April 25, 2018 - 10:14am
A Hello and A Question About The Fridge
First of all, appreciate all I have learned on this site from some very old and new posts--I have had decent results with my sourdough with only 1 bad batch that I have yet to determine the culprit
My normal routine would be to mix, stretch and fold during bulk ferment, shape and put in the fridge to bake later----Is it OK to basically mix, steratch and fold during bulk ferment....finish the ferment in the fridge , remove from fridge, divide and shape...pop back in the fridge to bake later??? or once its out of the fridge,not OK to go back in?
Thanks In Advance
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A few pictures- The failed loaf is obvious 1000 Grams Flour 200 Grams Starter @ 100% 750 Grams water 20 Grams salt
today as we ran out of bread and I have a number of things to do away from home. I got the Levain made this morning, let it rise while I was off at Pilates and my nail appointment, milled the flour when I got home and did a 40 minutes autolyse. I mixed up the dough and I am going to get 3 sets of folds in before going out to dinner. The dough is going in the fridge while I am gone and then I will continue the bulk ferment when I get back. I am hoping that it will be done by bedtime so I can put it back in the fridge and bake it in the morning. We will see what happens.
There is nothing wrong with doing the bulk ferment in the fridge, take out of the fridge, divide - preshape, then shape, then put back in the fridge for final proof. It actually offers some advantages, you will develop more flavor during the final proof in the fridge than you work in a short room temp final proof, and it will be easier to score when it comes out of the fridge. The one thing to be careful about is that when you take it out of the fridge after the bulk ferment, most bakers suggest you preshape, then let it rest - 20 to 30 minutes is common to let the dough relax, then final shape before you put it in the fridge for final proof. Your loaves look great on the outside, the one fail looks like a shaping issue - it looks to me like you did not degas enough when you went from bulk ferment to shaping.