Hi all, this is my first post here and is about a challenge that I'm facing, I'm a total newbie in baking and I the problem the I'm having is a curious one that I couldn't find a solid answer when searching the internet and other forums including this one.
For context I live in a Tropical country with Hight humidity, very random weather and little access to many types of flours so I'm basically stuck with the flours presenting the problem and buying another type of flour would be...challenging. Anyways, bear with me as this may be somewhat long. Here I go:
I started my journey a few weeks ago with Focaccia. After trying some failed recipe (This one) using a Biga and 80% water, the attempt with this one yielded a dough that was too wet, and never gained form nor strength.
I moved to another recipe using 75% (This one here). And got my hand on a bread dough that handled the recipe beautifully. It was perfect. Thing is that flour is no longer available and the supplier doesn't know when it will come back. So I bought another bread flour (Princesa) which as you can see, no relevant information is provided. So, with this new flour the dough starts good; absorbs water well and doesn't even feels too wet, but after the first folding and waiting for 20 mins the dough starts behaving strange, as if it gained more hydration. It then starts to lose strength and becomes increasingly sticky while also tearing more easily!
Frustrated I moved to another recipe (Yet another recipe) this one used Farina 0 (Granoro 0 which luckily I found in the supermarket but again te recipe (at 80% hydration) was a failure. I then learned that it seems W250 can only hold to 75% hydration without problems so i bumped down to 70% and it was better but nothing near the video (no big bubbles, couldn't actually make any dimples because the hole wouldn't quite form and the dough would kinda sticky somewhat to the fingers)
So I searched and learned to "test" my flour and today i took for samples of each flour (Princesa and Granoro) and tested them from 65% hydration up to 80% in 5% increments and waited 60 minutes. At first glance the princesa up to 80% seemed good; it felt strong (but not too stretchy and actually didn't look too wet. The Granoro 0 did seemed wetter but also felt more stretchy.Thing is after doing the panel test and stretching it a little they presented same problem as when I made the recipes, they started tearing and becoming increasingly sticky and unmanageable in my hands. Even the Princesa one at 75% which seemed "dry" before touching it also because a mess not holding any shape and sort of "melting in my hands, I tried doing some folds with it in my fingers but instead of becoming less sticky they became more sticky.
Please I would appreciate any feedback, this is frustrating for me as this behavior is strange, I'm using no knead recipes which rely on folding and resting. Is it the gluten? is it the protein? is it the climate? am I cursed? why do they start behaving well and then just behave like this when they should be strengthening over time, not become more of a mess, and I missing something? Thanks in advance to all of you.
Hi,
It looks like you're using high protein flours, and protein absorbs water more slowly. I work at high altitude and very low humidity, so I have your opposite problem! I use only einkorn flour, which is also high protein, and I have to increase my hydration, but still, the flour will only absorb so much water.
Just a thought, I am NOT an expert, but if you'd pick the flour you like best and work with it for a while with different hydrations, proof times, maybe kneading it to develop the gluten instead of turning? I was thinking if you decrease your hydration to 63 or 65% knowing that the protein will slowly absorb more water from the air as it ferments/proofs, that might help. Everyone loves high hydration, but sometimes it backfires. Also, make sure your starter is stellar!
Have fun with your experiments!
check and record the water, flour and dough temps. You may find it not only helpful to lower the dough hydration but also the use of ice water as it may help slow down fast fermentation. In the tropics, the refrigerator is your friend. To help control runaway fermentation, get the salt into the dough at the very beginning, mixing it into the flour. And watch the dough not the clock, the times may be much shorter than cooler climate recipes. Use lids over bowls to keep extra humidity out. Note if the flour comes in paper or sealed plastic. That can make a big difference in how much recipe water to add. Plastic packages tend to have dryer flour requiring more water and paper requires less added water. You may also require less yeast than the recipe calls for. Try cutting back on sugar or eliminate it.
A good suggestion already mentioned is to stick to one flour for a while until you understand what it can do. Stick to one recipe and tweak it. Too many flours and recipes will only add to the confusion. Take notes. Include location, date and ambient temps, rainy and dry seasons. Then type of flour, and times, what you did while handling the dough and just about everything you can think of. Then comment on the bake and the finished bread.