Not Having Much Luck With Overnight Retardation
Hi everyone! This is my third attempt at making a bread that calls for overnight retardation found in Peter Reinhart's book "Artisan Breads Everyday" and I don't seem to be getting much success with this method. I made his hoagie rolls yesterday and they turned out really gummy and the top browned too quickly even before the interior was fully baked. I think I'm doing something wrong.
There are a few things that confuse me about this method and one is regarding degassing the dough during bulk fermentation. After the initial kneading, the dough becomes a little warm (which I believe is also what PR prefers for this method as he even suggests using warm water for the mix?) so when I put the dough in the fridge, it more than doubles its size even before it becomes completely cool to the core. Should I degas the dough in this case or just leave it as it is? PR never mentioned in his book the need for degassing during this stage so I left the dough that way overnight. Would there be a difference if I had degassed the dough or not at that stage? I also have Hamelman's book "Bread" and his process for OR is different as he recommends degassing the dough a number of times within a few hours after placing the dough in the fridge. I also read in his book that leaving the dough without degassing for more that 1.5 hours will affect the metabolism of the yeast but this is for doughs left to bulk ferment at room temperature though. Also, when it says to degas, do they mean to fold? Or just to press until the dough collapses? As you can tell, I'm very confused LOL. Another thing that confuses me is how the gluten should be prior to overnight retardation. Should it have full gluten development (windowpane test showing an almost transparent skin) prior to OR? Again, PR never mentioned this in his book and having all of his books, I know he's a big fan of the windowpane test. Will the gluten develop further during OR or is it only for flavor? Since there aren't any folds to be done in between, how will the gluten develop?
I also have a few concerns regarding the chewiness of the hoagie rolls I made. I recently bought unbleached bread flour that I believe has high gluten content (in the range of 12.8-13++) compared to the other flour that I used before that's around 11.7. Do you think the high gluten flour was the reason for the gumminess of the rolls? PR doesn't seem too concerned about gluten content of flour but Hamelman suggests a protein content of max 12% unless otherwise stated. Any theories on why my rolls turned out gummy? TIA!