Good night, little dough ball. See you in the morning.
The benefits of a long cold ferment.
1. Add flavor and texture to your finished loaf.
2. Force your dough to conform to your schedule, instead of becoming a slave to your dough.
Good morning little dough ball.
After almost 8 hrs. the dough ball is nicely doubled. Back into the refrigerator, while I pre heat the oven and the baking steel. After I drop Doreen at work, I will add steam, slash and sprits for a 6:00 AM bake, cold right from the refrigerator.
Oh Yeah! That's what I am talking about!
If you want to try this with commercial yeast. Add 1/8 tsp. yeast to 20 grams of flour and 20 grams of water. leave it out at room temperature for about 6 hrs. until it doubles in volume. Proceed as directed using this mixture for the Levin.
The best thing about baking with a formula in grams, once you have it down, it can be replicated bake after bake! No surprises. Not so much when your using cups and dumping who knows how much flour in at the end.
After that long winded rant, it would be nice if I actually posted my formula!
This is one of my favorite methods. I haven’t done it in a long time, though. Not sure why it’s been that way. I need to revisit this one soon. Especially as the weather heats up. It’s tough to find bread baking motivation when it gets over 100* out. Thanks for the reminder!
The bread looks great! I like this sequence too, and risen dough is easier to handle when it's chilled.
There is a method to my madness! Alas, I can not take the credit. Not sure if the procedure is our friend Alfonzo's or from Jeffrey Hamelman's, Vermont Sourdough. In any event I got the idea from Al. Smile.