Well, son of a gun, I have been telling my wife for months that NO! you can't cut my bread until it cools, when I told her about your experiment and the Myth Busted, she was over the moon. I believe this counts as a top tip for marital harmony, many many thanks. Gordon, London. UK. (ex , Montreal, Canada)
Possible confounder: you have a fairly high hydration dough; the results might differ for a dough with much lower hydration. Another measurement that could have been made was to check the weight of each dough right out of the oven then daily for a few days. Having said that, I think I will cut my bread whenever I wish and consider the myth busted except possibly for low hydration loaves.
i always thought the reason was that it's still technically finishing baking as it cools, and if you cut it hot it would be gummy. I never heard that it would "dry out faster." interesting.
Interesting! I cool my breads at least several hours before cutting them. It not only preserves moisture but I think the loaf is essentially still baking when it is still hot. So there may be slight differences when it’s cut early. But good to have made the side-by-side test showing that theses are minor. Nice to see more videos from you again!
I AM surprised! Even though I have believed it's better to wait to cut bread until it's cool, I confess I sometimes succumb to temptation and cut it warm. But I don't have a cool bread slicer like yours, and with just a bread knife I do find the bread is harder to slice when it's warm. It tends to squish down more and I find it hard to get the knife to bite without deforming the loaf a little bit.
I love your channel and your videos (and your insights). I make your whole grain sourdough einkorn and your whole grain sourdough spelt loaves and they comes out perfect every time. They changed my life and my success with whole grain loaves. Thank you thank you thank you!
I'd always wondered about many of these sourdough bread "rules." I've been baking sourdough now since 2020, and I've found that many of these "rules" don't hold any water (as the saying goes). I've found that bread is very forgiving overall. The yeast just wants to eat, and you have to let it have it's fill. That is the only hard rule I've found. You can vary the fermentation (up to a point), hydration, knead or not, when to add salt, autolyse, and so on. Since I don't really want huge open crumb, I don't stress over the oven spring, I just have to make sure the dough is cooked thru. I've just started using a temperature probe during baking to make sure that the bread is baked completely. I've been told to look for an internal temp of 190 degrees F / 88 degrees C. Don't know if this one is a myth yet or not. Might be worth an experiment?
Sune, I've been making yeasted loaves lately, and I've been doing the exact same thing as with sourdough and cooling it completely before cutting. What I would be curious to know is if you can cut a yeasted loaf before it is cooled all the way or if my Mom is full of bologna when she says to just cut into it warm out of the oven. Btw, my Mom is rarely full of bologna. She's usually right.
I more frequently heard not cut hot because it would smash the crumb, at least that first sliced one. Didn't see any of that in your 80% H loaves BUT I did find it better to not cut 90+H Focaccio till an hour latter. Nice video !
Thank you for this! This is the best experiment…of all the ones you have done this has made me the happiest! Bread out of the oven with butter that melts is soooo good. When we were kids we used to go to the bakery at the time bread came out and it was still hot and we are it on the way home! It was so fantastic! Now I need to know why everyone said that! I thought it had to do with the structure and getting gummy.but you did not detect that.
That's amazing! Thank you 😊 I have cut my loaves when they are still warm and they are gummy. Maybe they would have been gummy when they cooed off? Probably.
You mean they are gummy when cut straight out of the oven? Or that every slice throughout the bread is gummy, no matter when a slice is cut, as long as the first slice was cut while the bread was still hot? He didn't taste the hot bread when he first cut it, so this bread slice could very well have been gummy.
This is a welcome finding, though I’ve been cutting fresh bread before completely cooling for nearly 50 years. The first slices that melt the butter are always the best.
My only problem although the initial cut was as your test specified, the subsequent "testing" was done the next day when all the breads had the same time to cool. Question were these breads wrapped in plastic or placed in a container overnight or just left on the counter? Thanks for the video.
They were left on a cutting board with the sliced side downwards. The point was to test if cutting it early destroys the bread, which is what people tell you 😊
I'm not surprised. It happens to me every time. But when the bread is cut right out of the oven, it is only the cut surface that dries and gets hard. Putting the cut sides of the bread together, preserves the cut sides better.
Thank you. I wonder if Gluten Free bread is the same? I have recently had to go GF because my husband has to due to Celiac disease. That saddens me since I loved my Gluten laden sourdough bread, rolls and cinnamon rolls. I always cut my bread while it's hot or warm even though instructions say not to.
Thanks for doing this experiment. I belong to a few Facebook sourdough groups, and they constantly say that if you cut the bread straight from the oven, your loaf will be gummy. You blew that so-called fact right out of the water!
I was pretty surprised. I'm a little interested to know what the quality of the bread is right out of the oven versus after having let it rest for immediate consumption. But if I'm being honest if I'm slicing my bread right out of the oven, I'm doing it for the instant gratification and the butter.
