Dough not setting up
Hi all,
I found a recipe off the internet, probably just like a whole host of others, and have used it twice before with okay results. Today, it is not working...that said, I did change it up a bit, so thought I would do the early stages differently, and being a rookie, I probably made a rookie mistake.
Here is what I have so far. The starter is a 100% hydration dark rye flour. This next bit was part of the recipe. I used 20 g of my starter, 90 g H2O and 90 g flour. I used unbleached AP for this, and I did a preferment for 24 hours.
The recipe calls for 200g of preferment, 800 g of flour, (again, I used unbleached AP), 800 g of H2O, and 20 g of salt.
Where I departed from the recipe is here. I autolysed the flour and water for 24 hours, then added the salt and preferment.
Since putting it all together, it has not set up at all. I have run through all the stages to where I am letting it sit in the couche for the next 2 - 3 hours. When I went to form it and cut it to make my loaves, the dough was still very wet, sticky and unincorporated. I should say I live in Canada and today is a coolish 12 C.
Where did I go wrong?
MiRJ
A 100% hydration dough is pretty unforgiving for rookies. A 24 hour autolyse may have lead to too much enzymatic activity in the flour alongside the "pre-ferment" (typically called a levain when referring to sourdough) and decreased dough stability. Or it could have simply been a more humid day, less absorbent batch of flour since the last time you made it, and so on. The easiest way in my experience to "guarantee" good structure in such a high hydration loaf is to start with about 80% of the water, let it rest, check consistency, work in 5% more, let it rest, check consistency, etc etc until you've given the loaf all it is willing to take, or used all of the water you desire to.
Hi Amara,
I am going to go with the decreased stabilty, and probably not do the autolyse next time. Plus, I will try your suggestion of the staged hydration of the dough. Thanks!
I am still going to bake the loaves and see how they turn out.