hi guys
I’m new to fl and have been baking sourdough for about 2months. I’ve been getting good end results but always have a problem with my dough after bulk fermentation. The dough is always sticky and glossy looking. I made a batch last night (unfortunately never to a pic of dough) and again was sticky when trying to shape. I bf for 4.5 hours I had a good rise and air bubbles on the surface. My hydration was at 74%.
I went ahead and shaped the best I could (after shaping dough was collapsing) I retarded loaves in fridge for 10 hours. Was wondering if any of you could shed some light on what my problem could be my quantities were as follows
750g Canadian strong white wheat flour
50g stoneground wholemeal flour
23g organic white wheat flour
18g salt
150g leaven (1tbsp starter/60g flour/60gwater
650 g water
Any ideas much appreciated
You have 80% hydration dough. Slack and sticky is what it should be.
I think Suave hit the nail on the head. When you take into account the levain (and you should) the hydration is 80.4%. For the types of flour you are using, you should expect wet and sticky.
Next time you might try 585g water which would equate to an actual 73%. Keep the levain exactly as is. That is still going to produce a relatively wet dough, but it should behave much better.
558g water will get you a conservative 70% hydration. The dough, at this hydration will be much more easily handled and awill produce a very nice loaf. I suggest to try one of the mentioned hydrations and let us know your results. Pictures are always good.
Dan
If you prefer, we have a basic sourdough recipe with instructions that was devised with new sourdough bakers in mind. Take a look at THIS LINK.
Thanks Dan , I will defo try a lower hydration tomorrow when I mix my dough. I totally forgot about the levain.
Thank you also for the link will give it a go. Another issue I have it after I have pre shaped then shaped my dough it does not hold its shape and starts to collapse. Was wondering what the reason are for this could be . It’s strange as I do get a decent crumb in the end bake. I do need more oven spring though. I’m trying to upload photos.
Ah thanks suave I totally for to take it account the leaving water content too. I will try a less hydration an see if I can work with this better.
Thank you!
How did you mix the dough? By hand? Stand mixer? For how long? What I found over time was that the better I mixed the dough (I do it by hand), the better the gluten development, and the less sticky the dough became.
What you describe could also be a result of over-fermentation, although that tends to produce a slurry rather than a really sticky (but shapable) dough.
Also, what is the temperature of your kitchen? That can have an effect on the rate of bulk fermentation.
<p>i don’t check temp of room just prove the dough and it’s anyway on or around 79 f. I too thought it could be over fermentation. Thank you Watertown for your comment </p>
9B89201D-BA51-41F0-B1AF-4A8347F16093.jpegThe photos of my bake , not too but could be so much better. I don’t get great oven spring and no ears on crust.
That loaf looks very nice to me.
and ears on crust. I find it difficult to slash the dough as it’s akeays very soft.
Thsnks for your comment dan
Things that I would suggest to you:
1.) The relatively high hydration dough will not keep the shape and will be collapsing after you tip it out of proving basket. The reason is that the gluten has relaxed. As long as you have decent oven spring that is really not a problem.
2.) Scoring of wet dough could be a night mare. I suggest you to put it in the fridge for several hours before baking (do the final proofing in the fridge). You can put the dough into the freezer for about 20-30 minutes before bake and you will have much easier work with scoring. Going to the freezer is not limited to warm dough, you can put in freezer also the cold proofed dough.
3.) Ears - wet dough will hardly make ears. Go wson with hydration and bake when only about 80-85% proofed. Shape as batard, for miche you have to score parallel to the bottom of the loaf to get ear.
Happy baking Sourbaker!
Joze
hi all
i quite new to baking and have been using a casetole style dish with lid to do my sourdough bakes. I would love a baking stone but wouldn’t know where to start. I’m based in uk and can’t find many options. Some help from uk based breadmajers woukd be great.
Try here: https://pizzasteel.com/
thanks joc1954 will keep in my your tips and will fridge my dough before hand.
Thank you for the link!
customer care is great. I'm sure the product is as well, but will have to get better at shaping before I can really declare that to be the case.
Hi I got a local blacksmith to make me a steel plate much less expensive than the pizza steel I seasoned it with oil and its great for bread and pizzas just google steel plate uk and they will cut to size and request your depth Maybe you have a blacksmith near where you live
Happy Baking
Liz
thanks I’ll have a look thank you!
Hi
I bought an extra deep ( 15cm or 6inches ) large roasting pan then got the steel a little bigger so it provides a cloche effect on the bread I bake 2-3 loaves in the oven I used to use lava rocks and hot water for steam but now cover the loaves with the big roasting pan for the first 20 mins at a high temperature 260 c It was less than 20 pounds
Hope this helps
Liz
I think this is along the lines of what Liz suggested. https://www.amazon.com/Granite-Covered-Rectangular-Roaster-Inches/dp/B000050AVD/ref=sr_1_10?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1533233947&sr=1-10&keywords=granite+ware
Just make sure your stone is a little larger than the cover. So you use only the bottom of the roaster as a cover over the stone.
Dan
Liz, correct me if I am wrong about the cover.
thanks guys I'm definitely going to look in to these. and wow liz thats great! lucky you! have fun
Hi Danny
The roasting pan I have measures 30x42cm and 15cm deep Its not like your covered roaster which I think must be great It is an open roasting pan which I use to put on top of the Steele which covers the bread really well The Steele was made slightly bigger than the roasting pan and works really well
I am getting ready to spend 2 days on Sat and Sun at the Sourdough School with Vanessa Kimbell as part of the Sourdough Sisters course I am really excited women coming from many parts of the world including California
Happy Baking
Liz
Please let us know the highlights of what you learn.
Danny
and what an amazing experience that will be! I have Vanessa's books and her spirit is truly inspiring! Kat