October 13, 2013 - 7:20am
Baking bread that's not a room temperature
I put a loaf of sourdough sandwich bread in my cold garage overnight because I didn't have time to bake yesterday. It was already formed and in the pan. I'm using a new sourdough starter that seems to be rising slower than previous ones, so I figured a night in the garage would slow down the rise enough that I could put it in the kitchen in the morning and let it rise then. I grabbed it this morning and it's risen beautifully! My problem is that I want to bake it now, but it's still cold from the garage (probably about 50F). Do I have to wait for it to warm back to room temp or can I go ahead and bake now?
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If it feels proofed enough it could be fine. Use the finger poke method to check proofing.
If you decide to proceed with baking, I suggest scoring the top of the loaf well do that it has room for a good oven spring.
It felt ready for baking when I found it this morning. I let it warm up a bit but then went ahead and baked it while it was still a little cool. Thanks for the scoring tip! Looks great!
cold right out of the fridge at 36 F if the dough is properly proofed.makes the scoring a lot easier too. The dough doesn't seem to mind - so I don't :-)
That's really good to know. I figured I'd get uneven baking if the bread was colder throughout, but it sure doesn't look like it. I might start saving myself some time by baking it cold on a more regular basis.
Thanks for the reply!
Several years ago I did a trial bake with two of Susan's Simple Sourdough loaves, one right after the other with one allowed to come to room temperature, the other straight out of the refrigerator. I could see no appreciable difference between the two once baked. Both crust and crumb were excellent. The cold dough came out of the banneton holding it's own shape a bit better, and as someone else mentioned, scoring is ever so much easier. As long as the dough has risen properly, I almost always bake straight out of the refrigerator now.
i'm so glad others have explored this topic before. This is going to save me a lot of time. I love the flavor enhancement I get from a longer proof in the fridge and now I can do it much faster. Thanks, kygin.