July 26, 2017 - 5:52pm
Two questions about baking straight from the fridge
Hi, I'm baking two sourdough loaves after an overnight proof in the fridge. My plan is to remove one from the fridge, transfer it to a peel, score it, cover it with a stainless steel bowl, and then slide it right onto the hot stone in a 450 dF oven. Here are my questions:
- How much additional time should I expect to bake each loaf given that they are starting cold?
- From what I understand, you should uncover a baking loaf about 20 minutes into the bake. Should that time be adjusted to account for the fact that the dough was cold going into the oven? If so, by about how much?
Thanks so much for any and all answers/suggestions/tips!!
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The dough is going from the fridge into a preheated oven @ 450°F.
It's not like something which is frozen being defrosted at room temperature.
As long as your dough has proved enough in the fridge of course then I think you can bake from cold without straying from the guidelines too much. But you should bake the loaf until you're satisfied that it's done. Always allow for variations even when baking and not necessarily because one is baking a cold/warm dough. Ovens are different too.
I don't change how long the cover is on or the total baking time, but that's me. I haven't seen any differences obvious enough to make me change either one, although I haven't compared side by side or tried to find them.
Your standards may differ, so if you're more discerning, you might notice differences that I haven't. The only way you'll know is to try. If the loaf seems different from usual when you remove the cover and/or the finished product seems different *to you*, you can try changing your timing. But initially, I'd keep it the same and see if there's any "need: to change it.
Thanks for your replies!
For my first loaf, I left the cover on for 25 minutes, then baked an additional 25. It's a really nice color and definitely fully baked, but it did not get a lot of oven spring. That may be because I let the bulk fermentation go a bit long. I was forced to make adjustments to the recipe because I didn't have the amount of starter called for. Also, my starter's new and, while it appeared fully active and ready, it may not have been. The loaves proofed in the fridge for 15 hours. Perhaps that was too long. I'm now bringing the oven back up to temp for the second loaf. Obviously, that loaf will have proofed even longer than the first. If it gets less spring, I'm assuming that will be more evidence that the loaves overproofed. We'll see.
This is the first sourdough I've baked in many years. Lots to brush up on, lots more to learn, lots of practice required.
Here's how they turned out:
First loaf
Second loaf
I find my sweet spot for proofing in the fridge is around 10 hours. That is with 13% prefermented flour and my fridge set at 37 F, So it is pretty cold in there. I am also dealing with around 750 g boules. Hopefully, my comments will help adjust your procedure and timing.
Thanks for the details of your process! I am very new to this and just starting to learn how to judge the timing on the different stages. And, just as importantly, how to make adjustments in the timing as my schedule and/or the environment dictates. My breads were about 950g prior to the bake and about 600g after, if I remember right (I need to get in the habit of taking diligent notes!). The crumb was slightly sour, nicely flavored with a chewy texture. Here's what the second on looked like inside (we ate the first before I thought to photograph the crumb):
but it looks overproofed to me. The huge holes are caused from the gluten matrix collapsing.
As to going from 950 g to 600 g, that is a huge moisture loss. I find that mine lose about 100 g per 750g loaf.
and the smaller ones too to be over proofed. Very round in fact. I think the loaf needed another folding for tightening the skin and reshape followed by a short rise in the banneton or on the counter top. Was a banneton used? Perhaps the dough needed more deflating to pop any large bubbles before shaping and retarding. I don't see over proofing. I do see large gas bubbles and the smaller ones but not many medium sized bubbles evenly distributed.
She has way, way more experience than I do! Thanks for your input, Mini Oven. I learn from you every time you post.
I don't have a banneton, at least not yet, so I used a couple of bowls lined with floured towels to proof in the fridge. If it's at least partially a shaping issue, I am not at all surprised. I need A LOT of practice. Just getting started with this.
The loss seemed excessive to me as well. And I'm sure your right about the overproofing. I'm not sure if bulk fermentation was too long or too much time in the fridge or both. It'll be several days before I can try again.
until you can reliably produce the kind of loaf you want. That way, assuming your room temp is reasonably consistent, you can be fairly confident that any changes in the end product are due to the changes you make in your bulk timing and/or fridge time.
I also suggest you pay attention to how your dough looks and feels each time when it goes into the oven. When you get a good loaf, that's the look and feel you want to aim for next time. In my kitchen, where the temperature can easily vary by a couple of degrees either way and I have only limited control of the humidity, this helps me to be more consistent that if I stuck strictly to using the clock.
All excellent suggestions, thank you! This is a good recipe to practice with, I think. It's the Tartine country bread recipe. It has a few timing issues that I need to figure out how best to adapt to, but I figure that's a good part of the learning process, and I'm definitely looking forward to learning a lot.
I am turning into a very needy newbie! I have just made your sourdough loaf, following your recent post. Now I feel I need some guidance about how to recognise when a loaf is properly cooked. I used 100% wholewheat flour and did the first bulk fermentation overnight in the fridge. Next morning I left the shaped loaf to proof on the bench top. After two hours in a room heated to 70F it had not risen much but it was a bit puffy so I put it into the preheated oven in a cast iron Dutch oven. To my surprise there was good oven spring. Having had past experiences of gumminess when baking for only 45-50 minutes, I left it in the oven for 90 minutes, then a further 20 minutes in a turned-off oven, relying on appearance for this decision. The end result was an improvement on previous efforts, but even after waiting until the next morning to slice, the bread seemed to me to be very moist, rather like the texture of pumpernickel. It's quite ok for toasting but perhaps not for eating untoasted. Does the 100% wholemeal make a difference re time taken to cook and the texture? Crumb slightly more open than previous attempts. Temperature when taken out of the oven was 98.8C. I would be very grateful if you have time to share a little more of your wisdom! ValerieC
Hi, Quite new to baking sourdough and have had mixed results however, one thing that is consistent is the hard crust on the sourdough. I don't care to have a battle with the crust just to get a bite of the bread. What would you folks suggest for a softer crust? Andrew.
a dough that has some milk, oil, butter or other fat in it will tend to have a softer crust as well as a softer crumb. Other ways to get a less crusty loaf include baking at a lower temp and using less steam. You can also brush a bit of milk or butter on the crust after baking. And keeping the loaf in an enclosed container will mean the crust softens for a while as some of the internal moisture moves from the crumb into the crust on its way to escaping.
Sounds strange, but it was my problem. Im pretty newb but after baking 20 flat pancakes, with a layer of enormous holes and poor distribution of it, like your loaves, i decided to change something drastic. i tried changing everything, i thought it was maybe my shaping , over bulk, under bulk, overproof, etc. I had no rise during bulk, at all, even at 10 plus hours, until it turned to sour soup . i got no rise at all so i decided one day to put 3 tblspoons of starter in my leaven instead of just one. If my starter could rise , and not my leaven, i thought maybe my leaven was not strong enough. So i didnt mind if the leaven was a bit vinegary, i mixed with this stronger leaven. BOOM! the dough rised during bulk for the first time in my young sourdough career, About 30 percent. then i did as usual, and the result was a fantastic loaf, and for the first time,oven spring occured. Try strenghtening your starter, feeding more often, or something like that. Everyone was telling me overproofing when my only problem was the starter from the beginning. Before i was using just ready leaven. As soon as it passed float test i mixed the dough, but now i use 1 tbsp but i let it rest for 12 hours so its strong enough. Maybe im not right but if the inoculation is not strong enough in the dough, in my experience, dough turns acid and doesnt rise.