What causes the crust of a homemade loaf of sandwich bread, or homemade rolls, to pock? Is the dough rising too quickly? Here's a photo...

Question

What causes the crust of a homemade loaf of sandwich bread, or homemade rolls, to pock?  Is the dough rising too quickly?  Here's a photo of my Icebox Oatmeal Rolls (not submitted to the contest recently because I did not have time to adapt the recipe for cooking in a period considerably less than 24 hours). The attached photo shows an attempt earlier this year to make the rolls on the same day.  Given how important the appearance of rolls is, I did feel that I could submit the recipe.  They tasted great, however, with a perfect texture inside (which leads me to believe that a too-fast rise was not the problem).  Thanks so much.  ;o)

betteirene · Answer

Right off the bat, I'd do two things:  First, I'd hydrate the oatmeal in the hot potato water after the potatoes have been cooked, cool it, add it with half the flour to the yeast, then add enough flour as necessary to make a soft dough ; and second, I'd shape the rolls as they come out of the refrigerator and let them rise once.

cowgirlculture · Answer

I am just beginning to learn the secrets to beautiful bread but my rolls did this for the contest (I went ahead and entered anyway just for fun). My mom saw my photo and said that I had the dough a tad bit too wet and then when I let them rise (as rolls) that the tops of the rolls dried out a bit too much before they went in the oven. Mine tasted great but they looked a lot like this on the outside. Forgive my terminology but this is just my two cents. Y'all are the experts! Have a great night!

mrslarkin · Answer

Hmmm...not sure. It could have something to do with the rough texture of the potatoes and the oatmeal, perhaps? Curious if you have other recipes using potato and oatmeal, and how the crust on those turn out.

AntoniaJames · Answer

Actually I meant to say in the question that I did NOT feel that I could submit the recipe.  I'm trying to troubleshoot this to determine if the problem is in my execution, or a fundamental problem with the ingredient mix or some factor other than how I happened to make the rolls on that day.  ;o)

spiffypaws · Answer

If the texture was good, definately not over mixing.  It sounds like this was a yeast dough. If you covered the dough while it was rising, perhaps a draft hit it.  It sort of looks like the crust dried out.  Or, possibly the rounding wasn't done properly-the skin of the dough wasn't stretched sufficiently-or stretched a bit too much so that it broke.  At least they still tasted good; flavor and texture is the most important:)

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