Sourdough proved 96 hours in the fridge… to great results

The Sunday Bake planned for Monday didn’t happen until this evening (Thursday)… I left the dough proving in the fridge for 96 hours… it’s a wider loaf than usual and got some good loft in the oven rise. Will let it cool completely before slicing into it.

Recipe was the Sourdough for beginners I went back to for a “control” loaf since my last bake was iffy (but turned out well after all and I still have enough of the last pan loaf for toast tonight). I did reduce the water to 290 plus about 10g when the salt went in after working in the levain, and baked at 450ºF for 30 minutes with the dutch oven covered then 15 minutes to brown it up.

The reason to leave it in so long was to see if there is an affect on the crumb (open or ?) and on how it develops sourdough flavor with a much longer, slower prove.

More when it’s fully cooled!

The More…

Lovely bread with a fairly open crumb and good crust… makes gorgeous toast and sandwiches (cheese, tomato and brown mustard, yum)… and the sourdough flavor is there, subtle. The texture is great and leaving the loaf to completely cool gelled things nicely.

I’ll duplicate this recipe and strategy for the next bake next Saturday (which will need to start… Monday for preparing the levain) because this is my favorite loaf so far.