Becky

December 31, 2021 at 1:09pm

I usually use bulk fermentation with my naturally leavened sourdough breads--I stretch and fold a few times over the course of 3 hours, and then refrigerate overnight. But recently I made the whole wheat sourdough recipe on this site (my first time trying this particular recipe) and was worried that my starter might not be at its strongest. So I did add the extra 1 tsp yeast. After the autolyse I realized that perhaps bulk fermentation might not be a good idea, since the dough might overproof after 3 hours at room temp. I ended up doing fewer folds and got the dough into the fridge within about 2 hours. It rose in the fridge overnight, and the next morning after shaping I let it rise on the counter for maybe 2 hrs before putting it in the oven. I'm not sure it was quite ready to be baked, but again I didn't want to overproof. The bread didn't rise quite as much as I'd hoped, but it did rise some and is utterly delicious (I used whey instead of water) and not particularly dense. So, overall a success, but I'm still left with the question: What's the best way to do bulk fermentation of a sourdough dough that contains added yeast? Or is it best to just knead as if it's a yeast dough?

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