I recently read about another member doing bulk fermentation overnight. I had previously attempted something similar but failed miserably. This was last summer.
I settled on a crazy “same day sourdough for lunch” recipe in which I try and rush bulk fermentation as much as possible: pre heat the oven; boil water to add a cup of boiling water to the oven; let the dough ferment in that hot and humid environment.
It got results! Oven spring looked good! Nice ear! Usually a bit under fermented. And no real flavor. (I personally prefer the bread to be a bit more bland, so this was alright with me.)
I started pushing this recipe more and more, pre heating the oven a bit hotter, lazily waking up later and starting later: cutting bulk fermentation short. Sloppy results…
Anyway…
This recent post inspired me to try overnight fermentation again. Cooler temps in winter could help make this manageable. Plus I had learned a lot since last summer.
I tried it out last night! The dough seems much much easier to work with. Instead of a “goupie mess” I had a nice and smooth coherent dough.
I’m not sure it had quite enough time to ferment. I might experiment with the amount of starter, or with putting it in the oven with a cup of warm water to regulate the temperature a bit more…
(I included pictures of the dough last night after folds, and this morning right before shaping.)
But the results are promising! Albeit a bit “dense” at the bottom. Not as fluffy as I would like. (Not that my other recipe was much better in that regard.)
Another huge plus is that now I get to do most of the work in the evening, instead of spread out over my morning.
What do you think of the results?
PS. I bake small loaves
PPS. My shaping was a bit sloppy
Recipe
Ingrediënts
– 150g water
– 30g starter
– 220g flour
– Some salt
Method
– Mix at 18:00
– Stretch & folds until 20:30
– Leave on kitchen counter (gets around 15C at night, warms back up to 20C after ~06:00)
– 08:00 pre shape
– 08:15 pre heat Dutch oven 230C
– 09:00 into the oven
– 20m in Dutch oven, lift it out
– finish baking for 15m on rack
– leave on a rack to cool
by jessevdp
3 Comments
Looks great. A little more fermentation will bake your loaf a bit more airy and fluffy.
Promising for sure. The crumb looks pretty even and the dough handling improvement is a good sign.
Dense at the bottom is often either slightly underproofed or a shaping issue where the base gets compressed and never re expands. Two tweaks I would try next:
1. Give bulk a bit more time or a warmer start. At 15C overnight, 30g starter can be a little low. Either bump starter slightly or keep it a touch warmer for the first 1 to 2 hours after mixing.
2. After preshape, let it relax a bit longer and then do a tighter final shape with good surface tension, without pressing gas out of the center.
Also, if you can, bake the whole time in the Dutch oven rather than finishing on the rack. The rack finish can dry the bottom and make it feel tighter.
Overall though, this is a solid direction and way more repeatable than the hot oven bulk approach.
Looks tasty!!