June 8, 2022 - 8:38pm
Extending Retard?
Hi, All!
I've been following The Perfect Loaf's Spelt Sourdough Bread recipe (85% hydration), and it turned out amazingly! Now, as for schedule limitations, I was wondering if I could extend the proof/retard stage - which is now overnight - by 24 hours. Overall, the original recipe calls for:
- Morning - build Levain
- Afternoon - Autolyse+mix+rest
- Overnight proof
- Next morning - bake
Thanks in advance for any advice,
Arnon
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Hi Arnon,
love the bold color and bet it smells amazing.
I think the crumb ( and crust) would improve with a longer bulk fermentation. What you called “rest” above. It’s almost there, just a bit more time before shaping. What about :
overnight - build levain
morning- autolyse, mix, rest
mid afternoon- shape, short rest, fridge overnight
bake in morning as before.
really wait for some signs of fermentation before shaping. Such as 20 to 50% volume increase, surface bubbles, small bubbles in the dough if you pull it away from the bowl.
and regarding your original question, yes, you can leave it refrigerated for quite a bit longer. Just put it in the back (cold) part of the fridge. It will be more sour, though.
-Sumi
Aaron, I agree with Sumi, the crumb shows signs of under fermentation with fairly dense crumb and then large tunnels. I too would extend bulk fermentation, I like to aim for about 40% growth and then shape. A bit of bench resting 30 - 60 mins and then if you like cold retard in the fridge.
Extending the cold retard will definitely make a more sour bread. With a spelt loaf which has poor gluten to start with you run the risk of gluten degradation and then a flatter loaf if cold retard is too long. You'd have to experiment and see how that works for you, but that is definitely a risk especially if your fridge isn't cold enough. Although the LAB will not be replicating once the dough gets down to below 5ºC they are still metabolically active and producing acids. You'll want to check your fridge temperature with a glass of water in the spot where you'll leave your dough to cold retard. Check the water temperature several hours later and you'll know if your fridge is cold enough.
Benny