This one was saved from the fridge...thoughts on retarding temps...
I thought this might we useful for people who like me suffer from a 'too warm' fridge and by accident overproof their loaves in the fridge or think about experimenting at proofing their loaves at warmer temperatures when retarding...
This loaf was saved at the last minute after just 3 hours in the fridge at 50C... I turned my fridge as low as possible on purpose to see how 'warm' it can get and also put it in the warmest part of the fridge...(don't worry I did not spoil any of my food!!!!!)
So...I think it will be time for a new fridge soon or really I have to ramp it up to colder temps....Ha, Ha
However, as I am still contemplating solutions for better retarding than a totally unreliable fridge it will be either a wine cooler (which often start at 5C and go up so this explains my experiment) or a small freezer a la Maurizio's Fresh Loaf solution with a digital temp controller as space is my issue.....
This is a loaf based on Trevor's stiff dough recipe for open crumb with just a little bit more water...and 71% hydration
436g white strong bread flour
24g wholehwheat
320g water
50g leaven (100%)
2 folds (using coiling as termed by Trevor) after 1 hour and 1 1/2 only... and then after end of bulk at 3 1/2 hours when taking dough out of container...and the dough rose approx. 40%-50% and 20 min bench rest before final shaping and then in my warm, proofer fridge! I had to score really thinly as I thought it was overproofed already but boy I did get a good rise...although scoring is still not great.....and Barney agrees.....:D
You must be quite happy with that. Crumb looks amazing. I know I saw a video of Trevor's coiling technique, but am having a senior moment and can't remember where (actually, it might have been one of your posts). Could you point me back in the right direction?
Enjoy!
Carole
is used by many artisan bakers as far as I know especially if you have lots of dough to deal with...in a tray...
Trevor shows it for smaller portions on IG...
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bju7aazn27T/?hl=en&taken-by=trevorjaywilson
Thank you and happy baking Carole! Kat
Perfect crumb too. You must (and should) be very pleased.
hester
But that Barney is the real cutie! He has to be way smarter than Lucy by a wide margin and should make one fine Baking Apprentice and taste tester too. Well done and happy baking
and Barney is cute however not the smartest but with a big heart....Well, he is smart enough not to want to be the apprentice's apprentice.....He loves SD which he is not allowed because of the salt! He got used that his walks are now based on bread dough timings... All good fun, Kat
Rather than risking spoilage of the food in your present fridge , you might consider getting a proofing fridge. If you can find a used one, a wine cooling fridge should be able to put the temperature right in the sweet spot for your dough. Should that seem a little ridiculous, then you might try looking for a used dorm room fridge at the end of a semester at a nearby college or university.
I would not spoil any food and it happened to be quite empty anyway ready for another shopping trip...When I was a student my dad would laugh looking into my fridge and say, "Mice are getting tears into their eyes looking into your fridge"....You are right and looking into better options right now! Kat
but I've had lots of refrigerators in different places in my time... sometimes a good pull out (get the muscle in the family to do it) and cleaning behind the fridge and coils can revive the fridge. A good dusting of the compressor and drip pan helps a lot. Just don't do it before cooking or around mealtimes. Lol !!!
as I thought it looked a bit dusty at the back! ha, ha...
Whenever, a bake does not go well I started to vent my frustration in tidying up and that might we be a good project to channel my energy in a 'productive' way after a bake gone wrong..... :D
Here was the tidy up those nightmare drawers...when I overproofed loaf... Kat
I got some of those too! The hardware sneaks into the kitchen and soon takes over. They do breed in there too!
Ever see that kitchen drawer scene in the alien film "Evolution?" The one where the little monster comes out of the broom closet and drawers are opened to find a weapon.
in my house! You make me laugh rather than cry thinking how many spoilt bakes are needed to tidy up what is inside those..........:D Kat
lovely crumb. had to laugh at the hardware cleanout, I have a heap of that too - can’t thew it out, it might come in handy “one day”, lol.
Would never have thought about dusting off the back of the fridge, must go and do that, thanks for the idea minioven!
bake happy Kat!
Leslie
and Pat gets terrified when I get in that 'clear out' mood! He was not convinced that clearing behind the fridge would be any good, so perfect excuse for one job less! :D Kat