On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 14:54:00 -0700, Janet Bostwick wrote:


> and nuttiness to the lean breads. There is no doubt that there is little to
> be gained in a retail or commercial baking setting by retarding proof as it
> is unlikely that you will be able to price up a loaf to reflect the lost
> production time.

Well I worked in a retail bakery (13 outlets) and a small village type
bakery. All the sourdough was retarded for 24hrs. in the larger
operation. In the smaller one I would retard the final dough for up to
three days.

The consideration here was more one of cooler space/energy than production
time which is off-set somewhat by the shorter mixing times.

At home here I'm retarding the lean doughs for at least 36 hours, or
should I say 36 hours in the frig, then another 12 hours til bake off.
This is with 7-9lbs batches however. I think the trade off is frig
energy vs production time gained because I don't use a pre-ferment so
there is only one mix. It's just a drawn out straight-dough method without the
'punch downs'. One mix, one ferment, a long bench rest/proof,
rounding/rest/proof, shaping, a final proof and there ya go.

I think the quality of the bread is dramatically improved.

The longer you can keep that dough fermenting and still hold structure
and a final push the better the bread will be, no question at this end.