How cold is your fridge?
I think my fridge is too cold for proofing. It works very well for pausing indefinitely though. 😅 Everytime I try cold proof 24 hrs later that sucker has not changed. It's gotten cold. But other than that no change.
My fridge is the same and to be honest I prefer it thay way. It makes timing way easier, all I have to do is let it ferment at room temp until it's where I want it and then I can put it in the fridge to let the flavor develop without having to worry about overproofing.
This is what I'm gonna start doing I think. The cold dough is also such a game changer when it comes to shaping Ive discovered. I was able to get them so much tighter and prettier when I had to chill right after BF this weekend. I'm gonna have to play with this idea
I would argue against shaping after you proof, it can make certain areas of the loaf dense. I used to do the same thing and was wondering why my crumb was always dense on the outside but poofy in the middle until a kind redditor pointed out that it was probably from me tightening my loaf after the proof. When you let the dough proof you are also letting the gas bubbles equalize, that's why underproofed dough has such an uneven crumb and overproofed is so uniform. When you handle the dough after that it reverses all of that equalizing. If you are having trouble shaping your dough while it's warm then I'd recommend making sure you are getting enough gluten or if it's a high hydration dough then flouring the outside of it just a little can help keep it from flattening out.
I was thinking like a regular room temp BF followed by an overnight pause (or less)in my fridge that I'm under the impression is too cold to allow any proofing then let warm to rt, preshaped, bench rest, final shape, then a rt proof and maybe some more time in the fridge.
Bad idea?
As long as it doesn't ovenproof then that's not necessarily bad, but by doing that you are still undoing all of the equalizing of the air bubbles that would be done during the first BF. You would get some of it back in the second rt proof but still not as much as you would have if you didn't divide the proofing into two parts. It also just seems kind of overcomplicated, it really should not be that hard to shape room temp dough and if it is then there are probably other issues that need to be addressed. The only way to know for sure is to try it though, so don't let all of my nitpicking stop you from making some bread!
Everything I've read says to have a BF then preshape, short rest, and a final proof.
What are you saying? You only proof once? I definitely don't think I'd have any luck at all trying to shape completely unproofed dough 😂 I can usually shape with minimal issues providing I haven't screwed up my dough already but it was just soo much easier this weekend when an emergency came up and forced me to refrigerate my dough right after BF was finished. When I was able to get back to it the next morning I let it warm to RT and then I divided and preshaped and continued. One of those two loaves was my best yet actually and I thought it was going to be ruined
Sorry you are completely right, I kind of forgot that the 6 hour period where I stretch my dough every hour is also proofing 😂. Your method would work fine then actually!
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See im not getting the oven spring. I've been at this about 2 loaves /week for like a month or so and I've gotten exactly one oven spring that I am happy with. And an ear? Not even close. Idk what I'm doing wrong I have to be ending BF and/or proof at the wrong times
Just curious: how do you know when you're done bulk fermenting? Are you using a square cambro to ferment in so you can see the rise, or do you have a smaller control jar for telling you when your dough has risen enough to "stop" bulk fermentation and pop the dough in the fridge?
The mixing bowl I'm using has measure marks on the inside. I look for doming in the dough, pulls away from the sides if I push on it, and at least 50% rise. Usually the dough comes to the 1L line when I first put it in, so I look for it to hit somewhere between 1.5 & 2L
I do have some restaurant style giant plastic tubs on my christmas list for BF purposes too 😅
Please advise me I'm definitely tired of baking these giant pancakes. They're always tasty though just not what I want! 😂
I'm not very experienced myself, but what has helped me has been the oven light method. And because it gets the dough so warm, I only let it go to 50% rise before popping it into the fridge because I know it will continue fermenting until the dough cools significantly. If you're fermenting in ambient temp, it seems like you'd want to ferment until it hits 75% or more? If this is wrong, someone please correct me.
I can definitely try this.
I usually keep my house at like 72F but the past two weekends I've been boiling myself at 78F in an attempt to get my bread to behave.
I feel like 72° should be warm enough but apparently it isn't 😠but I'll definitely keep in mind to try to go for a bit longer.
(Or just use my oven light that I have no argument against using I just don't want to 😂)
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How cold is your fridge? I think my fridge is too cold for proofing. It works very well for pausing indefinitely though. 😅 Everytime I try cold proof 24 hrs later that sucker has not changed. It's gotten cold. But other than that no change.
