Why my loaves stopped spreading
For a long time every loaf I baked came out of the oven looking like a frisbee. Good crumb, decent flavour, but wide and low. I blamed the flour, the oven and the weather before I looked at my own hands.
Most spreading comes from one of three things: the dough was underproofed and tore open sideways, it was overproofed and collapsed, or the shaping simply did not build enough surface tension to hold it up.
What actually helped
- A real pre-shape. A loose round, then twenty minutes of bench rest before the final shape. The gluten relaxes and the second shaping can be much tighter.
- The poke test instead of the clock. Flour a finger, press 1 cm deep. If the dent springs back slowly and leaves a small mark, it is ready. Instant spring-back means wait; no spring-back means bake now and hope.
- A cold night in the banneton. Twelve hours in the fridge firms the dough, so it goes into the pot holding its shape and scores cleanly.
None of this is new, but doing all three together turned my frisbees into loaves I am happy to give away.