My bread making is with Organic spelt and I use a fast action/ easy blend yeast. On most occasions the outcome is good.
1. Sometimes the result can be a bit sour. The sourness does not come with every batch, so I have assumed that the dough may not have risen enough, or baked fully. Does any one have a better explanation for that occasional bitter twange?
2. I am thinking of buying a cool box for the dough rising process. I will put a 20 watt heated mat inside with a thermostat controller. Can I successfully do the rise in one pot (one that will fit in the box) and then transfer the risen dough to the tins for immediale baking? (My main reason for buying the cool box is to ferment natto but I might as well use the same box for my dough)
Robin
you can totally do the bulk ferment in the box, but it would probably be inadvisable to move proofed loaves from one container to another.
The bulk ferment is the first fermentation, it is done with the dough still in one mass, it is usually the longer of the two ferments. It would be fine to bulk ferment your dough in your box then remove, divide, shape and proof in the loaf pans. proofing is the final fermentation and it is done after the loaves have been shaped. Once proofed the loaves should be handled as little and as carefully as possible and if you are planning on baking in some sort of mold/pan the loaves should be allowed to proof in said pan.
I believe that easy blend yeast is the same as dry active yeast? the easy part being you don't need to activate it in water before mixing it in? if that is the case I think thats what most people on here use when making a commercial yeast leavened bread and the bulk ferment is pretty typical. as for the sour unless you are adding weird stuff I think you are over fermenting (over rising) the bread. and that bad taste is byproducts of the dying yeast.
Robin, I am not an expert at all, but from what I have learned on here people leave bread to rise longer and cooler to increase sour flavours, so it may be that even though your dough has not proofed to the point where it collapses, you have left it long enough for it to develop a sourness that you don't like. Could you try timing your proofing time to see if there is a correlation between certain lengths of time and temperature and the flavour you do or don't want?
(or proof) is not really something that depends on the type of yeast you are using. Yeast is yeast, be it what we "commercial" dried or fresh (such as you are using) or wild from a starter. I'm saying this to make you understand that the proof is necessary both as a period of time for the dough to ferment and, in some cases more importantly, to give a good, even rise. Usually any bread has both bulk ferment and proof, though there are some exceptions, for example some 100% whole rye breads do not get bulk fermented and stollen is not proofed.
All that said, I don't think that the type of bread you are making benefits from not having a conventional final proof and you should consider adjusting your procedure accordingly. Now, as to the sour/bitter flavor, my thoughts are:
1. If the flavor is more bitter rather than sour, your flour may be off. Is it fresh (wholegrain flour tends to expire more rapidly than more refined flours)? Have the off-flavored breads been made from the same, or from different bags of flour? If different, were the packaging dates the same or different? Check for parasites, most notably "strings" like cobwebs in the flour. Moths often contribute the sort of flavor you are describing.
2. How much yeast are you using per kilo of flour? How long is the fermentation time? It is not so easy to coax a sour flavor from a bread using just commercial yeast with no sourdough. However, it may be the case that you are fermenting too much -- wholegrain doughs will ferment more quickly than white.
It would be simplest to help you if we knew the exact formula you are using.