Good morning all!
I'd like to pick your brains if I may. I am planning some simple BBA french bread for this weekend and I have already made the preferment. The trouble is, I made it Tuesday night and forgot about it till Wednesday morning! So instead of rising 90 min to 2hrs, it rose for about 8. I am hoping it is still salvageable since it is only the pre-ferment stage. as soon as I discovered it I punched it down and stuck it in the fridge. Any tips? more yeast in the final dough perhaps(no idea. seems like it might work) or do i need to start over.
any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
John,
It would help considerably to know the type of preferment you made (poolish? biga? lpate fermentee?), as well as the baker's percentage of yeast you added.
A poolish preferment can be made up to 18 hours in advance, but the amount of yeast used is quite small.
If, however, your preferment has overripened, the best advice is to discard it and start over. An overripe preferment will have an excess of protease activity that will leave you with a slack and lackluster dough that cannot be improved.
Larry
Ahh yes. Good point. I was making baguettes, so it's pate fermentee. I will start over. At least now i know. Thanks!
Don't worry about it--I sometimes let a sponge deliberately sitting in a warm place for several days (it becomes sligthly tart) and when ready to finish the dough, I add alittle extra yeast and the resulting bread as perfectly good.
George (author of What Recipes Don't Tell You)