Hi!
I am so pleased to have found this forum. I have been struggling away with my sour dough for over a year and had almost lost hope until I found some of these answers.
I have a starter which is nearly a year old. Very happy, very active. We call him Jitter Bug.
Jitter Bug makes a lovely light bread but ALWAYS cracks at the side to the point that when slicing, I have two pieces too small to call slices.
Do I need to slash? Is that the problem?
My method is this:
2 cups Wholemeal Spelt
2 cups White Organic Flour
1 cup starter (feed daily for 3 days to get really active)
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
All ingrediants bar the salt are mixed to a wetish dough then put in a covered bowl to proof over night in the hot water cupboard.
In the morning I add salt and more flour and knead to a 'tacky' dough which I shape and put in the loaf pan then leave to proof for another 2-3 hours.
I bake at 230c for 10 minutes then drop to 200c for 20-25 minutes.
As I say, the loaf comes out light and airy with a lovely crust but the cracks make it impossible to slice and use other than for croutons!
HELP!
Replies
Hi there,
If your sour dough is cracking along the side it could well be that it has not proofed for long enough before you bake it. Consequently when it goes into the oven it rised very quickly - beyond the capacity of the outside to stretch to accomodate it - and it cracks. If you don't like that particular crack, you could try two things:
1. by all means try to slash the top of the loaf
2. let it rise a bit longer. it should feel very soft to the touch as dough - when you press it your finger makes an indent easily (this takes practice to recognise).
Good luck!
Your problem has to do with spelt and how it behaves, but also has to do with your relatively long warm rise. The gluten strands are being broken down by the long warm rise and the enzyme and acid activity. You should read some other baker's thoughts on spelt and their recipes. Read more here on the Sourdough Companion in the Spelt bake off that went on a while back and continues of course... http://sourdough.com/forum/topic/1049?page=3
Two other writer/bakers that have great blogs on baking sourdough spelt are Jane from Au Levain and The Fresh Loaf and also Teresa from Northwest Sourdough. Of course there are many other blogs about spelt baking, especially on the fresh loaf.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/6992/janedo039s-quotbasic-breadquot Jane's blog Au Levain is in French but there is a translator this is her recipe that is on the fresh loaf.
http://northwestsourdough.wordpress.com/2008/03/29/94-sourdough-spelt-bread/
You may want to adjust your recipe after you read what they have tried. Or give one of their recipes a go.
Hope this helps you. I am still trying to find the right blend when I bake with spelt and sometimes I cheat a bit and just use a metal pan if I know the dough has already gone too far. After researching this I am about to go get some new spelt and give it a go. One last thing is keep in mind that there is a lot of variation in the quality of spelt flours too. I have only recently found spelt that is not whole grain that I would trust.
Terr
I baked another Sourdough loaf this weekend and finally, I got a loaf with no cracks!
So what did I change? A few things actually. First I used whey from my cheesemaking instead of water. Second, I found a warmer spot for rising as I suspected my trusty faithful rising space had got too cool over winter. Lastly I gave the top of my loaf a good slashing and misted it as I cooked it at 5 minute intervals.
It came out of the over perfectly risen, no cracks and looking great! BUT, unfortunately when cutting it it was uncooked right in the middle. : ( I'm not sure why as I used exactly the same cooking time but on munching the ends of the loaf it was light and lovely so all was not lost.
I didn't change my recipe (apart from the whey) or the rising and cooking times at all so will try again with a longer cooking time and see what I get next time. At least now I am more inclined to keep trying given I got something near success and not total failure.
If you are using a fan forced oven it tends to bake at 15-20 degrees higher. What i'd suggest to do is:
1 allow dough to proof properly (if you press with your finger and it only springs back half the distance) it is proofed sufficently.
If your oven allows you to turn off the fan completely during baking or lower the temperture to 200-210 degrees. the high heat cause the crust to develop to early resulting in scoring not opening sufficently or the loaf spliting along the bottom and dark hard crust.
Spray the top of the loaf after scoring to moisten the loaf t and spray inside of the oven with a atomiser bottle for 5 seconds when the loaf is placed in the oven.
I would say the last of your loaves was under baked due to the door being opened and closed to spray the chamber.
Hope this helps.
Happy baking