Colour: Dark crust colour shall be too dark due to addition of more sugar or milk in the formula, over baking, high oven temperature or excessively fermented and conditioned old dough Texture: The crust of bread should be crisp and should easily break but if the crust becomes tough and is not easily pulled, it is leathery. It is due to insufficient conditioning of gluten or if crust absorbs lot of moisture.
Under above situations, the moisture deposits on the surface of bread. Due to this increase in moisture content, the gluten of the affected spots acquires more stretchability and forms blisters under pressure of expanding gas during baking. Sometimes if moulding is under pressure or it is tight, some air bubbles will be entrapped under thin film of gluten. These air bubbles will expand during proofing and cause blisters during baking.
Flinty crust or shell tops Sometimes crust of bread is hard and breaks like an egg shell called as flinty crust. This is generally with strong wheats where the flour is insufficiently fermented. Other factors for this fault are stiff dough formation, too young dough, inadequate pan proof and excessive top heat in oven.
Wild break A smooth break shred is desirable. If the gluten is not adequately conditioned during fermentation, the top crust instead of rising gradually will burst open under pressure of expanding gas. Insufficient proofing of bread and excessive heat are likely to give wild break.
Sticky crumb It may be due to sprout damaged wheat flour if it is proved or baked in excessive humid conditions and under baked. Rope disease also causes sticky crumb.
Crumbliness When the dough is adequately fermented, it gives elasticity to bread crumb otherwise the bread crumb will break into small fragments while slicing called crumbiness. It may be due to:
Holes and tunnels in bread If for any reason gluten strands break during proofing or baking, a chain reaction starts and neighbouring gluten strands will also break. It may be due to:
