May 1, 2020 - 12:11am
When is dough sufficiently proofed?
Aside by going on a timer from the recipe, how do you typically tell a dough has sufficiently proofed? Asking more specifically regarding general commercial yeast recipes. Volume growth alone is hard to eyeball, especially when the proofing container is a bowl (or a proof after shaping onto a cookie sheet, for example).
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If you gently press a finger into your risen dough and it springs back most of the way but leaves a small indentation then it's proofed sufficiently. If the dent doesn't spring back at all you need to proof more and if it bounces all the way back its over proofed.
Hope that helped!
Other way around - if it springs back to you completely, its not ready, if it doesn't spring back at all, it's overproofed.
Oops, it was a bit early for me....and I'm old so easily confused!!! Thanks for putting it right though!
cheers
Its easy to eye in a large bowl. My tight ball sits nicely in the bottom. Doubled fills half the bowl. Tripled reaches the rim. It doesnt need to be too exact in my opinion.
The original question seemed more directed to bulk fermentation (because of the reference to volume) than to final proofing (for which the poke test is relevant). In general -- "Watch the dough, not the clock."
For bulk fermentation, there are signs beyond volume. If the dough begins to maintain its shape after a stretch-and-fold, that indicates a development of strength. If the dough does not adhere to the side of the container quite as much, likewise an indication of progress. If bubbles are forming on the surface (and if you have a clear bowl on the sides and bottom), another sign of progress. If the dough becomes a little billowy, a further sign of progress. These are all clues that the bulk fermentation stage is heading toward (or may have reached) its end.
For final proofing (if in fact that was the gist of the original post), the poke test is useful, as is the amount of expansion of the shaped dough.
Be alert during the bulk fermentation and final proofing whenever using solely instant dry yeast. Things move much more quickly, and it is easier to go past the critical points than with a purely sourdough bread. (On the flip side, people often pull the plug too early when moving from instant yeast recipes to pure sourdough because they do not realize how much longer the process can take -- but the margin of error in timing is wider with sourdough.)
Hope this answered your questions.
Happy baking -- and stay safe and stay healthy.
Ted