Bulk fermentation
Hi tfl'rs
I have recently started making my bread with the "old dough" method, which is pretty simple and self explanitory.... I simply make up a small peice of dough the day before, let it bulk rise for an hour, then place it in the fridge for 24 hours. Bearing in mind I am just making traditional white bread, like the english bloomer and white tinned bread, and only making one loaf at a time (small peice of dough). Anyhow, once I've mixed the dough I then let it bulk ferment for roughly 1 hour at around 26 degree's C. The bake is pretty poor, poor oven spring etc, although the dough holds well during its proof (def not over-proofing, or under proofing). May my problem be that I need more bulk prove time? say 1 and a half hours, or even 2 hours? Would that be considered to be too long, with the fact I'm using "old dough" at a ratio of 25% pre-fermented flour?
Many thanks Matt