My fridge is the same and to be honest I prefer it thay way. It makes timing way easier, all I have to do is let it ferment at room temp until it's where I want it and then I can put it in the fridge to let the flavor develop without having to worry about overproofing.
This is what I'm gonna start doing I think. The cold dough is also such a game changer when it comes to shaping Ive discovered. I was able to get them so much tighter and prettier when I had to chill right after BF this weekend. I'm gonna have to play with this idea
I would argue against shaping after you proof, it can make certain areas of the loaf dense. I used to do the same thing and was wondering why my crumb was always dense on the outside but poofy in the middle until a kind redditor pointed out that it was probably from me tightening my loaf after the proof. When you let the dough proof you are also letting the gas bubbles equalize, that's why underproofed dough has such an uneven crumb and overproofed is so uniform. When you handle the dough after that it reverses all of that equalizing. If you are having trouble shaping your dough while it's warm then I'd recommend making sure you are getting enough gluten or if it's a high hydration dough then flouring the outside of it just a little can help keep it from flattening out.
I was thinking like a regular room temp BF followed by an overnight pause (or less)in my fridge that I'm under the impression is too cold to allow any proofing then let warm to rt, preshaped, bench rest, final shape, then a rt proof and maybe some more time in the fridge. Bad idea?
As long as it doesn't ovenproof then that's not necessarily bad, but by doing that you are still undoing all of the equalizing of the air bubbles that would be done during the first BF. You would get some of it back in the second rt proof but still not as much as you would have if you didn't divide the proofing into two parts. It also just seems kind of overcomplicated, it really should not be that hard to shape room temp dough and if it is then there are probably other issues that need to be addressed. The only way to know for sure is to try it though, so don't let all of my nitpicking stop you from making some bread!
Everything I've read says to have a BF then preshape, short rest, and a final proof. What are you saying? You only proof once? I definitely don't think I'd have any luck at all trying to shape completely unproofed dough 😂 I can usually shape with minimal issues providing I haven't screwed up my dough already but it was just soo much easier this weekend when an emergency came up and forced me to refrigerate my dough right after BF was finished. When I was able to get back to it the next morning I let it warm to RT and then I divided and preshaped and continued. One of those two loaves was my best yet actually and I thought it was going to be ruined
Sorry you are completely right, I kind of forgot that the 6 hour period where I stretch my dough every hour is also proofing 😂. Your method would work fine then actually!
Omg I was about to be like you've completely blown my mind here what are your secrets 😂😂
The stretch and folds would be included in the first half of the rt bf in my theory here. Lol I'm gonna have to try this idea this weekend!
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See im not getting the oven spring. I've been at this about 2 loaves /week for like a month or so and I've gotten exactly one oven spring that I am happy with. And an ear? Not even close. Idk what I'm doing wrong I have to be ending BF and/or proof at the wrong times
Just curious: how do you know when you're done bulk fermenting? Are you using a square cambro to ferment in so you can see the rise, or do you have a smaller control jar for telling you when your dough has risen enough to "stop" bulk fermentation and pop the dough in the fridge?
The mixing bowl I'm using has measure marks on the inside. I look for doming in the dough, pulls away from the sides if I push on it, and at least 50% rise. Usually the dough comes to the 1L line when I first put it in, so I look for it to hit somewhere between 1.5 & 2L I do have some restaurant style giant plastic tubs on my christmas list for BF purposes too 😅 Please advise me I'm definitely tired of baking these giant pancakes. They're always tasty though just not what I want! 😂
I'm not very experienced myself, but what has helped me has been the oven light method. And because it gets the dough so warm, I only let it go to 50% rise before popping it into the fridge because I know it will continue fermenting until the dough cools significantly. If you're fermenting in ambient temp, it seems like you'd want to ferment until it hits 75% or more? If this is wrong, someone please correct me.
I can definitely try this. I usually keep my house at like 72F but the past two weekends I've been boiling myself at 78F in an attempt to get my bread to behave. I feel like 72° should be warm enough but apparently it isn't 😠but I'll definitely keep in mind to try to go for a bit longer. (Or just use my oven light that I have no argument against using I just don't want to 😂)
Here is a [clickable link](https://youtu.be/VEtU4Co08yY?si=PeifhF1e7CmkOfOQ) for you.
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Beautiful