Experiments in Mass Loss in Bread Baking

Background

A discussion on a French Asize du Pain Blanc contained the following two tidbits:

• A certain loaf had a minimum pre-baked weight of 15d, nominally "ounces"

• After baking the weight was to be greater than 11d.

That represents a loss of nearly 27% of the mass of the loaf. That struck me as quite high, and begged for some experimentation.

My current conjecture, at least partially due to my dodgy French grammar, is that the given values are intended to be interpreted as Minimums, rather than "musts," which would root out various means to weight the loaf pre-baking.

Recently Mark Bittman's No Knead Bread Formula has been making the rounds. His formula uses nearly 90% hydration. One possible way to weigh down a raw loaf would be to add more water. If we're making an irregular loaf or baking in pans where the shaping isn't critical, that suggests one possible way to cause the kind of mass loss the Asize suggests is possible.

Experimental Design

Design Notes:

• Bittman uses a few nonstandard techniques that we can adopt for our Standard bake:

  1. He uses a stretch-and-fold method after the bulk ferment,

     • Stretch and fold

     • Rest 15min

     • Stretch and fold

     • Rest 15 min

     • Stretch and fold

     • Bench proof

  2. He uses a "cloche" baking method, specifying a "Dutch Oven" of any material.

     • A 7qt cast iron Dutch Oven will be used.

  3. He starts in a hot oven (450F), removing the lid after 30 min.

Variations:

The following variations will be tried (this list will probably expand as things occur to me)

• Standard formula using bread flour (60% hydration)

• Bittman 24-hour method using bread flour (88.7% hydration)

• Standard formula using a bleached AP flour

  • Suspect this might fix less water in Gluten, hence give up more steam.

• Bittman 24-hour method using bleached AP

  • We may need to modify this due to the lower absorption of the lower-protein flour

Methods:

Bittman's method is described in the link given above.

Conventional Method

This is a "Standard" formula at 60% hydration, modified as described:

Mise en Place

• 500g Flour

• 2tsp Salt

• 1tsp "Instant" or "Bread Machine Yeast"

• 300g Water

Method:

• Whisk together flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Leave a well in the center of the mixture.

• Add the water to the well. Using a fork blend in the flour a little at a time into the water.

  • At this point you might need to add a small amount of water. A plant mister is ideal for this.

• After the dough comes together in a ball, cover and allow to rest for fifteen minutes.

• Knead the dough. If kneading by hand, a UHMW cutting board and Nitrile gloves help minimize the amount of bench flour needed.

• Apply a thin coat of spray oil to a medium bowl. Form the dough into a tight ball and place the the bowl, seam side down. Spray the top with oil and cover with plastic.

• Allow to bulk ferment in a warm corner of your kitchen for 90min.

• Do not punch down! Stretch the dough, then fold back into a rough rectangle. Cover and let rest for fifteen minutes.

• Stretch the dough a second time, then fold into a rough rectangle. Cover and let rest for fifteen minutes.

• Stretch the dough a third time, then fold into a rough rectangle. Without compressing it, form into a ball and put back in the bowl, seam side down.

• At this point, weigh the dough

• Proof for 90min

• Place the Dutch Oven in the oven and pre-heat to 450F

• When the dough has doubled CAREFULLY open the Dutch oven and place the dough inside, roughly centered. Close the Dutch oven and return to the oven for 30min

• After 30min, remove the lid from the Dutch oven and bake to an internal temperature of 200F. With the conventional formula this took about 20 minutes.

• CAREFULLY remove the loaf from the Dutch Oven and place on a wire rack. Cool for at least one hour

• Weigh the finished loaf.

Results

The tests that have been run to date are included in the table below. On the second bake it was observed that the Bittman loaf, starting out at nearly 100% hydration lost nearly 40% of its mass. This suggests that the combination of a wetter dough and a lower protein flour might be closer to the minimums given in the Asize.