My wife likes warm bread, and so do I! Thanks for removing my guilt over cutting early. But one question. A short cooking time may leave the centre to finish cooking after being taken out if it's uncut - is this true or does cooking stop when removed from the oven.
I find it harder to cut slices on a fresh baked loaf than one which has cooled. The steamy hot loaf grabs the knife and has a softer element which makes thinner slices difficult to cut
My spouse will be SO happy to hear this. I used to wait and more recently I've given in to his begging. Lol. We'll never wait again. I guess it's not like a good steak or roast!
Good to know I don't have to wait til it's fully cooled down! Who doesn't love warm, freshly baked bread? Although I'll probably let it still cool a bit, so I don't burn my hands trying to slice it...
I have ruined loaves by cutting them in the first twenty minutes - the whole loaf turns gummy and sticky. I suspect that if I had a razor-sharp bread knife like Sune's, that probably wouldn't happen. In other words, it's not that opening hot bread makes it gummy, it's squishing hot bread with a bread knife that makes it gummy.
Interesting! It never occurred to me that my bread might dry out sooner. I was more concerned with a gummy texture. Looks like that myth was busted, too!
I would think the answer depends on how soon the bread is going to be consumed. If the bread will be consumed immediately then cutting into it fresh out of the oven can't possibly cause it to dry out too quickly. If you're not going to consume it immediately, why are you making it? 😃
Thanks for sharing this experiment. With all respect, it is clearly shown that the bread that was cut after cooling completely is much better in the crumb. The holes were evenly distributed, because the steam took its time to cool. All other 3 loaves are having uneven distribution and some large holes. For the moisture, you have better idea because you have tasted all of them.
My better half insists on cutting the bread straight from the oven. Since it's a 50% ww sandwich loaf, I'm more concerned about it getting compacted while holding it still. I have given up protesting, though. An addict's going to do what an addicts going to do. Lol
I thought that cutting before it cools down is not recommended due to possible crumb damage, rather than quick drying. Also, at least for the yeast bread, it is not gastric-friendly to eat it warm, as I heard from my elder relatives, not sure if it's true)
i dont see this as a good comparison when 2 of the breads were underfermented shown by the large crators and tunneling which tend to make the crumb gummy (more moisture) , i love your videos but this one is not up to your usual standards
Sune...the issue is ability to cut the bread in slices! You used an electric slicer. I have good bread knives. I have hand held electric bread knives. My problem is the sandwich slice with hot or warm bread with any artisan bread recipe similar to yours. I've tried variety of bake offs. But issue is slicing a full sandwich slice more than worry about early drying out. Now if I cut in half the slice that half sideways, it is fine for thicker slices for a meal. But if I want to slice up for my family to take home in nice full slices. It's a chore. I can do so better if bread is cool and thinner. 😢.
Oh damn, i would never had guessed this outcome, but theres a caveat, it depends on wheter or not the bread will be consumed Tak for the test, very informative as allways you only "opened" the loafs, i tried slicing 1 loaf still warm and my bread slicer got a sticky mess, the blade, the guard... i make a 1kg loaf at a time, wait till @room temp, slice, keep the small slices (that will be eaten in lesse than 24h) and freeze the rest, we only eat 2 slices a day, toasted To leave bread out for more than 2 days will "ruin it"
Well, son of a gun, I have been telling my wife for months that NO! you can't cut my bread until it cools, when I told her about your experiment and the Myth Busted, she was over the moon. I believe this counts as a top tip for marital harmony, many many thanks. Gordon, London. UK. (ex , Montreal, Canada)
🤣🤣
Happy wife, happy life 😁
Same, now I'm sending this to all of the people that I've helped bake their bread!
Thank you for walking us out of gaslighting. ❤
Possible confounder: you have a fairly high hydration dough; the results might differ for a dough with much lower hydration. Another measurement that could have been made was to check the weight of each dough right out of the oven then daily for a few days.
Having said that, I think I will cut my bread whenever I wish and consider the myth busted except possibly for low hydration loaves.
I'm telling everyone! Thanks for doing this, and for all of your content! Ive learned so much
Thanks for busting the myths! Your channel is making me a better bread maker. Thanks again!!
i always thought the reason was that it's still technically finishing baking as it cools, and if you cut it hot it would be gummy. I never heard that it would "dry out faster." interesting.
Same here
Yeah this video did not really answer the most important question. The reason to cut it immediately is to eat it immediately.
Interesting! I cool my breads at least several hours before cutting them. It not only preserves moisture but I think the loaf is essentially still baking when it is still hot. So there may be slight differences when it’s cut early. But good to have made the side-by-side test showing that theses are minor. Nice to see more videos from you again!
