Test what impact proofing a sourdough bread has at room temperature vs. in the fridge. I long had the feeling that if I bake cold sourdough bread it has more oven raise than a room temperature proofed one. The process of letting a dough rest in the fridge is also known as retarding. Because of the low temperature in the fridge the yeasts' and bacteria's' activity is reduced, slowing the whole fermentation process.
I baked a sourdough bread following the standard sourdough recipe.
Adjustments to the recipe:
- I used 200 grams of flour
- 300 grams mixed wheat grains = 150%
- 50% of walnuts
- I used oats/flour on the surface during shaping to have a more rustic taste
After shaping I let the bread rest for 3 hours in the banneton.
Same ingredients as bread 1.
After shaping I placed the dough in the fridge over night for approx. 10 hours.
The room temperature dough stuck a little bit to the banneton. I had already heavily covered the banneton on one side.
On the following pictures the room temperature dough is on the left. The retarded dough is on the right hand side.
The retarded bread had more raise in the oven than the one raised at room temperature. The crumb of the retarded bread looks more open than on the one raised at room temperature.
Taste wise I could not notice a huge difference. Both of them tasted equally well. The one I retarded over night was a little more wet when eating it. Reason being that I baked it in the morning. The room temperature one I baked the evening before.
Just from the visual perspective the bread retarded over night wins.
It would be interesting to conduct more research on whether a cold dough sticks less to the banneton than a warm one.