The Fresh Loaf

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Help! Change of plans in middle of bake!

LittleGirlBlue's picture
LittleGirlBlue

Help! Change of plans in middle of bake!

TLDR: I've made the dough with a levain that was almost doubled, but definitely not peaked.  It's going to retard in the fridge for somewhere around 6 hours.  Then I'll take it out continue at fermenting at room temperature.  What should I expect in terms of how many more hours of fermenting will it need before it's time to move on to the next step (shaping)?

The story: I'm setting up to do my first loaf of bread.  I've decided to start with the "123 No Knead Do Nothing" recipe I found on this site.  Blob, my starter isn't as consistent in terms of always peaking in exactly X hours as I'd like: it's anywhere in the 10-16 hour range.  That's a bit slow, but the house is a bit cold, around 70F.  But he's very consistent that he has a nice 3x or more rise.  So I'm figuring it's time to try a loaf of bread.  I know I need to allow some extra time, due to the cold room and in case it happens to be a day that Blob is feeling on the more sluggish end of his range, and trying to plan around that.

Considering that, I decided not to feed him this morning (he usually eats around 11am&11pm).  I didn't think he had quite peaked yet, anyway, and I wanted to be able to feed him & build the levain in the evening to be sure it would rise enough overnight.  I did so at about 7pm.  At that point he was past peak, flat on top but not collapsed yet.  He takes forever to collapse, though, so I aim for him to have that flat on top look when I feed him.  I've tried waiting until the dough starts to recede and leave the streaks on the sides of the container, and he has stayed in that "flat" spot for between 12-24 hrs after having peaked.

I have a sleeping disorder and my sleep schedule can be all over the place.  So I happened to wander into the kitchen at 1am, and the levain's just barely shy of doubled.  "Damn it, Blob," I said aloud (cuz clearly he can hear me).  "Why'd you choose today to be all super starter?"  Unexpected for him to have risen that much so soon, and I'm afraid if I wait until morning to make the dough he'll be far enough past peak and that will slow down how fast the dough ferments even more on top of the cold house and I won't be able to have it done in time for dinner.  So, I decided to go ahead and make the dough, and throw it in the fridge to retard over night.

I'll be up around 6 or 6:30 in the morning, and take it out of the fridge then, and proceed with the recipe.

So, my main question:  I've made the dough with a levain that was almost doubled, but definitely not peaked.  It's going to retard in the fridge for somewhere around 6 hours.  Then I'll take it out to continue at fermenting at room temperature.  What should I expect in terms of how many more hours of fermenting will it need before it's time to move on to the next step (shaping)?

Any and all advice on how to know when to move on to the next steps (the shaping step, and also after shaping, how to know when it's done proofing and ready to bake) will be greatly appreciated.  I've read & read the forum & watched videos but still don't feel confident about that part at all.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer!

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

:)

LittleGirlBlue's picture
LittleGirlBlue

No, he's not.  Had his start in this world as a mix of AP & WW (both King Arthur brand) and is now just pure AP.

LittleGirlBlue's picture
LittleGirlBlue

It ended up being about 7 hrs in the fridge by the time I took it out.  It doesn't seem to have grown much at all.  Didn't expect it would have done much but I do see at least some growth in my discard jar that's in the fridge, so I kinda of thought this fresh dough might have grown a bit more.  I made some marks on the side of the bowl so I'll be able to tell more exactly how much it has risen.  Should have done that last night.  The top looks much smoother, but I can't tell if that's just the effects of gravity flattening out all of the unevenness or also a sign of gluten development.

Should I be able to do a successful windowpane test when it's time to shape?  Or does that not apply with a no knead method?

LittleGirlBlue's picture
LittleGirlBlue

Well.  After about 7 hours in the fridge and then about 5 hours at room temperature, I decided to shape the dough.  I thought it looked like it had about doubled, altho that's awfully hard to determine in a bowl!  So I did the windowpane test and thought it looked pretty good.  Then I tried to switch it to one hand (to take a pic) and it tore on my fingernail.  I figured poking a fingernail through it didn't really count as failing the test and went ahead and dumped it out of the bowl.

The dough was sticky though and hard to handle.  I'm afraid I threw too much flour at it trying to keep it from sticking to everything.  So maybe it needed to ferment longer before I moved to this step.  I did an envelope fold and tried to round the edges under and it didn't really want to play nice.  So I did a second envelope fold to try to increase the surface tension and that helped.  I tried to pinch the edges closed but this just resulted in getting my fingers stuck.  I rounded it up as best as I could and put it seam down (as per instructions for this recipe) in my "proofing basket" which is a mixing bowl with a towel in it.  After I'd sealed it all up I realized I was supposed to let it bench rest for 15 minutes then shape it again.  Oops.  I debated taking it back out onto the counter but decided that would likely lead to me ending up throwing even more flour at it and decided just to leave it.

So now I just have to get it in the oven.

LittleGirlBlue's picture
LittleGirlBlue

Well.  It's baked.  From the outside, I think it looks pretty ok for a first loaf.  It's not flat as a pancake.  :)

I had trouble when I tried to turn it out of the proofing basket.  It was totally stuck to the towel.  I was able to peel it off with minimal damage in terms of actually tearing it, but it got stretched quite a lot.  There was sort of a pile of loose folds of dough on top of the loaf.  As it baked, most of the loose folds were stretched out to accommodate the oven spring.  It ended up with a bit of a crown in a circle around the top.  Looks kinda cute actually.  I don't know it if's because it had all this loose skin it had to grow into, but it did not form any cracks at the seams like this recipe is supposed to.

Can't wait to slice it open.