Me too! Cutting a bread right out of the oven? Ever seen how much precious moisture evaporates right in front of you?
I'd assumed since it is usually 100cc or so internally it is still cooking.
Yes, I am certainly surprised and relieved! Now I can cut into a loaf freshly out of the oven, guilt-free!!!
Good to know! It’s soooo hard to wait!
But the exposed cut side was ruined, right? You have to waste a slice for the hot bread to be the same?
Now I’m in trouble because my wife always asks for a hot slice and I’ve dogmatically refused!
😂
I AM surprised! Even though I have believed it's better to wait to cut bread until it's cool, I confess I sometimes succumb to temptation and cut it warm. But I don't have a cool bread slicer like yours, and with just a bread knife I do find the bread is harder to slice when it's warm. It tends to squish down more and I find it hard to get the knife to bite without deforming the loaf a little bit.
I have had the same experience
I bake for 50 minutes with my loaves. I am thinking baking time could be a factor here 😊
I love your channel and your videos (and your insights). I make your whole grain sourdough einkorn and your whole grain sourdough spelt loaves and they comes out perfect every time. They changed my life and my success with whole grain loaves. Thank you thank you thank you!
I'd always wondered about many of these sourdough bread "rules." I've been baking sourdough now since 2020, and I've found that many of these "rules" don't hold any water (as the saying goes). I've found that bread is very forgiving overall. The yeast just wants to eat, and you have to let it have it's fill. That is the only hard rule I've found. You can vary the fermentation (up to a point), hydration, knead or not, when to add salt, autolyse, and so on. Since I don't really want huge open crumb, I don't stress over the oven spring, I just have to make sure the dough is cooked thru. I've just started using a temperature probe during baking to make sure that the bread is baked completely. I've been told to look for an internal temp of 190 degrees F / 88 degrees C. Don't know if this one is a myth yet or not. Might be worth an experiment?
Sune, I've been making yeasted loaves lately, and I've been doing the exact same thing as with sourdough and cooling it completely before cutting. What I would be curious to know is if you can cut a yeasted loaf before it is cooled all the way or if my Mom is full of bologna when she says to just cut into it warm out of the oven. Btw, my Mom is rarely full of bologna. She's usually right.
We always learn something and Thank You for sharing!
Pretty sure you’re my husband’s new favorite person! I’m constantly making him wait to cut bread. No more.
Thank you for doing this!!! My husband will be so happy to hear this! 😅
I more frequently heard not cut hot because it would smash the crumb, at least that first sliced one.
Didn't see any of that in your 80% H loaves BUT I did find it better to not cut 90+H Focaccio till an hour latter.
Nice video !
Shared this video with my family a there is no waiting anymore once my bread leaves the oven: Thank you for busting this myth scientifically!
Thank you for this! This is the best experiment…of all the ones you have done this has made me the happiest! Bread out of the oven with butter that melts is soooo good. When we were kids we used to go to the bakery at the time bread came out and it was still hot and we are it on the way home! It was so fantastic! Now I need to know why everyone said that! I thought it had to do with the structure and getting gummy.but you did not detect that.
That's amazing! Thank you 😊
I have cut my loaves when they are still warm and they are gummy. Maybe they would have been gummy when they cooed off? Probably.
You mean they are gummy when cut straight out of the oven? Or that every slice throughout the bread is gummy, no matter when a slice is cut, as long as the first slice was cut while the bread was still hot?
He didn't taste the hot bread when he first cut it, so this bread slice could very well have been gummy.
@lyn1896 I cut the whole loaf while it was still warm. The whole loaf was gummy. I don't do that anymore, and I haven't had it happen again.
@@lindagordon2955 I'm pretty sure they are always gummy when eaten while still hot. I guess some people like that?
Great video, new info.
This is a welcome finding, though I’ve been cutting fresh bread before completely cooling for nearly 50 years. The first slices that melt the butter are always the best.
I so totally agree…nothing better than bread so hot that it melts the butter!
My only problem although the initial cut was as your test specified, the subsequent "testing" was done the next day when all the breads had the same time to cool. Question were these breads wrapped in plastic or placed in a container overnight or just left on the counter? Thanks for the video.
They were left on a cutting board with the sliced side downwards. The point was to test if cutting it early destroys the bread, which is what people tell you 😊
Would it be possible to repeat this experiment with yeast bread rather than sourdough bread?
@@skapur the absolute BEST time to eat commercial yeast bread is hot out of the oven with butter and cheese 🤤
I'm not surprised. It happens to me every time. But when the bread is cut right out of the oven, it is only the cut surface that dries and gets hard. Putting the cut sides of the bread together, preserves the cut sides better.
Thank you. I wonder if Gluten Free bread is the same? I have recently had to go GF because my husband has to due to Celiac disease. That saddens me since I loved my Gluten laden sourdough bread, rolls and cinnamon rolls. I always cut my bread while it's hot or warm even though instructions say not to.
