Help Please!!!! I’m following Bonnie Ohara’s book “Bread Baking for Beginners” ... she states that one can know when your sourdough has completely rise during the bulk fermentation by performing a float test (not talking about my sourdough starter but the actual dough) ... in her recipe, she lets it rise 5 hours but says it might require more time in colder temperatures. I’m at a colder temperature but yesterday I let it rise for 8 hours and it still wasn’t floating! Then I started shaping it and I could tell it was over fermented. I believe my sourdough starter is healthy, I think it is due to leaving it too long to rise .... should I not worry about the float test?
You are doing a float test with the dough after bulk? I have never heard of that. How does that even work? A huge bowl and you drop the dough in the water?
I don't believe in the float test for starters let alone for dough.
I wouldn't worry about it. As long as the dough looks and feels right, you'll be good.
And a little temp change can make a big difference in timings. Besides, unless you're using the exact same ingredients as another, timings will be different - so go by the dough, not the clock. Enjoy!
I’ve never heard of anyone doing a float test on the whole dough at the end of bulk fermentation. Some people will do a float test on their levain to see if it is ready but even that isn’t all too useful because some starters especially 100% hydration ones may not hold together well enough to pass a float test.
You might want to consider using an aliquot jar to help you determine rise of your dough and adjust your bulk fermentation, I wrote about it here in this thread.
Benny