What Is The Main Reason A Loaf Would Blow Out On The Side? (2024)

FAQs

What Is The Main Reason A Loaf Would Blow Out On The Side? ›

Overproofing the Dough

A break on the side of the loaf is caused by continued rising after the crust is formed. To allow for this expansion, the tops of hardcrusted breads are cut just before baking. Properly scored loaves expand better in the oven and attain greater volume and have a more open crumb structure.

If the dough is too wet it can create extra steam in the bread and add to the pressure that is already building up in the bread by the gases produced by yeast. This will cause your bread to burst in odd spots and not where you have slashed it. Try reducing the hydration of your bread dough.

This usually happens when there is not enough liquid in the bread mixture. If the dough is too stiff it will not rise evenly, resulting into a lopsided loaf.

Bread dough normally collapses because it has proofed (fermented after shaping and before baking) too long. Over proofing expands dough to the point that the extra expansion in the oven (oven spring) exceeds the support the loaf offers.

Uneven oven temperature, or the loaves too crowded in the oven. This creates cool spots on the surface of the loaves, which are then perfect escape hatches for expanding dough. If you see blowouts on the sides where the loaves are closest together, this is almost certainly the cause.

One of the primary reasons for a loaf blowing out on the side is overproofing the dough. When the dough is left to rise for too long, the gluten structure becomes weak and unable to support the gas produced by the yeast. This can result in the dough bursting out on one side during baking.

The carbon dioxide gas released by the process of fermentation gets trapped in the sticky, elastic dough, causing it to “puff up" or rise. This can take a while, though, which is why you need patience when you're baking bread! Likewise, the ethyl alcohol produced gives the bread its unique smell and taste.

When the oven is too hot, the crust forms before all the steam has escaped from the loaf. This causes bubbles to build up under crust. The oven temperature may not be correct. To insure the correct temperature each time you bake, always use an oven thermometer.

On the end of the pan, you can see the dough has crested over the rim and is starting to overflow. This is not a good sign. Remember, what goes up must come down, and if your loaf is starting to come down already, the internal structure from the gluten is becoming compromised and weaker.

What are signs of Overproofed bread? ›

Over proofed bread is likely to have a very open crumb structure, due to the development of excess CO2 during the proofing stage.

Yeast is too hot Yeast may have been dissolved in water that was too hot, or the liquid ingredients in the recipe may be too hot, causing the yeast to die. Yeast needs to be warm - not too hot, not too cold. Yeast is too cold If the other ingredients are too cold, it could cause some of the yeast to die.

Yeasts convert sugar into carbon dioxide, a process called fermentation. If you manage to build little glutenous balloons to capture this carbon dioxide, they will inflate, which is what causes yeast breads to rise.

When you add yeast to water and flour to create dough, it eats up the sugars in the flour and excretes carbon dioxide gas and ethanol — this process is called fermentation. The gluten in the dough traps the carbon dioxide gas, preventing it from escaping. The only place for it to go is up, and so the bread rises.

Baking bread from scratch is a pleasurable task but it can become rather frustrating when the product comes out flat. 99% of the time this happens, the problem lies with the yeast used. The quality might be compromised, or you might have applied it incorrectly, or under poor cooking conditions.

Too much yeast could cause the dough to go flat by releasing gas before the flour is ready to expand. If you let the dough rise too long, it will start having a yeast or beer smell and taste and ultimately deflate or rise poorly in the oven and have a light crust.

When the dough isn't given enough time to rise, the uneven heat from the oven can cause the process to happen unevenly by speeding it up in some parts of the dough more than others. This is what creates the lid-lifting effect and results in a loaf with a split along one side and some of the middle splurging out.

Excess yeast causes extra air bubbles to form, creating holes in the baked bread. You prepared the recipe correctly. The interaction of the various ingredients and the preparation method used for French bread and sourdough bread are intended to create a bread which has a coarse texture and uneven holes.

Scoring is slashing the dough with a blade or a sharp knife to allow it to expand during baking. The purpose is primarily to control the direction in which the bread will expand during “oven spring.” Easier said then done!