May 19, 2020 - 8:08pm
Very difficult to cut through bottom of the loaf
So my loafs have been coming along very nicely (I think). However, for the life of me, the bottom crust is just incredibly difficult to slice through. And I have a nice bread knife. I don't think the bottom is burned. Or maybe just ever so slightly, but definitely doesn't taste burned either.
Anyone else had this issue? I already tried the baking sheet under the DO trick.
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Mine get to be the same way. I bake on parchment paper, on the stones. I just tilt the loaf when I get close to cutting through, or else angle the knife up so the tip is jabbing down through the bottom crust to the board.
Today i put the sheet pan under the DO and i think it made it even darker!
What a coincidence! I was just gonna complain about that. when i get to the bottom i have to take out my scissors to finish cutting. I love home made bread but hate slicing bread! I like my slices to be perfect. I've seen those bread slicing guides online. Not sure which one is good. Does anyone have any recommendations for something not too expensive but effective?.
1) have a pizza stone one rack below the dutch oven (help with temperature stability)
2) sprinkle generously some corn flour before putting anything else inside the Dutch oven
3) put double parchment paper on top of that corn flour
4) When you are about to take the lid off, take instead the semi baked loaf out of the Dutch oven and bake on the stone or rack (dutch oven need not be inside your oven).
If you do these 4 things the bottom of your loaves will be wonderful.
Great tips! Never crossed my mind to remove the loaf from the Dutch oven.
1. if I don’t have a pizza stone, will a cast iron frying pan do? Maybe I’ll just put it directly on the rack as you say but if a pan is already in there for evening out the temp, I may as well plop it on there.
2. is corn starch the same thing?
3. When you move the loaf, do you keep the parchment with it?
aside from all that, I’ve read that your DO need not be preheated before you put your loaf in. I’ve never tried that because Im scared that putting a loaf in a cold DO may lead to poorer oven spring. If what I read is accurate I would prefer to not preheat because I’m so clumsy, it’s only a matter of time before I burn myself , actually I have already slightly burned my arm on the edge of the DO. ? I’m usually in a panic when I get my loaf out of my “banetton” because it starts to spread and I’m trying to slash it with a bad knife
your situation is similar to mine in so many ways :)
I'm clumsy, my loaf also relaxes when taken out of the banneton, and I hate pre-heating the DO. Curious what answers you'll get.
Here are my answers:
1) You can try it with a frying pan, just to have the dutch oven elevated a little bit. I don't know how effective it would be
2) I have never used corn starch, so cannot be sure, but I think it ought to work. Its just there to raise your dough a bit from the bottom of the DO
3) I have (finally) a parchement that doesn't stick, so I just take the DO from the oven, the bread out of it, throw away the parchement and put the bread inside the oven again at 450 until it is nice and brown. Its simple really.
The only thing is bread at that stage (15 - 20 minutes in) doesn't really have a well defined crust, so try not to collapse it while taking it out.
I always preheat my DO. I think if you want to get a maximum oven spring you want that thing to be as hot as possible.
This guy did an "experiment" and concluded the same, here
Here is what I do.
I take my beneton out of the fridge, I place a double parchment paper on top, if you have a pizza peel, you can use that too, and just flip over. If beneton was flour enough it should be no issue. That I just take the parchement on the side and drop it into the hot DO. Its really not that difficult.
Hope some of this helps.
Would it help to have the pizza stone on the rack below without actually transferring the loaf to it?
Don't use a bread knife. Try a non serrated blade. With the straight edge, when you get to the bottom crust you can apply pressure and rock the knife through the crust easily.
A slightly curved bread knive works better at least for me.
For years this problem annoyed me, new bread knives made no difference.I turned the loaf upside down and cut from the bottom, problem solved