March 20, 2024 - 9:41am
Challanger bread recipe question
Hi,
I tried baking walnut cranberries recipe (By Challenger Bread) but I am confused about the steps, and I wish I asked here beofre.
They say Benchrest for an hour and then the talk about bulk fermantation. I am a new baker and I though that benchrest is one step before shaping.
ANother issue is that after I add the nuts and cranberries, the dough becomes difficult to handle and it seems like it does not rise enough.
They do mention bulk fermantation of 4-6 hours. I know for sure that my starter is ready to use, and my home tempertaure is 78( I leave it in the microwave on top of teh fridge so it is warm)
Any idea or comments about this recipe?
Thank you!!
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Don't worry about the terminology. Just think of a bench rest as any period where the dough sits undisturbed non the workbench.
Inclusions like those are always going to make a batch of dough harder to work with and probably reduce its rising ability. It's normal and expected.
You don't say how long your bulk fermentation took, but any numbers you see are only guides, not hard and fast rules. Your kitchen temperature is on the high side of what many people would consider "room temperature" and that would tend to speed up the development of your dough. But the dough development depends on many factors, including your starter and the flour being used, that you just have to expect differences from recipes. Usually you will find consistency when you repeat a recipe in your home, with the starter prepared in a consistent way, with the same temperatures.
The recipe itself looks pretty standard, except that these kind of inclusions make the work a little harder.
Thank you! I use King Arthur bread flour. I strated making the dough at 2:30 so by 11:00 I decided it is time to put it in the fridge. The dough looked great before I added the inclusion but then didn't rise much..First bake was too dense...
That does seem like a long time to finish bulk fermentation in the circumstances. How long after mixing did you add the inclusions? It's possible that all the yeast nutrients in the flour had been used up by that time. That would be unusual, but maybe...
It's also conceivable that one or another of the inclusions had been treated with some kind of antimicrobial that inactivated the yeast. I have read that sulphur-treated apricots can have that effect (though I have never tried it myself).
I followed the instructions on teh recipe. SOabout two hours after i mixed everything
It won't rise much, if at all., in the fridge. Enjoy!