Sylvia, you are too funny!  I certainly know about the cellulite pocked dough but you must keep kneading!  I can guarantee you that it will magically transform to the ‘baby’s bottom’ smoothness.  Honestly, it will - I hope you’re giving it a good work out (you too should be getting a good work out) and a good talking to.  Still on the baby theme, your ‘exploding’ loaf, I call the pregnant loaf as it burst out from its skin.  This is almost certainly due to under-proofing.  There is just too much oven spring.

You say that you cannot get bread flour - is there any chance of finding vital wheat gluten?  Can you buy some bread flour from a bakery?  I’m sure these are stupid questions but had to ask.

Good luck with your next batch and let us know how it goes.

Annie, I have problems with my arms and hands, and have to use the mixer to knead,
so it´s the mixer who´s getting the workout.  The dough also gets its share of praises
(can be also threats…), encouragements, sweet promises and Mozarts.
Should I (I mean, the mixer) keep kneading more than 12 minutes? Past the slumy windowpane
step?
Annie, if the dough was underproofed, why didn´t it rise *at all* during proofing? The indent test
showed it was underproofed (indent remained).
And why doesn´t the dough “meld” into one uniform mass instead of keeping all the folds?
I mean, after the first folding, the dough turns into a homogenous mass, but not after the last.

Thanks to the evils of industrialized bakeries*, it´s getting more difficult to make friends with
“the baker”, to ask him for some bread flour.  Anyway, I hope that after thos week I
will be having it again. Unfortunately, I´ll have flour, but no oven!!! Life isn´t perfect!.

*Thanks to industrialized bakeries, even the biggest failures are considered delicious by family
and coworkers!

AnnieMacD - 12 October 2009 03:20 PM

Sylvia, you are too funny!  I certainly know about the cellulite pocked dough but you must keep kneading!  I can guarantee you that it will magically transform to the ‘baby’s bottom’ smoothness.  Honestly, it will - I hope you’re giving it a good work out (you too should be getting a good work out) and a good talking to.  Still on the baby theme, your ‘exploding’ loaf, I call the pregnant loaf as it burst out from its skin.  This is almost certainly due to under-proofing.  There is just too much oven spring.

You say that you cannot get bread flour - is there any chance of finding vital wheat gluten?  Can you buy some bread flour from a bakery?  I’m sure these are stupid questions but had to ask.

Good luck with your next batch and let us know how it goes.

Silvia, I’ve enjoyed following your progress!

Refrigerating the dough can really slow down the final proofing, it has to come all the way up to room temp, then undergo a full proof on top of that.

Also, if you had to refrigerate one batch of dough twice during production, did you redistribute the yeast (move it around/ knead or take turns in the dough)? Even with redistribution, I find that sometimes a dough will “tire out” and take longer than expected to finish the last rise, especially if it has been two or three days in the making.

I folded the dough, but perhaps it was just too much for it.
And I let it stand about 2 hours before baking.
I mean, the dough *had* to wait for 2 hours, because
my oven had died, and I had to run to my mother’s house to
use her oven.

Julie - 12 October 2009 08:14 PM

Silvia, I’ve enjoyed following your progress!

Refrigerating the dough can really slow down the final proofing, it has to come all the way up to room temp, then undergo a full proof on top of that.

Also, if you had to refrigerate one batch of dough twice during production, did you redistribute the yeast (move it around/ knead or take turns in the dough)? Even with redistribution, I find that sometimes a dough will “tire out” and take longer than expected to finish the last rise, especially if it has been two or three days in the making.

Silvia - 12 October 2009 02:22 PM

...I patted the dough and tried to remember the feel of my daughter’s
butt, but failed. The dough resembled more a cellulite-ridden thigh, with all the bubbles and dimples…

That made me guffaw!  I’m still chuckling

Nothing constructive to add to the comments already made, I had similar issues with my first sourdough starter and recipe many years ago, but didn’t have a great resource to go to find some answers like this site.  I just wanted to let you know that you made me smile, and that you’ll probably find the answers you seek with some more experimentation and the help of the folks that work on the dough and yeast more than I do.

tdwyatt, I keep on experimenting. As you say it is *the*
way to learn (that and asking for good advice)

Silvia - 13 October 2009 12:25 PM

...I mean, the dough *had* to wait for 2 hours, because
my oven had died, and I had to run to my mother’s house to
use her oven…

Heh!  Lucky you have a family member close to home, I can see me asking one of my buddies now (although most of them know and appreciate that I bake a lot and make cakes for their special occasion needs):

Me:  Chris, whazzup?!?!!
Chris:  Nuttin’ man, did you see the Steelers Sunday?
Me:  Yeah, Ben Roethlisberger made Favre look like a high school rookie!
Chris: Yeah, and it didn’t hurt that the spread at 27-17 helped me make the office pool spread!
Me: yeah they were awesome!  (pause) I need to ask you a favor…
Chris:  Sure , anything, whatcha need?
Me: well, I was baking a loaf of bread when the power went out, soooo…  Whatcha doin’ for the next few hours? 

Oh, Tom, that’s great- I laughed and laughed!