Hi,
I'm new to this blog but have been baking breads for almost two years now. I've been trying to get a perfect sourdough since a while now. The one major problem I've been facing is with the dough skin tearing up while rising.
Ive changed the flour I've been using because some websites said it could be a low quality of flour forming protease and tearing up the gluten.
I also do not add any extra acidic content to my recipe, for too much acidity could break the gluten strands.
I use Peter Reinhart's formula for a simple sourdough.
Can anybody suggest what changes I could make or what is exactly going wrong with my bread?
so I'm thinking over fermented and perhaps over tightening the boule and compromising the skin.
I thought of it to be a problem at first. But it starts to crack up like this at the first 20 minutes of rising at room temperature. The temperature is around 17 degree Celsius in my kitchen
A bit more details of the recipe and talking us through what your method is.
I know, for myself, that when the dough has lost its smoothness and has that bubbly looking skin, as in your photo, it is one of the signs of over fermentation. Has happened to me often when working with quicker fermenting flour like durum wheat. When this happens even when I try to reshape it just doesn't go back to a normal dough to proof again.
Alright so I make stiff starter a day before using
-118gms of wild yeast starter
-65gms of flour
-water as needed
I let it rise for about 6 hours, and then retard it in the refrigerator overnight
The next morning I let the starter sit for about an hour or so to let it come to room temperature then use this formula to make the final dough
162 grams stiff starter
191grams flour
4 grams salt
6 grams sugar
110-120 grams water
I autolyse flour and water for a complete hour. Then add rest of the ingredients and use the folding technique and let the dough rise till it is almost double. The number of hours depend on the temperature, but it almost takes 3 hours for the first rise.
Then I knock out the air, shape the dough and let it rise the second time but within just twenty minutes the skin starts to tear up at places. Sometimes forming little holes all over the skin. I regrettably did not click a picture of it at that stage. The above picture is actually when I just continued to let it rise for another hour and a half even though it had already developed those little cracks in the first twenty minutes.
Let's analyse...
That's an interesting starter build. Not wrong, just interesting. Why feed a small amount, let rise for 6 hours then refrigerate? Why not build up using a small amount of starter with a higher amount of fresh flour and leave out at room temperature to mature and use. This might build up a very acidic starter, I would think, yet you say you're trying to minimise acidity.
Your starter to fresh flour in your main dough is very high percentage. Your starter is also a stiff starter further increasing the pre-fermented flour. This might even make 3 hours for the first rise too long. And believe it or not a dough doesn't always have to double at the bulk ferment stage for it to be ready. It depends on a few factors. How much starter and what flour is being used.
Have you had the same problem following any other recipe?
I understand, I did try maturing the starter at room temperature only yesterday but used the same measurements of starter and flour as I stated in the recipe above and faced the same issue. I'll experiment with lesser amount of starter tonight and see what results I have. Thank you for this suggestion, I hope this sorts the problem.
I do like a lovely sour flavour to my bread. The overnight refrigeration brings up the sourness. I do not exactly want to have a mild sourdough, I like that tang. What I meant when I said not adding any extra acidity is like when some recipes call for adding lemon juice etc to bring more tang.
Also I may have stated it wrongly I don't necessarily stick with 3 hours of fermentation or exactly doubling up the dough during fermentation. I look for a puffy, near double, which on colder days does take about 3 hours. But again I'm not rigid on only these factors.
Thank you very much for all your help, you've been really helpful.
Could you also help me with a stiff starter recipe that I could try out ?
and make the recipe in the second section. Don't forget to include the salt as it just explains how to make more sour and doesn't give the salt amount. With regards to how long for bulk ferment and final proof watch the dough as this too is not included but I'm sure you'll do just fine. For more sour stick to the levain build (it has a starter, mother culture, maintenance and build advice but as you already have a stiff starter going then begin with the levain build) and use an hour after maturing.
Best of luck!
http://brodandtaylor.com/make-sourdough-more-sour/
http://brodandtaylor.com/make-sourdough-more-or-less-sour-part-2/
I now keep my starter as recommended in the article and have made this recipe. Very nice!
Over fermented. 3 hours is a long time with such a high percentage of starter. The only time I get tearing of the dough skin right after forming is when I let my dough bulk ferment too long. And that's about 4-5 hours at 50% starter.
But it looks like a dough I over worked once, after a long fermentation in fridge I made this happen to the dough just with a couple of S&F. The flour being a strong flour that forms gluten very easy, makes this happens more easily.
Perhaps try a 1:2:3 sourdough first. It's a killing simple recipe. Makes an amazing bread.
much levain. I would go back to a more conventional approach and do a 123 basic sourdough bread likevk suggests/.
Happy SD baking
using 118g starter and 65g of flour... this thread is the only find in the search.
I think the hydration is 65%, the recipe doesn't make sense to me. must be a typo somewhere...? :)