Next day dough question

[tfmc]

Hi everyone,
I’m hoping for a little advice on making breadsticks ahead of time.
Here’s the situation: I have a regular oven with two racks. One batch of my breadstick recipe makes about 8–9 breadsticks per tray, and it uses two trays. For a luncheon I’m hosting, I need to make a double batch, which means four trays total. On top of that, I’ll be using the oven and stovetop for other dishes, so oven space and timing are going to be tight.

My thought was to make the dough the day before and refrigerate it overnight, but I’m not sure of the best way to do that. Should I:
• Make the dough and leave it in bowls in the fridge, then shape and proof the breadsticks the next day
or
• Shape the breadsticks, place them on the trays, and refrigerate them that way, then let them come to temperature and proof before baking?

The recipe says to shape the breadsticks and let them proof for about 45 minutes before baking, so I don’t want to mess that up.
Sorry for the long explanation, and thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hi everyone,
I’m hoping for a little advice on making breadsticks ahead of time.
Here’s the situation: I have a regular oven with two racks. One batch of my breadstick recipe makes about 8–9 breadsticks per tray, and it uses two trays. For a luncheon I’m hosting, I need to make a double batch, which means four trays total. On top of that, I’ll be using the oven and stovetop for other dishes, so oven space and timing are going to be tight.

My thought was to make the dough the day before and refrigerate it overnight, but I’m not sure of the best way to do that. Should I:
• Make the dough and leave it in bowls in the fridge, then shape and proof the breadsticks the next day
or
• Shape the breadsticks, place them on the trays, and refrigerate them that way, then let them come to temperature and proof before baking?

The recipe says to shape the breadsticks and let them proof for about 45 minutes before baking, so I don’t want to mess that up.
Sorry for the long explanation, and thanks in advance for any advice!

I’d be wary about doing an overnight fermentation with a dough that wasn’t designed for it. How long a dough can ferment depends on things like the type and amount of yeast and the protein content of the flour. Even in the refrigerator, it takes several hours for the dough to cool enough to significantly slow yeast activity. If the formula uses a fast-acting instant yeast and/or a lower-protein flour, there’s a real risk the dough could be over-proofed by morning.

If the recipe doesn’t include options on adjusting the yeast type or quantity for an overnight ferment, a safer approach would be to stagger mixing the two batches by about 60 to 90 minutes instead.

 

[tfmc]

Norcalbaker59,​

Thanx for the reply.
I always use high-gluten bread flour and never use instant yeast.
425g bread flour and 2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast.
The recipe calls for 1-1/2 hours of proofing in the bowl, until it doubles in size. Then, roll it out and cut it into strips, which are placed on the tray for about 45 minutes before baking.
I make a ciabatta loaf almost the same way, except I let it proof on the counter, then roll it into a loaf, and put it in the fridge overnight. It comes out fantastic. However, when it comes out of the fridge, i poke the top all over with bamboo skewers to prevent any large holes from forming. It does collapse a little while coming up to room temp, but it comes right back to the loaf shape while baking with no large holes..
I was just curious.
Thanks again.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Norcalbaker59,​

Thanx for the reply.
I always use high-gluten bread flour and never use instant yeast.
425g bread flour and 2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast.
The recipe calls for 1-1/2 hours of proofing in the bowl, until it doubles in size. Then, roll it out and cut it into strips, which are placed on the tray for about 45 minutes before baking.
I make a ciabatta loaf almost the same way, except I let it proof on the counter, then roll it into a loaf, and put it in the fridge overnight. It comes out fantastic. However, when it comes out of the fridge, i poke the top all over with bamboo skewers to prevent any large holes from forming. It does collapse a little while coming up to room temp, but it comes right back to the loaf shape while baking with no large holes..
I was just curious.
Thanks again.

Your recipe is developed to complete fermentation and proofing in 2 hours 15 minutes.

1 tsp ADY = 3.1 g

3.1 x 2.24 =6.944 g ADY in your recipe for 2 hrs 15 minutes proofing time

6.944/425=0.0163

This is a 1.63% ADY to flour, which is slightly higher than the standard 1.5% ADY to flour ratio for same day dough.

Dough that is fermented for 12 - 24 hours should have a ADY to flour ratio of under 1%.

425x .008=3.4 g ADY

 

[tfmc]

@Norcalbaker59,​

Thanks again for the reply.
My experiment...
Just to be safe, I put one batch in the fridge after mixing it and transferred it to the oiled bowl.
The other batch I made the next day.
The batch I put in the fridge, proofed, but not over-proofed, was almost to the top of the bowl.
I let it sit on the counter for about 15 minutes, then rolledit out.
The only difference I noticed was that the dough shrank back after rolling it out, but after about 15 more minutes, I was able to roll it out again, and it maintained its shape. Then I sliced it into strips and let it sit for another 15 minutes in the tray, and baked it.
It came out great!
What a surprise!
It was almost better tasting than the batch I made the same day.
Thanx again!

 

[Norcalbaker59]

@Norcalbaker59,​

Thanks again for the reply.
My experiment...
Just to be safe, I put one batch in the fridge after mixing it and transferred it to the oiled bowl.
The other batch I made the next day.
The batch I put in the fridge, proofed, but not over-proofed, was almost to the top of the bowl.
I let it sit on the counter for about 15 minutes, then rolledit out.
The only difference I noticed was that the dough shrank back after rolling it out, but after about 15 more minutes, I was able to roll it out again, and it maintained its shape. Then I sliced it into strips and let it sit for another 15 minutes in the tray, and baked it.
It came out great!
What a surprise!
It was almost better tasting than the batch I made the same day.
Thanx again!

i’m glad your bread turned out well.

Long fermentation creates flavor in the dough that you cannot get in same day baked dough. There’s very few doughs that I bake the same day because it lacks flavor.

Over elasticity in the dough is from high gluten development and cold temperature. Whenever a dough has high elasticity, stopping, and allowing the dough to relax is the right move. In some cases where there’s too much gluten developed, the dough will not relax much. It’s still usable. It’ll just be a little tougher.

 

[tfmc]

@Norcalbaker59,​

Thanx again for your reply.
I plan to do the longer fermentation from now on. The breads and rolls always seem to taste better when I do that.
Thanx again for all your help.