Do you think this will work for holiday bread baking?

Toast
Anonymous on 20 Nov 2008 at 04:52

So we have finally moved to GA, it is kind of close to my husbands family and we are having Thanksgiving here at our house.  He hasn't been able to have Thanksgiving with his family in 10 years (yes we are military).  Since I have started making bread my husband is hooked on it.  I made the mistake (not really) of giving my new neighbors a loaf one day........just decided to be nice.  Well now they are wanting a loaf whenever I make them...........lol (i should start charging them).

Anyway, I have been using the recipe below, and just adding an egg wash and some Lowrey's Garlic salt to the top of my bread when i turn it in the oven.  My neighbors want bread for their Thanksgiving as well this year.  I have about 6 loafs to make.  Would it be possible to make the dough the night before, then knead it, and let it do it's first rise (i think you guys call it the bulk fermentation?) in the fridge overnight?  Then pop it in the pan for it's last rise and give it to them so they can bake it.  I don't have room to bake 6 loafs of bread in my oven, and I think they would like having their houses smell good.....lol

Has anyone ever done this?  Do you think it will work, and how long should I give it to rise in the fridge?

 

I also had a big issue with this today, in the past it's only taken about 2 3/4 cups of flour before turning it out.  This morning, I had to put the full 3 1/2 cups in to make the dough manageable............anyone know why this might be?

 

here is the recipe I am making.

Thank you guys in advance.

http://www.sourdoughhome.com/bakingintro3.html#windopane

 

after kneading, you can put it in the fridge overnight.  Take it out in the morning and let it come up towards room temperature.  Then punch down and shape your loaves as usual.  Be sure to give it extra proffing time as it will be colder and the yeast will have eaten more of the sugar.

I had to add an additional 1/2 cup of flour to my normal bake, too, but the outcome was the usual success. I'll bet if you drop Mike a note via his website he can give you firsthand knowledge of how this bread performs with a fridge-rest. I'm pretty sure he's going to tell you what HogieWan has. ;) Six loaves of bread? I baked four today, ahead of schedule and I'm doing that naughty thing...I'm freezing it until Wednesday night. I have so much baking to do and only so much time. Teenager is arriving home for the weekend from school and there are items to be baked for hubby's feast at work and then there's the family meal. So much food, so little time. ;)

I've been freezing mine a lot.  I usually make 2 or 3 loaves at a time and freeze all but one.  I sometimes slice it first and bring to work to put in the freezer there, and I can just take out a couple slices to thaw for my sandwich.

 

Freezing worls great as far as I can tell.

If it's sandwich bread, you can just thaw it to room temp (or toast it, depending on what you're making). With a leaner, crusty bread, like a sourdough loaf, I usually freeze it whole, thaw it for a few hours at room temp, and then recrisp it in the oven at about 450 dF for 10 minutes or so.

I used to thaw first, but I have found that just tossing the frozen loaf into a 350F oven for 15-20 minutes works just as well. Freeze without fear!