Last night I decided I had time to make some Ken Forkish "Overnight White". I've been using the Forkish method for a couple years now, I like it very much. For the last 18 months I have been using his overnight recipe utilizing his poolish method but last night I went for the straight overnight method.
To my dismay when I got up to bake this morning I had no rise in the bulk fermentation, just a few gas bubbles. I proofed my SAF yeast (1/2c 110˚ water, 1/2tsp sugar and 1/8tsp. yeast) which has been stored in glass in the refrigerator, lo and behold, no proofing.
So my yeast died, I've had it 3 years and had read that stored properly it can last this long but I guess not.
Questions.......
- I made a poolish recipe with this yeast 3 weeks ago and it was fine, was this because the poolish method can tolerate weak yeast better than the straight dough method?
- I haven't thrown out my dough this morning, I figured I'll see if there's any action at all over the next 24 hours at room temp, any chance for a rise or am I done for?
thanks,
Rob
Add new yeast and carry on.
Unfortunately new yeast will not arrive for a few days.
Can you ask anyone for a little yeast?
If not I'm thinking herbs, spices, oil and making some flatbreads.
and when did the yeast proofing take place?
Proof some more yeast, say three teaspoons at a lower temp (104°F max) with less water (2-3 tablespoons) and see if it dissolves. Then work it into the dough. Oat flakes are great soaker uppers if the dough seems too wet. Toss in 1/4 cup at a time with a pinch of salt, kneading or folding in and giving the dough 30 min to rest before adding more.
It was SAF yeast and I did it this morning after the rise failure. However, an update. I left the tub of dough in my basement while I was gone today for the holiday, when I returned tonight it had finally risen. The dough is very sticky but it's now divided and in bannetons, will bake in about an hour and report the results.
Well, I'm not sure what happened. I decided last night was too late to start baking so I waited until this morning. That means a 28 hour bulk ferment at 65˚ and then 10 hours after forming loaves, in a brotform, in the fridge.
When I took the brotforms out of the fridge the dough looked way past prime but I decided to try a bake anyway. On top of that the dough was sticking to the brotform, I had to pull it out and try to form it into something resembling a loaf but it was abysmal, looked more like a windsock on a calm day, bad pizza dough. I threw it into the Creuset Dutch oven and baked it anyway.
And then.....
What do I know? Nothing! Will try again to duplicate the results.
something inspirational for the weather channel. Cool! Highs, lows and a tropical storm, eye of a hurricane?
That crust is indicative of the mess the dough was when it went into the DO.
that might have ruined the proof testing...
from their site...
SAF Red Instant Yeast – 16 oz.
SAF Red Label instant yeast has solved bread baking performance problems for many bakers.
It is a high potency, fast acting yeast that can be added directly to your dry ingredients without it having to be activated in water first. SAF Instant Yeast is more than twice as active as regular compressed yeast.
For sweet breads, use SAF Gold Label yeast.
SAF yeast comes vacuum sealed in a 1 lb. package and its long shelf life can will be extended even further in the fridge or freezer. After opening, SAF yeast maintains potency for a minimum of 5 years when stored in a freezer. Some users have reported it keeping much longer than that. The yeast is granulated and until the package is opened it feels almost like a solid brick because of the airtight vacuum seal.
I got that proofing method from the King Arthur website, they stated it was for SAF.
into the initial recipe? And how much flour?
1000g flour, 0.8g yeast.
part ... temperature. The dough started off cool and remained cool. Must be great tasting bread!
But to speed things along, more yeast could have been added either before the bulk ferment or a good dose a few hours before wanting to shape.