February 2, 2017 - 2:54pm
Issue with oven spring?
I apologize beforehand: I'm new to baking and new to this forum.
I think I'm having an issue with oven spring.
I baked Ken Forkish's 75% Whole Wheat Saturday bread (750g whole wheat flour, 250g white flour, 800g h2o)
I allowed it to bulk ferment and it went well, tripled in size.
I then placed the loaf in a preheated dutch oven and allowed it to bake with the top on. (425F - 50 degrees lower than recommended, but my oven scorches the bottom of bread if too hot)
When I removed the top 30 minutes later, I noticed there was minimal lift.
I allowed it to bake for 20 more minutes with the dutch oven top off, but no considerable rise.
Any suggestions of what went wrong?
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Normally after the bulk ferment you will shape the dough (which re-distributes the yeast and it's food a bit) then let it proof in a basket or something, before you bake it. Did you do that step and just forget to mention it in your post?
Sorry, yes I did shape and proof the loaves after bulk fermentation. (Per the recipe, bulk was supposed to take 5 hours but I only let it go 4 hours due to it being triple in size.) I then shaped the loaves and proofed for about an hour. Per the finger-dent test, they seemed to look ok. They didn't look overproofed.
Is the final proof not to be longer, like 2-4 hours?
How Ken Forkish explians it: it should bulk ferment for 5 hours at room temp (sometimes a bit less or more), but it should triple in size. Then loaves are shaped and proofed for 1 hour and 15 minutes at RT. My house is at 73F, so I figured I should only let it proof for 1 hour. The finger-dent test looked as if it wasn't over-proofed. Would you have a problem with the over spring in over-proofed or under-proofed bread?
Both. Under proofed has a glossy crust and is dense, gummy, big holes inside. Over proofed is a lot more open crumb, has a matte crust, and deflates like a deflating gum bubble.
Does this photo help?
Well, the site isn't let me load a photo...
Here's a link to the photo: http://imgur.com/IFqYh6v
Honestly looks like a wheaty loaf, which suffers in rise due to several reasons. I don't like ww so I don't make it and can't troubleshoot well. But it looks like the loaf turned out about what I would expect it to. I would use 90% hydration though.
Would you expect more oven spring with 90% hydration rather than what I had (80%). I'm not looking for much more lift, but this loaf has the consistency of cornbread.
Here are a couple of pictures of one of Forkish's 75% whole wheat loaves (can't remember which one; this was about a year ago that I made this) for comparison. I don't remember whether I followed the recipe to the letter but I usually do at least the first time. I don't know what might have made the difference though.
Those look great! I baked the same recipe again yesterday – same result. The bread tastes good but just has a density that's too much. I wish I could figure it out!
... did you remember to add the salt? Don't worry, we've all done that so it's not a judgement, but it will definitely affect the bread (and not just the taste).
I did add the salt – I'm wondering if I stretched the dough too far on my folding. It says that the 3 folds need to be "gentle". I don't exactly know how gentle that is. Like I said before, I'm new at this and I'm still figuring out how to stretch the dough when I'm folding it.
them proof more than 85%. AN they are much faster than white bread to begin with. I'm guessing you just over proofed them to the point they didn't have anything left to give in the heat. Finger pokes don't work well with whole grain breads either. By the time is looks ready that way - it is over proofed. Also make sute to degas the dough well enough to get rid of the large air pockets while keeping the smaller and medium size ones.
It just takes a bit of experience and practice. It helps us if you post some photos so we will know better what happened.
Well done and happy baking
when your 75% whole wheat 85% hydration (or 66% WW/75% hydration) is 85% proofed and ready to bake?
I'm getting a little spring after a 2-3 hr proof but not much. And the bread still spreads out on the peel after transferring it from the basket.
Thanks
Hi Gustatorian,
Did you ever resolve this problem to your satisfaction?
I am having exactly the same problem with the same recipe. I have tried several things after researching the topic on the web: extended mixing, double shaping, extra folds, strong white flour. So far I have had little success. I just cannot get tension in the dough that lasts. The bread is actually quite light with good texture, but it always flattens out and basically does not rise at all.
I hope you have since had better results than I have.
I am in Australia and I am beginning to think that our whole meal flour might be somewhat different from American whole wheat flour.
I am having exactly the same issues. I get a little more oven spring and a little less spread with 75% hydration rather than 85%. But it's still not great.