As the title says, today was a very disheartening day. I was trying to follow this recipe:
https://foodgeek.dk/en/sourdough-bread-recipe-for-beginners/
I usually have some trouble following recipes since I live in a very humid and warm climate ~30C / ~90F so yeasts grow and ferment very very quickly. This makes it a bit difficult to follow fermentation times in recipes since they tend to be timed for moderate climates.
Right from the autolyse step I noticed it felt a little bit dry even though I had mixed as much as I could. By the time I started adding levain I could feel very stiff knots of gluten in the dough that wouldn't loosen up. At this stage it wound up going in the total opposite direction - very very wet. Even after stretching and folding / leaving to rest, the gluten never really developed; it would just immediately rip when I tried to stretch or loosen the gluten knots. The knots themselves were very very strong gluten, but everything around them was not held together at all
Ultimately after 4 stretch and folds, with basically zero progress I just left it to ferment untouched on the kitchen counter hoping that time would develop some gluten. 6-7 hours in 30C later the whole thing looked like a giant starter. It had risen 2-3x lots of bubbles, but virtually no gluten. Couldn't manage even the barest hint of a window pane test. Since it had risen a lot, I turned it over and tried to shape it. No luck. Just turned into a a puddly mess. There was no top gluten to speak of. When I tried shaping to a ball it immediately ripped.
Wound up just throwing the whole thing in a tub in the fridge, might make some crappy pizzas out of it in a day or two.
Not sure if anyone has any suggestions what happened here, but just wanted to share a somewhat deflating day. Will try again this weekend, hoping it turns out better.
When you stretch you need to pull faster and harder and grab more of the dough.
Are the lumps of firm gluten after autolys ok? Should I be trying to squeeze them flat and build a smoother gluten net?
climate: hot, humid, tropical
Does your flour come sealed in plastic bags?
If it does, the flour can be very dry and very absorbing. Your experience sounds so much like my first loaf in Laos a few years ago. I had to add at least 5% more water to every recipe.
For the next loaf, Take the recipe, add up total flour weights and total water weights. Figure the hydration. W/F x 100 = % hydration. Add enough extra water to increase the end result by 5%. Another trick is just to measure out 100g of water into a mug and as you are mixing up the dough add only a tablespoon (15g) at a time to moisten dry flour spots as you find them. You have more experience now. Weigh the remaining water after making the dough and add the amount used to the recipe with a foot note.
Another suggestion, reduce the amount of yeast or starter to slow down fermentation along with using ice water to mix dough.
I'm in Singapore, so quite nearby. Similar climate.
I actually found the opposite, for me the doughs get a lot stickier than they used to when I lived in mild climates. My theory is that there's so much moisture in the air that water no longer evaporates from the dough as quickly so it stays wetter for longer. Not sure.
I think you're onto something with reducing the amount of levain! I will try that. I guess it's possible that the yeast was developing too fast and basically eating the gluten as it got created. The whole thing looks a little better (but still not great) after a night in the fridge which I guess replicated this effect by slowing down the yeast to give the gluten some breathing room?
Also definitely will do what you suggested and mix in the flour more slowly to make sure there aren't so many lumps.
on wet or dry season. That does make a difference. If the problem seems to be with mixing try putting the dry ingredients into the bowl first and adding the wet into a hole made in the middle of the flour. Start stirring in the middle.
Is the flour lumpy? Perhaps sifting the flour might help break up lumps before adding liquids.