I've recently started dipping my toes into sourdough baking, having previously only baked yeasted bread.
The overnight country blonde in Flour Water Salt Yeast seemed interesting, so I thought i'd give it a go.
My initial pre-ferment looked great, lots of expansion, smelt about right.
I then did the autolyse step, giving me a wet but relatively firm dough to which I added salt and the required amount of pre-ferment.
After mixing as suggested, this dough was fairly wet. I then started doing the folds and this is where I've begun to doubt myself.
I'd previously baked a lot from Reinhart's books, where he also uses a stretch/fold method. Previously after doing this as instructed I eventually ended up with a relatively stable ball (it held its shape for a little while, obviously falling when left for extended periods). With the overnight country blonde recipe however its remaining fairly liquid.
Watching the videos that accompany the book on youtube, Forkish seems to have this 'issue', but the pictures in the book suggest that the dough be a lot firmer after these folds.
Would appreciate any advice.
Best
I am not familiar with this recipe, but refrigerated bulk ferment has helped me with wet doughs. Room temp or warm bulk fermented wet dough is very hard for me to work with. Chilling the dough firms it up very well in my experience. Stretch and fold is easy with wet hands at that point.
I am relatively new at artisan/quasi-sourdough baking.
I think if you do a search on this site you will find that a lot of people have the same problem. Yes, these are quite wet doughs. They do bake up nice, but are very difficult to handle if you don't have a lot of experience with high hydration dough. What I've started doing is reducing the hydration (percentage of total water to total flour) of the Country Blonde and I find it's not only easier to handle but it still makes very nice bread. The holes might not be so big but I like it better that way anyway. I also make bread in bigger batches (I have a little shop) so I use a large mixer for the dough. If I was to make only a loaf or two, I might keep the hydration level higher as it is easier to stretch and fold a kilo or so of dough than it is to do it with 8 - 10 kilos! Dough for ten loaves oozes off the edge of the workbench / counter when it's too wet. :)
so it isn't something you have done wrong. Just give it a couple of extra folds to help it firm up and use the letter fold method of shaping rather than his. I would probably also do a pre-shape, let rest for 20-30 minutes and then do a final shaping both using the letter fold method. Hopefully that should firm it up.
Otherwise, letting it proof in the fridge is a great idea!
Thanks so much for all the replies.
I kept folding and it did eventually begin to hold its shape, now shaped and in proving baskets- reminds me a little of a ciabatta dough. Will see how it pans out.
The letter fold panned out a lot easier as you suggested.
I now prefer the letter fold. I seem to get better oven spring with it. It takes a while to find the techniques that work best for you and your dough.
I am a newbie so keep that in mind. Same issue but using the Saturday 75% wheat recipe from FWSY, I have paid very close attention to the details of making this recipe and have made 2 attempts.
Well, I've tried folding, and folding, and folding.... up to 6 times in the first hour and then overnight bulk fermenting. Still so wet that getting the dough into a shaped form is impossible. After the overnight bulk ferment (12 hours) the dough actually lost some of its rise so I suspect there is something else going on.
Frustrated to say the least. Not even sure which questions to ask first.
To your room temperature. Forkish makes his bread at about 70F. If you are warmer than that, your dough will bulk faster. Follow his descriptions, not the times as they are just a guidance.
And if the dough is too wet, cut it back. That’s the one variable you can play with.
Thanks. By saying "cut it back" you are referring to reducing the water in the recipe?
That is exactly what I meant. Try holding back 10% and add some back until the dough feels as soft as your ear lobe (Stole that from one of my artisan bread classes). Stick to less water rather than more as the water is easily added later during the bulk folds if needed but once in the dough, you can’t remove it. And if you add flour to counteract the extra water, you throw the whole ratio of flour to salt to sourdough off. Water is the one thing you can adjust so err on the side of less until you get better at handling wet dough. And that being said, it’s possible it’s your flour and not you that can’t handle that much water.
It also would have been better if you started your own thread rather than tagging your post onto an old one. More people would see it and answer. ?
Totally makes sense. I like the earlobe reference too!
Thanks, again!