Slowing down the entire process
Hi everyone,
I have been baking bread for the last two years, over 200 loaves and 100 pizzas. I read Ken Forkish and dove headfirst into the dough. I absolutely love the way my food creations make people feel. It's so rewarding.
I started experimenting with sourdough about three months ago and am blown away by the subtleties and complexities of controlling a completely wild strain.
Here is my question, and dilemma, and challenge.
Right now my sourdough baking schedule looks like this.
Day 1, 9am - Pre-ferment
(+8 hours) Day 1, 5pm - Bulk ferment
(+14 hours) Day 2, 7am - Proof
(+4 hours) Day 2, 11am - Bake
I would like to accomplish the following bakers schedule:
Day 1, 9am - Pre-ferment
Day 1, 9pm - Bulk ferment
Day 2, 9am - Proof
Day 3, 9pm - Bake
Basically, 12 hours between the different stages.
Or even more ideally........9am everyday....... 24 hours between stages!!!! This is my goal!
Day 1 - Pre-ferment
Day 2 - Bulk ferment
Day 3 - Proof
Day 4 - Bake
I don't want to adjust my hydration level or water temperature, which I believe means the only variable left to adjust is the ambient temperature. I don't want a proofing box because what I'm essentially trying to do is slow down the process as much as I can, and from what I've read proofing boxes are only good for heating things up. Right now its about 68 F in my house, but I'm guessing that keeping it around 50-55 would slow down the process.
Can this be accomplished with a mini refrigerator or would a wine holding cabinet be better? Or is this even possible at all?
Hopefully someone has experience with this.
Thanks in advance,
Matthew
Suggest you type"wine cooler" (Include" ") into the search box top right. I recall a lot of posts from davidg618 and when I used that search term I did find his posts, but many contributions from other people who have had success with their wine coolers also appear when this phrase is used to search.
Matthew, i use a wine cooler - proofer. When I want it colder, I plug in the wine cooler, when I want a warmer temp, I unplug it, and insert a heating pad controlled by a digital controller. You have two variables, the amount of the starter and and ambient temperature to manipulate the bulk ferment time, though in general, the final proof time can be manipulated only with ambient temp ( since you want to keep the hydration ratio constant). Note that there may be some impact in flavor - generally the longer the BF , the more complex the flavor. If you don't want to jump into the pool of a wine cooler, you might want to try out the concept with a regular cooler with ice - the amount of ice will of course determine the temp in the cooler.
Thanks Barry!
The longer the BF, the more complex the flavor. Exactly! Plus, I'd love to dial in the four-part process into 24 increments. That way I can do each of the parts at the same time every day. It's all about that bakers schedule. And if it can be controlled down to the minute, that's perfection. It's my goal for running a pizzeria. Just need the right tools for the job.
Cheers!
Matthew
Matthew, if you are making Pizza, I hope you have checked this site - tons of info https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php
I care for a one year old baby and live by her sleep schedule/other needs so after I over proofed some lovely loaves because of that I started experimenting with the fridge.
I've had good results doing my first proof for an hour on the counter top and then into the fridge for 12 to 30 hours (haven't pushed past that point) then back to the counter for another hour. My house is running around 80 to 85 degrees fahrenheit these days so cold ferment for part of the process is almost necessary anyway. My fridge is on the warmer side though I think pushing 40 degrees farenheit.