Sorry for veering into uncharted territory here, but I was having trouble finding any good reference sites for this Q. and I figured there are other bread bakers here.
I’ve noticed now that it is starting to get colder, that my bread is much more likely to split open rather violently while baking. I suspect it is a humidity change problem but am having trouble correcting it. Would adding more salt to inhibit yeast (or simply less yeast) be the solution? I’ve tried both but still get splittage. Slashing the loaf prior to baking seems to help but not completely. The wierd part is this never happens to me in the warmer months and since yeast likes warmth I’m finding it hard to believe that my yeast is more reactive when it’s colder outside (and inside). Any ideas?
On 2002-10-23 10:38, Ridseard wrote:
I only have trouble with splitting when I don’t let the loaf rise long enough.
Thanks Ridseard,
That does make sense. The kitchen is cooler but I left my rise time the same. Popping in the oven gives it the “flash rise” which is more severe if it hasn’t risen sufficiently in the first place due to cooler room temp. I’ll test out the theory soon. Gotta warm up the kitchen it’s our first snowfall today!
If it’s a humidity problem, you might try baking it with a pan of water in the oven. I know that this is done with some breads to improve the texture of the crust.
Have you tried something like an egg wash to keep the crust a bit moister during baking? It doesn’t sound like over active yeast so much as a more quickly drying crust that can’t accomodate the expanding loaf. Maybe a pan of water in the oven would do the trick? I’ll looking into my Cookwise and see if they mention it.
Some of the boulangeries in France use special ovens having ducts through which they can squirt steam while the bread is baking. This helps to give the bread a crunchy, crackly crust without drying out the inside.
The dough itself is rather moist and slack, compared to the way we do it, even a bit sticky, and they tend to let it rise for a long time in a rather cool environment.
Brushing the tops of the loaves with water and putting a pan of boiling water in the bottom of the oven is supposed to simulate the steam, but it doesn’t work as well.
I suspect it’s not rising enough, as most have speculated. To add to Tyghress’s point about not enough moisture, you can also spray it with a fine mist of water as it’s rising. This keeps the top moist, you don’t have to have any accidents with the dough being too moist leading to your kitchen towel sticking to it, and it makes a nice crispy crust in the end.
I usually let the bread rise the final time in a kinda kitchen towel hammock. Lay the shaped loaf diagonally on a kitchen towel, lay the opposite corners over the ends of the loaf to cover then bring up the corners that are perpendicular to the sides and suspend the whole thing with a hook going through the perpendicular corners. Creates a nice even shaped loaf with a really nice crust texture. I hang it in the kitchen in room temp area (I like a slower rise) for anywhere from 30min to 1hr depending on the loaf.
Water spritzing the oven or ice cubes in a pie plate under the baking brick would probably work but the crisp light crust that creates doesn’t match well with the heavier breads I make in the winter. Just made a wonderfull caraway rye, mmmmmm.
I suspect it is a combination of cooler temps with less humidity due to central heat(dern cold here and four inches of snow last night)
The rye loaf did have a milk glaze just prior to baking but it split like a (insert personality type) at a (insert social gathering). I’m betting on the rise time since I was in a hurry and only let the final rise go 25minutes, suspected it was too short for a rye loaf.
I don’t know how you’re kneading it but you need to make sure that the glutens are being developed so don’t under knead. Also let it rise sufficiently. Adding moisture to the oven will change the character of your loaf and some breads don’t call for it.
On 2002-10-24 12:56, Roger O’Keeffe wrote:
Have you tried cryo-freezing the dough before baking? Or dipping it in a silicone solution? >
It does help with the splits but man is it hard to cut when all those little yeastie beasties are in perfect harmonic resonance and “use hardened”.
Kneading is done with a bread machine, that way my three year old helps by adding the ingredients. I really cannot stand the crust or texture the bread machine creates when you bake in it but it does an exceptional job kneading, better than the kithenaid clone we had. The texture is fine internally so I don’t think it’s needing kneading
Before I knew better, I made some bread using only, or mostly gluten flour. When I brought it out of the oven, I waited for a couple of minutes and then cut off a slice. The area where it was cut quickly shrank down to nothing. It was very lop-sided. It still tasted fine. JP
