sometimes the bread has plans of its own

[cellio]

This seemed like an unremarkable loaf when I put it in the oven.

Dani called it my dromedary loaf. :-)

I wondered if there were a large air bubble under that hump, but the inside looks normal. So, one of life's mysteries! But a tasty mystery, so it's ok.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

I want to make some kind of joke about a famous Biblical mountain and your mighty loaf.

[cellio]

:-)

[conuly]

This is why, whenever I bake bread, I intone "RISE, MY GLORIOUS CREATION!" at least once. (Or "LET MY CREATION RISE" or any of a dozen variants.)

[hudebnik]

And this one did, but...

Yeah, that has happened to me: for some reason one part of the loaf blows up out of proportion to the rest. Never figured out why. Perhaps one end of the top drying out more while it rises, so the drier end resists expansion more than the softer end?

BTW, a few days ago I found Bob's Red Mill wheat gluten in the grocery store, for the first time in probably a year (I didn't even see it on their web site when I looked a month or two ago). A few tablespoons of this will make a mostly-whole-wheat loaf almost as light and fluffy as an all-white loaf, and when we first started low-carbing (fifteen years ago?), I would use half a cup or more per loaf because it's about 80% protein. That much gluten seems to produce a loaf that resembles a kitchen sponge, although quite edible, but it'll be nice to be able to use some again.

[cellio]

Thanks for the tip about wheat gluten. So far all my whole-wheat bread is not fully whole wheat. This loaf was about 40% whole wheat, 60% bread flour.

[madfilkentist]

It looks to me as if it's trying to turn into a potato.

[cellio]

Yeah, I don't know what's with those "eyes"! We've eaten nearly all of this loaf now and I didn't find any strangenesses within.

[loosecanon]

It looks like your oven Heats slightly unevenly. You may wish to play with slashing the loaf down the center, or making a pretty, even design down the sides, to allow it to rise evenly.

[cellio]

Thanks; I'll try that next time. (Grumble. My oven shouldn't be heating unevenly, for as old as it isn't. But that might well be it. Maybe I should rotate the pan when I remove the cover halfway through, too.)

[loosecanon]

All ovens have hot spots. Convection is an attempt to overcome this. It's air moving about inside a cubicle with corners, so it tends to congregate here, dissipate there, and get stuck someplace else.

[luscious_purple]

Yum!

[kyleri]

Your bread rises on high, like a mighty mountain! That's awesome.