How do I make more bread?
I am currently making and selling bread for my co-workers once a week, and they want more! (Good problem, right?) I currently bake 4 loaves a time using 2 dutch ovens.
I can do more bread with 2 additional dutch ovens and am also considering making pan loaves. The limiting part is that I let the loaves proof overnight in the fridge, and with all of the groceries in there, I really have room for only 4 loaves on the bottom shelf.
My current (approximate) process:
Sunday
9am or earlier- make levain build
11am-5pm - long autolyse followed by bulk fermentation with stretch and folds
5-8pm - divide, shape, and proof loaves
Then into the fridge overnight
Monday
6am - bake 2 rounds of 2 loaves at a time.
9am - let cool
12pm - package and bring to work (I can work from home)
I could bake everything Sunday night, though I tried it once and much preferred the taste of overnight proofed loaves, also I would want the bread to be as fresh as possible when I bring it in.
I am thinking of switching to some sort of lower amount of starter, colder dough type process, where the dough proofs overnight out on the counter. If I remember correctly from the Tartine book, Chad's friend did something like this. My worry is I will wake up and see the loaves over or under-proofed and won't be able to do much about it (much to the dismay of my hungry co-workers)
Has anyone ran into an issue like this before? What is your process? Any suggestions?
P.S. I live in a smallish apt if anyone is going to suggest getting a second "bread fridge" (how I wish....)
Hi, johnm0123!
Forgive me... your subject line reminded me of my favorite kids joke...
Q. How do you catch a unique rabbit?
A. Unique up on it! (You sneak up on it...)
Q. How to you catch a tame rabbit?
A. Tame way! (Same way!)
<groan> Hah! :) What?
Silly rabbit...
Murph
Well, you really have only two options - either rework your process in a way that does not require refrigeration, or get another fridge.
and become a bread baking magnet delivering bread to order Monday Wed and Friday. Then you can afford a Double Decker oven and up the output to 8 loves 3 times a week. After that, you will need hospitalization so keep the insurance current:-)
Happy baking
One way I found to proof and bake more loaves is to use Italian bread pans. It makes longer, thinner loaves but still a decent size for slicing (bigger than baguette pans). I can fit eight loaves into my oven on these, and they take up less room in the fridge.
Alternatively, I rise the loaves in home made 'couche' forms, then load it on to two granite stones I have in my oven. I can do six at a time this way. Again, they fit onto different shelves in the fridge, or even on top of other things.
Instead of getting a new refrigerator, you could set up a cold box to retard some loaves overnight. I have done this in the past with 1-2 loaf pans in a large cooler containing a cold block.
I love that you are advocating the use of an icebox. Very old-fashioned :)
....call it retro rather than old fashioned, and it sounds better!
Thanks all,
These are definitely some good ideas, though I would like to up my production to 12-16 loaves, which would be hard to do in coolers or even different pans in the fridge.
Re-reading the chapter in Tartine about Chad's friend who makes 40 loaves a time with no mixer, walk-in fridge, deck oven, etc... He does a very quick bulk ferment (like one hour with 4 folds) with a young leavin, and then lets them rise in the pans overnight on the counter. Then he comes in and bakes them in the morning.
I have a hard time trusting that the loaves will be consistent this way. Also 1 hour bulk ferment? I would probably opt for a long autolyse with around a 2-3 hour bulk ferment with many folds and then rely on the pans to keep shape. And not sure if the water should just be cold using this method.
I guess I have some experimenting to do...
Has anyone tried a similar method so I can avoid some trial and error?
Hi, johnm0123!
I'm very new here, having only been baking since June. But, through trial and error, I became VERY good at knowing exactly when my starter would be most active and what it would do to my levain.
I was very frustrated in shaping and proofing and decided to knock out 12 loaves, one after the other, over a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Just for the practice. That was four loaves a day, one at a time in the oven, using dmsnyder's Artisan II Class recipe from SFBI that was meant to be divided into two loaves. It was the VERY best thing I've ever done as far as bread goes!
The point is, since I knew for certain how things would progress, I could work backwards and begin starter and levain builds as needed when oven space would become available later.
The oven was the bottleneck with preheating, and all that. Oven timing had to be maximized and I largely nailed that although if I had to be honest, there were some 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. bakes in there. :)
I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that you could make such a system work with, as you said, just a touch of experimentation.
Have fun?
Murph
So I run the home-based microbakery thing - my limit is 66 loaves in one morning - I have 3 ovens.
The key for me is timing - that and working out how I can slowly ferment the dough overnight. So in-brief, 3-4pm: Make up the levian (Take jars from fridge, measure quantity into bowls, add flour & water, mix, top-up jars). Round about 8pm its mix/knead time. Then into big tubs for the overnight ferment. (Starter jars go back into the fridge at this point) Some breads are yeasted - for them I've worked out a fraction of yeast that works for me, given the temperatures. Next morning, tip out the dough, depending on the mix, give it a quick stretch & fold, then scale, pre-shape/rest/shape then shape - bannetons, couche, tins, prove, bake.
Typically on bigger days it's a 5am start and the first lot are in the oven at 7am. 2nd lot into the ovens at 7:50, breads are in the shops by round about 9am, 9:30 for the ones I have to drive to deliver.
The key is timing (again). I arrange the doughs in order of baking and scale/shape in that order too - else the 2nd batch tends to over prove.
It's sometimes a bit hit & miss though:
One bit of advice: Don't give-up the day job!!! And do pace yourself - no-point knackering yourself (and affecting your working day) just for a few loaves of bread...
Good luck!
Cheers,
-Gordon