Hello everyone!
I had another unsuccessful sourdough but trying to figure out why.
Here is the recipe I followed
400g bread flour
100g whole wheat flour
325g water
100g starter
10g salt
I decided to lower the hydration from what I usually do as I think my bread flour is around 10% protein
I did an autolyse first and left for one hour, I then added starter and salt and combined, instructions on the recipe were to combine for around 1 minute then leave to sit for 15mins.
After 15mins, build strength in dough with stretch and folds (guy in the video used a different technique but the idea was to build strength) once dough became tighter, leave to sit covered for two hours, after two hours do a set of coil folds.
I left for another hour and did one more coil fold.
I then waited for bulk fermentation to be complete which is the part I always struggle with.
At first the dough was ok to work with, not too sticky and no jiggle to the dough, my climate is cold so keeping a warm environment is tough so I knew it would take a while to ferment.
My issue is during bulk fermentation I saw no signs of fermentation, not many bubbles, no rise however, as time went on I did the fingerprint test on the dough and I could feel the dough getting stickier and stickier and my fingerprint didn't spring back so I got worried and assumed it was over fermenting.
I'm still unsure if it was the fermentation process, my starter is active and shouldn't be an issue, could someone please help if they have any knowledge as to what it could be ? Happy to answer more questions about the process :)
You didn't say where you are, what kind of flour you used, the fermentation time involved, nor the temperature. So we just have to make guesses. The recipe looks pretty standard. The fermentation taking a long time to get started could have been the temperature. Your picture doesn't show much sign of fermentation.
The dough behavior sounds like perhaps the flour can't tolerate that level of hydration, or perhaps the extra long fermentation provided enough time for enzymes to start breaking down the protein - which could be considered a flour issue too.
When I have this kind of issue, I usually cut the hydration way back and try again. If this gives a reasonable result, I increase the hydration by small amounts at a time, just a few percentage points. If the flour is sensitive this way, just a few points of hydration can make the difference between success and failure.
TomP
Has the starter produced bread that you're satisfied with under the same conditions? I.e. flour type, dough temperature, starter activity
My first suggestion would be to look at the starter - a doubling starter might not necessarily mean a healthy starter that can produce bread that you want. The other would be that your dough temperature is simply too low (how cold?) and that bulk fermentation was too short. How long was bulk fermentation and proof?
-Lin
If it's acidic - and there's a good chance it is - start making a starter. There's plenty of info available. Enjoy!
The weight of the dough before baking was 560g (left loaf) and 640 (right one).
In both cases I made fatal mistakes in mixing: a lack of concentration. In the case of the loaf on the left I forgot the autolyse step and I started mixing right away and the dough quickly was a slurry. I tried patience and long rests including one in the refrigerator, but the yeast activity remained vefy weak. i then realized I had forgotten the salt which I managed to incorporate in the dough ball. Maybe the gluten never developed a proper network in that dough. I do the initial threading first in a Bosch type mixer and then do manual S&F's as necessary.
In the case of the dough on the right, I was planning to raise the hydration to 78% up from tge initial 72%. What I do usually is to start mixing after the initial 60 min rest to develop the gluten network before adding water one tablespoon at a time and that works. However Sunday, out of distraction, I added one tablespoon of water before mixing. And the dough became a slurry. However, fresh from the experience of the previous day I chose to add a few tablespoons of flour until I could make the dough ingo a ball that would knead and I later added water incrementally. As a result of those additions the dough was 100 g heavier than initially planned and the loaf turned out ok.
This little story confirms someehow tpassin's analysis.
There is also the pretty original book "Open Crumb" by Trevor J. Wilson available directly from Trevor's website. Trevor is very investigative and he reviews all of the steps of the dough making process. I got this reference from someone on this forum.