A Very Long Proof

[multipurposegoddess]

Remember those bagels I started two weeks ago? Why would you, that was two weeks ago, surely they were cooked up and eaten long ago and I just didn't mention it, hardly memorable.

No, the dough's been in the fridge all this time. I finished them up yesterday. The dough was a little stiffer than usual, drier. More like PlayDo, which was kind of nice for the rolling out and shaping into tori step. I let them rise in a warmed up and cooled down oven, like I've been doing with recent loaves to good effect, for maybe two hours, and then maybe another hour on the counter while the oven and tiles heated up. They did float immediately upon hitting the malty water, so probably a bagel connoisseur would find them less dense than ideal, but I am just a dilettante and they seem fine to me. A little extra crusty and extra sour, but I like both those qualities.

I won't be doing super long first rises in the future (on purpose, anyway), but I do think I will proof in the oven before overnighting in the fridge next time.

Comments

[fatoudust]

How long do you cool the oven before you stick the dough in?

[multipurposegoddess]

Half hour, maybe? I tend to be impatient at that point, so what I do is set the oven to it's lowest setting, try to wait for the light to go off saying it's done preheating, but actually check the thermometer a few times and if it's risen off the peg at all, turn the oven off. Then the same thing in reverse, checking if the thermometer has dropped down to the peg. I think the goal is around 85, but my oven thermometer doesn't go that low.

[multipurposegoddess]

This is an electric oven, btw. With a gas oven, just having the pilot on warms it up a bit.