Hi! This may be my 5th or 6th loaf, using always the same recipe. I get a good oven spring, but the crumb is kind of gummy and chewy.
I use the sourdough journey recipe:
450 ap flour, 50 whole wheat flour
375 water
10 g salt
100g starter
Mix the leaven, water, and flour, autolyse 40 minutes. Then add the salt and mix again.
4 stretch and fold every 30 minutes, and bulk fermentation for a total of 5 hours at 27-28°. Got a 20-30% rise.
Preshape and bench rest for 30 minutes.
Final shape and cold retard in the fridge for 15h.
I bake in a preheated oven over a pizza stone in the medium rack, and a pan with some water in the bottom rack for the first 20 minutes at 250°. Then I remove the pan with water and bake for another 20 minutes at 240°.
I waited 5 hours until I cut it open.
The crust is great, and everything tastes really good, but the crumb is always chewy. How can I get a lighter crumb? Thanks!
by Almendrino
9 Comments
Im kinda new at this myself but my thoughts are: if you’re getting a 20-30% rise during BF then its under fermented. The general consensus is to have the volume doubled during this period. You can also try using less starter, like ~10% (depending on your starter ratio and what hydration youre going for ofc)
recently bought a [thermometer](https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006894461159.html), supposed to tell you when it’s cooked through so it’s not wet inside.
didn’t use it yet, will use it for my next loaf.
Wow, that is beautiful! Nice work you!
It’s underproofed. What is the room temp when you bulk ferment?
I would also recommend taking the temp of the dough at the end of the mix. 77-78F is generally a good dough temp to make sure things are moving. If your room temp is cool (68F) or your dough temp is below 77F at the end of the mix I would find a warmer spot for bulk and use warmer water in your mix.
https://preview.redd.it/osrbqqxjj6be1.jpeg?width=763&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=31f358923d1e856e4f165c3e592ebdb6772f1712
Have you tried toasting the slices? I find that sometimes, when it seems a little chewy or gummy, toasting will solve that.
Another thing, I’ve noticed is that if I leave cut slices in my storage container for a about a day or so with the lid cracked, it dried out just a little to remove that chewiness?
Also, judging by the larger holes (tunnels really), it seems a little underproofed. How strong is your starter?
First your bread looks very good. For gumminess/underbake: Your baking on the high end of temperatures. So, it will be challenging to fully bake the interior w/o burning the exterior. Consider dropping your bake down 15-20 deg C, and stretching the time out. You can measure the temp of the bread Internally (around 210F/99C), let it get darker exterior, or just thump the sole of the bread and listen for a hollow drum sound (not a dull thud) to ensure a thorough bake. Also, the bread must cool and redistribute moisture before slicing.
I agree with others that slightly more proofing (bulk or final) would be ideal
I was having the same problem and it was my starter. I was using bleached apf to feed because that’s the cheapest I’m able to get… a 5lb bag of unbleached where I live is easily $7-$8. My starter was still doubling, you could tell it wasn’t like SUPER bubbly but it was still “alive” so I figured it was still fine. I was able to find targets good & gather unbleached apf and they ship it too, so I’ve been using that and/or bread flour to feed (occasionally a little rye if I think it needs more pick me up) and the gummy texture is gone! I was still getting perfectly fine oven spring and rise with the weaker starter too, my only problem was the slightly gummy texture.
Hi. IMHO, this loaf is both under-developed and over fermented, as evidenced by the different sizes of the alveoli and the thin, somewhat wet looking holed / torn membranes.
I feel you allowed this to ferment too long before shaping and cold proofing. This looks like it again a lot of whole wheat. That will change the character and risability of the dough and make it more liable to tear when stretching, creating larger voids.
Kneading vs stretch and fold:
Kneading is a ‘power’ stretch and fold, rapidly and repeatedly. I only use such vigorous handling in the mixing phase to adequately achieve a homogenous dough. Thereafter, I adopt stretch and fold techniques much slower and more gentle. These methods allow the dough to do the work you simply direct it. When the dough has had enough, it will tell you. It will stop stretching. At that point, further forceful stretching will only tear the dough. Rest it. For a minimum of a 1/2 hour. In repeat stretches, the point of resist will come earlier until the point where extensibility occurs. At this stage, your dough will hold shape without tearing and without elastic rebound. It is even more important to handle dough with high levels of whole wheat or or rye with extreme tenderness to prevent gluten tears and gas loss.
I try to stop gluten development here and go straight to shape, place in banetton (in my case into baking tin), and commence cold retard.
Feeling and seeing the dough change and respond is, for me, a large part of the process.
Happy baking
Edit:
PS:
Cook for longer lid on to ensure your dough is cooked through and cover with cloth to ensure even cooling and allow trapped steam to be resorbed.