Poke the dough lightly with your finger and take note of how the surface of the dough bounces back. If the indent comes back quickly and disappears, the loaf is not proofed enough and needs an additional half-hour (or more) proofing time. If the indent doesn't bounce back, your loaf is over-proofed.
Look: Your dough should be about double the size it was when it started. If it's in a bowl covered with plastic wrap, then use a marker to trace an outline of the dough on the plastic — the dough is done rising/proofing when it stretches beyond that mark by about double.
To proof them, let them sit, covered, at room temperature for up to 3–4 hours, or let them proof for a little while at room temperature and then place in the refrigerator for 12–15 hours. Or you can speed the process by using a proof box, warm cooler, or slightly warm oven to speed things up.
Overproofed sourdough dough loses all structure, so it's stretchy and slack when turned onto a work surface. The dough is also stickier than usual due to the lack of remaining gluten structure.
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.
Ideally, you can proof sourdough in the fridge for up to 36 hours, or even longer if your dough will tolerate it. You don't want to have the gluten structure break down or for the dough to use up all of its energy before it hits the oven. This will result in poor oven spring.
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.
Most recipes call for three or four rounds of stretch and folds, repeated every 20 minutes or so. What is this? By the last round, the dough should keep its shape, and not feel as sticky as it did at the start. It may also have small bubbles on the surface depending on the recipe.
When the bulk fermentation goes too long — often when the dough more than doubles or triples in volume — the dough can over ferment. You know the dough has over fermented if, when you turn it out to shape it, it is very slack — if it's like a wet puddle — and very sticky and lacking any strength and elasticity.
Dough needs to be covered during the proof, but if there's a hole in your plastic wrap or you use a cloth that doesn't create a tight seal, air exposure will cause the top of your dough to become crusty and tough. Varying air temperatures can also contribute to inconsistent or incomplete proofing.
High temperatures can cause premature over fermentation, which will result in wet, sticky sourdough. You need to make sure that you keep your kitchen at a temperature between 24C - 28C (75F-82F). Alternatively, you'll need to adjust the amount of starter in your dough to suit the temperature of your kitchen.
If you want to let you dough proof for longer, try bulk-fermenting it in a cooler place, but don't allow it to go longer than three hours or structure and flavor may be compromised. For the workhorse loaf, a bulk proof of approximately two hours gives us the optimal balance of flavor and texture.
The crumb structure of an under proofed loaf will be tight and gummy. Because it was not given enough time to develop and trap CO2 gasses, the crumb structure will be very dense, with uneven air bubbles.
In general, the dough is considered wet enough when all of the dry ingredients have been combined and there are no dry patches or uncombined ingredients remaining in the bowl. The dough should feel sticky, firm, and a bit stretchy once it has been mixed together.
The underdeveloped gluten molecules will cause your dough to flop around and tear easily. While underworked dough can simply be fixed by a little more kneading, severely overworked dough cannot be fixed. Instead, the overworked dough will result in a hard loaf that will likely not be eaten.
You can over fold sourdough. Whatever folding technique you choose should gently build up the gluten network. What is this? Once the gluten network has formed, over handling the dough can cause this network to break down.
Just bear in mind that you shouldn't overproof your dough, which may make the dough lose it structure and turn out unlike what you expected. Recommendable proofing time is around 3 hours .
Place the jar at room temperature for 24 hours, until you begin to see the mixture bubbling up. It is important that you stir the sourdough starter every day in the morning and in the evening.
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.
Dough appearance should no longer be rough after sourdough bulk fermentation. It should be smooth looking and even a bit shiny. If you lift up a section, it should move together. You should see the formation of lines of gluten strands and/or webs of gluten that have formed.
The second rise lasts one hour. Repeat the folding process and place the dough back in the bowl. The third rise is 90 minutes. By the end of this rise your dough should feel much lighter and airier.
Pinch off a piece of dough from your sourdough before you place it into it's fermentation container. Place the small piece of dough into a small shot glass. It will be easy to see when the dough in the glass has doubled. When this happens, the dough in your container should have also finished its fermentation.
Stretch and fold the dough into the bowl several times for about a minute. Cover and leave it out on the counter overnight, 6 to 8 hours. In the morning it will have doubled in volume at least.
If: The dough pops back out quickly – This means its under-proofed. The dough stays where it is – This means its over-proofed. The dough pops back out slowly and leaves a slight indentation – Perfect, your dough is ready!
It's not until you slice the sourdough and see the crumb structure that you realise it's under fermented. The great thing is that generally, unless it's completely raw inside, you can still eat an under fermented sourdough bread.