January 16, 2013 - 9:40am
Bread all cracked and bottom under baked when using baking stone
Hi guys,
I am very new at baking bread and most of all doing it with a baking stone.
I've baked sourdough bread in my oven before but without a baking stone and today I tried it with.
The top of the bread looks better than it ever looked, but the bottom has a lot of cracks and is as white as it was when I've put it in the oven...
Any ideas what I've done wrong?
I am thinking the cracks could come from poorly shaping the bread..but how can I get a golden crust on the bottom as well?
Thank you very very much!
Raluca
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Hi Raluca,
Sounds as if the stone is not hot enough.
How thick is your stone? How long do you preheat? At what temperature?
My stone is 3 cm thick, and I need 1 hour at 250dC to get it truly hot.
Cheers,
Juergen
I think it's 3cm as well, a granite one...but I've only pre-heated for about 20mins..sounds like it wasn't enough at all..
Will try preheating more.
Thank you for answering!!
Raluca
I learned here on theTFLis that when you preheat, once you oven beeps and tells you is at your preheat set temperture, add 20 minutes after that because your stone temperature will lag the oven temperature by at leaast 20 minutes.
Happy Baking
Makes sense now..as it is a bit under cooked inside as well...
Will give it another try tomorrow and give more time to preheating
Cheers!
Raluca
I agree with the previous answers. Just wanted to add that a really hot stone blasts heat into the dough in a way that the air in the oven can't. The sudden heat promotes the expansion of the gas bubbles in the bread and gives you a higher rise ("oven spring"). I'll bet that will happen with your loaves!
Best luck,
GregS
I did think when baking that I should see a bigger rise..
Hopefully today it will be better. I'll try to upload some pics with yesterday's and today's bread.
Thank yooou!!
A 1/2" (1 cm) stone (quarry tile) takes an hour to come to equilibrium temperature in your oven. A 3 cm stone takes more than twice as long. But it doesn't need to be at equilibrium. Check it with an IR thermometer if you have one. See if you can borrow one if you don't. That way you know.
So do you think I should preheat the oven with the stone for 2 hrs?
I don't know anyone with an IR thermometer..:(
Also..this may sound like a dumb question..but if I am meant to bake the bread at 230C should the stone temp be 230C as well?
Thank you!
at full heat and then reduce the temperature if required (except for things with raisins or egg galze, or sweet doughs). This should give a noticeable difference. Just try it out.
If I don't have an hour to preheat, or I want it hotter than my oven dial allows, I use the grill ...
Do you have a normal oven thermometer? You will be surprised when taking the temperatures at different places in the oven. The door looses quite a bit of heat. A really hot stone acts as a buffer.
I do have an oven thermometer, I'll use that one as well.
I've got a really small oven so I am afraid that baking at 250C will burn the top..even at 230C I need to decrease the temp to around 210C otherwise it will be burned on top and under baked everywhere else.. :(
Cheers!
Thank you guys for the advice!
I've preheated the oven and stone to 250C for about 1h20mins and the results are amazing compared to yesterday's test. Can't wait to see the crumb as well, but I am waiting patiently for it to cool down. Yesterday's crumb was not so spectacular..and a bit underbaked.
Here is a pic with yesterday's attempt
Today's attempt
What do you guys think?
Cheers!
Raluca
Beautiful bloom. You got it.
Looking forward to seeing more of your bakes,
Juergen
Thank you! Will share for sure!
If the bottom is browned the way you like it then keep doing what you are doing. It looks beautiful!
Yup bottom brown and no cracks! Happy for now..hope to be happy after seeing the crumb as well ;)