Experiments in Bread Making, Trial 7

The loaf on the left was had less dough, and had risen less.
Yet, with the scored top it turned out bigger.

See the previous experiments:
Experiment 3 - First Time With a Poolish
Experiment 4 - Poolish and Simplified Recipe
Experiment 5 - Poolish, Improved Recipe, and Improved Flour
Experiment 6 - Improved Kneading and Proofing

In experiment 6 I kneaded the bread until it was ready according to the window test, not some arbitrary amount of time.  The strength of the dough is tested by trying to pull it into a thin and uniform "window," if all is well you should be able to easily see light through it.  I also proofed the bread until it was ready according to the "poke it and see" test, which involves, uh, poking it and seeing if you leave a dent.  The loaves turned out big enough, and had a great flavor, but I was still frustrated by the fact that they don't expand in the oven.

I read "Bread science, the chemistry and craft of making bread" and realized that the way I have been adapting my recipe to use a poolish wasn't quite right.  I also realized that all along I have been mistakenly calling it a pooling instead of a poolish.

Experiment 7 has the important improvement of adapting the recipe to use a poolish according to the books instructions (the only change was in the amount of yeast).  I also extended myself a bit a purchased two 99 cent tupperware containers to let my loaves rise in.

A really good smelling poolish.

Poolish:
2 c warm water
1/4 tsp yeast
2 1/2 c flour

Mix the poolish until it's a smooth batter, cover, and refrigerate overnight.  I found that very little fermenting had been going on over night, so I sat the poolish out at room temperature until it was used in the afternoon.  You can tell when a poolish is ready by how much it has grown in size (2-3 times) and by how good it smells. Seriously, one sniff of a good poolish and you'll never go back.

Dough with what I think is the right amount of flour.
See how it cleans the bowl?

Bread Dough
All of your poolish
2 tsp salt
4 Tbs sugar
2 1/2 tsp yeast
3 1/2 c flour

Mix the first ingredients up really well before adding the flour, which should be added 1/2 cup at a time.  Really, the amounts here (except for maybe the salt) are flexible.  I usually just keep on adding flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough cleans the bowl.  Then, I knead it for 3 minutes, I turn it, then knead it for 3 more minutes.

Dough that is passing the "poke and see" test.

Cover the dough and let rise until your finger leaves a soft indent in the dough (about 1 hour).  Put a little flour down on you counter top, dump the dough out, flour your hands, and slap the dough down.  Really, just slap it!  Fold the dough in half and press from different directions a few times.  Shape into a cylinder.  I tightened the outside of the dough cylinder by pushing it along the table in such a way that the dough sort of rolls in on itself.  Let the loaves rise, covered, until as big as you want 'em.  I scored the top of one of the loaves to see if it made a difference in size.

A poor fool's proofing box.

Notice how much smaller the left loaf was, it turned out as big as
the right one because I scored it.

I would say that this bread experiment was like taking a step sideways.  No real improvement, just a tad different.  I thought that the flavor was a bit yeasty tasting, Katie loved it.  We ate one loaf within a few hours of baking, the other loaf went into a tupperware container for a day and a half... BIG MISTAKE!  The bread came out of the container tasting very bad!  Unbearable.  So I left it out for a few hours while I was deciding what to do.  And, amazingly, after slicing it up and letting it air out for a while the bad taste went away.  I was literally would wave my slice of bread in the air and it would taste better.  I think that with my long-fermenting poolish, I build up quite a collection of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) in the dough.  Some of them turn into delicious flavor molecules, other are just driven off while baking and cooling.  I think I trapped some bad ones with the bread in the tupperware container... ones that escaped from the hot bread that we sliced up right away.  I don't know if I will make this exact recipe again.  No real improvement and more yeast taste.