The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Bulk dress code

Our Crumb's picture
Our Crumb

Bulk dress code

I humbly submit this week's baking epiphany: 

The optimal length for bulk fermentation of our house miche can be conveniently reduced to the following dress code:

• When wearing a sweater (UK: "jumper"), then 3 hours @ 78˚F (25˚C)
• When wearing a T-shirt (UK: Arsenal or Chelsea but not ManU), then 2 hours @ 78˚F (25˚C)

The foregoing code applies only to domiciles in which interior temperature varies strongly with the seasons: as low as 53˚F in Winter (sweater temperature) and as high as 85˚F in Summer (Premier League temperature).  We do not subscribe to the belief that a house temperature of, say, 72˚F is a divinely ordained right.  YMMV.

You can Brød & Taylor them all you want, but those bugs know the score, and the kitchen temperature.  So watch the wardrobe, and the dough, then maybe the clock.

Tom

Comments

alfanso's picture
alfanso

is almost always 78-80 with a humidity of 75-80, quite comfortable actually, seeing as my dad was an iguana.

I can't relate to differing dress codes because of what you mentioned, ours is stable.  When baking I always wear my standard outfit.  Argyle knee-high socks, Angus Young knickers and my chartreuse "I'm with stupid" tank top (singlet for those from Guernsey). 

Good looker!  Does any of that make it to the freezer or is it engulfed in a few days' time?  I don't believe that I've yet to bake anything beyond maybe 1500g.

Our Crumb's picture
Our Crumb

Floridians ?.   Can't live with 'em, can't shoot em.

- Steven Wright, referring to women of course

We quarter them (miches, though occasionally Floridians) and barter with neighbors.  They last just under a week.  Mine's bigger.  Yours is longer.  (oops, this is a family site, isn't it.  Sorry Floyd, Ne me dénonce pas, svp?)

And hey fonz, please don't post any pics of your fetching baggies in front of a mirror, ok?  Or at least change the socks.

t

merlie's picture
merlie

Ex Brit here in B.C. Canada  - thank you for making us smile !!

All the best,

Merlie

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

My house is kept at the same temp year round, I proof in my oven with the light on and it always takes at least an hour longer in the winter! Those beasties really know their seasons! 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

And those little beasties know night and day too, even in the dark!  How do they do it?

Spring and fall wardrobes always mess them up unless paying close attention.  Never see em reading vogue either.  Picky eaters.

Our Crumb's picture
Our Crumb

If there's anything we've learned from the past two months, it's ... <see subject line>.

It's their planet.  We're just breeding ground.

Stay safe Mini.

t

pmccool's picture
pmccool

I've told my students that if temperatures are warm enough for them to be comfortable in shorts and T-shirts, then it's warm enough for the yeast to be happy, too.  And that applies to commercial yeast and wild yeast.  

Note - most of my students were adults, not teens who insist on schlepping around in shorts, tees, and sandals in freezing weather.

Paul