Oven spring uneven... bread tore open one side!

Hugo's picture
Hugo

This is my first attempt at a 100% sifted wheat bread, e.g. a "whole flour white bread". I think I’ll make every single mistake until I bake the perfect loaf. This time, well, I was in a hurry, my baking stone wasn’t hot enough and my slits weren’t deep enough. See the result -- the bread literally exploded on one side during the oven spring!

I’ll add a few more picture when the bread cools down and I slice it. It smells absolutely delicious!!!

My super-active sourdough culture (dubbed "Grandma Smith" due to its delicate green apple smell) had a totally different effect on the sifted wheat flour sponge. Usually it "lives" in a mix of whole wheat and rye. In the white flour, it gave a totally different smell: something that reminds me of sweet butter. It was intriguing. The sponge at 100% hydration tripled volume in 6 hours at 22 degrees.

The dough itself was pleasant to handle. It had wonderful elasticity and wasn’t sticky at all. I managed to knead and fold it directly on the counter, without additional flour. I’ll post the recipe later.

Can’t wait to taste this bread. The smell is buttery and amazing!

ps: I know the grigne is a bit pale, but the rest of the crust was perfect and I didn’t want to burn the underside of this strange bread.

ADDENDUM

Added some more pictures.

I’ve finally had the chance of slicing and tasting the bread. The taste is incredible, buttery and mild but with a hint of sourdough. I really think I was lucky with my sourdough culture. It gives great results. The loaf is moist and elastic and has great structure and blisters; the crust is just right.

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Replies

Montreal 2013 March 17
Good Morning Hugo, Good looking bread.Your crust looks awsome and the internal structure is nice. As for the tang in your sourdough, if you are looking for more, then drop your temperature and let it rise longer( say 12 hours) if you are looking for less tang in the sourdough increase the temperature and proof for shorter period of time (say 4 hours). The side explosion is a classic case of underproofing.This can happen on the top or even sometime on the botton of the bread. You probably did everything right beside waiting long enough for the dough to expand. A proofer would allow you to know exactly how long does it take from one bake to the other systematically every time. Dan from the Experimental lab. www.natscuisine.com
petanque 2013 March 17

I work with sourdough it is most uncommon to get all the cuts to expand equally the expansion is typical of good oven spring

shasta's picture
shasta 2013 March 18

Nice looking bread! Don't be too discouraged on the spring and shape! Proper loaf forming proofomg and slashing all take practice to get to where its consistantly good.

Electricboots 2013 March 18

Hi Hugo,

Looks like things are coming on well! Maybe if you only slashed the top rather than the sides as well it would keep a stronger skin lower down so the force of the pressure is all upwards rather than outwards. Just a thought!

My weekend bake did not go too well this time- went out on Friday night and left the dough on the counter then put in fridge on return. It was a big mistake as it developed a life of its own in the fridge overnight. It had become huge and sticky and nothing could turn it back to smooth and elastic. I cooked it anyway. The boule was fine but the batard lived up to its name and went flat as a pancake. Memo to self- put dough in fridge before going out! I made another loaf yesterday to get us through the week for sandwiches and it was fine when I followed the proper timetable, so I had definitely overproofed on Friday night.

Cheers

 

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