Sad Hollow Bread

[lizmyer]

Hi!

I am new, and I just tried baking bread for the first time. I had no illusions, I knew I would mess it up. But I gamely followed the directions word for word, just a plain white loaf of bread. Just water, yeast, oil, sugar, and "bread flour".

It looked good, the yeast was foamy in warmish water, mixed everything until it was mixed, kneaded it until it was smooth (ish?) Then I let it sit and rise for 30 min (I had quick rising yeast) it was supposed to double in size, but it wasn't doubled at 30 min (recipe called for an hour) (yeast was suppose to take 1/2 as long to rise) so I gave it another 15 min. Covered with a damp cloth and set on top of the fridge (my house is cold). Yeast was risen, I punched it down, kneaded it somemore, cut it into two loaves, which were devoid of huge hollow air pockets, put them in the tins, let them rise for 15 minutes more until they were 1 inch above the tin tops as the recipe told me to, and set them side by side on the top oven rack. The baked for 30 min at 350.

The tops were pretty and not sunken and I was very excited. They sounded hollow when I thumped them (for good reason). I let them cool and sliced into one. The bread was good, and tasted good, with a nice spongeyness. However, as I cut further, I was dismayed to find that they were completely hollow. The inside was doughy and the huge single air pocket was in the middle leaving an inch of good bread on all sides. I could have put fruit jelly in there or something and made a gigantic pastry of some kind. I was highly disappointed.

What happened? Was the water too cold for the yeast? Was it the quick drying yeast? If I baked it any longer the tops would have been burned. Did I not let it rise enough or did I leave it too long? Should I have kneaded it longer? I feel like I worked it pretty well, as it was nice and smooth. Any suggestions? I want to try again, cuz it tasted great, it was just hollow and sad.

[KAYLINDA]

The only thing I noticed is that you didn't let it rise again after shaping it into loaves. (It usually takes less time than the first rise.)

[lizmyer]

Oh I'm sorry, I forgot. I did let them sit for 15-20 minutes more after they were divided and in their tins. They had doubled in size and were an inch above the tin tops like the recipie said. I dunno what happened. Most disappointing.

[KAYLINDA]

I bake...but don't call myself a "baker"...so I'm sure someone else will be along soon!

[Jock]

OK lizmyer, a couple of things....

Rapid rise yeast and regular dry yeast are interchangable in a recipe but not in equal amounts. You need less rapid rise than regular - almost 20% less in fact.

The rising time is very flexible and should only be a guideline. A number of factors affect the time - one being temperature. If your house is cold it will take longer for the dough to rise so you don't need to be in a hurry to de-gas (punch down) it down. Let it do its thing in its own time. A good method of determining if it is proofed enough is poke it with your finger going in about 3/4". If the dough springs right back it is not proofed enough. If it doesn't spring back at all, it is has gone too far. It should spring back about half way when it is perfectly risen.

The "air pockets" are not really air pockets. They are little gas bubbles that are by-products of the fermentation (rising) process and they are what gives the bread its volume. The bubbles expand in the heat of the oven and the strong gluten strands in the dough stretch like rubber bands before they finally set and hold their shape.

Typically before you put the dough in the tins the recipe will instruct you on how to "shape" it. This usually involves a couple of folding moves and it is not uncommon at this stage to trap an air pocket in the middle which may account for your hollow bread.

Lastly, I would recommend investing $12 in an instant read thermometer to test the bread for doneness. Time and the hollow sound test are very inaccurate. Your oven temperature could be off by quite a lot and which would affect the bake time and final result. Taking the bread's temperature is the only sure way to know when it is properly done. As a general rule bread is around 200 to 205 degrees when done.

My recommendation would be to try again using the Active Dry yeast insted of the rapid rise. Test the dough with the finger poke method to see when it is ready (don't look at the clock.) Be carefull not to trap any air when shaping the dough and finally, use a thermometer to test for doneness.

While you are thermometer shopping look for an oven thermometer too to check the temperature of your oven.

Jock

[siduri]

My experience with hollow bread is that the last rise has been too long.
Bread rises differently in different temps and different yeasts can be faster or slower, and other factors can be involved.
forget "double in bulk" - use the finger-poke method described by jock - just don;t raise it in a very warm place or the top will rise faster than the center, and the finger hole will remain, but the center will not be raised enough.
there is, in my experience, no way to time bread rising. It's too variable.

[lizmyer]

I finally got it! I vow to never use quick rise yeast again! I used regular dry active yeast, made the water it proofed in a little warmer and remembered that while bread making is a science, paying attention to what is going on and not what time it is, is the way to go. It turned out great! I made it this afternoon, and everyone ate it already!

Thanks for the fingerpoke method, it worked very well!

[castironchef]

Another idea.

I'm currently reading mad food scientist Shirley Corriher's "Cookwise" and today I read that yeast bread with a large void under the top crust can be caused by a combination of a lack of proper slashing and lack of enough humidity in the oven.

What happens is that the top crust forms too quickly, caused by the too dry air, and without proper slashing, it prevents the bread from rising any further. The steam pressure building up in the loaf intensifies just under the no-longer-yielding crust and thus pushed down on the crumb, forming a large void just under the crust.

Could this explain your experience?