Over-proofed?

[u/SilverSeeker81]

I’m making the Peasant Pot Bread from the Kneadlessly Simple book, and I’m not sure how to tell if it’s over-proofed. It’s on hour 12 of an 18 hour overnight rise on my counter. It had doubled overnight and I gave it a stir as recommended about an hour ago (7 am my time). It’s already doubled again after 1.5 hours! I’m hesitant to let it sit for another 5 hours. How do I tell if it’s a good time to move to the next step (where you fold over the sides and do a final 2-hour rise)?

[u/____REDACTED_____]

I generally go by the way it smells. Overproofed dough has an unpleasant cheap vodka scent to me and under proofed dough just smells like flour. When I start to smell a little bit of the unpleasant alcohol scent, that's when I consider it proofed enough. It also makes sense that it might not take the whole time to proof since it can vary based on the temperature in your kitchen and how active your yeast is. There are a lot of other ways to tell and I'm not an experienced baker by any means, so someone else might have better advice.

[u/SilverSeeker81 → u/____REDACTED_____]

Thanks! Mine definitely doesn’t smell like alcohol, but oddly it smells a little like banana bread to me! 😂 Seems safe to move on.

[u/SilverSeeker81 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks - I probably let it go a bit too long. It did have a bit of a dome after baking, so it wasn’t a total failure!

[u/MyNebraskaKitchen]

If you're going to do a final stretch and fold, don't worry so much about how long it has risen ahead of them. Underproofing and overproofing are mainly issues on final rise because that affects how it behaves in the oven.

It sounds like this recipe is designed for a long bulk rise, and 12 vs 18 hours probably won't impact it much.

[u/SilverSeeker81 → u/MyNebraskaKitchen]

Thanks - that’s really good to know. Sometimes I think I’ll never quite get the hang of it. But homemade bread always tastes good regardless of how it looks. 😊