Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Refrigerated dough...

Many of us have time constraints when baking. And when trying to bake multiple loaves at once, we can only fit so many in the oven. One way to space out loaves are to refrigerate the dough for hours or even a day or two to delay proofing. I recommend doing it after the first knead and before allowing it the first proof. I haven't done any experiments with refrigerating the shaped loaf, but I do know that I would rather let the dough proof a little longer on the first rise than after shaping, when things usually go faster and can go wrong much more easily.

If storage space is at a premium, take a gallon ziplock bag and give the inside a good hit with nonstick spray before dropping in your dough and sealing. You can make several loaves in a row this way, and label them on the outside of the bag. To use the dough, just remove from the bag and proof as you normally would, but allow an extra 30-60 minutes for the dough to lose the cold from the fridge.

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