. Lean breads (little or no enrichments like sugar and fats) bake hot; enriched doughs (sandwich breads, soft rolls, briohe, cinnamon buns, challah, etc.), bake cooler. As I've said in other posts, it's all a balancing act between time, temperature, and ingredients.

Let me know if this helps and don't give up--it's only a short leap from hockey pucks to beautiful loaves.

[Sobaicecream]

Hi Mr. Reinhart. Thank you for your reply. I'm sorry, but I have a few follow-up questions.

I'm guessing that if your dough is flat going into the oven it either over-rose and fell or, more likely, needed more time before going into the oven.

I follow the sourdough bread recipe on e-gullet, and the method goes: 1st rise, 2 hours; shape; retard in fridge for roughly 16 hours. When you say that I should give the dough more time, would this apply to the first rise or the long retardation?

When you shape the dough after the first fermentation, be gentle with it and try to retain some of the gas from the first rise while, at the same time, firmly giving it its final shaping.

Aha! I forgot to mention this previously, but another problem I have is that regardless of how well I oil the bowl that my dough is resting in, when I try to gently turn the dough out onto the counter for shaping, it is often *very* firmly stuck. I'm then forced to scoop the dough out, invariably over-deflating--and even tearing--it.

If the dough has sugar or other sweeteners in it then this temperature would be too high. You need to be at more like 375-400 degrees fahrenheit.

Would a dough with milk in it count as one that has sugar?

Thank you for your help!