The Fresh Loaf

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SOS!! Gas in the building has been turned off

Cher504's picture
Cher504

SOS!! Gas in the building has been turned off

just as my dough began the bulk ferment! I'm making Eric's favorite rye today. As it turns out, they're doing some (unexpected) work in my apartment building today on the gas lines and it's supposed to be off until 5PM. EEK! 

I began the bulk ferment at 10;20 AM and it's already starting to grow. I put it by an open window hoping to slow things down, but...

(I must learn how to turn the photos around!)

Can anyone advise me if its OK to put this into the refrigerator for several hours? Its got @650g rye sour, 1 tsp instant yeast and around 800g first clear bread flour. It's been fermenting at cool room temp for about 20 min.

 Thanks!!!

Cherie

 

AbeNW11's picture
AbeNW11 (not verified)

And time it so you take it out to finish the bulk rise for when the gas comes back on.

 

AbeNW11's picture
AbeNW11 (not verified)

say you've got 3 hours bulk rise at normal room temperature. Putting it in the fridge will slow it down a lot but not completely.

Gas isn't coming back on for 8 hours. So you fall short of 5 hours.

Refrigerate now and check it about 3pm to see how well it's doing in the fridge. If it's still got some way to go then take it out, finish the bulk rise, knock back, shape and final proof ready for baking 5pm onwards.

If it's very close to being ready then leave in till close to 5pm then take out knock back, shape etc.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

in the top of the container and fill with ice and some cold water.  Put a tight twisty on it  and put into the fridge.  The ice will cool it much faster than the air in the fridge.  If you have more ice, make a bowl of ice water big enough to hold the container.   

Oh, I noticed you didn't mention the salt, get the salt into the dough mixture asap.

Cher504's picture
Cher504

For the great ideas - I put the dough in the fridge around 11AM, it's still moving, but slowly, slowly. (The salt was already in - I just forgot to mention B4). I will put some ice packs around the container and cross my fingers....

embth's picture
embth

every time you open the refrigerator door you warm it up in there.  I know how hard it is to stop checking the dough…but don't keep peeking.  : )   I bet this will turn out to be great rye bread!

Cher504's picture
Cher504

Thank you Abe, Mini and embth for getting me through the day - the crisis was averted thanks to you.

As it turned out, the repair guys finished earlier than expected - around 2:30. Yay! I took the icepack-wrapped dough out of the fridge and it reached the double mark pretty quickly. Even got it baked in time for dinner. It turned out fine, no ill-effects that I could discern from the brief cool rest. I'm still working on my shaping skills. One loaf was shaped jelly-roll style and the other one I tried to make into more of a football shape...Not happy with that blowout on the longer loaf, but it still looked fine once it was in slices. Maybe I'm not scoring deeply enough? Or shaping too loose or too tight? I wonder if I could avoid the bursting if I slashed the long way instead of across?

Well thanks again and have a great evening, 

Cheers!

Cherie

AbeNW11's picture
AbeNW11 (not verified)

Good job. Looks delicious. And you probably improved the flavour with retarding the dough a bit.

Bon Appetite.

Cher504's picture
Cher504

It was very tasty indeed - maybe I'll add a couple of hours stint in the fridge to my regular routine for this bread  

Happy baking!

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

A Great save!  

I think the "blow out" is saying it could have risen a little more before baking.  Not a big problem as you see, the loaves still look good and so does the crumb.  I do see some light swirls in the crumb most likely from extra flour used on the work surface.  That will decrease in time as your bench skills grow.  

When the rye amount gets too sticky, I will pour a scant teaspoon of oil in one hand and rub them together then oil up a spot on my counter top, a very thin spot about the size of a baking tray, then work any extra oil into my hands or wipe it off.  Then I use water instead of flour to shape.  I dribble about half a tablespoon around the edge of the bowl and get my scraper moist.  If you haven't tried it, it does take a little practice not to get too much or too little.  Use a flat bowl of tepid water or let the tap dribble. Wet hands alternately and only enough to prevent heavy sticking.  Have fun!  

Cher504's picture
Cher504

     I'll try shaping with oiled hands and a wet spatula next time - instead of dusting flour. I knew that long loaf was not as fully proofed as the first one. I tried to remedy that by putting the fully proofed rounder loaf in the freezer for 10 min, to let the other guy catch up a bit. Maybe I should have left it in the freezer a little longer? Should this kind of dough be left to proof until the finger poke stays indented? I went with it springing back half-way. 

 Well, thanks again for helping me. I'm learning how invaluable trouble-shooting skills are. I'm grateful to have a few more in my toolkit! 
Cher504's picture
Cher504

TIP! not top

;-)