Top Crust Pulled Away During Baking
Recently while working at my local bakery, I had the task of making 4 loaves of a savory bread. Using a white dough recipe scaled to 1# 10 oz. each, to which I added 2 handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese (frozen) to. As well as garlic to one loaf, jalapeno slices to another, and savory seasoning to yet the fourth.
What I'd like to mention also, is that I had to use frozen shredded cheese, as the thawed stock in the fridge was used up. The dough, like all their recipe dough's, was also of a low hydration, as it was dry and hard to work with. These two conditions alone made it hard to incorporate the cheese and spices into the dough.
Actually this was a test order for a lady looking for a savory type bread. I kept asking the manager if she ever gave any feedback as to how the bread was and after 2 weeks of asking, the above regarding the air gap in the top crust was his reply. He redid the loaves for her.
This is a new part-time job for me of doing breads as well as frying donuts, making icing and fillings etc. The company is pretty tight lipped on their recipes, and I would have loved to have copied it down to figure the actual hydration at home. But working in front of everyone didn't offer me that opportunity. This is something I'm going to try and get in the future.
So I'd like to ask for reasons as to why one might get the top crust to pull away during baking? I consider myself a good home bread baker, and I've never had this problem at home, so you can understand how this issue is something I want to get to the bottom of!
In the month that I've been working this job, I've come to realize that baking at home gives a much better product, but unfortunately, home procedures and ingredients are cost prohibitive in the commercial world I'm afraid!
Many thanks for your consideration to my inquiry.
Sounds like either a shaping issue, or overfermentation, either of which could result in an accumulation of gasses at the top of the loaf. But without a recipe or description of the technique, a definitive answer will be difficult to provide.
I have had crust separation when making cinnamon raisin bread (a pan bread. When shaping loaves I make a rectangle, spread it with a bit of butter, cinnamon, sugar and raisins then roll the dough to form the loaf). Sometimes it works fine, but the occasional separated loaf might be due to adding too much. I always thought the moisture from the additional ingredients caused the separation. Does the same thing happen if you shape a "test" loaf from the dough with no "extras"?
You asked,Does the same thing happen if you shape a "test" loaf from the dough with no "extras"?
I have to say no, as I didn't hear any bad reports. Howbeit I felt that 2 large handfuls of frozen shredded cheese did seem a overly large amount to work into that amount of dough.
I've decided to try the same type of bread at home with one of my white bread recipes and some shredded cheese to see if the same thing happens.
in the cheese is keeping the rolled layers from sticking. Better to knead in the cheese than to put it in jelly roll style.
Or what about dividing the dough and working the cheese into one part and shaping into a log to be covered with a plain dough?
Mini
Hello Mini, and thank you for your reply! Due to the amount of dough and the amount of cheese, I did have to knead and work the cheese into the dough. I did not use the log method, but rather once the cheese was worked in, I did a letter fold.
I have since read up on soft and crusty cheese breads in Reinhart's "artisan breads every day" where he recommends for this problem, to poke several holes in the top before baking with a tooth pick. I'm going to give that a try.
Yup, that sounds good! The 'ol "wet toothpick trick." :)