Hoping you all can help with this... I have a cold house problem,
which I think may be advantageous. House generally is around 65-67
deg F in the winter. Usually I knead my bread, let rise for a few
hours, shape loaves, and then put in the fridge to retard overnight or
for a day. But it takes a long time for the dough to get back up to
temp after coming out of the fridge because my house is so cold. I'm
wondering if I even need to retard it at all, since my house is cold?
Would it work to just leave it out on the counter for 8 hours
overnight (temp gets down to 62 at night before the heat kicks on) and
then bake it in the morning? Or would it overproof then? Is there a
rule of thumb about how much longer the bread will take to rise based
on temperature? There must be....

Karen Troy wrote:

> Hoping you all can help with this... I have a cold house problem,
> which I think may be advantageous. House generally is around 65-67
> deg F in the winter. Usually I knead my bread, let rise for a few
> hours, shape loaves, and then put in the fridge to retard overnight or
> for a day. But it takes a long time for the dough to get back up to
> temp after coming out of the fridge because my house is so cold. I'm
> wondering if I even need to retard it at all, since my house is cold?
> Would it work to just leave it out on the counter for 8 hours
> overnight (temp gets down to 62 at night before the heat kicks on) and
> then bake it in the morning? Or would it overproof then? Is there a
> rule of thumb about how much longer the bread will take to rise based
> on temperature? There must be....

Sure there is. But you can adjust the amount of starter you use to make the
fermentation and proofing times work for you.

On Jan 5, 12:51*pm, Maximust > wrote:
> Karen Troy wrote:
> > Hoping you all can help with this... *I have a cold house problem,
> > which I think may be advantageous. *House generally is around 65-67
> > deg F in the winter. *Usually I knead my bread, let rise for a few
> > hours, shape loaves, and then put in the fridge to retard overnight or
> > for a day. *But it takes a long time for the dough to get back up to
> > temp after coming out of the fridge because my house is so cold. *I'm
> > wondering if I even need to retard it at all, since my house is cold?
> > Would it work to just leave it out on the counter for 8 hours
> > overnight (temp gets down to 62 at night before the heat kicks on) and
> > then bake it in the morning? *Or would it overproof then? *Is there a
> > rule of thumb about how much longer the bread will take to rise based
> > on temperature? *There must be....
>
> Sure there is. But you can adjust the amount of starter you use to make the
> fermentation and proofing times work for you.

So you're saying just add less starter and it will take longer to
grow, so I'll be able to leave it out overnight? That makes sense.
Will have to try that with the next loaf....

"Karen Troy" > wrote in message
...
On Jan 5, 12:51 pm, Maximust > wrote:
> Karen Troy wrote:
> > Hoping you all can help with this... I have a cold house problem,
> > which I think may be advantageous. House generally is around 65-67
> > deg F in the winter. Usually I knead my bread, let rise for a few
> > hours, shape loaves, and then put in the fridge to retard overnight or
> > for a day. But it takes a long time for the dough to get back up to
> > temp after coming out of the fridge because my house is so cold. I'm
> > wondering if I even need to retard it at all, since my house is cold?
> > Would it work to just leave it out on the counter for 8 hours
> > overnight (temp gets down to 62 at night before the heat kicks on) and
> > then bake it in the morning? Or would it overproof then? Is there a
> > rule of thumb about how much longer the bread will take to rise based
> > on temperature? There must be....
>
> Sure there is. But you can adjust the amount of starter you use to make
> the
> fermentation and proofing times work for you.

So you're saying just add less starter and it will take longer to
grow, so I'll be able to leave it out overnight? That makes sense.
Will have to try that with the next loaf....

That would certainly work for you, but is there some reason that you feel
your bread must come "back up to temp" before continuing with your
procedure? Dough continues to rise even in the fridge, albeit much slower.
I often retard my shaped loaves, but I delay putting them into the fridge
until they have begun to show some puffiness which I know will continue for
a while in the cold, as it will take awhile for the inside to cool down.
This takes some trial and error, and you need to get a feel for how fast the
rise is going on due to how warm your bulk fermentation was. If your home is
already kind of cool, you might want to leave it out longer after shaping
before retarding. Next day I take my loaves out ready to throw in the oven,
as they have risen enough, being kind of cold has little affect on dough
going into hot steamy oven, and the added benefit is that the cold adds some
rigidity to a dough that may not be willing to hold it's shape very well
during the transfer.

Karen Troy wrote:
> Hoping you all can help with this... I have a cold house problem,
> which I think may be advantageous.

I also have a cold house and use this method with great success. The
overnight rise with a small amount of starter usually works well for the
last stage. I hand mix vs the machine method Dick uses.

http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/di...ctions_Rev.doc

Mike
Some bread photos: http://www.mikeromain.shutterfly.com