Dough volume shrinking during the cold retard
Does any of you experience the dough volume shrinking after putting it in the fridge for the cold retard?
I am using an 80% hydration recipe with 40% whole wheat flour and the rest, strong wheat flour. Innoculation 20%.
I noticed this as I used an aliquot jar. After the bulk fermentation, the aliquot jar indicated 75% increase and after 5 hours in the fridge went down to 50%. I tested the same recipe also with an increase of 50% and again, in the fridge went back to 25%.
The next day, while opening the fridge door few times during the day, the dough starts to rise again and reaches actually the initial level, but during the night, it remains constant.
There is no issue with the baked bread and actually, I am very happy with the result: airy crumb, perfect ear.
I would like to understand why is this happening and what would be the cause of it, as it did not happen with many recipes I tested before.
Thank you,
Denisa
It's normal I think: with lower temperature gases dissolve in water better, so the volume of holes will shrink. Also density of gases increases, but I think that's a very subtle effect.
Not sure why it would depend on the recipe, perhaps sometimes gas production by the yeast compensates for this shrinking and sometimes not, depending on fermentation activity.
Thank you, Ilya!
On top of this natural shrinking that you mention, I also think that it might be related to 2 other things:
1. The whole wheat flour is organic and has low protein content (usually here in Belgium is 10-11%) and that's why I compensate with the strong wheat flour for the remaining 60%. The bran particles are quite visible in the flour and probably weakens the gluten chaining.
2. Hydration. The structure of a well-hydrated dough is more sensible than a stiff dough and relies on the quality of the "walls" (the gluten development) and the gas development. As you mentioned, the gas bubbles can shrink naturally at lower temperatures.
It might be a combination of the 2. With high hydration dough, I saw a shrink before at max 10% and yes, this might be normal. But 25% shrinking, I have not seen before...
I've never actually tried it with an aliquot jar, but I suspect it will overestimate the shrinking: it will cool down very quickly and stop the fermentation, while the loaves will take much longer to cool down, and fermentation will continue for a few hours, which will compensate for the shrinking. In my experience by eye after overnight retard the loaves usually look about the same as when they went in, so the shrinking and fermentation are approximately balanced (depending on the activity and starting temperature - with more active and warm dough I might notice a little expansion).
or dough in the fridge? It might be too warm and the dough is overproofing, rising and falling when it should just be rising.
Hi Mini Oven, I do not think over proofing is the cause. Look at the resulting loaves:
During the bulk fermentation, I keep the dough temperature at ~26ºC in the bread proofer and from there, after shaping, it goes straight to the fridge. I keep my fridge at 4ºC and during the night the temperature is stable (verified). The next day, when I start opening the fridge door looking for other food, the temperature becomes more unstable and actually, it is then when the level in the aliquot jar start raising again.
So basically, when I put the aliquot jar in the fridge together with the bannetons for retard, the volume increase is at 50%. After 3-4 hours in the fridge, the aliquot jar indicates 25% and stays like this up until the morning. In the afternoon, the aliquot jar is back to a 50% volume increase (due to the unstable fridge temperature during the morning).
Looking at the dough in the bannetons, I really do not see a noticeable shrink. It looks about the same as they were before retard.
What I find weirder is that it is happening only with this recipe. I did this recipe 4-5 times so far and every single time I've got this 25% shrink in the fridge overnight. With other recipes, I've seen a shrink up to 10% or no shrink at all.
Interesting right?
Denisa, I see this all the time when my doughs cold retard in my 3ºC fridge and that is completely normal. The greater the rise prior to refrigeration the more noticeable it is.
