November 25, 2012 - 5:44pm
Can overproofed dough be repurposed?
I live in India and have a hot un-air conditioned kitchen. This did not stop me from following the KAF rosemary olive oil sourdough recipe exactly and letting the dough have a long ferment. This morning I woke up to a wet,bubbly dough. I tried shaping into a boule and this is what it looks like now. Can I use this as a starter for the next loaf? Can I bake it as a "Ciabatta"?
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didn't show up, but you had 2 choices. Punch it down and let it rise again if it could or do what I do in AZ when the proofing gods go nuts. I mix up some more, say 30% each of all the ingredients separately in a bowl and then fold it into the original dough. After they are mixed together, final proof them however you normally do. This seems to work every time - at least so far.
Thank you dabrownman,
While I hope to no longer have overproofed dough (I am now wrapping up my first four seasons of baking with sourdough), I frequently use cold-retarding for my final proof anyhow. I must say I had not heard of adding fresh ingredients to the original dough to save it but it is a genius idea.
Thanks,
PS Yes, your posts are still valuable almost 6 years later.
Just the other day I had a bulk ferment go nuts and it looked more like a starter than a dough. I went for it - scaled, preshaped and quickly shaped into baguettes. They were a little flatish and more like a ciabatta, but really tasty. Nutty even. Just ate the last hunk this morning. I'm not sure it could have worked for a higher shaped bread.
It's been my experience that overproofed dough can be used. However, the final loaf tastes and looks somewhat different. I would never sell any bread product made from overproofed dough but it's certainly fine for home/personal use.
So you will get the same results baking it as you would baking a starter. Save some of it to use as a starter and add water and flour, etc.. Discard or spread out thin to dry into flakes. If you powder the dried starter you can use it as a backup or as a yeast dough flavoring either inside the dough or used to dust pans (it doesn't brown so quickly due to low sugar content.) It is also good mixed with soil and added to the garden.
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