I have previously gotten a great ear, and I alternate between a 7 minute score and scoring before I put in. I feel like I don’t have a “this always works” or “this never works”, but I’m just not getting the oven spring I want.
This is for a friend, so no crumb shot. Any tips?
by bitchymareears
12 Comments
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Hard to sell but looks like it spread out as well as up so over spring was there. Maybe to avoid spreading pre-bake add some more strengthening to the dough.
I may be wrong though as I can’t see the crumb
EDIT TO ADD RECIPE/PROCESS:
525g bread flour
125g starter
350g water
10g salt
Mixed, did stretch and folds ever 45 mins, two without inclusions, two with jalapeños and cheddar. Let proof on counter for… 6 hrs total? Until there were bubbles at edge, not sticky.
Shaped and placed in banneton.
Cold proofed in fridge for like 18hrs?
Baked at 450 for 30 mins, removed lid, dropped to 425, baked 10 more.
I have had good luck adding an ice cube inside the Dutch oven to introduce more steam to aid the spring.
Coil folds, envelop folds
Did you use do or open bake? If ooen need a pan of water on shelf below to help oven spring
Need pic of crumb
It’s either dough strength or you could also try proofing just a bit less. The more it proofs, weaker the dough gets. You could try a loaf where you only let it rise ~30% or so and see what the spring looks like.
It’s all about timing and temperature of the bulk fermentation and proofing stages. It seems like people don’t pay enough attention to it. Also, scoring down low on the side doesn’t help.
This happened to me for a while and I shortened my bulk fermentation time since I found out I was overfermenting. As others have said, too much fermentation weakens the dough and it spreads/flattens out a little more. Using the shot glass method or poking the dough with a wet finger helped me refine my timing if you haven’t tried those 🙂 you can also add less starter when mixing up your dough so it takes longer for fermentation to finish!
How are you shaping your dough? Assuming you BF adequately, this was the game changer for me. It wasn’t until I started to shape properly did I get the oven spring I wanted. Your bread also needs to be cooked longer. The dough is too pale and needs some color!
Cut back on the water by about 10%
Your scoring is a little too low, for one thing.
additionally, to me it looks like you’re scoring the loaf a little too far on the side