Hi all, I have made two loaves with my own starter using an overnight no-knead method and a Dutch oven-like glass casserole dish. I baked in the casserole dish with the lid closed for 20 minutes at 230 degrees celsius and then for another 20 minutes at 190 celsius with the lid open. They rise well and have a good crust but they feel a little moist inside. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? I added two pictures, one with white flour and one with a mix of spelt and white flour. They both felt a little moist inside.
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Hello ozeresin,
I guess there are a couple of possibilities. The first question is, how soon after baking did you cut the bread? Bread (well anything really) continues to cook for some time after it comes out of the oven and, although it is hard to resist, if you cut the bread while it is still hot, the starches will not have completed setting and the crumb will be soft and seem a little 'doughy'. If that is the case, then the message is to leave the bread to cool completely (at least an hour) before cutting it.
The other possibility is whether you pre-heat your casserole dish? If you do not, then the conductivity of the glass is quite low and it will be some time before the heat of the oven penetrates to start baking the bread and the centre of the loaf might not have had time to reach the required temperature to complete the transformation of the ingredients into their final 'baked' form.
Good luck with your projects.
Farinam
Thank you Farinam. I did actually wait for at least an hour before cutting the bread and I do preheat the casserole dish. So i guess those are not the reasons. I will try baking on a tray maybe next time. Have fun baking! :)
Hello ozeresin,
If you are concerned you could try baking for a bit longer though 40 minutes at the temperatures that you mention should be plenty. Speaking of temperature, your crust is not particularly dark so perhaps a check of your oven temperature with an oven thermometer might be worth doing. Thermostats have been known to be wrong.
I guess another question is whether the 'moistness' persists, say, to the next day (assuming that the loaf lasts that long)? And, what sort of hydration is the dough from your recipe?
Farinam
Hi, thanks for the reply. :) Yes, the loaf lasts long and is still moist inside the next day or even two days later, although it feels better if i toast it. That's what i've been doing with the last loaf.
The recipe is 2/5 cup starter, 2,5 to 3 cups of flour and 1 cup of water but i used less water for the spelt mix. So it's not a very sticky dough.
Have a nice day! :)
Just wondering... by moist do you mean underbaked? Is it spongy?
Hi PeterD, thank you for asking. I don't know what you mean by spongy exactly but if you mean if it has holes, it does, but not that many, as you can see in the picture. It feels like it still has moisture in it. It's not wet but when i touch it it's cold and doesn't feel entirely dry. When I squeeze a slice between two fingers, the holes dispear very easily, sometimes it doesn't go back to its original form. Hard to explain. :) I don't know if you can also tell if there's something wrong by looking at the picture?
No, can't tell from the photo. However, there is a brand of bread on the market here in Australia that is quite wet to the touch. More specifically one of the bread versions they produce. It was one of my favourite breads till I started making my own. It had grains in it also. I never thought it to be underbaked because it had a beautiful flavour. Nevertheless, if it bothers you, it would be good to find out. For the record, mine feels a little moist. I wouldn't say wet though.
Sorry. No advice here. But I had to say that the pics of your bread are making me hungry. It looks really good!
Thanks a lot! My last bread was also much better and not gummy. Thank you all for the good advice.
Hello ozeresin,
That's good to hear. Was there anything in particular that you did differently that brought you the result? The detail could help somebody else.
Good luck with your projects.
Farinam
In case someone else has the same issue, what i've done differently is:
-Baked even longer
- Didn't lower the temperature till the very end
- Cooled it on a rack this time
- Didn't cut it open for hours
- I folded the dough a few times during the rise
- I preheated the pyrex for longer
- I let it proof a bit longer
I don't know which of these helped but the last bread is very good. :)
This is how my last bread looks. :)
That looks perfect. I have the exact same problem. But then I bought some sourdough at a very reputable bakery and when I cut them the dough also felt cold and slightly damp. I will try baking mine a little longer next time she see if it makes a difference.
I'm having the same problem with my sourdough bread. Looks baked on the outside but has a wet feel inside. I also made banana bread had the same issue baked the outside really good but the inside is moist and not done completely.