Bread baking problem

You might try taking an internal temp. Bread is usually done at about 180-190 degrees. If there is any sugar in the formula than the crust will get darker than you think it should. Also the temp seems a little low, but I don't do much home baking.

You may also want to invest in an oven thermometer to a) check the callibration and b) to find your oven's hot spots.

Jock

#1 forget thumping, get one of these

Thermometer-Timer

when your bread is getting in the ballpark of being done, insert the probe, the rest of the contraption stays outside the oven, you close the oven on the string, and you can watch the readout to see what the internal temp is (give it a little time for it to creep up to the readout), or you can have it beep at you when it reaches the desired internal temp and is done. Good advice from Breton Beats.

#2, hate to tell you, it ain't your oven;)

At that low temp, 30 minutes is nowhere near enough for a normal loaf in a loaf pan. Really, you're looking at closer to an hour (or at least over 45 minutes), so it's waaaay underdone, beyond a small margin of error of an oven. You can't tell by the crust. Sometimes you have to get a slightly overbaked look on the crust to have the loaf properly cooked in the center.

#3, OK, maybe it could be your oven to a small extent...

If you want to check if your oven runs hot or cold, a little thermometer that can stay in your oven and hang from the rack is usually under $5.


Breton, you're right that 370 would be low for more of an "artisan" type bread, although a lot of domestic recipes or recipes for breads in loaf pans do cook that low. In my poor lil oven at home, I usually start my loaves at 550 with a well preheated stone.

Glad you're baking home made bread Evelyn, keep it up! :smiles:

I have two ways of testing doneness of bread
one is to thump, if it doesn;t thump hollow leave it in the oven
BUT if it does thump hollow, then take the pan out, stick a skewer (toothpick is too short - i buy bamboo skewers on purpose for this) and stick it through the center, right through to the bottom. It should come out clean and dry.
If in doubt, then i remove from the pan, and stick the skewer through side to side in the center.
(If i run out of skewers and use a toothpick i prick from top, side and bottom)

Unlike cakes, you can remove bread from oven, and even from pan, and if it's not done, put it back (provided it's thumpable).

To my mind, the best use for an instant read thermometer, is to stick it in the bread, and see if it comes out dry. For me they're just a pain in the neck, they're not really instant, you have to give them a minute to read the temp, and who remembers the temp various things have to be anyway?

In case there's confusion, it's not a basic instant read I'm talking about, this one you leave in the bread in the oven with the oven closed while it continues to bake, and the remote provides the readouts for you or beeps when it's done.

Plus with higher hydration breads, the bread might be done but a tester might not come out clean right when it's removed from the oven. To me the probe is more foolproof, especially while in the learning phase of new and different breads. Gelatinization of the starches continues once the loaf is out of the oven, so what sticks to a cake tester when right out of the oven and what would stick on the same loaf after 30 minutes "cooling" (aka continuing to cook) on your rack could be two different things, and you can't turn time back 30 minutes. I've made wet doughs with such gluten development that the probe would come out clean in the raw dough on my counter. (95% hydration ciabatta (yum) is like that, a probe would come clean in raw dough but when the bread is completely cooked the probe will always be gunked up).

But ia cake tester might work on some loaves, so if it's working for you or if it works for Evelyn that's great. To me it will be more subjective and ballpark like the thump, where the thermometer will tell you that the internal temp is what's required for the gelatinization of the starches you want, and not overbaked either.

BTW Evelyn, that thermometer I gave you a link to is also useful for any meats.

I noticed you're in VT, if you're anywhere near King Arthur Flour in Norwich, you can pick that up at their store, which is like a little "wonderland" for bread baking. They have classes and demos too.

BTW off topic but is VT still a Walmart-free zone?

>who remembers the temp various things have to be anyway?<

I, for one, don't have any trouble. And if I did? There's a guide printed right there on the thermometer. No, instant reads do not usually include bread on their scale. But 90% or more breads are ready at 190F internal temperature. So you only have to remember one number.

If you make "regular" yeast breads the thump test usually is good enough. But with delayed fermentation and high hydration breads it doesn't always work.

Made one the other day that thumped just fine. But the probe told me it was 15 degrees away from where it needed to be. So I cooked it a little longer, until the probe read what it should have.

Another perfect loaf! (Actually, three loaves of pane Siciliano. But I digress).

BTW, I had to reposition the probe that time (banged it on the edge of the oven moving the pans). Coincidentally, it came out perfectly dry and dough free, even though, based on temperature, the bread was undercooked at that point.

>Unlike cakes, you can remove bread from oven, and even from pan, and if it's not done, put it back (provided it's thumpable).<

How can you tell it's not done unless you cut it? Sticking skewers in the bread sometimes indicates insufficient baking. But sometimes doesn't. However, if you cut it before it has cooled down it will almost always indicuate insufficient baking---for the reasons Stir It Up gave. But if you wait for it to cool down, and then return it to the oven, you're going to either overbake or burn it.

So, if poking at the bread with skewers and toothpicks works for you, that's fine. Me, I'll stick with the remote probe, and be sure.

Hi Evelyn S.,
You say this is a fool-proof recipe because you successfully made it often before?
If yes, then your oven is the culprit...

Assuming this recipe was always successful,
Are the loaves baked in pans or free form?
If pans, then did you change pans? (that could be the case)
If yes for free form: then your oven is the culprit.

Other culprit:
too much water
different flour
sluggish yeast (water too hot or too cold)

Many factors could be at play, but if you already don't trust your oven, investing in an oven thermometer is a good idea.

Luc H

Just to reply to a couple of things you wrote, quoted above. I think if i were running a bakery, with loads of breads and the risk of losing lots of money i might need a better method than experience and simple tests, but for home use, i find the techno gadgets to be overkill. I have to say that I never actually tested a loaf my way and found it undercooked.

You said you did bread that tested done with the skewer test but the temp said it was undercooked. But how do you know it actually WAS undercooked, that is, gummy and sticky inside?

as for taking it out of the pan, i don;t mean take it out and CUT it, i mean take it out and skewer it from the bottom and side as well. Of course you can;t cut it hot, but you can put a toothpick in from the bottom and from the side while hot. If it's still sticky it's not cooked.

i never saw this kind of instant read thermometer you describe, but i don't think i'd use it anyway. for roasts i prefer a thin knife and my upper lip.

anyway, to each his own