SC - Dragon Stew - Period Political Correctness

[Liam Fisher]

>From the description, I'll make the assumption that this oatmeal bread
recipe calls for a yeast leaven rather than a chemical leaven.  If it's a
chemical leaven, different criteria apply.

> I followed the directions as usual, but the dough was very sticky, rose
> very fast, and the eventual loaves, well, one of them tried to crawl out
> of the pan- it looks vaguely like the elephant man.
> 
This sounds like a slumping loaf.  Bread slumps when it rises beyond the
point the strands of gluten can maintain the shape loaf.  If you think of a
loaf of bread as a honey-combed balloon, slump is what occurs when you
over-inflate the balloon and individual cells rupture and collapse while
other cells remain intact.  Common causes are over-yeasting and
over-proofing.   

Considering the relatively high temperature, you might need to cut back on
the yeast.  If you allowed the bread to proof based on time rather than
until doubled, you may be over-proofing.  Also, did you leave out the salt?
Salt slows the rate of fermentation and strengthens the gluten.  For
high-temp proofing, salt is a critical ingredient



>  I don't understnd at
> all what happened. The variables might be:
> 
> 1) the heat today. But that shouldn't matter, should it? And why would
> the dough be sticky?
> 
If the dough is supposed to be smooth and pliable and not sticky, I would
say you used too little flour.  Sticky doughs tend to be soft doughs, which
have a faster rising time than harder doughs in general.

> 2) I might have miscounted the cups of flour that I was kneading in. But
> if there was too much, why was it sticky? And if there was too little,
> why was there so much dough?
> 
Temperature and humidity change the ratios between solid and liquid, so
recipe quantities are not absolute.  Bread dough is best handled by mixing
to a soft ball, then working it by hand and feel to the proper texture and
consistency.  The fact that the dough was too sticky, suggests that you
needed to add a little more flour.

If the quantity of dough was about right, then you probably got the mixture
in the ball park.  Your problems likely come from the high temperature and
over-proofing on a fast rise.  

> 3) I looked at the bottle- I got dark molasses instead of light. But
> that should only be a taste difference, no? Would it affect the dough?
> The recipe doesn't specify dark or light either. I also double checked-
> and unless the bottle is doing a 'widow's cruse' miracle, I used the
> correct amount and not accidentally too much.
> 
Molasses contains 35 to 50% sucrose, 15 to 30% invert sugar, 20 to 25%
water, 2 to 5% mineral matter and a few other odds and ends like protein,
etc.  The better grades of molasses will have a high sucrose level, be lower
in invert sugars, and have a minimal amount of mineral matter.  Low grade
molasses has a harsher taste and can affect the taste of the end product
adversely.

The color of the molasses may affect the color of the final product, but has
nothing to do with the formation and rise of the dough.

Overloading on sugars can inhibit yeast growth, but that is obviously not
the case here. 

> This is very frustrating- as a baker I've always been rather proud of my
> bread. To totally blow a batch is humiliating. And the shekels are few
> and far between enough around here that a mistake like this is not good-
> and no, it doesn't taste all that great either. Bummer.
> 
> Does anyone have any ideas? Or should I just go back to the tried and
> true potato bread that the kids inhale in an afternoon?
> 
> 'Lainie
> (Queen Carmen is still sleeping off the weekend...)
> 
My idea of a perfect loaf is somewhat more stringent than the opinion of the
people who eat what I bake.  I often have failures that  disappear amid
screams of joy.  If you bake a lot, and make a wide range of bake goods, you
are going to have more failures.  Two failures of the same recipe in a row
and I start looking for what has changed in my kitchen.

Bear
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