I'm a relatively new baker and have been having problems with over and under proofing, with both sourdough and regular yeast breads. I have starter that rises and falls predictably, so I know it's not that.
My problem is my panned yeast-breads do not get a good oven spring. My sourdough tends to be tight and I get some oven spring but not a lot. I autolyse all of my dough. My yeast breads always pass the window pane test, my doughs double during bulk, I preshape, bench rest, and shape (I usually get a good tension pull during final shaping).
I guess my question is can you over/under bulk? or is a dense crumb more of an underproof? And if you proof it in the fridge overnight, doesn't that sort of take the guess work out of it? With my panned breads I even did the math equation to know exactly the weight of the dough that should fit in that particular pan (measure the amounth of water that I can fit in a pan, divide by 1.9 (if white flour) and let it rise 1" during proofing). Am I over/under bulking? Is there such a thing? I use king arthur flour (usually all-purpose).
what ever SD bread I am making with the exclusion of panettone or brioche or something like that, I never let it rise 100% for bulk ferment. It usually rises 50% max for a white bread and 40% for a 50% whole grain one and no more than 25% for a whole grain bread.
Make sure you are letting the dough rise 1/2" to 1" max over the rim of the pan when you put it in the heat - not 1"
Happy baking
It's interesting, a lot of Forkish's recipes call for 3x bulk ferment. I have been doing that recently and have been having some great results. I created marks on a large glass container that I filled with water and weighed for accurate volume measurement. It's been nice for me to be able to get precise volume measurements when doing the BF. I am not sure what the end result would be between a 300% and 50% BF.
And by 300% I mean if I start at 1500 ML of dough, I BF to 4500 ML. These are the marks I made on my glass container.
Actually yes, I meant 1" above the rim! Funny you mention the forkish's recipe because I just happen to make that recipe today!
I sort of had an "ah-ha" moment today after I posted this. As mentioned above, bulk rise you have a little leeway. I was putting way too much effort into that step and wasnt really paying much attention to the proofing.
I did some research and it turns out that my fridge temp is really cold, so when I cold-proof the loaf, it probably comes to a dead stop. I am going to the leaving it out, at room temp, for a ½ hour and maybe another for an hour (after shaping) before putting in the fridge.
As I was making the same day strait dough from Forkish, I watched videos on the finger-dent test ( I did let this bulk proof to about 2.5x it's original size). I did the test every 15 mins to get a feel for the dough bouncing back. I put it in the oven when I thought it was proofed just right, and this loaf turned out the best I have ever made. Except my ear fell flat and I should of baked in a dutch oven instead of the ice on a cast iron pan (which failed me). I got really good oven spring and the best crumb I have ever baked.
So it was a proof problem, not bulk rise.
Thank you for all your responses!