Hamelman's "Miche-Pointe-a-Calliere" timing question-need help asap..........
Ok, so I guess I will run into this problem more often, since life in general is unpredictable-even more so when living with small people.So, my possible problem that I need help with is this-my carefully timed schedule of baking this Miche today will not work out and I need to know/get input where I can alter the fermentation timetable so that I can actually get this bread baked.
The dough is just in the middle of the autolyse part and I want to know which would be the best point of interrupting this and sticking in the fridge.So here are the questions:
-could I just go ahead and bulk proof for the 2.5 hours(or maybe only 2 hours) and then -without shaping it- put it in the fridge for 2.5 hours,then shape and lengthen the final fermentation time to compensate for the dough coming out of the fridge?
-OR,should I instead,do the bulk proof, shape and then stick it in the fridge?
-OR,should I just stop after the autolyse-mix the whole thing together,stick it in the fridge for several hours and then finish it all in a long night of marathon baking?
Grrr, am kinda frustrated, since I had it all so carefully planned-this is definitely not ideal since I have never made this bread before. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Christina
that you will ferment at room temp, shape and proof in the fridge and take it out for an extra time until it is proofed enough, like you suggested. You can also bulk ferment (the first rise) in the fridge, take it out to ferment completely and then shape and proof at room temp. your choise. Good luck!
I would personally retard it after shaping but don't really have a compelling argument one way or the other.
I think it's interesting that Hamelman says this bread (and the Mixed-Flour Miche immediately following) 'do not favor overnight fermentation'. He doesn't give an explanation, I honestly wonder what the logic behind that is. Seems kind of random.
I retarded this in bulk fermentation and I know why it doesn't favor overnight fermentation. It gets very sour. That said, my husband preferred it that way. He loves very tangy sourdough. When I repeated it a couple of days later he truly liked the one that was overnight fermented-and it was really tangy!
That said, I didn't put it in the fridge but outside where the temps were probably around 40 for the low but they probably got there slowly, from around 50 or 55 when I first put it out there.
Interesting, thanks for the reply. Sounds like it's worth trying, actually, I'm curious now. Is the increased sourness a result of the high amount of whole grains in the dough? The "Whole Wheat Levain" is 50% whole grains (compared to 80% in the Miche) and can be retarded. And the miche has 20% pre-fermented flour compared to 15% in the WWL. I imagine these two factors together might contribute to increased sourness during a long fermentation.