\n This experiment looks at shaping dough earlier versus later in the rising process. Dough rising \u2014 aka fermentation \u2014 can be depicted as an upward trending curve on a graph, with dough expansion on the y-axis and time on the x-axis. The line starts out flat-ish, gets increasingly steeper, and then flattens again and then slowly trends down as the dough \u201cdeflates\u201d. (Ideally your dough is in the oven or refrigerator before the flattening of the curve.)<\/p>\n
(Fictional graph data to illustrate the idea \u2013 not a real dough expansion series)
\nThe goal of this double bake experiment is to assess the impact on crumb, loaf height, and score bloom of ending the bulk fermentation at different points on the curve. The total fermentation of the two doughs is the same, but one dough has a shorter bulk fermentation and a longer final proof and the other a longer bulk fermentation and shorter final proof.
\nIt is important to understand that the results and conclusions of this experiment \u2014 how far you want to push the fermentation during each stage of rising \u2014 may not be applicable to other flours, dough hydration and temperature, and handling (gluten development and shaping method). For example, dough that is comprised of low-gluten flours is less able to hold large, stretched bubbles in its structure, so it may appear flatter than a high-gluten dough with the same degree of fermentation. This is to say that this same experiment done with all whole grain red fife flour would likely be taller if shaped and baked at less dough expansion. Meanwhile, an all bread flour dough or a much dryer dough, could be shaped earlier and proofed longer and still maintain its shape.
\nShaped earlier (left); shaped later (right)
\nMethod
\nBaker\u2019s Percentages62% bread flour38% red fife whole grain flour or home milled red fife wheat berries75% water12.5% sourdough starter1.8% salt
\nThe double-batch of dough in this experiment had 500 grams bread flour and 300 grams red fife whole grain flour. After a thorough mixing it was divided into two straight-walled buckets and an aliquot jar to track the total expansion of the dough from mixing to oven.
\nThe word \u201caliquot\u201d means a sample or a part of a whole. In the context of baking bread, it\u2019s a small portion of a larger dough that you place in a small straight-walled container after mixing. After marking the initial level of the aliquot, you can track its expansion to help decide when to shape and bake the main dough. If other variables are kept constant, over multiple bakes you can assess how different levels of expansion in the aliquot jar impact the final loaf.
\nJust after mixing
\nThe doughs had two rounds of stretching and folding during the first hour of the bulk fermentation, and everything was kept in a proofing box at 77\u00b0F.
\nTime to shape Dough 1 (60% expansion)
\nTime to shape Dough 2 (90% expansion)
\nInterestingly, the expansion of the aliquot dough lagged behind the expansion of the bread doughs in their buckets, perhaps because all the dough started in the low 80s, and the aliquot cooled to the proofing box temp of 77\u00b0F faster due to its smaller thermal mass. The temperature of all three was equal within about 50 minutes of a 7-hour process (mixing to oven), so this discrepancy remains a bit of a mystery.
\nDough 1 had a shorter bulk fermentation and was shaped at 60% expansion (40% aliquot expansion).
\nDough 2 had a longer bulk fermentation and was shaped at 90% expansion (60% aliquot expansion).<\/p>\n
The doughs were shaped gently and did not have a pre-shape and bench rest. They went into the oven when the aliquot dough was at 80% expansion. Looking at the difference between the dough buckets and the aliquot, the total dough expansion at oven time \u201cin bucket terms\u201d was probably 120%.
\nResults<\/p>\n
Dough 1, on left, had the shorter bulk fermentation and longer final proof. This bread has a more attractive honeycomb crumb, but is flatter with less score bloom.
\nDough 2, on right, had a longer bulk fermentation and shorter final proof. This bread has a less even crumb with some tighter areas and some larger holes, but it is taller and had more score bloom.
\nConclusions
\nThis experiment shows that shaping at fairly different times on the fermentation curve can produce good loaves of bread. Depending on your goals, you can play with the timing, as well as adjust other aspects of your process, to achieve different crumb and loaf height.
\nFor this combination of flours and at this hydration, at my next bake, I might repeat the timing of Dough 1 but test adding a pre-shape and bench rest in hopes of strengthening the shape for that longer final proof. Or I might end the bulk fermentation in between the timing of Dough 1 and 2, at 75-80% expansion, and again shape gently without a pre-shape. To arrive at this same total fermentation of the dough, I would need to use an aliquot jar again and assess again how it expands compared with the main dough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This experiment looks at shaping dough earlier versus later in the rising process. Dough rising \u2014 aka fermentation \u2014 can be depicted as an upward trending curve on a graph, with dough expansion on the y-axis and time on the x-axis. The line starts out flat-ish, gets increasingly steeper, and then flattens again and then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-food"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanabaking.snipsglow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanabaking.snipsglow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanabaking.snipsglow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanabaking.snipsglow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanabaking.snipsglow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sanabaking.snipsglow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanabaking.snipsglow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanabaking.snipsglow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanabaking.snipsglow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanabaking.snipsglow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}