This is my most open crumb loaf yet and I’m pretty happy with the progress (aside from the huge bubble near the top but that was just me being careless during shaping). My problem is that this was definitely over proofed. I put it in the fridge around 6:30PM and baked at 9:30AM (included the whole process below). This is pretty typical scheduling for me but this loaf deflated like crazy by the time I went to bake. It was super jiggly, active, and domed above the lip of the banneton when it went in and I came back out to it sad and deflated.
My main question is: how do I know when I’ve pushed bulk fermentation too far?
Process:
100% king arthur bread flour
85% hydration
20% starter
2.5% salt
overnight
5 coil folds at 45 minute intervals
6.5h total bulk fermentation
shaped and proofed in banneton for an additional 30m
cold retarded for 15h
by plygrndtx
13 Comments
overnight autolyse*
Woah
If many people were served that at a restaurant. there won’t be a single complaint. Stop being too hard on yourself; this looks good. Bread is not meant to be perfect.
I recently started cold-retarding for 36 hours. In the past, I’ve done 18 hours and the height is about the same. I think it’s my BF time because I S&F for about 2 hours then BF in 78˚ proofing box for 5 hrs. Similar BF times as you – 7-8hrs.
On my next bake, I’m going to will myself to cut off BF sooner. It’s just hard to resist.
Looks great!!! I use a straight sided cambro container and cut off fermentation when it reaches 20% growth in volume. Then I shape and put it in the fridge for 12 hours or counter proof for 3h (or until poke test looks good). At my room temperature (dough temp ends up 80-82 F in the afternoon), if I get greedy and push it to 25-30%, it ends up slack and overproofed. I use Tartine recipe.
play with the hydration ratio. I hydrate at 75%. 80% was too “sticky” for me. Some bake with 60% hydration.
My loaves are denser, which is good for me – butter and other spread don’t fall through. Some prefer “airy” crumb, some don’t.
Over-hydrated and under-proofed.
Looks fire, I’d happily eat that loaf daily
It certainly looks underproofed… those giant bubbles in the attic? “baker’s attic”
Is this pan de Cristal ?
Oh man I would love to eat that. It looks so chewy!
I feel like higher hydration doughs sometimes deflate in the fridge but idk if that’s overproofing or not.
Cut back to 3 coil folds or cut back bulk and cold proof. You have a baseline now. I would only do a 12 hour cold proof or so same day bake.
You can use the sourdough journey’s chart for how much rise to get in the dough before ending bulk fermentation so it does not over proof in the fridge. You are working at higher hydration than the recipe used to build the chart, but it should be close based on dough temperature vs % rise.
Watch the video to get more details on how he developed the chart so you understand how you want to track your results and tweak the chart for your recipe.
https://thesourdoughjourney.com/the-ultimate-sourdough-bulk-fermentation-guide/
Edit to add: Do note that your fridge needs to be holing temperature at 38-39°F. A fridge thermometer to check temperature on each shelf is necessary as is a probe thermometer to check dough temperature.
My fridge might say it is at 38°F, but each shelf can be different. If I out the dough on a 40°F shelf it continues rising more than the 38°F shelf (the rise stops sooner).