Can we talk about the 3 a.m. bread trick that actually works?
I rolled my eyes when a baker at a spot on Division Street in Chicago told me to drop my poolish in the walk-in overnight instead of letting it sit on the counter. Tried it last Tuesday for our 60 loaf service and the crumb came out way more open than my usual counter method. Now I'm second guessing every starter schedule I've run for the past 2 years. What's the weirdest low-tech thing that turned out to be real for you?
The walk-in poolish thing got me too, mostly because I spent two years babysitting jars on the counter like they were pets. My starter schedule was basically a shrine to room temp and you're telling me a cold shelf did better work than me. The weird one for me was scoring right after the fridge instead of letting loaves warm up, way better oven spring, and I still don't get why it works.