Bread & dough / GUIDE 04

Why Your Bread Has Huge, Uneven Holes

A few large holes may be normal. A tunnel under the crust or dense dough around a cavity tells a different story.

Rosu2 min readPractical troubleshooting

What can I do now? ↓

Your Bread Has Huge, Uneven Holes — A visual reference for this guide. Photographs illustrate the topic; they are not a documented before-and-after test.

01 / READ THE SIGNS

Start with what you can observe.

Look for the pattern that matches your result before changing the recipe.

An open crumb throughout: this may be the intended style.
One long cavity near a fold: flour or trapped air may have prevented layers from joining.
Large holes surrounded by dense crumb: underfermentation is one possible cause.

02 / RIGHT NOW

Can you save this batch?

The baked structure cannot be redistributed. Use slices with holes for toast or tear the loaf into pieces for soup. For the next batch, photograph the cut face and note whether cavities follow a shaping seam; that is more useful than simply shortening every rise.

03 / THE NEXT ATTEMPT

Make the change that matters.

Let bulk fermentation reach the recipe's stated cues before shaping.
For a fine sandwich crumb, gently redistribute large bubbles and shape with even tension.
Brush away excess flour on surfaces that need to seal together.

04 / A LITTLE UNDERSTANDING

What's happening underneath.

Gas cells grow during fermentation and baking. Their size depends on fermentation, hydration and handling. Aggressive degassing suits some fine-crumb loaves but would destroy the openness deliberately sought in others.

Worth remembering

Do not assume large holes always mean overproofing.

05 / ONE GOOD QUESTION

Should I punch down sourdough?

Use the handling appropriate to the loaf. Gentle shaping often suits open-crumb sourdough; a sandwich loaf may need more deliberate redistribution of gas.

06 / KEEP READING