Amid my haphazard life as a chef and moonlight baker, I've managed to work in the proof process of my sour dough loaves. And with summer moving into autum, cooler temperatures allow me to go 100 percent levain, leaving my doughs to bulk ferment on the bench instead of the refrigerator. When lucky enough to wake in the wee hours, I occasionally check their progress, poking the dough in the dark to judge its readiness. Quite often, though it's not until five or six hours later that the dough peaks and is ready to bake! In addition, I have made some breads that don't generally call for retard, allowing you to exclude the added yeast, going solo with just sourdough. Anyway, the overnight bench proof has resulted in some nice tasty loaves! Wait for it. Good things take time.

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