The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Proofing not proofing much

kensbread01's picture
kensbread01

Proofing not proofing much

I mixed up some dough last night, mostly just KA bread flour and freshly milled Spelt grain.  60% BF and 40% Spelt.  I used my wild yeast starter, added some honey and diastatic Malt... left in garage overnight (39 F.) for retarding dough after a good hour or two of autolysing.   This morning I noticed the bread did not move much.. hardly any bubbles forming.  So, I heated up the oven (150 F.) and let it sit there for about 1/2 hour then let it all sit in sun.  Still not proofing much.  Not sure what to do.   Can I add some dry yeast now?  Perhaps I killed off the yeast in the oven but I doubt it.  The dough was cold when I put it in and it did not stay in too long.

Any suggestions?  How can I salvage this dough?   If I do nothing and it does not rise, I feel I have to add dry yeast or this becomes nothing but a trip to the trash.  It's been at room temperature for about 3 hours now.

bread.on.beard's picture
bread.on.beard

I'm fairly new at SD, and not too comfortable on giving advice when I usually need advice, but since you are searching for an immediate answer, I thought I would offer some suggestions.  If nothing else, you could salvage the dough by refrigerating it.  Then later, take pieces of it to use as a pre-ferment of sorts.  Since it has spelt in it, I think you could keep it refrigerated for at least a couple of days before it would degrade beyond its "sell by" date.  

Also, there may be nothing wrong with it.  I have found similar looking sourdough dough at the end of its final proof that looked "dead" to me when I expected it to look puffy and ready to bake.  I baked them anyway expecting "fails" only to be surprised with a fairly tasty loaf.   The look of sourdough still baffles me at times.  I can't always tell what it's up to by looking at it.

 

WoodenSpoon's picture
WoodenSpoon

I think you should shape it and proof it and bake it. 

kensbread01's picture
kensbread01

I left the dough sit out all day and it doubled in size.  That was yesterday.  Did not have time in the day to make the bread, so I put out in garage again to get a second bulk rise.  Its doing a final rise this morning and I will put in oven later today.  I guess we'll see what happens.  Thanks for all the input.  btw:  I did not add any yeast, however I rolled in some raisins and walnuts to give it some more taste.

WoodenSpoon's picture
WoodenSpoon

Is it moving at all at this point? That 150 degree half hour seems like the biggest concern.

kensbread01's picture
kensbread01

considering it was bulked risen for over 40 hours.  I did a final rise in microwave "final proofing" with some hot water.   Not overflowing the banneton, but has some rise to it.  I did a number of folds before putting to final rise.  Bread's in over now, I'll find out in about 5 minutes how much it rose in the over when I take the lid off the Dutch Oven.  Hydration level was 75% for those wanting to know.

WoodenSpoon's picture
WoodenSpoon

make sure you post some photos now, ya hear?

kensbread01's picture
kensbread01

and tasted great.  I did not get a huge spring in the oven, but what the heck!  I will try and post some pics later today.  Thanks for all your suggestions.

 

Kenny

kensbread01's picture
kensbread01

The bread was only 3.5 inches tall, kinda small for a 600 gm loaf.

 

WoodenSpoon's picture
WoodenSpoon

Looks nice though! great salvage!