Underside of dough in proofing basket pulls apart
When I form a loaf out of dough and put it upside-down into a proofing basket, the bottom of the loaf sometimes begins to pull apart from itself, as if the dough isn't sticking to itself as much as it should. I'm using a sourdough starter and white bread flour at about 70% hydration, and I proof the bread after a 6 hour bulk ferment with folds every half hour.
This doesn't seem to affect the final bread, but I'm wondering if there's some way to avoid it?
Here are a few photos of what is happening:
Best Answer
An initial thought would be that if it doesn't affect the final outcome, then is there actually a problem(?). But still, an immediate fix would be: it should be possible to "stitch" the dough - by pulling, stretching and then pinching strategic parts of the dough.
Maybe what you're seeking is to be achieved during the forming and tightening stage where there are the two steps / actions of:
- Rounding the dough, via a cupping and turning motion
- Tension pulls, to create a "skin" and seal the seam
This can be done more than once with a 10 minute bench rest between each stage. Normally the initial rounding and tension pull stage followed by a second such stage, with the 10 minutes in between is sufficient.
And so ultimately, and not discounting the nature of the dough you're working with, the rounding action and the tension pulls.
Pictures about "Underside of dough in proofing basket pulls apart"
Why did my bread split at the bottom?
Dough is Too Wet or Too Dry This will cause the crust of your bread to crack and let the air out of the bread wherever it cracks and expand those cracks into bigger cracks or \u201cbursts\u201d. For more on moisture and steam read below section on STEAM. There is more useful information there.What do you do if your dough sticks to the proofing basket?
To keep dough from sticking to a banneton basket use a 50/50 mix of rice flour to AP flour, coating both the basket and the top of the dough before proofing. After several uses, a basket will develop a \u201cseason\u201d eliminating the need for rice flour.Does a proofing basket need a liner?
A proofing basket can be used with a liner or without a liner. A banneton is used so that you can get that shape for your bread. A liner which comes with the proofing basket can be used if you want a plain loaf, however if you want a patterned loaf you remove the liner.What does under proofed bread look like?
The crumb structure of an under proofed loaf will be tight and gummy. Because it was not given enough time to develop and trap CO2 gasses, the crumb structure will be very dense, with uneven air bubbles.Turning out the Loaves
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Klaus Nielsen, Klaus Nielsen, Quang Nguyen Vinh, Julia Filirovska