Poolish times
Hello all,
I recently tried a recipe that used a poolish and was very happy with the way it turned out and would like to do it some more. The problem is, well, life. On the weekends, starting a poolish the night before is no big deal because I can just start the dough when the time is right. During the week, for some reason my boss gets upset when I skip out on work to go home to punch down my dough.
The recipe I was using calls for a 12-16 rest at room temperature. I go to bed at night at around 10:30pm, leave the house at around 7:30am and get home around 5:45pm. So if I start the poolish before I leave in the morning, I'll be baking around midnight. If I start it the night before, it would be sitting too long by the time I got home.
What would the result be if my poolish sat for either 19-20 hours or 10-11 hours? And which, if any, would be preferable?
You could also consider adding a portion of the formula's salt to the poolish, this would retard it'd development somewhat and allow you to go with the 20 hour program.
cheers
daniel
I have noticed that a poolish can be forgiving - if you don't get it at the 'peak', it still has the generated flavors, so it will still work for that - especially if the recipe uses more yeast in the final dough, so you don't really have to worry if the original yeast is still producing.
Stick it in the fridge, or skimp on the yeast, and you'll get extra time, too.
Thank you all for the suggestions. As this is a recipe I really enjoy and will likely make often, I'll try the shorter, longer, and salt methods and see which one works the best. Best thing about having bread making as a hobby; good or bad, you'll be ready to do it all over again shortly.