A loaf I lost

I overproofed a loaf this week. First time in a long time.

I'd done everything by the book. The schedule that's worked for me for two years. But the kitchen was warm, and I was distracted, and when I pulled the banneton out of the fridge the dough was flat. Not deflated — just slack, all the spring gone.

I baked it anyway. You should always bake an overproofed loaf rather than throw it. The crumb was OK. The crust never quite browned because the sugars had all been consumed. It was eaten as toast for three days.

What I'm sitting with: I've gotten so used to my schedule that I stopped reading the dough. The schedule is a guide, not a law. The dough is the truth.

Going forward — and I mean this for myself, not as advice — I'm going to do the poke test every single bake. Press a finger gently into the side of the dough. Watch how it springs back. Slow spring = ready. No spring = past it.

I knew this. I just stopped doing it.

— Sarah