Retarding Dough How-To

Hi Peter -

So I'm wondering what's the secret to overnight retarding of dough?  How long does it need to warm back up?

How long it takes depends on individual factors for each recipe. Rich doughs and lean doughs come up to tempertaure at different rates, but the biggest factor is the amount of dough you're dealing with. One small boule will come up to temp much faster than a 1.2 kg batch. You have to experiment...

- Keith

Recently I baked a favorite bread: D. DiMuzio's SF-like SD, firm levain version. As close as possible I duplicated my previous process steps, temperatures, etc. I did make one significant temperature change building this baking's fresh starter, but I am certain it had negligent influence over the outcome of this anecdote, probably none.

It was only during bulk fermentation I made a significant change.

A couple of years ago I converted a clothes closet into a wine closet--it's too small to call a wine cellar--that is maintained at 55°F. Instead of putting the dough into my refrigerator (~42°F) were I retarded all previous bakings of this formula, I put it into my wine closet, and monitored it closely. Normally, as the 1700g of dough cools down CO2 production continues, and I get about 1.5x volume increase before the cooling dough reaches near dormant activity; i.e., no further significant volume increase. I allow the dough to warm for about 3 hours before turning it out for shaping and final proofing. However, at 55°F the dough had doubled in volume after 7 hours. I removed it from the wine closet and transferred it to the refrigerator. Minutes after I transferred it I decided to bake a small loaf immediately, and let the balance of the dough rest overnight. I reasoned that if the dough continued to change, for the worst, I would at least salvage one loaf. I removed 730g of dough, and preshaped it immediatly, let it rest for 30 minutes, and final shaped it and placed it in a round brotform to proof. Final proofing took three hours--I test proof completion by poke-testing the dough. Interestingly, the remaining refrigerated dough showed little or no further expansion during the time I was still monitoring it. I baked the loaf using the usual procedures and temperatures. The loaf exhibited the same oven spring, and crust as previous bakings, although it had taken five more minutes to reach an internal 205°F temperature; I think the loaf's core temperature was still lower than room temperature after final proofing.  i went to bed.

The next morning the dough had expanded slightly more overnight, but only slightly. I ferment my doughs in a vertically sided clear-plastic container, so estimating dough expansiion is quite easy. I let it warm the usual thee hours, finding many large--plum-size--gas bubbles on the surface of the now approximately 2.5x expanded dough. I gently deflated the dough, preshaped, rested, and shaped it into a boule. Final proofing took only 1.5 hours. Baking resulted in a loaf with oven spring, crust, and crumb (this one we are eating the last of today) essentially the same as all previous bakings, including its flavor.

I think a reasonable conclusion is there isn't any magic time or temperature to de-chill the dough so long as you pay attention to how the dough is behaving, especially, in this case, in final proofing. In fact, I think what occured reinforces the guidance heard from many bakers, pros and amateurs, to learn the smell and feel and look of your dough along its journey from bits and parts to the flnal loaf.

You also asked about kneading. After initial mixing, usually five to eight minutes on low, I let the dough rest (autolyse) for 30 minutes, then stretch-and-fold it once, and put it in the proof box, and if Im going to retard the fermentation, the refrigerator. Thereafter, I check its extensibility and "feel" every 45 minutes, and perform, or not, another S&F depending on my judgement of its gluten development. This dough--10% whole wheat flour, 68% hydration, retarded--has always required three S&F's before I'm satisfied. Another dough I'm learning--classic baguettes--all white bread flour, 72% hydration--seems to do well on a single stretch-and-fold, bulk fermenting at room temperature. The obvious conclusion: different doughs behave differently. Smell, touch, and look again. We have to learn the idiosyncrasies of each dough. I haven't, for example, worked up the courage yet to tackle sour rye:-)

Good baking to you,

David G

There is no "secret." Or, if there is one, I don't know it.

I've made several different breads where the recipes calls for cold retardation during bulk fermentation. The methods differ though.

Nury's Light Rye is allowed to double before retarding.

Bouabsa's baguettes (and my San Joaquin Sourdough) are fermented on the bench with repeated folds for an hour or more but not allowed to fully expand before retarding.

Gosselin's baguettes (the original method, not Reinhart's) is mixed (with ice water at that) and immediately retarded.

Some methods which have a long cold retardation in bulk call for completing fermentation (to doubling) on the bench before dividing (Gosselin). Some call for dividing immediately after the dough is taken out of the fridge and then "resting" the pre-shaped pieces for an hour before shaping and proofing (Bouabsa). Other methods call for allowing the dough to come to room temperature, then immediately dividing and baking without any further shaping or proofing (Nury).

The darn thing is, all of these make outstanding breads.

One generalization I can make is that retarding in bulk results in a looser, more extensible dough. I assume this is because of gluten degradation due to protease action. But the gluten is not so degraded that the crumb structure is hurt.

Please note that my examples are all of breads that are retarded in bulk. Retardation of formed loaves is another story, in my experience.

David