I've been making sourdough breads for nearly 3 years and loving the process and the breads. But I've most recently come across an odd problem that I need a solution to. When my bread is ready to bake and I remove the bread, the basket is wet. It happens over and over again. I live in Canada and have been told due to our high summer humidity I need to reduce the quantity of water. I've done this already. My fridge temperature is accurate as well. Anyone ever have this problem or know the cause of it.
wrapping the banneton in a towel before placing in a plastic bag? I too suffered from the dough making inside the plastic bag very wet but this reduces it. Got the idea from Sarah Owens from her book "sourdough".
I live in London, UK btw
You suffered from a wet plastic bag? I'm confused. Do you cover with the towel then plastic?
I have linen cloth covers that came with my baskets. i cover the baskets with them. I have Sarah's book as well. It is my favorite.
What do you use to dust your proofing baskets? I had the same problem as you (esp. after proofing in the fridge) when I was still using AP flour to dust my baskets. After switching to rice flour: 100% sucess rate. No sticking, no screaming ;-)
Let me know if this worked for you!
Happy baking from a fellow traveler in Germany,
-Nils
Hello there, yes I use rice flour.
use rice flour to keep the dough from sticking bit some of the surface water of the dough will get the basket wet too. This is completely normal. Nothing is wrong with the dough or basket. I just put the baskets outside in the hit A Z sun to dry out. Or you can put them your oven at 150 F for a few minutes. No worries.
I use rice flour. I understand that a bit wet is normal but not to the point where the bread has to be coaxed out with my fingers. I didn't have this issue until this summer. Is it possible it's caused from our humid summer ranging from 60-79% humidity in my house? Is the bread retaining more water during it's bulk fermentation do you think?
plastic bag like most folks do. Tey dusting the dough before you overturn it into then basket as well as dusting the basket. Use straight rice non glutenous rice flour. Half and half AP does not work nearly as well..
plastic bag like most folks do. Tey dusting the dough before you overturn it into then basket as well as dusting the basket. Use straight rice non glutenous rice flour. Half and half AP does not work nearly as well..
are designed to absorb some water off the dough surface so getting wet happens. After I remove the bread from the oven, I turn it off, park my banneton basket on the warm oven shelf and leave the oven a tad open to dry it out. Store baskets inverted on a rack between uses instead of stacking or in plastic bags where moisture cannot leave the basket.
I leave the baskets individually on my table for about 18 hours before stacking them but thank you for mentioning the oven idea as well.
When stacking after drying, stack them open building a pyramid.
If the relative humidity is higher than the dough hydration, it is possible for the dough to get wetter while it proves. I've had that happen. Could also be that the dough is overproofing with the warmer weather, might shorten the time and see if that helps.
Other thoughts...