How to Fix Undercooked Bread

As a home baker, it can be discouraging when your bread turns out doughy instead of tasty – yet it’s essential not to give up. 

There are a few steps you can take to fix undercooked bread and turn it into something worth eating. Continue reading to gain knowledge about ensuring it will bake correctly the next time around.

Check the Thermometer 

Home chefs often struggle to know when their bread is done baking. Even when following all directions of their recipe exactly, many end up with undercooked or burnt loaves if they don’t know when the time has come to check their bread’s progress.

Checking the internal temperature of bread to ensure it has reached perfection requires using an instant-read thermometer, with its probe placed into the thickest part (usually at its center) before waiting a few seconds to see the reading on screen.

If the temperature reading falls between 190 and 210, your bread is fully cooked; otherwise it needs more baking time before it’s fully baked. If it falls below that mark, however, additional steps will need to be taken such as rebaking it.

As another way of checking whether your bread is fully baked, tapping its base may provide another indicator. If a firm tap results in an audible hollow sound then the loaf is fully done.

People who bake bread for their families often use a thermometer to check the internal temperature of their bread, providing an inexpensive and simple method to determine when it has finished baking.

Thermometers can be extremely beneficial in keeping track of the exact temperature of your bread throughout its baking process – this ensures it doesn’t overdo it and become dry or overdone.

There are various factors that could cause bread to be undercooked, with an oven thermostat malfunction being one of the primary contributors.

An oven thermometer can also help you monitor its temperature, providing invaluable assistance when baking bread properly.

Undercooked bread can not only waste your money and be unhealthy to consume, but it may be downright dangerous! This is particularly true if the loaf contains eggs or flour as these ingredients contain bacteria that could potentially pose a threat if consumed raw.

Check the Dough 

If your dough has not had sufficient time to proof, it may not rise properly and come out of the oven undercooked – not an ideal way to enjoy freshly-baked bread!

Now is a great time to ensure your dough has enough time to rise before placing it in the oven – especially important if making homemade bread, which takes much longer to proof in an oven than commercial versions do.

An easy and quick test you can perform to check the consistency of dough is to poke it with your finger. Ideally, it should feel somewhat springy when touched and spring back when poked.

Examine the dough carefully for any signs of holes. These could indicate that yeast has not had sufficient time to produce CO2, necessary to help the dough proof properly.

Check your bread for an even texture by tapping its bottom. This will provide an indicator as to when your loaf of bread has reached the right point in baking.

One simple test for undercooked bread is tasting it. If it tastes too sweet, that could indicate an issue such as too much added sugar to the recipe or too little water called for by it.

If the crust of your bread is too soft and lacks an evenly dark brown hue, it may have been undercooked. Without being baked to its core, parts may remain sticky or have uneven textures which affect its consistency and make for an uneven eating experience.

If you find that any of these issues arise during baking, be sure to double-check the temperature of the dough! A loaf of bread should have an internal temperature between 90 to 99C or 200-210F – this temperature range works best with hard and crusty types of bread while not suitable for soft varieties of breads.

Undercooked bread containing raw flour and eggs should be avoided to prevent potential foodborne illness from bacteria present in these ingredients. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control has investigated several outbreaks where flour or cake mixes containing E. coli were discovered; many products from these recalls have since been recalled by manufacturers.

Check the Temperature of the Oven 

Undercooked bread often results from an oven that is set too low, or not at the appropriate temperature. Without using an accurate thermometer, it can be hard to know the optimal cooking temperature; so, before baking any foods in your oven, be sure to test its temperature first.

If you don’t own a thermometer, use visual cues or the tap test to gauge whether your bread is done. Tap its bottom and sides; if a hollow sound after an audible thud appears after each tap, it is safe for consumption.

However, this method of testing isn’t exact and it can be hard to gauge how much time has elapsed in your oven. With a thermometer handy, however, this task becomes much simpler; simply insert it into the bread and it should read between 190 – 210 deg F (88- 99deg C).

Your oven’s performance can also be gauged by monitoring how closely its actual temperature matches what’s being set on its dial. If temperatures are either too high or too low, adjustments may need to be made in order to achieve an accurate reading.

Some ovens provide an easy calibration tool that makes changing temperature manually simpler, making it easier to determine its true temperature for optimal cooking results.

An oven temperature conversion chart will enable you to easily convert between Celsius, Fahrenheit and gas marks settings in an instant! Plus, its free download will make life much simpler in the kitchen!

Undercooked bread can be both unpleasant and potentially hazardous to consume. Although you might be able to salvage its exterior by reheating, eating undercooked bread could contain harmful bacteria which could pose health hazards – this is especially dangerous when made with flour and eggs that may become dangerously undercooked when exposed to heat or humidity.

Check the Bread 

When baking bread, it is crucial that you regularly check it to ensure it has baked evenly and successfully. No matter if it’s quick and simple banana or buttermilk bread or something more complex like sourdough; knowing when your loaf has finished is vitally important!

Checking bread for doneness is best done using an instant-read thermometer, which should read between 190 to 210deg Fahrenheit (88 and 99deg Celsius). This varies depending on what kind of loaf is being baked.

As another way of testing whether bread has overcooked, another method to detect underdone bread involves giving its bottom a hard tap with your fingernail. While this might sound weird, this method provides an accurate method for checking whether your loaf has reached perfection.

Once your bread has been thumped at its base, allow it to cool for several minutes before gently tapping its interior near its center to ensure that all parts of the dough have been adequately cooked.

If the inside of your bread is still raw, it may have doughy areas or spots that look wet and gooey. In such instances, it likely hasn’t fully baked yet and should go back in for several more minutes in order to achieve optimal results.

Undercooked bread often results from improper temperature calibration in your oven, either due to lack of recalibration or not using a food-grade thermometer.

Underdone bread can affect all varieties, but is particularly problematic with soft and spongy varieties like dinner rolls and baguettes. If this happens to you, try decreasing your oven’s temperature slightly next time to see if that helps.

One thing you should try and avoid doing is peeking in on the oven every five minutes or so, as doing this introduces room-temperature air that could change its temperature and lead to undercooked bread.