In preparation for my bread bake, I followed the same recipe that I have been using. 900g White Flour, 200 g Wholemeal Flour, 750g Water, 23g Salt. I followed the recipe as I always have but during the bulk ferment, the rise in the dough was exceptional. The 10 Litre proving container was at bursting point with the dough expansion extending to every corner of the container. I proceeded as normal with pre-shape, rest, then final shape into loaf pan shape. Bench rest came next for 1.5 hours followed by the fridge retarding for 14 hours. The rise from the fridge retard was very disappointing with rising non-existent. The dough did not even come up to the full side of the loaf tin. The loaves still baked ok but I have no answer for what happened. Never happened before and I have no answers. Looking for help to avoid a repeat.
Thanks, Terry Butwell
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Forgot to give the Starter content. My starter was 325g. The starter has never let me down in the past. It was refreshed the afternoon before my dough prep. Refrigerated 1hour after refresh and taken out of the fridge net morning to bring up to room temp before using.
Cheers
Terry B
Hi, Terry,
I haven't experienced this myself yet. I have read on TFL where others have experienced the same as you - a starter letting you down.
Try building it back up from a small pinch. Maybe 5g or so. Build to normal quantity and feed for one cycle of normal maintenance. Pinch back to 5g and build back up again. Rinse, repeat as you like.
Of course, keep your original in case of error. Throw away original once you like your new one better.
You might like a new routine where you use all of your starter except for that one 5g pinch to build upon.
Murph
Terry photos of the baked loaf and crumb would help immensely with a diagnosis. What you’re describing though sound like the dough ended up overproofed primarily because the bulk fermentation went too far based on “ the rise in the dough was exceptional. The 10 Litre proving container was at bursting point with the dough expansion extending to every corner of the container.” I wonder if the temperature at which you did bulk was warmer than usual speeding up the bulk fermentation and allowing it to go too far?
Benny