This is a list of frequent questions/problems together with possible solutions how to react. Since every dough and every oven is different there is no perfect recipe.
You will need to experiment and learn. You will face a couple of pitfalls and then double check with this list.
Make sure that you always only change 1 parameter at the same time. That way you can iterate and learn how each parameter influences the final product.
A temperature of around 230 degrees Celsius is a good strategy to have a nice crust and at the same time fluffy bread.
If the temperature is too high it could happen that your crust will be too big. At the same time the interior might not be baked yet. If the temperature is too low your crust won't be as nice and crispy.
This is a common problem and can have many issues. A few slight errors during the initial bake could have caused this. Let's investigate:
If you used yeast, it could happen that your yeast was simply dead. This happens to me on around every 20th bake. I need 5 grams of yeast for the bake. The pack of dry yeast contains 7 grams. What I do is take the 2 grams that I do not need and place them in a bowl with warm sugary water. After 2 hours the water should have become a little bit bubbly. If not - then likely your yeast is dead.
Another option could be that your shaping before baking is not done right. You want the bread to rise upwards in the oven, not to the left or right. To achieve that your shaping has to be done properly. You want to create tension on the surface of the dough. The moment you add a small crack to the surface the dough will naturally rise upwards not to the left or to the right. This is a good video tutorial on shaping your dough.. The dough shaped in that video has 70% hydration. The more hydration you add the more difficult this becomes. With more hydration I find it very hard to ensure the bread does not turn out flat in the oven. Practice the shaping, this is the hardest part about baking. It will take a while to learn this.
Did you score your bread when placing it in the oven? Scoring creates a weak spot in the surface. That way your dough can rise upwards in the oven. The way you score your bread is also important. Score the top of the bread with cuts at an angle. Imagine two plates on top of each other. If you cut them vertically they might block each other. But when scoring at an angle they are not blocked and can rise more.
How humid is your oven when baking the bread? If you have no humidity your crust can form too fast. That way the bread is not able to rise properly. You can either use a dutch oven, or a bowl with hot water. Boil the water before placing it in the oven for maximum steaminess. Remove the water at 50% of the bake to have a nice crust regardless.
How do you place the bread in the oven? At this stage you want to make sure that your dough does not lose any air at all when moving the dough to the oven. When using a dutch oven place the banneton/bowl on the lid of the dutch oven. Turn everything upside down. The dough should drop nicely from the banneton. When just using a baking tray do the same. Place the tray on top of your banneton and turn everything upside down again.
Make sure the bread does not stick to the bowl/banneton when baking. If the bread sticks to it you will create weak spots in places of you dough where you do not want them. Instead of the dough rising upwards, it will rise towards the weak spots that you created. If the weak spots are on the side, it will just increase in size horizontally instead of vertically.
Did you add all the ingredients described in the recipe? This can happen if you forget the sourdough or the yeast. If you are sure you added all the ingredients it could be that the yeast or sourdough was dead and thus did not create the additional gas that you need to make the bread fluffy. This can also happen if you baked the bread at a too high temperature. If the dough was somewhat flat in the oven the surface gets in contact with much more heat.
Did you feed parts of your mother dough before mixing all the ingredients? This is usually the case when the sourdough does not have enough nutrition available. A good suggested ratio of sourdough and flour is around 40%. Feed your mother dough in the evening before baking. In the morning it will be ready for mixing it with the other flour. With sourdough you should be able to see a good increase in size after around 3 hours. Double check that the temperature is right where you store the dough. It should be not too warm and not too cold.
Did you steam the oven while baking for the first half? We want to create a dough sauna initially. That way the crust does not develop. Remove the tray of water after the first half of baking. Make sure the water tray is cooking inside of the oven. Try heating the water in a water cooker before placing it in the tray. Experiment what happens with the crust if you steam the oven the full time. Then you should have the smallest crust possible.
Double check that your temperature is correct. It could be that your oven just has more power than others. This happens as the temperatures are never 100% the same between ovens. Reduce the temperature if the steaming strategy did not work.
Make sure you remove the steam source after half the bake. You can also remove it earlier to have a nicer crust developed. If you use a dutch oven make sure to remove the lid after half the baking time.
Dip your hands in cold wet water. Then try working the dough. Repeat this the moment the dough starts sticking again. If it started to stick once it will only get worse. Clean your hands and start again from the start.
