June 18, 2009 - 2:08am
sourdough catastrophe
I've been making sourdough up till this warm weather decended upon us with good results. However last week I made some in the same old way and left it to prove for the usual 16-18 hours, but when i went to bake it the following day I removed the couche which covers the baskets, and saw it had really ballooned up to about 4 times it's usual size at that stage. So I turned it out to slash it and it collapsed, needless to say it didn't rise in the oven and came out like a brick. Any ideas as to why? Was it because the weather being a bit warmer meant that it got too gassy???
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Yes, it's called overproofed. Dough cannot read time, it only knows temperature and behaves accordingly. Warmth increases activity exponentially, so you should start checking on your proofs and learn to tell when they're ready visually and physically. It's good you knew they had blown up way beyond normal. That means you already know what normal should be. You'll find that perfect time for the warmer weather, then you can relax again.
- Keith
That's a heck of a long final fermentation - unless you have refrigerated it or are using Lahey's no-knead recipe.