Bread with 7 hour rising time

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pengyou

Senior Cook
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
409
Location
Beijing
I am declaring war on store bought breads! :devilish: The Chinese people by and large only like sweet breads - a good loaf of sourdough or others is really hard to find. I would like to find a recipe that will let me prepare the dough in the evening - finishing at 10 pm or so, let me put it out to rise and then literally pop it into the oven around 5 a.m. the next morning - no additional kneading required. I am especially interested in heartier breads - not white breads. I once had a recipe for soy bread that was out of this world and had a consistency close to banana bread...pity I lost that recipe.
 
No problem at all. Bread dough doesn't need kneading after rising, just punching down and folded a bit. You can always do the second rise in the refrigerator. The cold slows the action of yeast, and with sourdough type breads, the longer rising time deepens and sharpens the flavor. But any dough can do it. Seven hours is fine. Anything up to 12 is certainly fine. Over 24, and it may over rise and loss its ability to rise properly in the oven.

The only part of you plan that is a problem is the part about taking it out and popping it in the oven. It needs to come to room temperature all the way through. Otherwise, it won't bake evenly throughout.

I would: Let the dough rest for 20 minutes after it is mixed. You will see the difference. Let it rise the first time in the usual way at room temperature. Refrigerate. Take it out for about 45 minutes to let it warm up before going into the oven. No additional kneading needed.

So find any bread recipe you like. Now, if you want to reshape or divide the dough in the morning after it comes out of the refrigerator, you need to let it rise again in its final shape before baking.
 
I am declaring war on store bought breads! :devilish: The Chinese people by and large only like sweet breads - a good loaf of sourdough or others is really hard to find. I would like to find a recipe that will let me prepare the dough in the evening - finishing at 10 pm or so, let me put it out to rise and then literally pop it into the oven around 5 a.m. the next morning - no additional kneading required. I am especially interested in heartier breads - not white breads. I once had a recipe for soy bread that was out of this world and had a consistency close to banana bread...pity I lost that recipe.

Have you Googled "Soy Bread"? There are plenty of recipes out there! :angel:
 
I am declaring war on store bought breads! :devilish: The Chinese people by and large only like sweet breads - a good loaf of sourdough or others is really hard to find. I would like to find a recipe that will let me prepare the dough in the evening - finishing at 10 pm or so, let me put it out to rise and then literally pop it into the oven around 5 a.m. the next morning - no additional kneading required. I am especially interested in heartier breads - not white breads. I once had a recipe for soy bread that was out of this world and had a consistency close to banana bread...pity I lost that recipe.
There is an old-fashioned method of putting bread to rise slowly which I read in Elizabeth David's bread book (as much an historical source as the definitive book on making bread) called peggy tub or dolly tub bread after the washing tub that was used for the rising. Basically, you wrap your dough in a cloth, submerge it in a bowl of cold water and go about your business for the morning or even the whole day. When you return the bundle of dough has risen to the top of the bowl. You retrieve the dough, unwrap it and knock it back and shape and bake it in the normal way.

I haven't done this but when I read it I asked my grandmother if she knew the method. She said her mother had taught it to her and it was very useful in warm weather as the dough wouldn't over-ferment and spoil as it would if left for a long time in too warm an environment. I wondered if the dough stuck to the cloth or the dough was soggy but she said not. She also said they used to mix the dough last thing at night and put it in the tub ready to finish the next morning.

It would have an advantage over the 'fridge method in that you wouldn't have to wait for the dough to come to room temperature. To be honest, while it's useful, I don't find rising in the 'fridge makes the best bread.

Which reminds me, if I don't get moving, there'll be no bread for my "packing up" (sandwich lunch to take to the stables) tomorrow. I've got some Wessex Mill six seed bread flour to try out. (Not "King Arthur" brand but it has a picture of him on the bag as it's milled in Wantage where King A was born.)
 
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