June 20, 2009 - 8:21am
loaf splitting
This is my first post here, although I have been lurking and learning for several months now.
I have been making sourdough bread following the King Aurther recipe and the taste, crumb and crust are wonderful. (My wife likes them even more than I do)
The problem I have is when the loaf is proofing, sprayed with Pam and covered with plastic wrap, about 3-4 hours into an aprox 5 hour rise, the dough will start cracking and opening up on top as if you were to bake it without slashing.
Seems to me that I should be getting some oven spring and am not because the internal pressure is released before it hits the oven.
Any ideas?
Thank you, John
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Welcome to TFL, John. Can you give us a little more specifics about your formula? Are you doing the first rise (bulk fermentation) for 5 hours or is it the proof? Five hours for proofing is a really long time unless it is done in the refrigerator.
--Pamela
John,
Welcome to TFL! I'm glad you decided to jump in and join us.
I agree with Pamela that more info would be helpful. It sounds like you are talking about proofing the loaves after they are shaped. In that case, Pamela is right, 5 hours is a really long time.
There is a simple way to tell when your dough is properly proofed and ready to bake. Poke it. If it springs back right away, it's overproofed and you need to shorten your proofing time. If it doesn't spring back at all, it's underproofed. And if it springs back slowly, it is properly proofed and ready to go in the oven.
Phyl
Switch overproofed and underproofed around, then it's sound.
spring back right away => underproofed doesn't spring back at all => overproofed
Sounds also like the dough gave out, the gluten went beyond it's holding limit. Sourdoughs tend to need more gluten to last through the longer rising times. Is the flour low gluten?
Mini
That's what I get for typing one-handed and on pain pills!
I mix the starter and about 2/3 flour and the water then it sits on the counter about 4 hours, then 10-12 hrs in the fridge. Then the rest of the flour and the salt,4-5 hrs on the counter and then form the loaves, then proofing maybe 3-4 hours
Thank you for the poking tip, I was just letting them go until I thought they were big enough.
My starter ratio is 26% of my total flour/water, does this seem low? I have read other places on this forum that it should be 33%.
Maybe this is why my loaves are not proofing as large as I expect?
John
It might not hurt to do some stretch and folds (once an hour) while the dough is sitting 4-5 hours on the counter. This has its benefits. As the dough rises, and you tighten it with a fold, you get a feeling for when you should stop folding and let it have a final proof. It may be sooner than 6 hours (from the time of the last addition of flour).
No, because after the 4 hours counter time and 12 hrs in the refrigerator, it is now 2/3 starter so to speak. So the ratio of starter to flour, by the second addition of flour is much higher than 26%. It is more like 66% starter.
Mini