Fridge proving?
Hi
I'm making a simple white loaf from James Morton's excellent book, Brilliant Bread. This is the recipe:
500g strong white flour
One 7g sachet instant yeast
10g table salt
350g of tepid water
I've mixed all the flour, salt, yeast and water together, left it alone to absorb into the dough after given it a few turns in the bowl. I let it rise for an hour and placed it in the fridge. Tomorrow should I just remove it from the fridge when I get up and let it come to room temperature, shape it, let it rise again and bake?
I wanted to use the fridge so I can have bread ready to bake when I want it rather than spending three hours indoors waiting around when I'm busy.
Did I put it in the fridge at the right time or should this have been after the second rise? Any tips on bread baking for busy people?
Any help would be gladly received.
Thank you
Hairybaker
People put dough in the fridge at various stages, depending on the recipe and what suits them and their timing. I like to retard mine after shaping, then they are good to bake whenever I want. But lots choose to retard before shaping.
The fridge is the friend of busy people. Many doughs will sit happily in the fridge for not just hours, but days.
One tip for busy people is simply to make double quantity of the dough, and save half of the dough in the fridge to make pizza later in the week. You can have fresh, home made pizza on the table within half an hour of getting home.
You might also like some of the no knead recipes, have a search on here.
Thanks for the reply. It rose considerably in the fridge so I knocked it down and formed it as a loaf. Then I had a gut feeling the bread would fail so I divided it up into four and made a quick tomato sauce with tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic (a tonne) and oregano. I'll add onion to the pizzas when I bake them.
.... if you're going for a longer, slower fermentation (first rise), you can also get away with less yeast than you've listed in your formula (as you saw from the considerable growth in the fridge).
When I do an overnight (7-10 hours) ferment in the fridge, for example, I would use as little as 2/3 gram of instant yeast, and get a good result.
If you're happy with your bread as is, mission accomplished. If you want to experiment with longer-and-slower, give it a go with less yeast.
Good luck!
Tony