Fitting a sourdough cycle with full time work
Now that I feel I'm on top of making basic, failproof sourdough, my next bread project is to focus on the following problem: Usually starter refreshes, bulk rises etc. using a sourdough starter take about 5-6 hours if done at room temperature. But 5-6 hours is a terribly inconvenient time frame if one is engaged in a busy full time workday life. Thinking of this period while one either sleeps, or is at work is simply too short. But to do a refrigerated bulk rise, for example, would require additional time after the folding and shaping for the dough to come up to room temperature, thus extending the time required for shaping and folding/final rise/baking from about 2 hours to 4 possibly more hours.
I should also note that I use a refrigerated preferment - I always have a jar in the fridge - because this allows me to think in terms of an 8 hour sequence from the "I'd like to make a loaf of bread" to it finally coming out of the oven.
So here is the challenge I am going to be working on: How can I adjust the ratio of preferment to additional flour/water for the bulk rise so that its optimal rising time is more in the vicinity of 10 -12 hours at room temperature, as opposed to 5-6 hours? Doing this would make the sourdough cycle more compatible with a full time work timeframe: One would be able to either prepare it in the evening, and bake it early in the morning, or set up the preferment before leaving for work and doing the final rise and baking at the other end of the day.
Anyone else thinking along these lines out there?