hi, I was wondering what the factors for an elastic dough might be?
could be too much yeast?
too much high gluten flour?
not enough salt or sugar?
does temperature effect?
i made a batch of dough today and when I tried working with it, it would just not hold its shape and keep stretching back. I can let it rest, but I was wondering if I may be doing something wrong.
i put my dough into the fridge right away after making it, and then I work with it the next day. Could the issue be putting it in the fridge without letting it rise first?
thanks in advance!
Putting it in the fridge would make it easier to work with cause usually dough is placed in the fridge to relax.Too much high gluten flour is the obvious factor BUT even an all bread flour dough can be stretched/rolled out thin as long as it's given an adequate rest period. If the dough is extra tough, roll out in intervals. When I make cinnamon rolls, I use all gluten flour and have to stretch it out very thin. I'll roll out as far as the dough allows, then give it 5 to 10 minutes to rest, then roll out, and repeat as needed until I reach the dimensions I'm after.
I figured its probably more of a resting thing, but wanted to be sure. Thanks! I'll run some trials and report back.
I've had success rolling tough doughs partially and then re-chilling briefly, and then continuing. The chilling helps, but I think even just taking a break is useful.
My unscientific explanation is that the dough can only deform so much at a time, so stopping lets the dough relax into its new form, and then subsequent shaping isn't as severe a change - sort of changing the baseline.