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Odd problem


David802

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Ok, Last night I made 6 loaves of are asiago bread ( a store fav) ...

A 5 lb loaf bakes for 40 mins at 400f degrees, the loaf looked good, stuck the temp probe in it and it said 180 on the dot,

so I pulled it, 3 hours later when they cut into it, the bread was doughy all the way through it, the crust was nice, but the middle of the loaf was oviously not done, checked the other 5 loaves and there all the same...

why would the bread test at 180 on the temp probe and the top of the bread look good, but the middle still be doughy after 40 mins?

I checked the probe and it was right on, and the other loaves had also been at 180 on the probe and they were fine. cooked just right like normal....Could I have mixxed the dough wrong?

any input on this would be great...

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I think I need a little more information. Sometimes thermometers just freak out. One day I gave my thermometer to the L'Escalier PC and his custard was reading 140degrees celcius (over a double boiler). I then proceded to check it at 212F at boiling water, it was right on.

Also I always go for bread at 190, not 180.

Maybe you hit a steam pocket? Its good to check a couple places or all the loaves at once.

Does the dough look like it was rising properly?

Dean Anthony Anderson

"If all you have to eat is an egg, you had better know how to cook it properly" ~ Herve This

Pastry Chef: One If By Land Two If By Sea

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The dough was a little slower then normal when it rose, The rest of the bread that was on the rack with it came out just fine, it was the only bread that was messed up..

I checked it 3 times, one on each side, and one in the middle, on the middle loaf on the pan (cooked 3 loaves to a fullsheetpan with a colar between each one)they were scaled to 5 lbs exactly. as for the temp, I was told anywere between 160 and 180 was good, the probe said the same on all the loaves on all 6 racks...(note this is at a bakery , with a full stand up oven with a rack that slides in that can hold up to 8 fullsheet pans)

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My baker teacher at school was a Certified master baker, and she told us to always to go 190 at least! She said at 180 shes had loaves colapse. For my artisan breads class im taking right now we always go to about 195-200, that way the bread is still amazing and you wont have any problems with it being undercooked.

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hmmmm...well cool, that still dosent explain why it was so raw, when the pan of loaves above it was fine and the pan below was fin aswell..

thats whats so confusing, I would agree that the temp wasnt right if the others had been bad to but the sour dough that was on the next rack up was just fine, just like it always is...

(Also the head baker where I work is a masterbaker as well)

and he was the one that told me to bake to 180...not arguing just putting in another word on the subject...

(very ignorant in the subject) but isent artisen bread baked in a stone hearth?

proboly wrong I Cant remember what the diff is...

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How do you fit three 5lb loaves on one sheet pan. I think this may be another cause of the problem. I can barely fit five 1lb loaves on a sheet pan. 5 lbs of dough is quite a hefty slice of bread. I have a strong feeling your not proofing it enough or its being baked in tall pans, but you said collar.

Dean Anthony Anderson

"If all you have to eat is an egg, you had better know how to cook it properly" ~ Herve This

Pastry Chef: One If By Land Two If By Sea

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I have two questions really;

1) How do you get a probe into the center of a 5lbs loaf that is proofed correctly? Was it a dense dough? My 2lbs laves, baked in my home oven are huge "football" sized loaves.

2) When you check the core temp. with a probe thermometer. Doesn't this leave marks in the loaf? Also, for artisan style loaves an open crust, what happens if you measure in one of the big airy holes?

Edited by glennbech (log)
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I have two questions really;

1) How do you get a probe into the center of a 5lbs loaf that is proofed correctly? Was it a dense dough? My 2lbs laves, baked in my home oven are huge "football" sized loaves.

2) When you check the core temp. with a probe thermometer. Doesn't this leave marks in the loaf? Also, for artisan style loaves an open crust, what happens if you measure in one of the big airy holes?

I always check the temp from the bottom of the loaf, in two or three places, that way you reduce the possibility of hitting a wrong spot and not getting an accurate reading.

Also, I go for 195-210, depending on the type of bread I'm baking.

Just a simple southern lady lost out west...

"Leave Mother in the fridge in a covered jar between bakes. No need to feed her." Jackal10

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These sheetpans are full sheet pans, about 4 feet long by 2 and a half feet wide. this is a comercial bakery.

also the thermometor probe is a foot long.

