June 2, 2018 - 11:46pm
Proofing bowl to pot process
New here, and new to baking bread in general and therefore sourdough.
When going through the process, the dough always looks perfect when I'm ready to remove from the proofing bowl; bubbles appearing, springy texture etc.... but I always balls taking it out up and the loaf comes out 'flat', and therefore the rise (crumb) isn't where I want it to be, or at least that's part of my theory - it could obviously be other things but ruling pieces out. Or to rephrase, struggle to get the dough out of a well floured proofing bowl and when out, doesn't hold its shape nearly as much as I'd like.
Any tips for this final (crucial) stage as it is annoying me a fair bit!
Thanks guys.
J
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As someone who only recently started to consistently get great oven spring and decent holes in my crumb, I also had some confusion about how to remove a high-hydration (74%+) dough out of the proofing bowl and obsessing over how much gas it had lost. LONG story short, what I discovered and learned is that some degassing is inevitable, and normal. Many books, websites, etc caution you to be very careful to not disrupt and bubbles formed during bulk fermentation, but they don't tell you just exactly HOW CAREFUL to be. Turns out that you just need to take care and be gentle with the dough as it separates from the bowl and onto your surface. The dough will deflate some (even the experts on here will tell you that), but as long as it's still nice and buoyant, you're good. Remember, the dough will go through a final proof where additional bubbles will be generated. In fact, the natural process of degassing during handling and shaping is what will redistribute the flours and sugars for the yeast to feed on and create additional gas during the final proof.
It's normal for the dough to look flat after you tip it out. That's why you pre-shape it, bench rest, then do a final shaping before proofing. For a good demonstration of pre-shaping and shaping, check out Trevor J Wilson's videos.
Other advice is to not let the dough double or triple during bulk fermentation. I took the advice of letting it rise to 50% before tipping it out, and it has been working out great. If your fermented dough is way too poofy and bubbly, the amount of degassing when you tip out the dough will be excessive. People have their preferred ways to tip out dough. I usually grease the underside of my dough right after the last stretch and fold, then gently tip out the dough with a scraper or silicon spatula. Happy baking and discovering!
The whole of this video is great, but the part you're looking for begins at 6.17. But really how well your dough holds together at that stage is dependent on how well you've developed it prior to that point.
that may be causing the problem. I’m a relatively new baker, couple of years, and this Parchment sling has helped me:
I’m assuming that you mean loading the dough into a hot Dutch oven for baking. My technique - learned from Dogon on this site - goes like this:
1. cut a piece of parchment paper approx 15”x10” (I get it in 15” rolls). I find that I’m able to get 3 bakes from the paper before it gets too crumbly.
2. Sprinkle a generous pinch of semolina on top of the dough in the banneton (This will be the bottom of the loaf.) Partly I do this because it helps extract the paper later, and partly just because I like the look.
3. Place the parchment on top of the banneton and then an inverted dinner plate on top of that.
4. Pick up the whole stack and flip it over and set it back down on the counter, then gently lift the banneton and its cloth straight up off the dough. I like to very gently brush off the excess flour from the dough at this point but not necessary. So now you have your boule sitting on parchment on a plate.
5. Score the loaf as desired, take the blazing hot Dutch oven out of the oven, pick up the ends of the parchment with the dough sitting in the middle, and gently lower it into the Dutch oven, put on the lid, and back into the oven. Easy, reliable, and no burned fingers, and very gentle with the dough, no dropping.
6. Midway through the Bake, when I remove the lid, I grab a corner of the parchment and pull it out from under the loaf. This doesn’t work unless I’ve got the semolina between the loaf and the parchment but with it, it slips right out easily. I find that the bottom of my bread is a bit too pale if I leave the parchment in but I’m sure that will vary from oven to oven.
Another possibility is the dough is over proofed. If so, it will sag and spread. I’ve done that a lot, it’s a fine line between under and over proofed which I’m still exploring.
The other thing that I’ve observed is that as my shaping skills have improved my dough spreads much less upon transfer.
Hope that helps and Bake on,
Tom
you could let your dough rise in a loaf pan or a small (1 or 2 quart) dutch oven, and just stick it in the oven and bake it.
sounds like your dough is fairly high hydration, which is always a mess to handle without experience. i don't have experience, and my first attempt about three months ago was so high hydration that it lifted the upside down dutch oven off my cookie sheet as it sort of flowed. on the other hand, it tasted terrific.