HELP! High Hydration Fails
Hey all,
I have been baking for about three months now,making my way through Tartine, with great beginners success. But I seemed to have hit a bread wall of sorts. As most of you probably know there is nothing quite as demoralizing as pulling out a dud sourdough loaf. The time lost, the bread that could have been eaten! For the first month I focused only on the country loaf and churned out some beautiful, light loaves. Now that i'm expanding to different, high hydration loaves (80+) I have failing somewhat miserably. They are super heavy, with little to no oven spring, and really gummy. After a couple of failed loaves I went back to the original tartine country loaf to see if it was the oven or water (I moved kitchens right as my loaves started getting worse) and it was beautiful. I will post some photos below or my most recent.
I'm not sure what the issue is-- possibilities that I can think of...
My dough is not feeling as firm during the pre-shape and final shape. Am I losing gas because of a clunky pre/final shaping?
I am using new flour from a local mill, Fairhaven Mill organic AP and Hard red wheat. Maybe the protein content isnt high enough?
I am not developing the gluten properly. Too many stretch and fold (I do 5 per bulk ferment)? Too few stretch and folds?
My starter is not vibrant enough? Even though is consistently passes the float test.
Would really love your thoughts and suggestions. This is keeping me up at night! (kidding) (kind of)