@Stacey Avraham https://youtu.be/iBXM70XSs9c

@Stacey Avraham Stacy, you’re asking the right question, and the honest answer might surprise you. I didn’t become an expert at timing. I stopped trying to be. Here’s what changed for me. I quit watching the clock and started watching the dough. The clock lies. Your kitchen on a warm afternoon is a different kitchen than the one you had on a cool morning. Your flour in July is not your flour in January. Every recipe you read was written in someone else’s conditions, not yours. So what do you actually look for? For poolish specifically: it’s ready when the surface is domed and covered in bubbles, and when you see a faint wrinkle or the dome just starting to fall. That’s the window. Before that it’s underripe. After that it’s getting tired. For dough in bulk: not the clock, not strictly the volume. I look for a shiny, smooth surface, a jiggle like jello when I tap the bowl, and bubbles showing through the sides and top. For proofed loaves: the poke test. Press a floured finger into the side. Springs back fast, not ready. Springs back slow and leaves a slight dimple, bake it. Doesn’t spring back at all, bake it now before it goes further. The timing gets easier the more bakes you put behind you. Not because you memorize the numbers, but because your eyes learn what “ready” looks like. Give yourself six or eight bakes of the same recipe and you’ll stop checking the clock. One more thing. Warmer kitchen means faster fermentation. Cooler kitchen means slower. You don’t fight that. You use it. Want more flavor? Let it go slower in a cool spot. Pressed for time? Find a warmer corner. Read the dough, not the clock. That’s the whole trick.

@Ann Snow that’s amazing you plan that far ahead

@Dianne Givens

@Marilee Berry That’s what I thought. How long has he been snooping around?

@Robert Caldas I did a blog post a few years back on the psychology of patting our dough