Bread help needed

Cafe Society
1

I have an ongoing problem with my whole-wheat bread.

I make the dough. It rises in the bowl. I punch it down, knead, roll, and put into loaf pans. Then I cover it with plastic wrap (or, in the past, a towel) and let it rise in the pans.

Come back hours later. It looks gorgeous: Puffy, nicely rounded on top … bread shaped! I heat the oven, and pull off the plastic wrap—ripping a tiny bit of the dough away, which stuck to the plastic wrap, and causing the loaf to collapse. So I bake my flat-topped, only-as-tall-as-the-top-of-the-pan bread. Sigh. So close to greatness.

What should I be doing? Do I need to flour the hell out of the loaves so that the plastic wrap doesn’t stick? Should I use a different covering material? Some sort of grease??

2

I’ve been down that road – ugh. Few things to try:

  1. Cover with a damp, lightweight cloth, such as a cloth napkin or dish towel. Just make sure that the cloth remains damp while your dough is rising.

  2. Invert a much larger dish (like a salad bowl) over each loaf. Same protection, and no chance of contact with the dough.

  3. Cover with parchment or waxed paper, which shouldn’t stick.

  4. Lightly grease the tops of the loaves after you’ve shaped them. One of those oil atomizers would work well, or a pastry brush.

3

I use cheesecloth or flour sack cloth, purchasable at most grocery stores and/or specialty shops. Basically just big squares of soft white cotton cloth.

Just dust the top of the loaf with bread, cover with said cloth. Never sticks at all.

4

Yes, a different covering material; don’t let anything touch them. Do you have a big plastic/Rubbermaid bin? Or a cake dome that will fit over your bread pan? Put that over it instead. If you really want to put something over the dough, use a well-floured tea towel (tight weave, not terrycloth).

When the oven is good and hot, right before you put the bread pan in, spray the oven with water. That’ll give you a good crust. I’ll bring the butter.

5

Spray Pam on your plastic wrap and don’t pull it tightly over the pan, just let it lay across the top. I also grease my pans and roll the dough around to coat it before the second rise.

StG