August 3, 2020 - 2:45am
Sourdough at scale
I've been making sourdough for a few months now and getting close to something I'm really happy with. So, I'm going to do ~100 loaves for Father's Day in September (down here in Australia) and deliver them to friends and family.
I know to scale the recipe up, am renting a commercial kitchen, etc etc. The thing I can't quite work out is how I'll proof the loaves overnight. I don't have 100 bannetons, or even 100 bowls that I can use. Can I just put them close together on a tray and leave them to proof overnight? How is this done in bakeries? I'm sure they don't have thousands of bannetons lying around?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Ollie
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Close together you will probably get sticking and lose shape. Bakeries actually do use lots of bannetons. An alternative that could keep your costs down is to do batards or other "rectangular" like shape, and put them on a couche to separate and keep structure. This is how baguettes are done and other shapes, just not best for a boule.
Thanks. Great pic! I'm not focussed on doing boules, so am thinking batards would work really well and could perhaps use some cheese cloth in pace of couche (couche is quite expensive, at least in Australia). Do you think that would work?
If the cheesecloth has enough structure it might work. Cheesecloth can really vary in strength. Do a test run of 2-3 loaves and see if it does. I am afraid it might collapse and you end up with cloth stuck to the sides. You don't need an official couche. If you could find linen or cotton towels that don't shed they will work also. My suggestion would be to work flour into them first to help avoid sticking. On a new couche I do 2-3 rounds of just rubbing in flour and rolling it up, then knock the excess off.
If a bakery needs 500 bannetons a day, they will have 500 bannetons (probably more) ;)
Maybe you can buy a 100 piece pack of single use bowls and proof them in there? Plus cheesecloth instead of towels?
Keep in mind that your dough will behave differently from your standard recipe when working in larger quantities. It's called mass effect and apparently (couldn't find the section in my book anymore, so I had to google) dough ferments faster in larger quantities. Something to do with ratio of microorganisms to dough I believe. So adjust your schedule accordingly, but don't start too early in case it slows down for some reason.
I would recommend asking professional bakers in your area what to expect and what to watch out for when working on larger scale. Maybe some will comment right here :)
Interesting, thanks. Looking into single-use bowls right now!
Will also research the impact of larger quantities and proofing times... thanks for the heads up.
i thought about using these before. but have not actually tried it.
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/tellus-products-te55f-32-oz-natural-bagasse-bowl-case/999TE55F.html
they do make bannetons with paper pulp too. but these are much cheaper. There are different sizes and shapes.
you'll probably need to do a little tuck to round them out when the come out.
what kind of fridge are you going to fit a 100 bowls into?
https://www.goodstartpackaging.com/48oz-compostable-fiber-to-go-box/
This one looks brilliant. but i dont see anywhere you can buy in less than 400 count.
I'll look into it. I'm hiring a commercial kitchen with a proper cool room. Cheers!
If you want to get cloths liners but some yards of natural linen instead of cheese cloth. They’re not expensive. Essentially what a couche is. Find a medium thickness one. And use rice flour to dust. Much much better than using wheat flour. If you’re using paper pulp bowls I don’t know that you’ll need the linen. To season either, do a mist spray and dust with rice flour. Let it completely dry and shake out the excess. I think if you use paper pulp bowl and dust your loaves generously with rice flour you won’t even need to season them.
In order to plan logistics, I would think one would first need to know or plan out:
- How much dough per loaf.
- # loaves per bake. How many fit into the oven(s) at once.
- how many bakes per mix. If more than one, how do you avoid over-proofing the 2nd/3rd/etc bake in the mix.
- how many mixes to do the 100 loaves.
Things can be staggered in stages, ie, a "pipeline." Bulk ferment and proof times might be adusted so proofing vessels (couche, bowl, banneton, baking pan) can be re-used.
Proof and bake in a baking pan/tin?
There could be 4 stages per mix, so lots of overlap is possible: mix/autolyse, bulk, proof, bake.
Sounds like a big project. Here's wishing you success and fun!
Thanks - am currently doing a spreadsheet with the sequencing & cadence. Wish me luck!
Looks into micro perforated plastic bags or paper bags to put them in for distribution.
like these
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/plastic-bread-bag-11-x-20-with-micro-perforations-case/130PPF1120M%201000.html
I don’t like to use plastic if I can help it so I just use #12 duro brown paper bags
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/duro-12-lb-brown-paper-bag-bundle/433B12BG.html
james
Ollie,
I tried the ones I posted previously.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/65391/paper-pulp-bowls
I think they work great!
Let us know how your bake goes!
-James
Thanks so much James - will give these a go! It's next weekend - I'll let you know how I go!
Cheers,
Ollie
Hope you can get a hold of some of these. looking forward to hear how it goes.
-James
Ollie, how did your bake go? would love to hear about it.