Real Slow Bread

Appears in

Published 2016

About

Some domestic baking recipe writers and teachers suggest that dough must be kept somewhere warm to rise, or that yeast left anywhere cooler than their fevered brows will DIE! What they overlook is the fact that fresh yeast is generally stored in the refrigerator (at a far-from-balmy 1–3°C/34–37°F) and that a standard piece of professional bakery kit is a retarder, which is basically a big dough fridge.

Another product of their need for speed is the relatively high level of yeast you find in some recipes: the more of these microscopic, gas-burping dough monsters (which, if you have kids, is a great way to introduce bread science to your little monsters) you throw into the mix, the less time it will take them to generate the necessary amount of carbon dioxide.