Benny
Benny, so happy I am not the only one seeing it! Without an aliquot jar, I wouldn't have noticed it at all, but my kids love the little bread from the dough in the aliquot jar. So I decided to keep it and bake it separately instead of putting it over the main dough. This is how I noticed this shrink. With the basic open crumb recipe of Kristen, I've counted a loss in volume of 10% and I really didn't pay too much attention to it. But with this recipe, it was too obvious that something is happening with the dough in the aliquot jar in the fridge. Is it the natural gas contraction? Is it the hydration? Is it the weak whole wheat flour? Is it due to the small quantity of dough in the aliquot jar? and the list o questions is still open :)
Denisa.
I've always assumed this effect is due to the gases cooling down and becoming more dense. Ilya mentions also that perhaps some of the CO2 might also become dissolved in the liquid phase of the dough as another possibility. But what you describe I've always seen in the aliquot jar that it might drop by half of the rise it had during bulk. Now the main dough doesn't drop by as much but I do see if contracting as well, again the greater the rise during bulk the greater the percent contraction in the banneton but never as much as the aliquot jar dough. Since the main dough has a much greater mass than the aliquot jar dough, it takes much much longer to get down to the 3*C of my fridge so it will ferment a while longer and I think that is partly why it doesn't contract as much as the aliquot jar dough.
I think the direct change in density of CO2 is actually quite small, say, between 25° and 5°C (typical bulk temperature and fridge temperature) - only about 8% difference in density (https://theengineeringmindset.com/properties-of-carbon-dioxide-at-atmospheric-pressure/), so 8% difference in volume of bubbles. Not negligible, but won't account for observed effects. The rest of the shrinking probably comes from increased CO2 solubility in water at lower temperature, about twice higher for the same temperature range (https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/gases-solubility-water-d_1148.html). Less obvious to me how to calculate this effect in % of volume of CO2, perhaps Doc would know.
OK that makes sense to me, I’ll take your word on that. I certainly don’t know that science well.
Benny
Wow! This is a very documented explanation and most probably this is the main cause of the shrinking in general. As for the question, why it happens so much for this recipe, I think the weak whole wheat flour plays some role here. The gluten network is not that strong and some of the gases might be released. And maybe a kind of small contraction happens also to the solid part of the dough, allowing the gases to escape when the temperature drops.
You are right! The dough in the aliquot jar is a sample and due to its size, it is exaggerating the rise/shrink compared to the main dough. The accuracy of the volume increase in the aliquot jar has to be taken with a grain of salt. It should be considered as a rough indication but it has a margin of error.
Your post caught my eye because, during this sultry time of year, I struggle with the opposite problem: Doughs continue to grow in 4˚C cold retard and can be overfermented by bake time the next morning. I've taken to refrigerating the banneton during dough prep so that when it goes into retard, the banneton immediately applies the brakes. This morning's was a bit further along than I'd prefer, even though the 1.75 h bulk @ 25˚C bulk was the annual minimum for this 20% hard white + 40% Turkey Red dough. Should have been even shorter.
Our bakes are 80% hydration, 60% ww and 20% prefermented -- very similar to yours. However, I always bake 2 kg miches, and I submit that therein lies the difference. 2 kg of dough retains the 25˚C DDT of bulk much longer than smaller boules and batards. Thus fermentation and its attendant expansion continue longer than in smaller refrigerated doughs. It takes longer for the the center of a 2kg dough mass to sink to 4˚C than it would were it one kg or less.
Bottom line: Total dough mass amount matters.
My $.02
Tom
what do you think would happen if your 2kg miche was shapped into a donut before retarding? Would it cool off faster? Is it possible to donut shape 80% hydration? The center hole would eventually fill in with rising dough but it might be cooled enough to not over proof. Just something that popped into my head. Think it might work? Too time consuming?
Mini
Like shaping an anaconda into a bagel. Hopefully no one will be filming.
Yes, absolutely that would allow the interior to keep up with the periphery’s cooling. I may just give this a try, or at least careful consideration at shaping time next week if this tropical weather persists.
Actually… a cane bundtform would be terrific!
or stand a glass of cold water in the middle of my banneton and wrap the snake around it. You may be onto something. Thanks Mini!
Tom