April 22, 2024 - 11:50am
increasing fermentation but still underproofed
thank you all for taking the time to read this lengthy post and any feedback is very much appreciated.
- i have been baking a ton of bread the last 4-6 months and i have learned a lot, but am still struggling to execute really good fermentation.
- this last bake (naturally leavened) i pushed fermentation to the max (for me, at least): 40% inoculation, 10 hrs of total fermentation. the first 3 hours the dough temp was 85, then i let it coast for 6 more hours at room temp (RT 68). it was nearly tripled in volume so, thinking it was overproofed, i gently shaped it and only let it proof an hour before i baked it in a hot oven with steam.
- the final crumb of this loaf was the same as all other previous loaves. open crumb near the very edge, but tight everywhere else. not great oven spring, a little heavy for its size, but great color. i feel like ill know overproofed when i see it. this still feels very characteristic of underproofed.
- lastly, i’ve been working on some cinnamon raisin bread but still underproofing. bulk was great at 6hrs but the final proof was 3hrs (thinking it was ready!) at RT (68-69). bread came out lacking good oven spring, it felt heavy, and the crumb is very tight and weirdly dry on the inside. really showing how slow fermentation can be when the bread is enriched with egg, butter, sugar, and cinnamon.
- sorry for no pictures, i dont know how to condense the photos from my phone so they can fit on the blog post.
- my two questions after these two bakes are:
- am i overlooking the affect of room temperature on fermentation time (68 is pretty chilly)
- is my starter just naturally sluggish and, is there a way to train it to work faster or, do i now need to develop the recipes/schedule based on how the starter performs
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Comments
I have often gotten very good loaves after the dough tripled in bulk. With a less-fermented bulk, you are more likely to get vigorous proofing and oven rise, but it's not always so.
Whether that was too long a bulk fermentation depends on whether most of the yeast nutrition got used up, leaving not enough for later. That depends on the flour and recipe more than anything else. With a very hot start, and 40% inoculation, I would have expected a much shorter bulk fermentation time, even given the lowish 68 deg later on. And yes, the cooler temperature will have a real effect on the fermentation. Even 68 vs 72 would be noticeable.
You haven't said what led you to bake after an hour's time. Given how long the bulk took, and the 68 deg F temperature, I would have expected it to need much more time to proof. OTOH, if most of the yeast nutrition had been used up, a long proof might have fizzled out. You will have to think back and remember what the loaf was like at that 1-hour point.
You didn't say if the dough seemed very extensible, very tight and springy, or what. That can make a difference in the crumb. The shaping technique can also have a real influence, both for uniformity of the crumb and for the tightness of the loaf.
TomP