I’ve made many, many loaves of sourdough so far this year (using the Elaine Boddy method, from her book “The Sourdough Whisperer”) and today was the first time that I had a fail … or Elaine would say “a learning experience”.
What I think happened
Backstory: our heating bill was $1000 for December and, so, we turned the heat down A LOT this month.
Our kitchen has been about 58 F. Cold but okay. (Amazing how you can almost get used to that - except when you walk into the room from the 70F living room!)
Because the kitchen was so cold, I thought that it would be a good idea to keep the dough in the oven with the light on. I’ve done that before and it works just fine, giving the dough a nice warm place to grow.
But - the kitchen wasn’t 58F before.
So, basically, I was bringing the dough from a cozy warm “living room” into a very cold kitchen, and then back into the warmth, every time I did a stretch and fold process.
I was shocking the dough, the yeast, over and over again and I think that it finally couldn’t take it any more.
What’s next?
Today, I am starting another loaf and, this time, it will stay in the cold kitchen the entire day. No more shocks.
It will be a slower process and that’s ok. At least I will have some bread tomorrow.
Remembering Grandma
I remember my Mom saying that my grandma used to store her dough behind the woodstove overnight and then make her bread in the morning.
If grandma’s stove went out during the night, there would have been a gradual cooling off and then a gradual warming up again when the fire was started again in the morning. No shock.
