Exploding Bread
I have now been baking bread for just over a year and since getting the America's Test Kitchen Bread Illustrated book, my bread baking skills have risen (pun intended) greatly.
Here's a link to ATK: https://www.americastestkitchen.com
Yesterday I baked my 1st ever Soaker, Sponge, Dough bread - Whole-wheat sandwich bread (See page 209 of Bread Illustrated).
It exploded!
This method of baking (which should not normally blow up like this)
The Soaker process seemed to go ok, although it probably had a higher hydration % (I didn't have any wheat germ and used toasted Flax Seed instead). The Sponge processing went well too (as per the book)
I followed this process when I made the dough by combining the soaker and sponge: Putting the Sponge in the mixer bowl and setting it on Low, then adding the soaker one tablespoon at a time until incorporated. Then I added the other ingredients. Finally kneading for 8 mins on med-low. Into a greased (EVO) bowl with plastic lid to rise. It rose to the top of the bowl within 30 minutes! (15mins early) but hey, this is South Florida in Summer = Hot, Humid even with the AC running to 78º F .
Folded dough the 6 times as described, next rise, that was quick too.
Split and shaped the dough then into the Bread Pans (8.5" x 4/5") and covered with greased plastic wrap.
My oven takes a while to get to temp. So I set the oven to 350 while the final rise was taking place.
15 minutes and the bread was overflowing the pans!!! I pulled the bread from over the pan sides onto the top and pressed to seal - did not slash the dough.
Popped the pans into the oven sitting on a baking sheet - just as well
I checked the bread at 25 minutes to rotate but - Explosion!! Dough had spilt over the sides of both pans and had risen even more on the baking pan (the baking pans were hardly visible)
As I have learned, if it fails - finish the cooking - it might be salvageable. Baked until 205ºF
Pulled out of oven, had to let them cool in the pans until set sufficiently to try removing them.
I had to do some major surgery to get the loaves from the pan, but was successful and transferred loaves to the cooling rack.
My wife buttered a couple of pieces of the lava left overs, delicious!
This morning we had some of the bread toasted - Delicious!!! Very light, lots of reasonable sized holes and the toasted Flax seed added flavor to the bread.
So, I'm guessing that the problem was the amount of yeast in the final dough!
The recipe on page 290 indicates 2 Tablespoons of Yeast, I'm betting that's a typo and should read 2 teaspoons!
And the good news:
None of the dough spilt over into the oven! It was close.
And the bread in the pans looks good.
They were cojoined but none of it was burnt, a hint in the left corners nearest to the camera.
With the excess cut crusts cut off, the bread came out of the pans in one piece, the 'open' sides of the bread were not trimmed, that's how they came out of the pan.
Size and shape were just fine. It's just odd having a loaf with no side crusts.
Not too shabby!
The loaf is very light, really light! I was expecting a rock, as I have baked a few of those over the last year or so.
But the crumb was very airy, the flax seed was we distributed, and the flavor was really much better than I expected.
Next time I'll use just 2 teaspoons of yeast and will not use Flax seed but use the suggested Wheat Germ.
Oh, what did we do with the overflowing crusts? We ate about 1/3rd of it and tossed the rest. Too much bread crumbs in my galley already.
This is not a bread I would or could make on the boat! It requires a stand mixer - don't have one on the boat - and it takes 24 hours total to make - I started my prep at 14:30 and the bread came out of the oven at 18:00 the next day! But I must say, it is really delicious.
See you on the water - and I'll probably have Boat Baked Bread on board too!
Paul