My bread is gummy

[PaulB]

I am making a grainery bread (4 cups regular flour, 2 cups of whole wheat) and it is gummy in the middle. The bottom thump sounded hollow when I pulled it out and the temperature was 205. This is a bread that gets mixed but not really kneaded. We waited a couple hours our more before we cut it. Any ideas why it is gummy? This happens with several of our breads whether in a conventional oven or WFO.

[brickie in oz]

205 I presume is C, its way too cold for bread, you need 230C.
Are you weighing all the ingredients?
Resting to double AND proofing to double again?

So many variables.

[PaulB]

That is fahrenheit, according to Peter Reinhart's book. By the way, I'm refering to the temperature of the bread, not the oven. Unfortunately, this recipe didn't have weights, only volumes to go by. We did to two risings.

Does that help?

[brickie in oz]

Doughy bread usually points to a cold oven.
One of my neighbours son is a bakery manager at one of the big chains, I got some tips off him some time ago and he said its critical to weigh and to have the oven hot enough.
I was baking at 210c and got doughy bread, I now bake at 230c and its fine.

Edit:- I just did the conversion. 205 ºF = 96.1111 ºC, way too cold.

[Faith In Virginia]

How much water are you using with that 6 cups of flour?

[PaulB]

It calls for 3.25 cups of water.

[Polo]

Originally Posted by PaulB

It calls for 3.25 cups of water.

Seems to me that the hydration is a wee bit on the high side.

Are you sure about those volumes?

[Faith In Virginia]

From your stated measurements. I work with weight not volume so I did some conversions for easier understanding. the weight of flour varies for lots of reasons so I used common accepted conversions.

white flour at 4 cups =503 grams
w/w flour at 2 cups = 237 grams
so total flour =740 grams

now water at 3.25 cups = 757 grams

with that said your bread is over 100% hydration that is why your bread is gummy and I'm guessing you baked it in a bread pan?

Try reducing the amount of water to achieve about a 68% hydration, I like that amount myself. I would try about 2 cups total of water.

was your dough really wet and sloppy? if not then the numbers you gave are off and something else is going on.

I have made 100% hydration bread before with a 65% hydration shell it is very gummy but the kids can't get enough of it.

[Faith In Virginia]

Also which recipe and which book from Peter Reinhart's are you using?

[PaulB]

Yes, those measurements are what the recipe calls for (6 cups of flour and 3.25 cups of water). I wasn't clear though. There is also 1 cup of wheat flakes and 1/4 cup of malt powder. And the only thing about this bread that I took from P. Reinhart is the idea that bread's internal temp should be 205F before you remove if from the oven. The recipe is from a book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. My friend gave me a loaf of this that she made and it was really good - not gummy either. She claims she follows the recipe exactly and bakes it in a conventional oven.