Make sure you lightly flour the surface on which you will shape the dough. If it is too sticky, add more flour. It's better to have a little bit too much flour than a huge frustration. If your technique worked try reducing the flour on the surface for subsequent bakes.
What makes the bread fluffy is the activity of the yeast releasing carbon dioxide. You can speed up the whole process by giving the yeast food they like. Simply add 5% sugar to your dough. The yeast will become active like a critical nuclear reactor. Normally the gluten network forms automatically over time. Since you have no time you have to heavily knead the dough. I would knead 15 minutes by hand or 10 minutes by machine, if you have one. Turn on the oven already. Shape the dough and place it inside of a bowl for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes place the dough inside the oven and bake as usual.
Probably you did not shape your dough properly. See the tips in this FAQ on making the dough rise more in the oven.
The moment the crust is turning nice and brown.
If you cut the bread which you should have done then some edges
of the crust can be a little black.
There is still debate going on whether acrylamides are dangerous
for humans or not. TODO - add some sources.
Another test to conduct is that your bread should sound hollow from the inside when knocking on the bread. When it is hollow it means the dough created bubbles and the sound can freely pass through the inside.
You can also use a thermometer and measure the temperature inside of the bread. Make sure you stick the thermometer right in the center of the dough at the thickest part. That's the part which takes the longest to fully bake. It's ready to be removed from the oven at 95 degrees Celsius.
1-3% salt on the total amount of flour will create flavor and not taste too salty. Salt is very important to create flavor, it acts as natural flavor enhancer. I usually go with 2% salt. If you make sourdough calculate the percentage based on the total dough you will bake. Let's say you have 400 grams of dough and 160 grams of sourdough, calculate 2% of 560 grams. In total that is 11.20 grams of salt that you should add.
If you have time, you do not have to knead your dough. The only goal of the kneading is to homogenize your ingredients and allow gluten to develop. This will naturally happen over time without kneading. If you want to bake fast because you have a time restriction, kneading is the way to go.
At least an hour. If you have sourdough which is not as reactive as yeasty dough you might have to wait a little longer after shaping. While resting the dough should increase by another 20-30% in size. To test whether the dough is ready for the bake, press your finger into the dough slightly. Remove your finger. The dough should rise on the spot you created. If the dough collapses you waited too long.
Generally kitchen tools are usually only good if they do one function at the time.
Dough kneading machines for instance are excellent.
Machines that can knead, steam, shape and ultimately bake likely can not
do any of the steps very well. TODO a 1:1 comparison with the same
flour and hydration would be excellent.
The higher hydration the more bubbles your dough has. You should bake with at least 70% hydration. Make sure that you develop the gluten nicely. That way none of the gas the yeast produces can escape. You might want to knead your dough a little more initially as this creates a stronger gluten network as well. Do more stretch and folds until the final shaping. If I have time I do this on an hourly basis on baking day.
The higher the hydration the fluffier your bread becomes. This comes at a cost of making it more difficult to work the dough. The dough will stick more to your hands. At the same time the bread might look a little flat in the oven. 70% is a good hydration to aim for when baking. It is a good combination for maximum fluffiness and easy to work dough. Definitely adjust this parameter on future bakes to see which bread you like the most.
It can be plastic wrap, a towel, aluminum foil or anything else that prevents your dough from drying out. Make sure that still some air circulation can happen. You still want oxygen to enter your bowl while allowing excessive carbon dioxide to evaporate.
You want to create a weak spot the center of the surface. That way the dough will rise upwards in the oven. A large X creates a nice pattern and creates the weak spot right in the center. If you score the bread too far on the sides then your dough will spread like a pan cake. Make sure you do the cuts at an angle, not vertical.
The left bread was scored at an angle. The right one vertically.
The bread tastes the best after the initial bake. Sometimes however you might want to bake and enjoy the bread later. Usually what happens is that the crust becomes too crispy when re-heating in the oven. This happens because the bread becomes too dry, thus the crust becomes bigger and bigger with every minute. You might end up with a yummy stone.
Place a large tray in the oven with boiling water. Heat the bread at a lower temperature of 150 degrees. The steam prevents the crust from becoming too thick. It's almost as good as after the first bake.