November 25, 2020 - 4:30am
Slap & Fold Help - dough falls apart
Hello!
Looking for some direction from anyone on here!
After autolyse, adding the yeast/salt and mixing, sometimes I opt for the slap & fold technique.
What i face is bit by bit i can feel the dough strengthening (let's say 1 minute in) but if i continue, the dough completely falls apart into an unstructured blob it feels like everything that happened so far has been completely obliterated. This is why i usually tend to fall back on just folding the dough in the bowl.
What am i doing wrong with slap & fold and how can i avoid it turning the dough into a blobby mess that just falls apart in my fingers?
Share
For the dough to become stronger at first but then start to go backwards and break apart . Carry on and it'll gain in strength again.
Abe is right that is totally normal behavior during slap and fold. The dough starts to strengthen and become smoother then it seems to fall apart. If you keep going it will strengthen again, just keep going.
Indeed it's normal, particularly with doughs on the higher hydration end. Usually it's still possible to continue and it'll come together beautifully. If it becomes way too soupy and starts flying around the kitchen (means it's too wet for slap&folds), just scoop it into a bowl and give it a rest. It'll either help and you can continue later, or if it's still too slack just continue with stretch and folds.