Light/Soft Bottoms
Hi All!
I've been having a consistent "issue" on most of my bakes where the crust is nice and dark brown all the way around, but the bottom is (at least pretty close to) ghost-white, and even a little uncooked-dough-looking. It's still usually hard and hollow-sounding when given a good tap, but it's noticeably less crisp than the rest, and sometimes there's even a mm or two of undercooked crumb at the bottom even if I extend the baking time a bit (well past the internal temperature at the center of the loaf being where it needs to be).
I'm working generally with doughs in the 73-75ish hydration range, which I gather is a little bit wet, at least for a beginner (which I very much am), so my first assumption is that the moisture in the dough is settling to the bottom during the bake and sort of pooling down there keeping the bottom from cooking as effectively as the rest, but I have no idea if this is how science actually works, and the guides/videos I'm following along with seem to be doing everything the same as I am and have a relatively nice crust on the bottom of their resulting loaves (although I have noticed a bit of a trend that youtubers tend to "forget" to show the bottom of the loaf...maybe intentional, and my issues are not as unique as I think? haha)
I am using a baking stone, which I generally preheat for at least 45 min to an hour (including the time it takes the oven itself to preheat...as in, the bread goes in an hour after I turn on the oven). Generally baking the loaf directly on the stone, sometimes with a sheet of parchment paper in cases where I'm not confident I can slip the loaf smoothly into the oven without the help (I haven't invested in a peel yet). Using relatively high heat (I've experimented a bit, but usually in the range of 450-460f with steam for the first part of the bake, then down to 425ish without steam to finish it off. I'm making steam via a cast iron pan in the bottom of the oven with boiling water poured into it (pan is also preheated along with the stone).
Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions on where I might be going wrong!
[EDIT]: Oh, in case it's an important factor, I'm doing exclusively yeasted loaves at this point. I have a sourdough starter in the works, but haven't "graduated" to that yet. The loaves in question are generally simple Flour/Water/Salt/Instant Yeast, sometimes with a little bit of olive oil, but the issues described above seem to be plague-ing me regardless of minor tweaks to the recipe (oil, no oil, minor adjustments in hydration, salt %, etc).
Welcome to TFL!
"I'm making steam via a cast iron pan in the bottom of the oven..."
There's your problem, if by bottom you mean floor.
You're not supposed to put anything on the floor because there is a hidden heating element there. You're blocking the heat.
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Another possible factor:
Use only 1/2 cup boiling water for a (smaller) wall oven, or 1 cup for a (larger) range style oven.
Steam is 212 degrees F , and it rises and cools off the 450 F stone, so the bottom of the loaf gets undercooked if there is way too much steam.
The steam pan should be on the bottom _rack_ (not the oven floor), and the baking stone at least one rack above it. The steam pan can also be beside the stone, or on a rack above the baking stone if there is enough room.
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Don't worry about the steam "disappearing". When steam gets much over 212 F, it turns invisible. Some people see it "disappear" and think it escaped, so they add more water, and more water just cools down the stone and oven even more.
I really appreciate the quick and thorough response.
I should have been a bit more clear in my description: The cast iron pan is on one of the oven racks, not directly on the bottom of the oven. That being said, I have that rack in the lowest possible position, so it's still very close to the bottom of the oven, meaning your diagnosis could still be absolutely right (I bet it's still blocking a bunch of the heat coming from the element)...didn't occur to me that the steam (a thing I think of as being super hot) is actually significantly cooler than I want everything else to be!
I believe I have enough space that I can likely move that rack up at least one notch, and I can likely move the pan off to the side a little bit so the steam is not going straight up into the bottom of the stone. I'll try both of those on my next bake (actually, I'll try them one at a time, because I'm a scientist at heart and like to isolate my variables :) ). I may even go so far as to put the steam pan above like you suggested (again, an idea that had never occurred to me, as every example I have seen has it below the level where the bread itself is baking)
I think you really hit on everything in this reply as well....I suspect I'm also putting entirely too much water in. I'll try to limit it to closer to a cup or so like you suggest.
Thanks again for taking the time (and for the warm welcome!). I'm already so excited to be a part of this positive and supportive community. Looking forward to being knowledgeable enough that I can pay it forward :)
A pale bottom crust while the rest of the bread is richly browned suggests insufficient heat in the bottom of the crust. What level is the rack that has the stone in your oven? Whatever it is, it needs to be lower. And as Dave indicates in the response above, do not have anything between the bottom of the oven and the stone. Your current set up is shielding the stone from the heat below and not allowing enough heat to get into the bottom of the dough. Depending on the size of the cast iron pan that you’re using for steam, can you place it on the stone or beside the stone, or even better on the highest rack in the oven while still allowing clearance below for the dough to rise.
Benny
I really appreciate the response. Between you and Dave I strongly suspect you guys have me all sorted out. I'm going to run some experiments over the next couple of bakes and see how all this works. I suspect you're right, too, that the rack I'm actually baking the bread on could stand to be a little lower in addition to all the tweaks I was already considering after reading through Dave's reply. Time to do some oven real estate rearranging!
Like I said to Dave, I really appreciate all the help. I'm brand new here, but can already tell it's a wonderful corner of the internet to spend some time in!
Please report back with how you’re doing. Photos are better than words in many cases. Take photos of the baked loaf, crumb and even your new oven setup.
Benny
Unsure what type of oven you have, but as Dave and Benny mentioned, it sounds like lack of heat into the baking stone.
Here’s a picture of my setup. Medium sized cookie sheet on the very bottom rack. A baking steel two spots above that, and a large cookie sheet on the very top rack to shield the upper element. I pre-heat to 465 deg F for at least 30 minutes, and then pour about 1/2 cup boiling water in the bottom cookie sheet and reduce the oven temp to 450 deg F as the dough is loaded. I then plug the upper oven vent with a towel to hold the steam in. In general, make sure the top element is shielded (if you can’t turn it off) and get the baking stone low in the oven.
Good luck!