October 12, 2006 - 7:05pm
How long will poolish keep in the refigerator?
Mine has been in there for more than a day, after developing at room temperature for 8-10 hours. Still usable? What's the outside limit?
Any advice deeply appreciated. Thanks!
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My gut tells me it is over the hill.
If you do use it, I wouldn't think the yeast would have much leavening power left, so add a little more than usual.
Let us know what you decide to do (and how it turns out).
I usually use mine as soon as it's ripe, but in Peter Reinhart's BBA, he says it's good for three days in the fridge. Give it a couple of hours to warm up when you get it out, and you should be good to go, if he's right.
Thanks, guys. I will give it a try and see what happens.
"I am not a cook. But I am sorta cooky."
I've baked with a biga that sat in my kitchen for 8-12 hours, then in the fridge for another full day before being incorporated into a dough that sat in my fridge for two more days before I was able to bake it. It turned out wonderfully.
The biga did not have much yeast in it to start however so that may have saved my loaves. I was making JMonkey's all whole-wheat recipe. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/1073
Hopefully your old poolish will yield tasty bread! Good luck to you!
Well, I made some bread with the old poolish -- which actually ended up sitting in the refrigerator for three days. It still looked bubbly when I took it out, so I figured it was worth a try.
I actually think this is the best batch I've done so far, and almost nothing went according to plan. The poolish was old, the measurements for the dough ingredients were iffy (my trusted measuring equipment was in the dishwasher and I was in a hurry), finally I was delayed getting back from chores during the final rise, so the oven did not have the usual amount of time to heat up.
Which goes to show, I guess, that the only way to know for sure what you're doing is to make a zillion loaves.
Thanks for all the input!
"I am not a cook. But I am sorta cooky."
It just goes to show that even when "mistakes" are made they often are entirely edible. Mine have been and I'm glad yours was too!