February 6, 2009 - 9:44am
question on retarding
I'm trying a recipe that i've done often, Hamelman's country bread recipe, except i'm retarding it for 24 hours after mixing. My question is about the percentage of yeast. The way I understand it, the longer the fermentation, the less yeast one would add. If i'm retarding for 24 hours, the bulk fermentation time is greatly extended, though I felt that i should add more yeast because some yeast cells would die while in the fridge. Suas reccomends retarding at no less than 45 degrees, but the temp of my fridge is 40 degrees. The original formula called for .6% yeast and I bumped it up to 1%. That seemed like enough because the formula calls for 50% pre-ferment.
Any ideas on whether or not this is correct...?
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I regularly stick my dough in the fridge for, typically, 24-hour or rests. I use run-of-the-mill recipes that call for maybe a whole packet of yeast, or about 2.5 teaspoons. But I usually use a teaspoon or less. I have no complaints.
Rosalie
As Rosalie says, cold won't kill the yeast. Don't worry about that. Cold just slows the yeast down so that they act in slow motion. It actually works nicely to elicit some interesting flavors from your flour.
Anyway, I typically retard my doughs for differing amounts of time and rarely follow the length of relaxing to the T. I think this is one of my flaws as a baker. Sometimes, though, you just can't be around to when the dough needs you!
Anyway, a 24 hour preferment is probably not going to do anything if you stick it in the fridge. You'll just have to take it out about 4 hours before you want to do anything with it.
I have many more thoughts on the topic, but i'll wait for another day.
matt