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Hi Melissa!
All I can say is, “YES!” This post on Summer baking tips answers so many questions as to why my last two bakes seemed a bit off.
I live in the desert southwest and we’ve been experiencing many days of extreme heat with no end in sight. I have been thanking God for electricity and air conditioning as it is beastly sweltering outside. To give you an idea, when we got up this morning and went into the kitchen, I looked at our outside thermometer. At 9am it was already 100F degrees IN THE SHADE!
My last bake, just two days ago, had issues. It never dawned on me it was because of the heat. Itt should have, but didn’t. Now, in the Summer, my kitchen temperature hovers around 80F degrees. I’ve learned over the years to shorten the time I let my dough proof on the counter, etc. But I kind of forgot that important point after I had shaped my dough and put it in the proofing basket for its final short rise before baking. I let it rise for a full hour instead of checking it at about 40 minutes. It had literally exploded in the basket! It rose SO high. At first a part of me was thrilled but then I realized my dough was probably over proofed. Yeah. When I turned the dough out into my preheated Breadtopia bread baker, it just deflated. You know, I baked it anyway and even though it definitely came out flatter than I had anticipated, the crumb was still open and looked quite nice. Though the bread baked to 205F degrees, the finished bake did seem a bit damp inside. No great worries for me as I slice and freeze all my bakes to pop slices into my toaster when I want bread.
I’m definitely going to be reading these tips often and hopefully will have some better baking outcomes in the future. In fact, I’m printing off a copy and putting it in with my favorite bread recipes I’ve gotten from Breadtopia. Thanks, Melissa!
Baking blessings,
Leah
Oh wow, you are at the epicenter of the current heat wave. 100F shade temp at 9am 
I probably need to print out and tape to my kitchen cabinet my own blog post LOL as I’m still overproofing some of my doughs.
Melissa, I almost forgot this point too: watch how long your sourdough sits on the counter during the Summer! In the winter months, of which my winter is basically the temperature of fall in other parts of the USA, it takes Cyril about 7-9 hours to double in size on the counter. In past summers, it’s taken him about 5 hours to double on the counter. This past week he doubled in less than 3-1/2 hours! So, IMHO, plan on staying home on summer days when feeding your sourdough so you can keep a good watch on him. Your sourdough will thank you.
Baking blessings,
Leah
Yes! Good point. Sometimes I put my starter jar in a bowl of ice cubes if I need to buy myself more time. Higher ratio feeds, cold water, less water (dryer starter) can slow things down too. Of course, fast maturing starter can be great too when you want to get a dough mixed on the soon side.
I wanted to add to these suggestions to consider using a wine fridge for summertime dough fermentation. They’re typically not as cold as a normal refrigerator, but slightly cooler than typical room temperature.
I’ve adapted some of my recipes to the wine fridge bulk fermentation and just use the wine fridge all year round for consistent results.
This is super helpful, thank you!
Hi Melissa, Every time I look at your Blog or a recipe, I am INSPIRED to try something new for me and my friends. Next up will be: “Spelt and Kamut Whole Grain Sourdough”.
Can’t wait to see if I can match your results! Regards, Gene Stangel
Thank you. I’m glad the words and photos are inspiring. I get pretty psyched when people tell me they make the breads I write about – or some variation spinoff of them 