Absolutely you can overcook sourdough bread. Just like yeasted bread, sourdough bread can be left in the oven too long. Overcooked sourdough bread will have a very hard, crunchy crust that is difficult to cut and bit through. The interior of overcooked sourdough bread will be drier than it should be.
You most definitely can bulk ferment sourdough too long. If you leave the dough to ferment for too long, it will become "over fermented". Over fermented dough will lose its structure and become a soupy, sloppy mess that you will not be able to shape.
To start with, your loaf should be nicely coloured, well risen and starting to smell toasty. But to really make sure it is ready, remove it from the oven and quickly tap it with your knuckle both on the top and the base – it should sound hollow and similar on both the top and the base.
A traditional pan bread with low hydration and no pre-ferment, like a classic sandwich loaf, will get really crumbly if you bake it too long.
The dough will rise slowly overnight or up to 24 hours. Allowing the dough to remain longer in the refrigerator isn't beneficial, as an extended time in the refrigerator will lead to off flavors and diminished dough strength.
After kneading, shape your loaf, cover it, and let it proof for 4-24 hours, depending on your specific sourdough starter and ambient temperature. You can manipulate the sourness of the bread with a longer rise time. A 24-hour rise time will produce much more sour bread than a 4-hour rise time.
We've actually left our bread in the refrigerator for up to 18 hours with no problems. When you're ready to bake, remove the shaped dough from the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter while your oven preheats. Place it in the dutch oven, score it, and bake as usual.
Overproofed is when the dough has rested too long and the yeast has continued making carbon dioxide while the strength of the dough (gluten bonds) have begun to wear out. The dough will look very puffy, but when you touch it or move it you may notice it deflate or sag.
Step 1: Perform the fingertip test to make sure your dough is overproofed. The test involves gently pressing your finger into the surface of the dough for 2 seconds and then seeing how quickly it springs back. The dent you make will be permanent if the dough is overproofed.
What to look for in an over proofed loaf. Similar to the signs of over proofed dough, an over proofed loaf will be very flat, without much rise or retention of shaping. Over proofing destroys the structural integrity of the bread, so loaves that have gone over are unable to hold their shape in the oven.
Step 7: Wait For The Sourdough Loaf to Cool (The Hard Part)
The loaf needs to cool outside of the Dutch oven for at least 30 minutes, and ideally more like two hours. When you pull the bread out of the oven, it is still baking inside. Cutting into a loaf too early will stop this process and result in a very gummy loaf.
Dough that is over-fermented will start to spread once scored and look bubbly/weak. You'll notice it falling in a bit or a lot. Notice how the whole loaf is collapsing. If you notice your dough is over-fermented be sure to score very shallow and use a minimum of scoring slashes.
Cover the bowl with wrap or a very damp kitchen cloth. Let rest in a warm spot to rise. The dough is ready when it no longer looks dense and has doubled in size. This can take anywhere from 3-12 hours depending on the temperature of your ingredients, the potency of your starter and surrounding environment.
Sourdough bread can be time consuming to make, and it can be difficult to fit it all in in just one day. Leaving it to rise in the fridge overnight means you can just pop it into the oven the next morning. This can be handy if you don't want to spend all day in the kitchen, or simply need to go out during the day.
Loaves made with over-kneaded dough often end up with a rock-hard crust and a dense, dry interior. Slices will be very crumbly, especially toward the middle.
Overproofed sourdough is preventable but also salvageable. Reshape the dough, bake it as a pizza or flatbread dough, or bake it and turn it into breadcrumbs for granola.
They type of flour you use to create your sourdough starter will affect whether that starter will float in water. This is because some flours, such as rye or whole wheat, may not allow the starter to develop the strong gluten network needed for the starter to float.
If you've over-proofed your bread and wondering if it is safe to eat, then the short answer is, YES! It is safe to eat over-proofed bread although it might contain a lot of alcohol! Do not panic!
The good news: We found an easy way to rescue overproofed dough. Simply punch it down gently, reshape it, and let it proof again for the recommended amount of time. In the test kitchen, these steps resulted in bread that tasters found acceptable in both texture and flavor.
Tips for Proofing Bread Overnight
Overnight typically means about 12 hours. Some doughs can be proofed in the refrigerator for longer—up to a few days—but many recipes will lose some of their rise if they are left too long.
Ideally, you don't want to allow sourdough bread to cold ferment for longer than 72 hours. Even up to 48 hours, you do risk some loss of gluten structure unless you manipulate the amount of starter down.
Set the oven to 450°F, turn it on, and set a timer for 30 minutes. When the timer goes off, remove the lid and allow the bread to continue baking until it's a dark golden brown, probably an additional 25-30 minutes.
How many times should you coil fold or stretch and fold? Generally 4 to 6 sets of stretch and folds should be sufficient (4 folds in each set). Similarly, 4 to 6 coil folds should be enough to develop the gluten in a higher hydration dough.