Bread Baking Question

[pckouris]

mudbug: Thanks. Everyone has says the breads were just fine, but I am such a perfectionist that I would like to be completely satisfied with what I produce, and I want a thinner crisp crust. Looks like I am getting close.

 

[pckouris]

Eliminating hard and thick crusts. (When you want to.)

Okay countinuing with the saga...

Now I am drizzling Olive Oil while the bread machine whips the batter and have eliminated all steam. Nor egg wash or any wash of any kind.

I made two batches. The first set of loaves I punched down from the machine and formed into loaves. Put them on a cookie sheet and covered to let rise. When they finished I placed them right into the oven at 375. Traded places and turned them around also about half way. These loaves came out pretty good. The crust was thiner than my others, however the bread was too crispy inside.

The second batch I made exactly the same way however I did not place them into the oven after the first rise. I kneeded them once again and let them rise again. This bread was much better. The crust was perfect and the bread inside was softer and not as crispy.

So my next batch of test breads will rise this third time. (Once in the machine, the second when forming the bread loaves, and the third when I beat them down and reform them once again.

375 at about 30 minutes or so for both batches.

What say yee all? Make any sense?

 

[Georgeco]

He's a suggestion that will deliver a thin but very crisp crust with a soft crumb interior.

Reduce the flour in the recipe until you have a dough so soft that you think it's going to be a pancake. By using a recipe converted to weight measure, and using the baker's formulae method of converting everything to a percentage of the flour weight you will have a stable system to modify one or more ingredients while producing the same results every time you use the same percentages.

Also using a starter method like a biga or a poulish will contribute to a thin crisp crust and light crumb but the biggest hurdle you will likely encounter is coming to terms with a dough the with a consistency only slightly firmer than pancake batter.

The key to thin crisp crust is a bread that blooms in the oven before the heat kills the yeast and firms the crust. The longer the loaf is at it's final height, the thicker the crust will be in the end.

Think of a balloon, the thicker the latex and the stiffer the latex, the smaller the balloon will be when inflated.

Ok, it's not a perfect analogy but it's close

 

[oldcoot]

Pete, I get a thinner crust with a lower temp - 335 to 350 F. Amd a softer dough. I also find that a dough soft enough for a very thin crust and a soft interior tends to flatten too much when making an unsupported loaf, so for that I use a loaf pan. Browning of the crust at the lower temps requires a longer baking time, of course.

Bt that's simply my experience.