So this is my first bread ever. My starter is 16 days old today. It had been looking bubbly and active for the past 4 days so I decided to try and bake for the first time and see what happened. After mixing the ingredients I let the dough sit 30 minutes, then did some folds in the bowl for less than a minute. Then let it sit covered at room temp for 7 hrs or so. My apartment is warm, around 78 degrees. I did some stretch and folds after that, shaped it and put it in the proofing basket. I let it rest in the fridge for around 3 hours. Then I took it out, scored it, etc. Baked covered at 450° for 20 minutes in my Dutch oven. Then uncovered for 30 minutes. 10 minutes on the rack. ( I burnt the bottom as you can see, but I’m not sure if it was already burning in the Dutch oven. I didn’t check before putting it on the rack). When I took it out, I let it cool for an hour before cutting it. I had to laugh when I saw it was literally hallow inside! I thought the outside looked decent, but I didn’t expect this. Please help me understand what might have caused this! Thanks!
by ailene_e
38 Comments
Here’s the recipe I used.
https://preview.redd.it/jiuw9i075ejf1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a35cfb1633c35085504dee2b5beb8a97e36e9795
Oh. My. God. How?
IMO your starter isn’t ready to make bread. Keep at your starter. Also, 7 hours BF at 78° is WAAAYYYY too long.
World’s largest pita. Not sure what happened, but I’m impressed.
Was your starter at least doubling in size? If not, it wasn’t ready yet. Also, I always do my stretch and folds before the bulk ferment, not after, but I’m pretty new to this, so I’m not sure if that’s a problem.
Perfect geode loaf lol
Other issues people mention may also be at play, but one underappreciated factor is just bubbles in your bread. Looks like there was one big bubble in the middle unfortunately. If you see bubbles on your bread while proofing or shaping, pop them! Those aren’t the good bubbles we want, they are just trapped air that makes similar, albeit smaller, issues like this
Wow! This should be on r/unexpected!
Over proofed. You can tell because the gluten wasn’t strong enough to hold the inside of the loaf together and when the steam from the water expanded the only thing holding it together was the skin of the exterior. Then the steam escaped through the weakest part which was the toasted bottom. I typically skip bulk fermentation and opt for a cold fermentation over three days in the fridge. On the last day I’ll form the loaf and let it rest while I go to work, when I get home I’ll pre heat the oven, take a shower and get in my cozies, score, spray with water on a silpat lined baking sheet, toss a few ice cubes on the tray and bake.
I stopped bulking at room temperature because every loaf was turning out like this.
😂😂😂😂😂
that’s $2900/month in NYC
Kinda love it
So I’m a novice myself, but I THINK it may have had something to do with stretch and folding later when the yeast had been working for a while and the gluten not being able to develop as much?
It is SO beautiful on the outside, I’m so sorry for the disappointment!
Impressive that you got the bread bowl built in.
Overproofed most likely
That is way underproofed in my opinion. We see it all the time on r/Sourdoh
Congratulations on trying though. No dragging here, only support
Abilene_e OP
Would you publish that whole recipe please? I’d appreciate it. I’m a real novice and have only made two loaves-well the first was a giant hockey puck and the second was just ok.
Where’s the spinach dip?
I’m still new to sourdough but I will say that i never bake my on the rack I always leave it in my Dutch oven and just take the lid off for the last 10-15 minutes. Not sure if that would help but it’s worked for me so far and I haven’t burned the bottom of any loaves.
No insult intended, when I say you have accomplished making a delicious bread bowl. It’s a milestone.
The crust on the first couple loaves I made were completely delicious, so I ate them (one I put soup in).
For me, I was trying to bake on a stone without a dutch oven, and I was way over-proofing instead of using the fridge for bulk fermentation.
Hang in there. They keep getting better!
You were probably super happy until you cut it.
How much flour are you adding when shaping your bread?
Early on, I’ve had a couple of times where a big hollow tunnel was in my bread (not to this degree though). My problem was that I was using too much flour when shaping. I was flouring the top of my dough and folding it over itself, and because of that, I suppose the folds were not quite bonding together.