Thanks for doing this experiment. I belong to a few Facebook sourdough groups, and they constantly say that if you cut the bread straight from the oven, your loaf will be gummy. You blew that so-called fact right out of the water!
I have heard the same!
I was pretty surprised.
I'm a little interested to know what the quality of the bread is right out of the oven versus after having let it rest for immediate consumption. But if I'm being honest if I'm slicing my bread right out of the oven, I'm doing it for the instant gratification and the butter.
The butter…yes!
My wife likes warm bread, and so do I! Thanks for removing my guilt over cutting early. But one question. A short cooking time may leave the centre to finish cooking after being taken out if it's uncut - is this true or does cooking stop when removed from the oven.
Thank you.
wow I googled this question last night and today this video pops on my feed.
I find it harder to cut slices on a fresh baked loaf than one which has cooled. The steamy hot loaf grabs the knife and has a softer element which makes thinner slices difficult to cut
Here’s a side question: I’m trying to get my head around the fact that you did no stretch/folds before sending it to ferment. How can this be?
very interesting, thank you..the link for "This video as an article" is not working
My spouse will be SO happy to hear this. I used to wait and more recently I've given in to his begging. Lol. We'll never wait again. I guess it's not like a good steak or roast!
Oh Great Myth Buster of Bread we all thank you! My family thanks you too because now I won’t make them wait.😂
Good to know I don't have to wait til it's fully cooled down! Who doesn't love warm, freshly baked bread? Although I'll probably let it still cool a bit, so I don't burn my hands trying to slice it...
Thank you for the wonderful surprise I and husband thanks you!
You did it again
I have ruined loaves by cutting them in the first twenty minutes - the whole loaf turns gummy and sticky. I suspect that if I had a razor-sharp bread knife like Sune's, that probably wouldn't happen.
In other words, it's not that opening hot bread makes it gummy, it's squishing hot bread with a bread knife that makes it gummy.
Interesting! It never occurred to me that my bread might dry out sooner. I was more concerned with a gummy texture. Looks like that myth was busted, too!
Yes, a LARGE victory for my wife!
I AM surprised!
I would think the answer depends on how soon the bread is going to be consumed. If the bread will be consumed immediately then cutting into it fresh out of the oven can't possibly cause it to dry out too quickly. If you're not going to consume it immediately, why are you making it? 😃
Does anyone cut their loaf of bread fresh out of the oven without eating it warm?
So nice to know that I'm not actually doing it wrong. :)
Thanks for sharing this experiment. With all respect, it is clearly shown that the bread that was cut after cooling completely is much better in the crumb. The holes were evenly distributed, because the steam took its time to cool. All other 3 loaves are having uneven distribution and some large holes. For the moisture, you have better idea because you have tasted all of them.
Crumb develompent does not happen after cooking....
Wow. I feel so robbed! Lol
My better half insists on cutting the bread straight from the oven. Since it's a 50% ww sandwich loaf, I'm more concerned about it getting compacted while holding it still. I have given up protesting, though. An addict's going to do what an addicts going to do. Lol
Foodgeek is the new Mythbuster?
🤣
I did one time have Adam Savage’s Tested channel comment on a video 😁
I am so happy to see your face. 😂
I thought that cutting before it cools down is not recommended due to possible crumb damage, rather than quick drying. Also, at least for the yeast bread, it is not gastric-friendly to eat it warm, as I heard from my elder relatives, not sure if it's true)
No gluten development? Am I not keeping up?
i dont see this as a good comparison when 2 of the breads were underfermented shown by the large crators and tunneling which tend to make the crumb gummy (more moisture) , i love your videos but this one is not up to your usual standards
Sune...the issue is ability to cut the bread in slices! You used an electric slicer. I have good bread knives. I have hand held electric bread knives. My problem is the sandwich slice with hot or warm bread with any artisan bread recipe similar to yours. I've tried variety of bake offs. But issue is slicing a full sandwich slice more than worry about early drying out. Now if I cut in half the slice that half sideways, it is fine for thicker slices for a meal. But if I want to slice up for my family to take home in nice full slices. It's a chore. I can do so better if bread is cool and thinner. 😢.
Your links are infected.
Oh damn, i would never had guessed this outcome, but theres a caveat, it depends on wheter or not the bread will be consumed
Tak for the test, very informative as allways
you only "opened" the loafs, i tried slicing 1 loaf still warm and my bread slicer got a sticky mess, the blade, the guard...
i make a 1kg loaf at a time, wait till @room temp, slice, keep the small slices (that will be eaten in lesse than 24h) and freeze the rest, we only eat 2 slices a day, toasted
To leave bread out for more than 2 days will "ruin it"