Let's continue the topic about sourdough proofing and a spy glass that helps a lot in this process😉 (click here to read the first part of this topic). We've already added our sourdough starter and salt to the dough, put a small piece of it in a spy glass, marked the top and started monitoring the growth.
📌Usually bakers start to shape the dough when it has a rise not less than 50%. I personally prefer to shape at 60-70% rise.
What should we pay attention to while deciding which rate of proofing to choose:
✅ first of all it's a type of flour we use, mainly its strength. If the flour is strong enough (usually more than 12 g of protein in it), it can stand a longer proofing, as well as a long cold retard after it. The gluten in such flour is so strong, that it won't be broken a lot by fermentation during proofing time and a long retard, and the dough will still have enough power to let our bread rise nicely in the oven and become tall and puffy.
📎With such flour we can wait till 80% rise, some bakers experiment even with higher rates of proofing 100-120%, to see what their flour can give them, what kind of crumb they can get, what taste and aromas.
📎If your flour is not very strong (usually 10-11 g of protein), it's better to proof the dough till 60% if you are going to let it spend a night in the fridge.
📎If you use not very strong flour and proof it higher than 60%, the gluten is probably to be fermented too much during an overnight retard and as a result you will get a flat bread after baking, the dough will be over-fermented and won't have enough power to rise well in the oven.
📎If you want to bake it same day and are planning to give the dough a warm retard, you can wait till 70-80% of a rise in a spy glass.
✅ As you could have already noticed, another factor that influences the proofing rate is what kind of retard we use: if it's a warm short retard, the dough can be proofed a little bit longer, we can wait for a higher rise in a glass.
📎 When we want to put the dough into the fridge overnight (2 -4 °C, 38 °F), we should proof the dough less, to give the gluten a chance not to get over-fermented during such a long period, because fermentation continues even at such cold temperatures.
📎 If you decide to choose an all-purpose flour, I would advise you to proof the dough not higher than 50-60%, shape it, give it a warm retard and bake the same day.
📎 While working with sourdough bread I usually choose a flour with protein content 11-12g (more often King Arthur Bread organic), I proof the dough till 60-70%, give it a short warm rest on a counter during 10-20 min, and then put it into the fridge, the temperature there is not higher than 2 -4 C, 38 F, it's really important, otherwise the dough will continue to rise in the fridge and can probably become over-proofed in the morning and flat after baking.
Please, keep in mind, that all these recommendations are just recommendations, you can experiment with your dough as much as you want. Start to shape at 60% with bread flour, and go higher and higher with each new bake, trying to compare the results. Only in such a way you will understand, which type of crumb you'd prefer more, what your flour can give you. For me it's definitely better to overproof, rather than underproof the dough, that's why I always play with dough growth rates higher than 60%. And again a spy glass like nothing else helps me in this process.
What about you? Which dough proofing rate do you prefer and what flour do you usually use?
