November 6, 2015 - 1:59pm
Shaping before or after retard (overnite in fridge)
Could someone please explain why some recipes call for shaping after retard while most commonly, shaping is done before retard?
Thanks
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Shaping before or after retard (overnite in fridge)
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I don't know why the person who wrote the recipes does it, but I do it sometimes for a couple of reasons. If the dough is difficult to handle, chilling it first can make it easier to shape the loaves. Or, if the room temperature is really warm, my dough is too warm going into the fridge and shaped loaves can be over-proofed the next morning.
Hi,
It all depends on the way that the creator envisioned his/her finished product to be constructed. There are a lot of doughs out there that are final shaped, placed into a banneton and then retarded, to be baked straight from the retarder. Then there are a lot of others that call for a shaping and final proofing. It all depends on what the person's design/purpose is.
For myself, for the last several months, I retard for a few hours, then shape, and then the dough goes right back into the retarder until bake time. And most of these are dough that call for a final shape and proof only after retarding overnight. Doesn't seem to affect me one bit to change that aspect around.
If one has sufficient space in their own retarder, a refrigerator shelf to most of us, it makes the bake day cycle a simple matter of preheat oven, score dough, bake dough. To me, a lot more time efficiency that way.
alan
Yeah, when I use bannetons it is easy to final proof in the fridge. But with baguettes or other freeform loaves it is easier to retard during bulk fermentation in terms of room. Really it comes down to convenience of space and time. If I want to bake bread in the morning then it makes sense to retard the shaped loaves. About the only real difference to me is that the crust tends to blister when the bread is retarded after shaping (similar to spraying the loaves with water).
Your routine of retarding, shaping and then retarding until bake time seems interesting, as I'm trying to figure out a way to get around the high temps, now that summer is just around the corner.
My kitchen temp is around 90-92F on a good summer's day, almost 100F in peak summer :-(
Cheers
Different strokes for different folks :) I think it mostly to do with preference and schedule. Depending on how much time people have etc... I personally have found that retarding in bulk not so great.
for responding! I'd imagined that the initial retard before shaping had something to do with improving the taste and bringing out more complex flavors, although doing it this way didn't really make too much difference. It does help with higher hydration doughs making them easier to shape but in general, convenience seems to be the prime factor.