I'm a pretty new baker but my loaves overall are turning out fine IMO. The problem I have though is that the dough is too wet and sticky so can never really form the ball after proofing. It's airy and fluffy, for lack of a better term. I went with bakers percentages for a recipe yesterday and turned out same way, maybe even fluffier. My starter is pourable consistency so wondering if maybe that is why it's too wet. If I decrease the amount of starter, I'm afraid that would inhibit the rise. Would it be best to try to add a little more flour or a little less water when making the dough? Also for yesterday's bread, I let it sit out for first bulk rise - doubled and got bubbly on top. Then put in fridge for overnight bulk fermentation. When I poked it to see if it was ready this morning, it didn't come back up at all. I know that means over proofing usually but wondering if that is normal because it was in fridge overnight.
Hi there - well are a few things it could be:
If you tell us the weights of flour and water you are using to refresh the starter, build the levain and make the final dough; and the method you are using, then perhaps we can help you narrow it down a bit.
To refresh the starter, I use 4 oz starter, 4 oz. water and 4 oz flour. I use Gold Medal bread flour for the bread but regular AP for the starter feed.
i've tried several recipes so the other weights and methods change depending on the recipe. For weights, one I've used a few times is 349 g bread flour, 250 g water, 100 g starter and 8 g salt. For that one, there is no autolyse but dough rises for 4 hours, with stretch and fold twice during that time. Then form loaf ( which is way too sticky) and put in fridge overnight. Next morning, let rise for a few hours and then bake. Last bread was based on bakers percentages and used 400 g bread four, 329 g water, around 70 g starter (some said 15 % and some said 20%), and 8 g salt. Used a different recipe and did an autolyse with the flour and water for 1/2 hour. Then do stretch and fold every 30 minutes or so for around 4 hours. Then let rise until about doubled and bubbles on top. Then form loaf (more sticky than with other recipe and very "fluffy") and put in fridge overnight and bake in morning.