Left a batch of croissants in the proofer too long at 3am

Last Tuesday I got behind on pastry prep at the diner and threw a tray of croissants into the proofer around 2:30 in the morning. Forgot about them while I was helping the morning guy break down cases of eggs. By the time I checked at 4, they had doubled in size and turned into these weird bloated dough balloons that looked like they were about to pop. I tried baking them anyway and they came out flat and greasy with this weird yeasty taste. Had to throw the whole batch in the trash and start over. My boss walked in right as I was scraping melted butter off the sheet pans. He just laughed and said I should set a timer next time. Has anyone else dealt with proofing disasters when you are running on no sleep?

2 comments

2 Comments

west.alice8d ago

Set a loud timer on your phone, I learned that one the hard way too.

jesseb208d ago

The worst part is people sleep on how temperature swings mess with your timing even more than your own brain does. I had a batch of brioche once that I set to proof overnight in a cold corner of the kitchen, woke up thinking I had hours left, but the pilot light on the stove kicked on at like 4am and blasted the whole table with heat. Came in to find dough crawling over the edge of the bowl like something out of a horror movie. Your 3am brain thinks "ah yeah the proofer is set to 80 degrees" but it doesn't account for the humidity from the dishwashers running or the back door being left cracked for a smoke break. So even if you set a timer like your boss said, you gotta put the proofer somewhere that stays the same temp no matter what else is happening in the diner. Otherwise you're just gambling with your dough and your sleep schedule both.