Does anyone have any experience retarding shaped loaves in a temperature-controlled fridge? I have a theory that an second-hand fridge, maintained at 10-12C, will allow me to retard 36 loaves. I've been considering deep plastic pizza dough boxes to hold the brotforms, but I'm concerned that these may not allow sufficiently rapid cooling of the dough. Does anyone have any experience? Educated guesses? Better suggestions?

I'm moving up from a few years of regular home bread baking to very small production (to sell to friends, etc.). I've always preferred the taste and crumb of dough retarded during secondary fermentation (and the schedule control it allows). My best results have been acheived by using an old freezer, hooked up to an eBay temperature controller set to 10-12C for an overnight fermentation (directly after shaping), with the brotforms sealed in ziplocs to prevent excessive drying. My loaves are generally whole grain or 50:50 whole grain:white, scaled to 750g.

I'm considering buying 6 stackable deep pizza dough boxes, which should hold 6 brotforms each, more or less filling a standard fridge. I'm assuming the fridge will be better than the old freezer as there is much more airflow in a fridge. I'm concerned, however, that the dough boxes, which are designed to seal to one another, will insulate the dough too much and prevent sufficient cooling. Pizza dough boxes have the additional benefit for me that they can be used to transport shaped loaves, as I need to move dough to a rented oven until I can build my own WFO (this would be much more difficult if the brotforms were stacked on sheet pans or boards, which I have also considered).

Obviously, in the long term, some sort of retarder that can accept racks would be ideal, but I don't want to spend too much capital on that right now. If someone has a brilliant idea to build a retarder on the cheap in my basement, I'd love to hear about it.

Ok, so here are my bagels, not my first time making them.  I've actually been making bagels for several years now.  I haven't had any complaints about them, in fact, many people say they really like them!  However, I was on a quest to see if I could get more out of my bagels, see if I could make them better.  So, I tried Peter Reinhart's recipe, minus the baking soda in the water on most of the bagels. I did do 2 bagels in the baking soda.  I always thought that having baking soda in the water would make it taste a lot like a pretzel and I don't think that's how a bagel should taste!  Well, I was wrong, well according to my husband :)  Definitely a little tougher crust, in a good way and the malt adds a little but more flavor!  Other than that, they taste just like the bagels I've been making for years. 

But.....I'm not sure that the process I went through makes this bagel any better than the way I've been doing them.  I've been following a very simple recipe, flour, water, yeast, salt and sugar. Let is rise until double, divide into 4 oz pieces, shape, let rest for 20 minutes, boil for a minute each side and bake for 15-20 minutes at 400-425.  If I left the bagels to rise overnight in the fridge, they would turn out the same.  I just don't know if the retarding process is really necessary.  What do you think?

I tried to make a batch of fridge rolls yesterday. They turned out great and moist. I used a couple of leftover potatoes and some cottage cheese.

I used 4 tsp. of my SD starter. The dough was left on the counter for 4 hrs. to rise and then put in the fridge over night.

They look a bit pale to my taste, but I didnt have any eggs.

I know there is a lot of literature out there, including on TFL, but sometimes I feel like the more I know, the less I know :)) so if anyone wants to chime in (the venerable Debra Wink??), please feel free.

I've noticed a change in my starter's behaviour when I refrigerate it for storage. First off, I must say the feeding can be erratic because I do not have the luxury of baking every weekend. So this is not a stable, fed regularly, counter-top one. My method for storing starter in fridge: I make more starter than what I need for baking (usually refreshed twice or more), take sth like 20g, feed it in a 1:1:1 ratio, leave it outside (temp can vary from 25-31 celsius, I know that's a lot of diff but I figure it doesn't matter as much because it will be spending most of its time in the fridge), then in it goes into the fridge for abt a week, sometimes more.

Previously, there would be 2-3 days when nothing seems to be happening. Then it starts growing ever so slowly but steadily, to almost double the volume, before drooping. The smell will be a pleasant and mild sour. I liked this because it enabled me to stretch out the storage period to roughly a week before its refreshment for baking. All quite neat.

Lately, however, I've noticed that it kicks in very fast. From day 1 in the fridge it starts to grow, but only grows by about a third before it starts to recede and pull back. Also it is almost odourless.

