Proofing calculations please

Profile picture for user Danni3ll3

Well my fridge is holding steady at 54F and I can't get it to drop any lower. A new fridge won't be here for at least 10 days so I need to get a rough idea on the time it will take my loaves to proof. 

Total flour amount is 1100 grams with 148 g of that prefermented so about 13%. Bulk fermentation at 82 F takes 4.5 to 5 hours to double. First 2 hours are divided into 30 minute increments for folding so 4 sets of folds total. 

My dough is usually proofed at 38 F for a minimum of 9-10 hours, sometimes up to 14 hours but I aim for 10. So if my present fridge is at 54F, when should I begin to check the dough? 

If i decide to proof at room temp which is 72F, how long would that take with 13% prefermented flour? I need a ballpark here, not an exact figure as I know to watch the dough and not the clock. I haven't proofed at room temp in forever so I am a bit lost here. 

Thanks!

Would it be possible to isolate a small room of your home or garage, and use a space heater to hold your desired temperature?

Right now for my retarding I am using what we call "the family room", which has heat but we keep it turned off for winter. On days I want to use it as a retarder I set the room temperature to 40 F and it works quite well. This will soon change as the weather warms-up but for now it makes a good retarder.

Danni, you live in the north country, right?

 

Jim

and it is winter here so temps are anywhere from 2 C to -8 C. Too cold to put dough outside and with forced air heating, no room to drop the temperature and no garage. Good ideas though!

That is the answer I was looking for! I might be able to get some sleep Saturday night after all. Not a lot but some! I can't start my dough until after 4:30 pm since I am at a pottery workshop till then so I was trying to figure out my timing. 

... and thought that you might want to bookmark it, too:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/5381/sourdough-rise-time-table

The link to the table still works: http://www.wraithnj.com/breadpics/rise_time_table/bread_model_bwraith.htm and the figures are fully explained in one of the comments he made a bit farther down from the original post.

The amount of knowledge on this site just blows me away (and I'm really hoping that some of it will let me make some breads even a fraction as wonderful as yours).

I had no idea that this table was available on this site. I just printed it out and I am going to have a closer look at it. The posts onbthst thread are also super informative!

And thank you also for your kind words about my breads (assuming you are talking about mine and not those of the other amazing bakers on this site).