I had a tragic incident with my own starter when I moved this summer and I haven’t made a new one yet, so I’ve taken some time off of baking and eating bread. But the other day at the local farmers market I saw a stall selling sourdough bread and I decided to give it a try, since the top looked pretty through the little plastic window in the paper bag. Unfortunately when I got it home and unwrapped it it was clear the bottom was nearly raw. (First 2 pictures.) I ended up popping it in my own oven for 20 minutes at 450F to try to avoid an inedibly gummy loaf, and I mostly succeeded, but it still wasn’t great. (Last 3 pictures.)
I won’t be wasting another $8 at this vendor again, but I’m curious, do we think that underbaking was the only issue here or is there likely a technique or recipe issue too? Obviously rebaking hours later wasn’t optimal, but I think it was the best option I had to end up with an edible loaf.
by miserylovescomputers
23 Comments
Weird how the crumb generally looks ok so my best guess it was undercooked. The crust does not look dark enough, especially on the bottom.
That will toast up deliciously
This is embarrassing for them. You shouldn’t have to pay for something like this.
I would personally not have tried to sell that.
It’s underbaked by like 8-10 mins Put it in the oven 😂
It looks underproofed. When underproofed, it will never finish in the oven.
It looks like maybe they overcrowded their oven? It’s strange how it’s so unevenly underbaked. They should not have sold it.
In addition to undercooking I think they forgot to turn the bottom heating on hence why the bottom specifically is completely pale, the top has more colour it seems. If I were you I’d ask for my money back.
The person selling this should consider going back home and practicing on their craft. This loaf is quite amateur and shouldn’t be sold imo.
It looks poorly shaped, underproofed, and I can’t tell fully by pictures but the crumb texture looks awfully tough and not tender.
If I was in your shoes I’d throw it away and take the L on the 8 bucks :/
I hope for their sake that it’s just a bad day at the office, so to speak. I wouldn’t charge if the bottom crust was raw and chewy. I’d just have to take that loss and do better next time.
I think you should definitely let them know. I’m sure they would want this feedback. Show them the pictures. If it was me, and I had sold a loaf like this, I would for sure be comping you a couple loaves without you asking for it, and I would appreciate that you let me know that subpar bread had been sold.
What failure in the process makes it gummy?
Honestly I would contact them and give them feedback.
I personally wouldn’t ask for my money back over $8 but if you were selling bread wouldn’t you want someone to tell you if it was trash.
There’s no world where this piece of bread is worth more than 4 dollars.
Do you not get to look at the loaf before you paid for it
The top doesn’t even look good enough to buy, why would you in the first place?
Robbed at a farmer’s market. What a huge surprise.
LOL worst $8 spent ever haha
it looks like they baked this on an overcrowded sheet pan or something? weird
You paid 8$ for a loaf of bread?
But why did you buy it….?
Unless it was marketed as a par-baked loaf, intended to need additional bake time at home… looks like it was just plain ‘ol underbaked. Maybe an over crowded or overcooled oven? But definitely give them feedback, if their business is selling bread, they need to know.
First off, sorry you got a bad loaf. So I have really put in some thought to this when I was making Macarons. It got popular and what started to mess me up was my home oven. You got hot spots and cold spots. If you’re baking a ton of stuff the oven has to come up to temperature each time. I’ve fallen in love with bread. So I’ve reached out to a rent a kitchen to see if I can make a bunch in one day, because I want consistency of product. I agree with what some other people are saying about feedback. It’s how we all get better.