To understand bread faults first we need to understand what is meant by the term “Good Bread”. There are few parameters by which a professional judges the quality of the bread.
Those parameters are as follows.
1. Volume
2. Bloom of crust/shine
3. Colour of crust & crumb
4. Texture and structure
5. Shape
6. Moistness
7. Flavour
8. Taste
9. Oven break etc.
Now we will be discussing about ideal bread according to those parameters mentioned above.
1. Volume – it has to be considered with the relation to its weight (we can say specific volume). Too much volume will make the bread stale or crumbly whereas less volume will turn the bread less flavoured and heavy.
2. Bloom of crust/shine – this is a really delicate quality of bread. a dull bread will reduce the eye appeal of bread and an artificially shined bread will clearly indicate the presence of a chemical in bread which again can be repulsive for the guests.
3. Colour of crust & crumb – crust colour supposed to be attractive golden brown. Preferred crumb colours are like white or light brownish according to the grade of wheat.
4. Texture & structure – crumb texture has to be light, soft, fluffy & consists of small even gas pocket networks (gluten networks). Any unusual hole, damages in crumb should be avoided. Similarly a smooth, even crust is desired in good bread.
5. Shape – symmetry in shapes is a characteristic of good quality bread.
6. Moistness – the quality of bread is judged by the amount of moisture present in the breadcrumb.
7. Flavour – taste of any bakery product could be fully appreciated only when it is accompanied by matching the flavour. A number of acids, bi-products and alcohols are responsible to produce right flavour for bread. These products are generally produced during fermentation only. So it is very important to give proper fermentation time to get good bread.
8. Oven break – when the open top bread is getting baked, then upper and side surface crust forms earlier than the bottom surface. At that stage gas that has produced inside the crumb escapes out through the part where the crust yet to form (or you can say weaker part). Escaping of gas also can create some openings which technically known as “oven break”.
Some common bread faults
Fault | Symptom | Reason |
Flying Tops | Here the top crust instead of rising gradually burst open under the pressure of expanding gas. |
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Lack of shine on the crust/ lack of break shred | Lack of shine on the crust/ lack of break shred |
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Condensation marks | Dark colour patches on the crumb. |
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Uneven texture |
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Stales/dries rapidly | Rapidly drying of the crumbs |
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Sticky/over moist crumb |
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Close/dense crumb | Tight & dense crumb |
|
Crumbliness of crumb | This bread will not slice neatly and may break into fragments by the pressure of slicer blades |
|
Lack of colour on crust |
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Too dark crust colour |
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Leathery crust |
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Blisters | Air bubbles on the crust |
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Hard or flinty crust | Very hard crust breaks like an eggshell |
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Too thick crust | Less amount of oven spring can cause this problem. Less amount of oven spring can happen due to
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Less volume |
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Excessive volume |
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Holes & tunnels | Elongated holes or tunnels in crumb | This happens if some gluten strands get damaged, they also try to damage all neighbouring gluten strands, until gluten starts to coagulate under the action of heat. Reasons for damaging gluten strands may be:
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Cores | Hard spots can be felt by touching the breadcrumb |
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Seams | Dense moist layer on the outer crumb area, especially near the top crust. | This fault happens only to moulded or tinned loaves.
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Sourness |
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