Peasant bread fell flat
Hi all, Yesterday I was making peasant bread with 25% whole wheat flour 75% AP flour. I've made it before and had success. I used instant dry yeast, first proof was fine, the second took longer than expected. It was evening so I got the not-so-bright idea of draping the loaves in plastic wrap and putting in the fridge overnight to bake the next day. This morning they were completely flat like Naan. The plastic wrap failed to prevent dehydration. I took them out, spritzed them top and bottom with water, tucked the ends under and brought the sides under, and pinched to re-form loaves. They are currently in the oven with the light on and a half gallon of boiling water to humidify the dough again...Is there any hope?
I'm relatively new to bread/roll baking and ALWAYS have trouble with my second rise not being right. I keep my house at 67 degrees F. so always have to put the dough in the oven or microwave with hot water to get a decent rise, but whatever I do, rolls/bread never puff up to anticipated hights and the bread/roll is always a bit on the dense side.
If a recipe says rise 45 min or until doubled, It takes closer to 1 1/2 hours, and the final rise after shaping is never done in under 3 hours. I used to use Active Dry yeast but recently switched to instant/breadmaker yeast to see if that helps (it doesn't).