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Submitted by unlovbl on May 3, 2009 - 4:32pm Hello from Los Angeles, CA! Got some questions...Hello all,
Great site here and everyone is so encouraging!! Looking forward to gaining some experience baking through your guidance. I'm in the middle of preparing my first loaf (per the tutorial on this site) and have a few questions..
-During the rising process (either first or second), would it be possible to let it rise and return to the dough later than 90 minutes? If so, what is the longest time I can let the dough sit? For example, I want to bake some bread for dinner but don't have 2-3 hours to tend to it. Can I place the dough in the refrigerator and let it rise later? As you can read, I'm a bit confused and any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!
-Do most breads take 3+ hours to bake (from mixing to rising to end of baking)? I'd love to continue baking but my time is fairly limited (1-2 hours at a time.. hence my question above about returning to the dough later than the intended time for rising).
-Is baking bread similar to baking pastries? What are the crossovers in the two processes that are similar, if not identical.
Any and all advice for a beginner would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance!!!!
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One Beginner to Another
You can allow the dough to "sit" about as long as you'd like, but flavor and quallity issues will develop depending on the environment it's resting in. I sometimes retard the rise of my dough by placing it in the refrigerator then, about half an hour to an hour before baking, allowing it to come back to room temperature.
You really don't need to reserve 1 - 2 hours at a time to work on bread preparations. The initial preparation of a biga (poolish, preferment, etc.) takes only a few minutes. It takes a very short time to combine the preferment with the other ingredients and set it aside to rest (rise) and if you happen to be delayed in getting back to the dough by a couple of hours the results aren't devastating. I'd say the longest "waiting" period in bread baking is waiting for it to finish baking in the oven.
I suppose you could compare bread baking with pastry making. Except you roll pastry dough and (as far as any of the recipes I've been exposed to) you wouldn't roll bread dough. That said, pizza dough can be rolled and it is a bread. So perhaps there's a closer relationship than I first thought.
If you love cooking and you think making bread might be fun (don't take it too seriously in the beginning) I'd invite you to jump into the vortex of creating wonderful breads for all to enjoy. It's really lots of fun and always an adventure.
As far as time goes active
As far as time goes active time with most breads is usually fairly limited. Most loaves I make have several flurries of activity with alot of waiting. If your time freedom is limited though finding the right bread is going to be imperative as there are a few specific breads that will fit your time constraints.
Welcome
Hello from another Angeleno!
To try to answer your question, I would say that yes, generally you can come back and bake later. You can let the dough rise and then refrigerate it until you have a block of time. I would suggest getting through the shaping and (mostly through) the second rise and then chilling the shaped loaf. About an hour or so before baking, take it out and let it warm up a bit.
So much of bread baking is experimentation and discovering what works for you in your kitchen, If the first try is not exactly what you wanted, there's always tomorrow.
I hope this helps. Have fun!
Marni