A colar is just what we call it at work, there plastic boxxes (with no top or bottem) that fit into the sheetpan, and stick up about 1 1/2 inches above the pan edge. also these are for sandwiches.

were not an artisan bakery, we use a normal convection oven (What ever its called), (I'v never even seen a stone hearth oven) and because these particular loaves are for sandwiches, its not as important that the top stay smooth..

As far as the problem is concerned. at work The head baker thinks that I may have over measured the loaves, I had been measuring 1.13 lb loaves for the front to sell, and when I Was done I started on the 5 lb loaves, but I think I forgot to slide the little ball on the scale back over so it was just 5 lbs, instead of 5.13 lbs, that would explain why it was not done, and the others were, also the recipe does not call for any yeast, it relys on the levenin to grow (and is proofed over night) and we decided to start putting a little bit of yeast in because we think it wasent quite prooffed enough, if the bread was .13 lbs to big, that would explain why it looked like it was nice and proofed up but in all actuality it was just bearly any bigger, but had filled the collar...

thats the best we can do to figure out what happend...

thanks for all your help...if you have any questions let me no...

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First of all, a quick and very important tip for bread making. Do NOT judge how proofed a bread is by the level it is at, judge it actually getting in there and touching it. You will know from experience if its risen enough just by the way it looks, no matter if its 5lbs, 5.13lbs or 3 ounces, it should all look the same. Guage it by the size of the bubbles, the dryness of the crust/edge, by the touch (whether it is ready to deflate or still pushing back at you). Typically you would want it just before its ready to collapse, where it still has a littl room too grow (10%).

Edited by chiantiglace (log)

Dean Anthony Anderson

"If all you have to eat is an egg, you had better know how to cook it properly" ~ Herve This

Pastry Chef: One If By Land Two If By Sea

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It seems like there are too many variables here for things to go wrong. My first thought when you said some of the loaves came out correct and others didnt, was that the oven is not calibrated correctly or has hot spots. If part of your oven was too hot it would cause your loaves to bake faster and brown on the outside and still be raw on the inside. But if you bake other items in the oven besides bread and they are coming out fine than it could be a dough/scaling/proofing issue.

When baking professionally and (I know im using a quality tried and true recipe) I run into a problem I always try to make the bakery product again under the same conditions double checking everyting the second time around to make sure im following the recipe and procedure correctly. Since its only been a few days since you made the bread, make it again and get back to use as to how the new batch came out.

**To note - a hearth oven or a pizza oven is used to create a crisp crust on the bread. It is a oven with a brick or stone baking base. Commonly a 'bread' oven will have the ability to induce steam into the oven and also doors that vent to allow circulation. To avoid getting technical, these things create a quality crust on the bread and typically help create a chewey texture on the inside. One can achieve something simiar to this texture in a convection oven by using a large stone (a kitchen supply store will sell a pizza stone) that a preheated in the oven a hot sheet pan will work in a crunch. Then steam can be created by either placing a pan of water in the oven or by misting the bread with water before baking.

Since you are just using the bread for sandwiches you dont have to worry about any of this. Furthermore, your customers are use to what your currently doing and might be opposed to a crispy crust on the outside of their sandwich.

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Actualy the asiago is a store fav, so its baked everynight, sunday night I went in and did another batch, and it came out fine.

We are nearly posotive its either a scaling problem or a proffing problem, we just had are oven calibrated a few weeks ago..

The stuff with a stone, thats alot of help to me but not in the way you think, My mom is going to a potluck, and they asked that I make some bread for them, one of the things I'm going to attempt is a french loaf, (which generaly has a harder crust with a chewy inside) I actualy have a pizza stone and have used it before. Do I just put corn meal on the bottem of the dough and some on the stone like I would a pizza?

Thanks for the info. David.

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you dont need to put any on the stone, you will just have to clean it off because you dont want burned cornemeal on your bread.

I like to use Semolina for bread and pizza typically but you might be able to get a hold of semolina where you are so cornmeal will work fine. Just let the bread rest on a board dusted with cornmeal, all you need is enough to help you slide it on and off of the stone.

Dean Anthony Anderson

"If all you have to eat is an egg, you had better know how to cook it properly" ~ Herve This

Pastry Chef: One If By Land Two If By Sea

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