Cold temps require heat-assisted proofing, but also generally provide for the potential for dramatic oven spring. The oven proofing also has the potential to cause uneven gas pockets in the dough. However, sometimes cold-temp bread turns out great. A couple of weeks ago, I baked a 100% red whole wheat loaf that turned out like this:
And once cut open, it was nice:
It was still denser than white or 50/50 bread, but whole wheat doesn't turn out much better than this (at least not for me).
As I often do, I followed the 100% whole wheat loaf with a 100% white loaf the next week. I had visions of airy perfection. What I got was...disappointing.
It's worse than it looks in the picture. Cut open, it's approaching unleavened status.
That may be a bit harsh, but only a bit. The (minimal) rise was very uneven. It looks like Swiss Cheese--big gas pockets and solid otherwise. I'm not sure what happened. Conditions for the two loaves seemed pretty similar: a cold house, followed by oven proofing for a few hours, then baking. There are obviously things about bread baking that I still haven't figured out.
