March 29, 2008 - 1:29pm
Have I killed my bread?
My house is kind of cool, and I wanted my bread done on a deadline, so I decided to put it into a slightly warmed oven. But the oven was too warm, and when I came back to my dough, it had drastically over-risen (bulk rising). So I de-gassed it and now I'm waiting for it to rise to where it ought to be so I can shape it and let it rise again before baking. Will all be forgiven, or will I be punished with an unappetizing brick? It's the pugliese recipe in RLB's Bread Bible.
Abby
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I meant to say, I put my dough into a slightly warmed oven for the bulk rise, because the temperature in my house is in the low 60's. But the oven was too warm and the dough over-rose. Is de-gassing and letting it rise again the correct solution? I guess I'll find out, because that's what I'm doing.
AbbyL
I'll be interested to hear how it turns out. My guess is you exhausted your yeast, which is irrecoverable. Still, it's worth the work to rescue it - better than tossing it.
I agree. When I first started baking bread if I dough didn't look the way I thought it should or seemed too sticky or whatever I tossed it without thinking. Now I wish I could have gone back and at least tried it. If it's a brick you can toss it otherwise - who knows? Maybe you've evented a new method!
Trish
It rose beautifully, better than in RLB's picture, with a pretty nice crumb, and I think I know why. I forgot the salt in the dough (there's some in the biga), which is probably why it over-rose in the first place, and then it kept on rising and rising throughout the entire process.
AbbyL