Attempting a "simple" sourdough bake. 5th ever try!
Recipe:
450 gr flour as:
354 gr AP flour
96 gr WW flour (ran out of AP - so made up the dif with WW
310 gr water
100 gr starter (50 gr water - 50 gr ap - has been used and fed a number of times)
10 gr salt
Mixed flour & water; 45 min autolyse
Added starter & salt: 15 min rest
1st S&F dough was quite 'stringy' - guess that was the gluten strands.
Just could not get it into a cohesive lump. Possibly may have had too much water spritzed on table... dough was a bit slipper - but just could not get it to get smooth as I've seen in many vids.
Any ideas what may have caused it to start out so stringy? Will start 2nd S&F in about 20 mins... hoping things may get better. :-)
I believe this is normal, but don't listen to me. I haven't baked my first loaf yet. I'm replying because I'm curious if it improved as you got further in the process as I expect is supposed to happen.
Dough will radically change texture throughout the process! It could have been that the starter wasn't incorporated well and thus you still had "soggy" areas of much higher hydration, or it could have simply been that the gluten was not well developed and the dough lacked cohesiveness. I'm assuming it improved as you continued?
Hmm - yes may have been a bit brief on the incorporation. I did use hands to squeeze it together... On 2nd & 3rd S&F it was a bit better - but I'm thinking my newbie-skills and S&F and handling the dough are prob the biggest issue. The dough did remain sticky - have never got that nice smooth skin I see in so many vids.
"How do you get to Julliard?" - Practice, Practice Practice! :-)