Dry white flecks in challah crumb?
Hi there!
Long time reader/silent observer, now finally joining in on the conversation :)
I have just started baking enriched breads, and a (four strand braided round) challah I made two days ago -kept in a ziploc bag- was just cut into. It has flecks of white throughout, mostly near the edges, with a very dry crumb that almost looks like raw flour but the dough was definitely mixed very well.
Is this what overbaking enriched dough looks like? I made another loaf (long six strand braid) at the same time, braided and baked simultaneously, that had streaks of gumminess throughout. Is this a sign of underbaking? Or perhaps underproofing?
I'm more familiar with rustic breads, lean doughs. Trying to figure this out and I'm not sure what could be causing this!
Thanks in advance for any thoughts!!
-JS
Without a recipe and method it'll be difficult to venture an answer. The only thing that springs to mind right now is you're getting flour inside the dough when shaping.
Take a look at this post which has a link to the recipe http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/52060/challah-bread-amazing
I've been looking for a more definitive answer for this problem as well, as I've encountered it in making panettone a few times.
My best guess so far is that it's due to unincorporated flour as Lechem mentions. (In my case, I suppose I didn't knead the flour and the primo enough for the secondo impasto.)
I'm almost positive it's not due to overbaking, especially in your case (since the core of the bread doesn't seem to suffer from the issue). I was concerned initially that I was underbaking at first, since in my case the white flecks are pretty uniformly spread throughout the interior. But after looking up some pictures of underbaked bread I'm pretty sure it's not an issue of underbaking.
hydrate?
I am comparing the looks of the floury dry crumb to a potato dumpling in my area of Austria. It is made by ricing cooked potato through a press and then fluffing in flour until the crumbs just barely hold together when making a ball. Then boiled. The interior of the dumplings are cooked through but traces of steamed flour distributed throughout. This makes for a dumpling that soakes up lots of meat juices.
Not very desirable in a bread crumb so my sympathies are with you. I would hydrate the recipe flour well before kneading, or adding fats. Just combine the flour and liquids together for a shaggy look, breaking up pockets of flour .Let stand 10 minutes covered and then continue making the dough. See if that clears up the problem.
How old is the flour and how is it stored?