My bread gets gooey in the center on storage.

I'm baking simple bread using
500g flour + 1 tsp salt
300g water + 1 Tbs sugar
3.5g active dry yeast.

The procedure is

1. Activate the yeast ~5 min in warm sugar water.
2. Mix with flour & salt.
3. Knead 50 pushes.
4. Proof ~2 hrs.
5. Punch down & put in loaf pan.
6. Proof ~2 hrs.
7. Bake @ 375°F for 35 min.
8. Check internal temp > 195° F.

After cooling the bread is fine. But after two or three days of storage (typically there is about 1/3 of the loaf remaining) the loaf gets moist and almost gooey in the center.

I used to store in plastic bags; now I'm using brown paper bags but the problem persists.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Barry
  • Posted by: Barry
  • July 5, 2019
  • 2859 views
  • 5 Comments

5 Comments

Smaug
Smaug July 6, 2019
That is extremely weird- do you live in an exceptionally humid climate?
 
Gordon
Gordon July 6, 2019
Is this a loaf of bread or a baggette or what size and shape is it? What color is the crust? It may just be to BIG a loaf to actually bake correctly. And if the color is very pale is is not baked enough either. And just how on earth do you check the internal temperature of bread? If you do this just 1 time to check I can understand, you can then guage how it has baked from the color and what it looks like inside. But as a routine, never!
 
Gordon
Gordon July 6, 2019
I am in Paris and just asked a baker. He said a baggette temop should read about 205 degrees, but look at the color of the crust. He said different sized loafs and shapes will need different temperatures. And importantly what sort of flour you are using. Size, shape and type of flour. His shop bakes thousands of different loafs of bread a day. He said this is a skill you will learn. He also mentioned additives, which he says americans like to add to their flour and baking in general. These will also change how you must change your baking. But he did say gooey bread is under baked.
 
Barry
Barry July 7, 2019
First, I check the temperature by inserting a meat thermometer into the loaf after removing from the loaf pan.

The flour may be an issue. I live in the Philippines (it is humid here but not terribly so) and they sell 1st class, all purpose, and cake flour, I assume in decreasing order of protein content. The 1st class makes a crusty, chewy loaf; the AP flour produces a softer whiter bread; and I've not tried cake flour for bread.

I prefer the crusty, chewy bread but the storage problem seems to be worse with that flour.

I'm pretty sure that the bread is not under baked. The crown is deep brown, the sides and bottom are golden, it thumps hollow. But I'll do the experiment and bake for an extra 10 minutes and see what happens.
 
Nancy
Nancy July 7, 2019
As Gordan suggested in his first note, size of loaf may be an issue. If you haven't made so far, use your regular bread recipe to make flatbreads, dinner rolls or sandwich rolls (many recipes out there). The smaller size may give you better results.
 
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