Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza

by Ken Forkish

The timing works this way: mix the dough in the afternoon, do the bulk fermentation at room temperature following the recipe timing (usually around five hours), and then shape the loaves in the evening. As soon as they’re shaped, wrap them to keep them from drying out, then put them the refrigerator. The chilled loaves don’t need to be warmed to room temperature before baking then next morning. I bake them straight from the refrigerator.

Timing

Keep a log of dough temperatures, fermentation times, and other details to help you fine-tune your process.

Log taking

1,000 grams of flour, 680 grams of water, 20 grams of salt, and 20 grams of fresh yeast. In baker’s percentages, that can be stated as 100 percent flour, 68 percent water, 2 percent salt, and 2 percent fresh yeast. (Note that 3 grams of fresh yeast equals 1 gram of instant yeast, so this would equate to about 7 grams of instant yeast.)