Gummy loaves (2024)

FAQs

Gummy loaves? ›

Under baking can produce a gummy interior. Try baking for longer. Is your pan big enough for your loaf? If the pan is too small and your loaf doesn't have the space it needs to grow as it bakes it will hinder the bake and prevent it from being fully baked inside.

While a nice hot oven can produce a beautiful loaf with a crisp, golden crust, too hot of an oven will cause the crust to finish cooking long before the center of the bread. This will result in undercooked dough with a sticky, chewy texture rather than a fully risen crumb.

The great thing is that generally, unless it's completely raw inside, you can still eat an under fermented sourdough bread. Common sense is best used here - if the loaf looks dubious and you can see very dense, raw dough - don't eat it!

If your dough is too sticky and it's impossible to work with you can add some extra flour, just a little at a time. Make sure you weigh the extra flour you add and then you'll be able to adjust the recipe correctly the next time you bake.

No sourdough should not be wet or gummy inside. Wetness or gumminess is caused by under fermented sourdough that has not been baked through fully. Some sourdough breads can be denser in texture, but they should not be wet or gummy.

Over proving can produce a moist crumb, if your loaf is wide and flat and pale on the outside with small holes and a slightly damp interior, it may well be over. Under baking can produce a gummy interior.

tips for avoiding a gummy sourdough loaf - 1) try making a loaf with lower hydration 2) make sure to develop the gluten sufficiently, whether through autolysing, laminating, kneading, or folding 3) make sure to proof long enough 4) make sure to bake long enough and let the loaf cool before cutring #sourdoughtok # ...

Over-kneading has a tendency to result in chewy bread. Here's how to tell if you've kneaded enough. Another possibility—you used bread flour when all-purpose flour would do. If a recipe with bread flour turned out chewier than you like, try it with all-purpose and knead only as much as the recipe directs.

After the second baking, it will become more golden in color. The bread may not turn out fully baked, but most of the moisture will be dried out. See photo below. Keep in mind: baking it again won't always “cure” gummy bread, but it is worth a shot!

Note: As loaves begin to overproof they lose their height and shape. The crumb becomes more dense. The holes become more ragged and irregular in shape. The crust begins to thin and separate from the crumb.

Can I bake sticky sourdough? ›

In some bases the dough needs less water, in some case the dough is under, or over proved. However, if the loaf bakes well, that's all that matters and in which case, don't worry about sticky dough.

If the bread is kept in its baking pan, it will become soggy and look and taste doughy. If the bread has not finished baking by the maximum time indicated in the recipe, the oven thermostat may be off. Oven thermostats can vary over time, requiring adjustments by the baker or calibration by a professional.

If your dough does not develop a sufficient gluten network, it will be wet, sticky and have no structure. The chains of gluten give your dough strength and structure. Without these it will be sloppy and hard to handle. Gluten development is strengthened by adding salt to your dough, so don't forget to do this!

The fermentation process is so important to understanding how to tell when sourdough bread is done because under fermented dough will not bake through - which means even if the thermometer says it's done, it will still be gummy inside because it hasn't lost the water weight required for a light, airy crumb.

The most common reason your bread is gummy, sticky, or doughy in the middle is that your bread didn't bake long enough.

When the bulk fermentation goes too long — often when the dough more than doubles or triples in volume — the dough can over ferment. You know the dough has over fermented if, when you turn it out to shape it, it is very slack — if it's like a wet puddle — and very sticky and lacking any strength and elasticity.

Using too much water relative to the flour. Over fermentation: letting the bulk fermentation (first rise) go too long. Using too much whole wheat flour, rye flour, or freshly milled flour.

Air circulating around the loaf allows the steam built up inside the bread to evaporate. If the bread is kept in its baking pan, it will become soggy and look and taste doughy. If the bread has not finished baking by the maximum time indicated in the recipe, the oven thermostat may be off.

Why does my cake have a gummy streak in the center? Developing too much of the flour's gluten can make the cake rise beautifully in the oven, but sink as soon as you pull it out. The sinking part is what makes the dense and gluey streaks. This can be result of over-creaming the eggs, butter and sugar.

The flour you used may have contained too much protein. Protein is one of the ingredients that help yeast bread brown. Use bread flour that is purchased at a grocery store or a national brand of all-purpose flour.