October 11, 2010 - 6:22am
Failing poke test - am I under or over fermenting?
My 123 sourdough continues to be a wonderful bread but fails the poke test. The dough is bulk fermented at 25C for about 4 hours and then is shaped and rises again for another 1 to 1½ hours. When poking it before putting into the oven, it bounces back immediately.
Am I underproofing? Overproofing? The bread is really good (to me), what characteristics can I expect to see if/when I get the poke test to pass?
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You are leaving out a lot of crucial details. You haven't told us how it comes out of the oven, what it looks like and feels like after it has risen. Has it doubled? Tripled?
Whats the recipe? [im not going to look it up for you]
How healthy is your starter?
How's the oven spring? Do the cuts open up well? How's the crumb?
A little more effort, please?
1-2-3 sourdough meaning 1 part starter (I only have my own to go on but it seems vigorous: feeds well, grows well, raises bread well), 2 parts water, 3 parts flour (10% protein organic white - I'm in Europe so this is it). 2% salt. Altogether that means a 71% hydration dough.
e.g., 175 g Starter, 350g water, 525g flour, 11g salt.
10-20 min autolyse, 4 Stretch & Fold with 10/15 min intervals on an oiled counter top, 4 hour bulk ferment at 25C during which I let it go to double or perhaps a little more than double. (Once I accidentally let it go more than double and the resultant bread looked amazing). Shape and final shaping rise for about an hour (a little more) also at 25C. Batard shape with and no pan.
Hot oven (250C) on a baking stone with a cup of steam. Oven spring is massive. The bread doubles. Slashes never stay deep unless I get a nice angle in them. Great crumb, great holes, great crackly deep crust.
Like many of you (us), I only have books and forums like this to go on. My bread is fine (my wife loves it and my friends like my gifts) - I'm just wondering where I can improve. My bread definately 'fails' the poke test and I wonder what it would be like if it didn't.
I'm hesitant to let it proof more - like I said it does double (if not more) and I don't want to jeapordize the huge oven spring.
Thoughts?
Why not mix up a test loaf, and do all the same as now, except allow the proof to go on long enough to pass the poke test? At the cost of less than a dollar, it's better to find out than to fret about it.
cheers,
gary
I may do so but thought that some of the folks on this forum may have been able to spot over proofing or underproofing just from the description.
We've just got our second kid and I'm finding myself very time poor. I don't want 'easy answers' but I do acknowledge that with only books and forums like this, it is hard for us to share knowledge.
If I worked in a bakery or studied baking (or met a bread book author) then it would be so easy to ask these questions. Now I need to rely on my own (in)experience and another 7 day cycle.
I do appreciate your comment, and the 'try it yourself' refrain is a good one (one that I want my kids to learn too) ... I just hoped to take advantage of the speed of the internet instead of the speed of sourdough! :)
Thank you all!
Sounds underproofed, based on the poke test. If it's not exploding all over the place and coming out all weird shaped, and if the crust seems to be the way you want it, I wouldn't worry about it.
It sounds underproofed to me - because it doesn't hold indent. Play with it leave it out longer & see if you are happier with flavor, shape, crust & crumb. I find if I let my loaves rise until they pass the test I get a better loaf. I haven't made the sourdough 1-2-3 recipe - yet so I don't know how long it is supposed to bulk ferment & at what temp- that might be an issue also...
good luck!
Margie
I find that when I first tried using different 'rules' with my poke test, I got better results. I used to poke until the indent stayed in the shaped bread, but as a result my oven spring lacked and also my crust color.
When I poke and it slowly follows my finger back to its original shape I bake it. I do this because my last batch of Hamelman's Jewish sour rye.
I underproofed it, and tested a finger test beforehand. I knew it wasn't passing what I deemed my 'characteristics' of being ready to bake, but when I baked it I had a ridiculous grigne and gigantic oven spring and a spectacular crust that held VERY well. I decided this is how I was going to try it from now on.
Find your own way to get the best results and stay with it.