February 27, 2019 - 6:04pm
Over-proofing vs. oven spring
While intending to proof this bread (75% hydration sourdough, 30% whole wheat) for 1.5 hours, it was left to proof for almost 7 hours at room temperature due to an unforeseen situation. The dough ballooned dramatically and became very soft and fragile. I decided to bake it anyway and did not score it to avoid deflating the dough. The result was a bread that got only very little oven spring, and still is large, airy and light. A bit more sour than usual but otherwise just fine. I was wondering if over-proofing is used as a method (and not by accident) to produce airy breads when scoring patters are not essential?
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Next time I overproof which probably will be soon I will try not scoring.
overproofing, if it'll give me crumb like that! Looks great, even without your mishap.
Keep on baking,
Carole
Nothing like a happy mistake. Looks as good as any bread I've seen here for awhile. Good thinking about not scoring it.
and it made me think about something I believe Trevor wrote in his book..
I have been re-visiting it recently again and I believe he said that some famous bakers did not look that keenly towards ears and saw them almost as a flaw...I can try to find the page number and quote him correctly.
It looks like it still has some decent oven spring and if one is prepared to 'sacrifice' the ear then one can push probably more the second proof and get more fermented bread with a more open crumb ...a bit like ciabatta or not?
That looks very yummy! Kat
... in my .pdf version, pages 98-108, 256 & 278 - thanks to "Find":-)
I am starting to think that greater volume increases during bulk may give more open crumb, but at the expense of oven spring and loft - something I touched upon in my recent blog post.
Lance
Dan, your crumb is beautiful. It doesn’t appear to be over proofed. I consider a bread over proofed when the holes are uniform and small throughout the crumb.
Danny
Dan, your crumb is beautiful. It doesn’t appear to be over proofed. I consider a bread over proofed when the holes are uniform and small throughout the crumb.
Danny
looks great - sprt of like a pain l'ancienne - made with a very long cold fermentation over 24 - 48 hours then divided and baked....resulting in a yellow tender open crumb - sort of like a ciabatta....