Bread failure
Ugh. After months of progressively improving breadmaking, today I had an epic failure. It was a shock to my ego but also a good reminder that I’m still learning and there are plenty of mistakes left to make. My dad is fond of saying that he’s always finding new ways to mess up when making bread. Looks like I am too.
I’ll start with this picture which shows the end result. As you can see, the loaves are dense and deflated. In fact, the one on the left got smaller while it cooked which is never a good sign. Inga’s optimistic that we can do something with them but I’m pretty sure they’re destined for the trash.
This batch started a couple of days ago when I took the starter out of the fridge. I had baked a great batch the previous weekend so I didn’t think much about really activating the starter…instead I fed it and left it on the counter for a few hours. When I returned to take the next step, I was a bit irritated that the starter hadn’t really taken off but I wanted to keep to my schedule so I pushed ahead with the next step. This is where the train started going off the rails.
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The next step in my recipe is to make a firm sourdough ferment that rises on the counter for a few hours and then rests in the fridge overnight. However, when it was time for me to go to bed that day, the firm ferment just wasn’t doing much at all and certainly wasn’t ready to rest in the fridge. So, I decided to leave it on the counter overnight to continue proofing instead.
When I got up the next morning, the ferment had risen and seemed back on track so I picked up with the recipe from there. I did notice that the dough seemed pretty sour at that point but figured that would just add to the flavor of the final loaf so I continued making the dough. Turns out that was another sign that all was not well. Anyway, everything went fine until it came time for the dough to double in size. Usually that takes 3–4 hours after which I can shape the loaves and rest them in the fridge overnight. However, after around 6 hours, we had maybe just 25% growth. Since it was time for me to hit the hay, I left the dough on the counter to continue fermenting.
And ferment it did! As you can see here, we achieved 150% growth over night which I figured was a good sign. Of course, in hindsight it wasn’t as it’s now clear that it overproofed and my dough was no longer viable. Those really big bubbles are a bad sign it turns out. Anway, from here I formed the loaves and prepped them for baking. Even at this point, it was clear we were in trouble as the dough was deflating and falling apart rather than getting ready for the next phase of growth.
In retrospect, I think my insistance early on that the starter needed to be on my schedule, was the fatal flaw. Instead, I should have taken another day and waited for it to regain it’s former form before proceeding with any of the bread making. Skipping that simple step early doomed the rest of my project afterwards. I’m not experienced enough to know if there was much I could do to recover but at least now I know the danger signs so I can abort earlier.
