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Shoutout to the pastry chef who showed me my dough was 2 hours overproofed
I walked into the bake shop at 5am last Tuesday and saw my brioche had gone from perfectly puffy to a collapsed, sticky mess in just 90 minutes because someone bumped the proofer temp up by 8 degrees. The head pastry chef pointed out the slime on the surface and told me the whole batch was toast, no saving it. Has anyone else had a proofer malfunction wreck a whole morning's work like that?
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emma_dixon7018d ago
Ah man, that sucks so bad lmao. Nothing worse than watching your brioche turn into slime after you already put in the early morning work. So like, did the chef actually walk you through how to tell the difference between overproofed and just a little too warm, or did they just say it's ruined and walk off? I've had chefs who just point at the mess and leave you standing there with no clue what to look for next time. Also, did your dough smell weird when it went bad, or was it just the texture that gave it away?
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carr.lee18d ago
My brioche is basically a humidity detector now. If it looks sad, I know the proofer's lying to me again.
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Oh man, I've been there. One thing nobody talks about is how your flour brand can mess with this too. In my experience, cheaper flours absorb way less moisture so your dough feels tight even when the humidity is high. I switched to a higher protein local mill and my brioche started acting consistent again, even with my janky old proofer. Might be worth grabbing a different bag next time you shop, just see if it helps.
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