Work out oven spring estimate instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.
Oven spring is the volume gain during the first minutes of baking, driven by gas expansion, carbon dioxide coming out of solution, ethanol and water vaporising, and a final burst of yeast activity before it dies. Specific volume — millilitres per gram of baked loaf — is the standard quality index, typically 4-6 mL/g for a good open loaf.
Oven spring
Oven spring % = (baked volume - proofed volume) x 100 / proofed volume
Specific volume
Specific volume = baked volume / baked weight
Gluten strength and extensibility, the amount of gas already generated, and crust setting. Once the crust sets, expansion stops, which is why steam early in the bake extends spring.
The gluten network is already at its extensibility limit and the gas cells have coalesced, so there is no reserve capacity to expand and the structure fails instead.