IF, and that's a big if, my understanding is correct, yeast is less affected by cold than bacteria. So is it correct to assume that the yeast is what is propelling the growth, and that somehow the bacteria is now less active (which also explains the relative lack of smell), and that with the less active bacteria to break down the sugars in the starch, the yeast can only go so far??? At this pt, I can imagine Dr Wink and the other mavens  cringing at my simplistic summation :))

What HAS changed is that a few of my recent feeds have been using organic WW flour, although the last two have been non-organic non-WW. Is there a correlation??

Very fascinating all this. So many variables, so many factors... I won't forget how once, somehow, for the briefest stretch, through a combination of god knows what factors, my starter had the most wonderful floral and creamy, and yes, almost even buttery, smell. Alas I didn't seize on it nor prolong the conditions that led to this, and soon it petered out.. Such alchemy.

Hi there

I have a question about my baking escapades from the last couple of days.

Sat night: made pate fermentee / pre-ferment (Peter Reinhart's pre-ferment recipe from Crust and Crumb)

Sun night: made baguette dough (French bread II, with pate fermentee, from Crust and Crumb). Initial rising times (30 mins then 90 mins - though the dough rose crazy fast, so I did a little shorter).

Then - a bit of a mistake I realised later - instead of shaping loaves before refrigerating, I just left the dough in a bucket in the fridge overnight.

Monday: Dough had bulked up wonderfully. Shaped batards. Was a bit unhappy that they tightened up considerably from that bulked-up, expanded rise. (Next time will shape before overnight rise.) Baked one on Monday, one this morning (Tuesday), and wanting to bake the third tonight (also Tuesday).The crust and flavour was great, but crumb a little tight compared to what I think it would've been if I'd shaped the night before.

Anyway, my question is: Third loaf has been sitting in fridge since yesterday morning. Is it too long to leave a risen, shaped loaf in the fridge - from Mon morning til Tuesday night? What's the longest you would keep unbaked loaves in the fridge?

Thank you!

Lisa

I've had a plastic bag red wheat berries sealed with a twist tie in the fridge for almost a year now. Should they be bad by now?

How long do wheat berries last in a fridge?

I have a double whammy here.

Alright so I've been making bread lately (along with everyone else in the forum), and I've been having a few problems, about scoring bread, and refrigerating bread. First, about the scoring, i use our biggest knife, and spray it with pam, but it still get a lackluster score in the bread and ends up deflating it. Any help?

Second, about the refrigeration, I think my refrigerator may be too cold to have dough ferment in it because it's about 5-7 degrees celsius. However, it may have being the leavening agent that i used that stopped it from rising. Any help?

Thanks.

Hi,

I am shortly going to be running a small scale trial of breads and pastries for a visitor centre cafe on the island where I live. I am a home baker, and have tried various recipes, and catered for functions where I have baked repeated batches of dough so they are all ready to go in the oven one after the other. I know you can put dough in the fridge overnight, and then remove it in the morning, and leave for couple of hours before its ready for baking.

What happens if its not left long enough to warm up?

Do I need to let it warm up, then seperate, shape and proof again before baking?

How can I deal with a bigger quantity of dough that needs to be baked at different times? for example, if my oven holds 6 loaves on the top shelf, can I remove the dough from the fridge, let it stand, seperate it and leave some standing at room temperature while the first lot is shaped and baked?

And is it possible to bake bread on both shelves of a domestic electric oven at the same time if you rotate them?

I know my setup is far from ideal, but we have no bakery on the island, only shipped in steam baked sliced sh*te so there is a real need for something. If I can survive the 3 months trial, I will have a better idea of what sells and can use that to try and obtain funding to set up with better equipment. Until then its hand mixing, and domestic ovens all the way!

Any help on this matter would be much appreciated.

Ronie.

I googled my question but I'm not getting the answer I'm looking for.  Must be the way I phrased my question.  But here's my question:  i love the egg wash effect on breads but I find I'm wasting too many eggs.  I know I can freeze egg white but for how long?

Also, can I store the egg wash I used tonite in the fridge for use again tomorrow or the next day?  Is it safe to use egg wash twice, bacteria-wise?

And how long can egg whites be stored in the freezer?  I know we can't freeze egg yolk.

Anyone with advice?

Many thanks.

Hello everyone... I haven't done this before but I'm actually planning to mix some dough in the evening, shaping it into small buns, and retarding it in my fridge. My question is, how long should the dough be retarded for... and could I actually put these buns straight from my fridge to my proofer....  or should it stay first at room temperature before proofing... OR .... does it go straight to my oven? And how about the temperature of my fridge? Sorry for all these questions... thank you!!!