I've been making this for a couple of years as our main bread, two loaves a week. I make it with a tangzhong, having done all the math and increased the total hydration to 75%. Recently, however, it's just not working. The dough is taking forever to rise, and it never reaches all the way to the corners, getting a dome, even in the pan with the lid. Gone are my crisp corners of old. I thought it must be the yeast, since it was on the counter and we had a particularly hot summer here in NJ, so I tossed it and brought out fresh from the freezer. That did help a little, but not enough. I'm still not getting enough of a rise and yesterday when I baked them, each loaf domed and under the domes were enormous air pockets running the length of the entire loaf! I'm not sure what has changed or how to fix it, so any suggestions are appreciated.
September 27, 2022 at 10:35am
I've been making this for a couple of years as our main bread, two loaves a week. I make it with a tangzhong, having done all the math and increased the total hydration to 75%. Recently, however, it's just not working. The dough is taking forever to rise, and it never reaches all the way to the corners, getting a dome, even in the pan with the lid. Gone are my crisp corners of old. I thought it must be the yeast, since it was on the counter and we had a particularly hot summer here in NJ, so I tossed it and brought out fresh from the freezer. That did help a little, but not enough. I'm still not getting enough of a rise and yesterday when I baked them, each loaf domed and under the domes were enormous air pockets running the length of the entire loaf! I'm not sure what has changed or how to fix it, so any suggestions are appreciated.