November 12, 2018 - 12:45pm
Challah blowout?
I’ve just begun bread backing and attempted challah for the first time today. I follow peter Reinharts recipe where you proof it overnight in the fridge. I got massive amounts of blowout/tearing, I’m not sure if this is the same as oven spring. I did a simple 3 strand braid. This recipe calls for an hour rest after braiding before baking at room temp, I had something come up so it sat about 2 hours instead, it did rise a little in that time. I don’t know if overproofing can cause this. My kitchen is very cold living in New England. I’ve attached a photo. It tastes ok, I prefer a sweeter challah and to me it’s a little yeasty.
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My records show that in my hands this challah needs 2 hour proof at 72 F, so it stands to reason that at cooler temperatures you might need more than that, otherwise you won't get a complete proof which would in turn result in blowouts.
Likely underproofed.
Actually those look really tasty!
One of the hardest things to learn as a baker is to know when the dough is fully proofed.
But hardly anybody actually runs the experiment to find out what it takes to over proof a loaf.
So this is a simple case of making a number of loaves (perhaps 1/3 of the current size) and baking them sequentially (maybe 45 minutes apart). If the last one does not totally collapse before it gets to the oven, you still have no idea how long it can go before it is truly over proofed. Try it again, but wait longer before you bake the first one.
Once you have had a disaster, you are much better equipped to make the judgement next time.