The Fresh Loaf

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First overnight retarding/proofing

zachyahoo's picture
zachyahoo

First overnight retarding/proofing

So, I've had some repeatable success with baking artisan breads before, hearth-style. 

This was my first time trying an overnight (refrigerated) proof. I used Ken Forkish's 40% WW recipe.

(Basically, 40%WW, 60% white, 80% water, bulk ferment for 5 hours with stretch and folds, then proof overnight in fridge)

I fairly heavily floured the bannetons because I reeeaally didn't want any sticking after that proof for so long. Well, they didn't stick, but rather almost all the flour seemed to stick in between the canes in the basket. Like they were hydrated by the dough and got stuck there.

Then, to make matters weirder, the scoring/bloom looks bizarre. And so wrong.

I was hoping for a more blistered crust from the overnight refrigeration, but instead got LESS! Should I have cut deeper into the bread? I've never quite had this issue with scoring before. 

I realize there are a lot of variables here, I'm just looking for some input, please!

 

 

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

proofs in the fridge.  The dough can over proof as you sleep so little spring and bloom  results when you bake,  To compensate I use less pre-fermented flour and less time for the retard.  You can also re-shape out of the fridge the next morning if it over proofs and let it proof again on the counter to 50% baking which also cures the problem well.

The more whole grains you add to the mix the less large blisters you will have.  They will still be there buit just much smaller.  Also the more whole grains you add the less final proofing you want  - 85% max for a bread like this one.  This is hard to get right while yo are sleeping it you use too much pre-ferment or go too long.  This is the reason many folks bulk ferment in the fridge and shape the next morning.  The problem with this is that the crumb whole size suffers - because of the extra handling but you can control the proof to h=get better spring and bloom,

I just reshape ad proof if it over proofs in the fridge it I want spring and bloom but if I want holes i bake it off instead.  Everything is a trade off when you are at 100% proof coming out of the fridge.  Getting the pre-ferment right for the time in the fridge, to get an 85% proof, is the way to cure all ills.

Happy experimenting

zachyahoo's picture
zachyahoo

A lot to think about ..

I don't know that the problem was necessarily overproofing. I baked two loaves, so the second one would/should have been more over-proofed than the first, and yet it was the second that looked great.

The first was the round (with the weird pictures) and the second was a batard (not pictured).

I'm not saying it's not possible, but I wonder. It's also difficult to judge proofing after the dough is chilled, obviously. Maybe I just need more practice..

I'm also curious about scoring. To me it almost looked like the scoring wasn't deep enough on the boule. Normally my approach is perpendicular scoring on the boules and shallow angles on batards. But I'm still trying to gauge the appropriate depths.