If you handle the dough fast, with no hesitation and with purposeful movements (with the help of your bench scraper), it won’t be nearly as sticky and you won’t need to add much (if any) flour during shaping.
Personally I think it might be a shaping issue. How did you shape it after the ferment?
I think you have the DO too close to the bottom of the oven. Put a rack on the lowest level and put a heavy sheet pan on it (this buffers bottom heating ovens). Then on the next level put the rack the dutch oven will sit on. This also gives you a buffer if you do put the loaf directly on the rack the DO was on for the last part of the bake.
Did you preheat higher than 450°F and then drop the temp when you loaded the dough in? The bottom of your DO got way too hot to create that cavern. If you preheated higher, don’t do that next time. If you did not preheat higher, then you need to check the actual oven temp as it may be running hotter than it was set.
As to the crumb, it may be under fermented. When the dough is fermenting you want it to rise 75-90% since you are only cold proofing for 3 hours. And if your starter is recently made I would go for the higher end of that range since it will be working slower.
Then you also want to check how strong your starter is. Does it double in 4 hours from a 1:1:1 feed? Or 4-6 hours from a 1:2:2 feed? That is the speed you want in order to follow suggested fermentation times from recipes. And to have a reasonable length bulk fermentation in general. You strengthen starter by doing peak to peak feedings.
Best Wishes on the next loaf!!
Wrong? What do you mean.. perfect pocket for cold cuts, veggies and accoutrements if you want a massive sandwich. 🥙 seems like a win to me.
Uneven ferment? I’ve read that if the salt isn’t properly dissolved and not incorporated well into the dough it can cause uneven fermenting – uneven crumb in the finished product.
This is the first loaf that made me exclaim “holy shit”
Stretch & folds should all be in the beginning. After mixing all ingredients (except salt) let sit for about 45 min. Add salt and mix in and do your first set of s&f. Then do them every 30 min for a total of 3-4 s&f. 7 hours seems like a lot for such a warm area, maybe some over proofing happened. I also put in the fridge overnight and bake them in the morning. Then for baking I do a preheat, bake 475 for 35 min lid on, 450 for 18 min lid off. I wouldn’t take out of the Dutch oven, just take the lid off. In the oven I have the Dutch oven in the middle rack and a sheet pan on a rack below. It dissipates the heat better from the bottom of the Dutch oven. Then let rest for longer. I usually do 2-3 hours till it’s 100% cooled.
I’m still a novice sourdough baker, I think bulk fermentation for 7hrs in 78F is too long. So that’s probably overproofed. We have same room temperature, I usually bulk ferment around 4 hrs. I use table from thesourdoughjourney.com as a guide, along with an aliquot jar to track the progress of my bulk fermentation.
https://preview.redd.it/edc7shf3rfjf1.jpeg?width=1088&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3509cf5954eac71160e192921807cf6696adccd2
Lol seeing just the first Pic I was thinking “what, it’s not Instagram worthy, no ear? Looks delicious!”
Ahhh huge bubble lol.
After bulk ferment, you do final shape and squeeze out the big bubbles, looks like you skipped that step, they all got together and made a cavern.
Secret oven mouse stealing from the inside.
Your starter is still too young. I had the same thing happen to me, got active bubbly doubling in size feeds, but my bakes turned out dense and gummy until my starter was more mature, around 2 months. Keep baking the bread babe you’re doing amazing!!
I’m fairly new myself but shouldn’t the direction falls, be at the start of fermentation, not the end before shaping?
This is mostly a baby starter issue, they can take 4-6 weeks to be ready (yes, even if they’re doubling in size).
This is crazy haha it looks perfect and then … lol!
Imo it’s either severely UNDER proofed, or an immature starter, or both.
You might have your Dutch oven too close to the bottom of the oven (source of heat). I had the same issue until I put my Dutch oven as high as possible. That might have contributed to the big bubble on the bottom also…. If the bottom of your Dutch oven was super hot when you placed your dough in there it might of produced a lot of steam causing the cavity. Just an idea. Don’t get discouraged…. It actually looks really good for a first loaf. Good luck
What does your starter smell like?
Also, how much did it expand during bulk fermentation?