When is refrigerated dough irretrievably overproofed?
I was trying out a new recipe using IDY and didn't notice it called for ice water, and I instead used 90F water for the general mixing. I gave it an hour initial rise at room temperature, where it expanded probably 50%, before putting it in the refrigerator. During the first two hours in the refrigerator it easily doubled. I took it out, knocked it down and re-balled it up, and it doubled again over the next two hours. Now, 12 hours later, it seems to be settled down.
My concern is that this dough is overproofed and that I won't get any oven spring when I cook. But the standard test (finger poking) doesn't really work for refrigerated dough since it's firm anyway. And I don't want to take it out to let it warm up since I'm not ready to bake it for a while.
Is there anyway to judge if a dough still has some spring to it? Am I just overly concerned because the dough already expanded roughly 5x its initial volume, across all of the rises?
and secondly give it a tug. If it smells bad and no longer has any strength I would not waste more time and resources on it.
You could toss it or bake it and see what happens. Personally I would just bake it, you don't have much to lose by trying. You could either score and bake straight from the fridge, or let it warm up on the counter while the oven heats.
It's funny, I haven't made a yeast bread in a couple of months, and made one yesterday. Like yours, the yeast went crazy! I had to run an errand, and when I got home it was trying to push the cover off the large bowl it was in. We both started laughing, it was like something out of an old sci-fi movie. I didn't have a lot of hope for it, but went ahead and shaped it. While the oven preheated, it kept going, and per the poke test wasn't quite ready. I stuck it in the oven anyway and it had some oven spring. The crust was crackling as it cooled, a fun thing to hear. Will see what the crumb looks like later. From past experience, it may not be the result I was aiming for, but it will still taste good, and be better than store bought.
Good luck!!
If I had a dough that I was convinced that I had overproofed, I’d try to shape in for baking in a loaf pan, bake it and see what happens, no much to lose.
Benny
I don't really have any extra dough --- it's for pizza night and it's a thin enough pizza already. Guess I'm going to have to just live dangerously and go for it!
I don't really have any extra dough --- it's for pizza night and it's a thin enough pizza already. Guess I'm going to have to just live dangerously and go for it!
Let us know how it turns out! ?
Pizza is the most forgiving use of dough. I'm sure it was excellent. Any comments or photos @JPhillips?
All that concern for nothing. I took it out of the fridge, let it warm up for maybe an hour or so, and already it was starting to rise again. I spread it out in the pan (for Sicilian pizza) and let it proof for another hour, during which it got nice and poofy. It had a decent oven spring, and good volume in the crust. Overall it turned out great -- I'll make sure to take photos for next time!