Hey guys. I've been making Bouabsa's baguettes but having a problem with the loaves not rising well. The yeast is added the first day, then it's supposed to rise in the fridge. My dough does not rise, and when I shape it it also does not rise. I get minimal oven spring as well. The final baguette is rather squarish in circumference, instead of a roundish shape. I get awesome open crumb and crunchy crust, tastes great, but it's the lack of rising that I've been wrestling with lately. It seems like the yeast dies in the fridge. Any thoughts?

ps, also have a hard time scoring, which others on this forum say might be due to over proofing. So if I let it rise longer out of the fridge might make the scoring problem worse?

Lately I have been baking from Tartine Bread and it has been mostly hits with a few misses. Chad Roberston seems to contradict himself a few times and leave some things unclear. These are my questions/concerns:

1) Sometimes my loaves bake up seemingly baked through, but gummy, wet, and unpleasantly/excessively chewy on the inside. My loaves often experience a cold retardation for about 18 hours. Could this be because of increased enzyme activity over this period of time?

2) I was reading an article in Cooks Illustrated about New York style pizza, and the author claimed that a cold bulk fermentation would result in no CO2 pockets in the dough. Is this statement correct; I have been considering a cold bulk fermentation overnight (without stretch and folds) then shaping in the morning and either allowing to rise at room temp until fully proofed or allow to rise for an hour and then put it in the fridge until dinner (I KNOW! I'm not supposed to be eaten hot; but it's SO GOOD!) Might I also put it in the refridgerator to rise, still cold?

3) What about a cold, overnight autolyse. Or would this, again prove to initiate too much enzyme activity and perhaps use too much of the yeast's resources?

Thank you bread experts!

I have a question about cold rising...

I use a basic baguette recipe frequently with consistent results...  good crust, great crumb and flavor...  My question is, what is the best way to do a cold rise?  With my schedule, I either have to keep my baking for the weekends or eat late to have fresh bread after work.  I'd like to know if anyone has experience with doing the first rise as normal (room temperature, about 75 deg, 2 hours), shaping the loaves (two baguettes in baguette trays) and allowing the loaves to rise in the fridge for 12-18 hours so that I can bring them back to ambient temperature and bake when I get home from work...

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Thanks - Kate