Yes, another episode in the 80% hydration story. Click on the link if you want to catch up. Basically it’s a simple wet dough that I make most weeks. It goes straight in the fridge for at least two days after which I start using it for pizza and focaccia, and then for rustic buns, baguettes, flatbreads.
I mix about 2.3 kilo so there’s usually some available throughout the week just waiting when you’re running out of bread. As I have said before, one of its joys is it can be baked straight from the fridge – in the time it takes for the oven to reach 250C. But the longer it stays in the fridge the tangier the taste gets and the weaker the gluten becomes.
Normally all of the dough is used up within five days but this time we were up to day seven, the longest ferment ever.
And I have to say it was a day too far. I wasn’t expecting much more of a lift – flatbreads are supposed to be flat(ish).
But the patches marked above are totally unaerated and fudgy.
On day six the same dough produced a perfectly good mushroom focaccia.
I hasten to add the results might be less than perfect but they’re still getting eaten – nothing left for the birdies!
The PArtisan Baker 