September 26, 2022 - 11:53am
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Cannot pre or final shape - NEVER get the smooth tight surface
I’ve been hacking away at sourdough attempts for many months. I can NEVER get tight, smooth skin I see in all tutorials on shaping. Today failed again, with a sticky ball of dough I could barely control. I end up dumping it into a stone loaf pan and I’m sure Ill get the nearly impenetrable crust I usually get. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m constantly over-proofing the dough. It seems that nice tight skin is what will make a decent crust.
I believe the dough to be 66% hydration as follows:
763g APF
477g water
152g starter
28g salt.
it sat on the kitchen table for about 12 hours. I then put in the fridge for another 8 hrs. This SEEMS like it sat way too long.
Two things my newbie self sees:
First: Did you get any rise out of that? That's an awful lot of salt. Too much salt will inhibit the yeast. I think salt only needs to be
62%, but don't quote me on that.Second: I've noticed that all purpose flour does not hold up to long rest periods like bread flour does. I've done the no-knead method and noticed that I got better shaping with half bread flour instead of all AP flour. The dough wouldn't shape well the next day.
Try the 1-2-3 sourdough loaf, it's pretty good for a beginner recipe. It was one of the community bakes a while back. I know the experts will chime in. It's always fun reading their responses. :)
What did you do for gluten development? Any stretch and folds or kneading? Was starter active and doubling?
I agree that you could cut the salt by a third. 2% salt is standard. I also agree that 12 hours is way too long if you have an active starter. For that amount of starter, I would expect you’d be done with bulk in 2-4 hours.
How do you mix?
How do you develop the dough (mixer, by hand, etc)?
I'd drop the salt to 17g (2%).
A basic process I use for things like this...
But I sometimes get too cautious about using too much flour on the work surface and use hardly any. That makes it very hard to create tension. It’s important to find a balance.
Too much salt, not enough water, especially if you are flouring your kneading/shaping board, and not nearly enough kneading/folding.
Try 10-15 grams of salt. You can leave the water where you're at, but don't flour your board. Wet your hands instead.
When properly kneaded/folded, most AP flours won't be sticky. They might start that way, but once you've gotten the gluten to form, it becomes more like silly putty than a fly trap.
When you first mix your dough, leave out the salt. Mix until it all comes together, then let it sit for half an hour. After half an hour add the salt to the dough and mix for at least 5 or six minutes. When you put in on your board, if it is still sticky, wet your hands and pull each of four sides out as far as you can, folding back over the center. Flip it over and wait for 10 minutes before repeating this 3 more times. When you're done, put the dough into an oiled bowl for bulk proofing. After bulk proofing you can shape it on a floured board.
What starte do you use? Equal flour to water?
Looks like you calculate your hydration percentage without taking the starter into account. If you use a 100% starter, then your hydration is closer to 76%.
This could be why you find it difficult to work with?
What flour do you mean by APF? Are you in the North America?
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