Hello!
First time publishing an entry. I’m new to sourdough and I’m still having a hard time getting to know my dough and if it has proofed enough or…longer than it should! I’m having a hard time with the “finger test”.
My dough was feeling “healthy and alive”, had quite some bubbles building up on the surface, sides and under and out of the sudden it just became hard to manage, kinda runny.
I fed my starter 3 times (with ecological rye and Manitoba flour) to re-activate it after being in the fridge.
I don’t understand if the reason my dough is moist and sticky has to do with high hydration (75%, and I do use a lot of water on my fingers and palms to manage the dough) or if I let it proof for too long.
I tried doing coil folds (2-3) and maybe 2 normal S&F. Have I over worked my dough?
I used a mix of Manitoba and Öland wheat flour (ca. 14% protein).
The room temperature was about 24°c and I let my dough bulk ferment around 5 hours (during the which I used about 4 hours to to S&F with at least 30 min intervall)
It even cold proof in the fridge over night or else I wouldn’t even be able of scoring it.
I accept all critic and help I could get! Thank you so much!
Feeling a bit disappointed but not giving up,
//Ana
So far so good! As to the problems. Just don't let it go too far - which may be a little past it's prime. And I will warn ya - expect a change - eventually it'll get ya. Keep on going! Enjoy!
Hej Davey1!
I appreciate your reply! Thank you so much for taking the time to write me some encouragement words! 😃
Hopefully I’ll learn to understand my sourdough better and better over time!
All the best,
Ana
Best thing - breadwise anyway - is keep on going. If ya came this far - why not. Good luck! Enjoy!
The few big holes might be also a sign of slightly underproofed dough. Overproofed dough generally doesn't build this single big holes.
Preshaping and shaping was probably also not quite perfect. Not enough tension.
Further analysis without knowing the recipe and the whole process is pretty difficult.
To make the handling easier, I would reduce the hydration to 65%-70% for the next bake.
Maybe use some soft wheat flour. Your flour seems to be pretty strong. Nowadays, at least in Europe, every strong flour with some specific characteristics is called Manitoba. It's hard to compare a Manitoba with another Manitoba just by name. But generally in my experience a high percentage of Manitoba flour in bread dough is not beneficial for the structure and for the taste. At least I don't like it.
Taste and smell the sourdough each time before you feed it or use it for the final dough. Just to be sure there is not too much acidity.
Thank you so very much for your reply!
I also thought the dough might be under proofed in the beggining, but when I took it out of the bowl to start pre-shaping, it just became so flat and runny. Even tough I tried giving in some tension, I was really having a hard time managing it.
I aimed for a hydration of 75% with my starter, so it'd be similar to my the dough itself. I felt like such sourdough starter was much more manageable than 100% hydration, and easy to incorporate into the dough. But maybe I overdid it?
Thank you so much for the video suggestion!
All good!
//Ana
I meant the overall hydration in the final dough. For the beginning a firmer dough is easier to manage. I assume, something between 65% - 70% should be easy to handle with your flour. The hydration of the starter is at this point imo not so important. Just use whatever is more convenient for you.
Regarding over-/underproofed - the rest of the crumb (except the big holes) doesn't necessarily look like underproofed dough. Together with the big holes I tend to rather slightly underproofed then overproofed.
Maybe it is overproofed and the issue is somewhere else. Too much acidity?
Anyway, I'd start with a stiffer dough because it's easier to handle, more tolerant.
With the proper amount of water - the dough is not runny. If it gets runny - it went too far. Manageability is up to you. That's easy to adjust for. Enjoy!
BTW, the sourdough journey (https://thesourdoughjourney.com) has a pretty big and good collection of articles, videos and instagram posts. He has also some good examples which help to identify different issues.