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Hello and Help "troubleshooting" a loaf

_vk's picture
_vk

Hello and Help "troubleshooting" a loaf

Hello Everyone. I'm a new home baker from Brazil. So far I'd say I have baked about 10 batches of a white sourdough (74%) using this recipe:

https://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/sourdough-pain-naturel/

I had 2 big failures, but the rest of the batches were a success. I'm addicted! (With failure I mean that the bread was not really nice or I had to bake it in a tin, but even those batches resulted in very tasteful, good, breads after all. None brick so far)

Now I moved on to a different recipe. A whole wheat bread from the same site. 

Again the bread is delicious, the crust good and the crumb light and full of nice holes. BUT... the dough did not hold it's shape when transferred from banneton to baking sheet, spreading quickly. As a result I got almost no oven spring (I'm quite confident about my steaming contraption:)

So I thought in 4 possibles causes to the dough spreading.

1. Bad shaping. I don’t think this is the case, as my boules and battards are usually good, and this ones just looked fine. Also all 3 loafs had exactly the same problem. 

2. To wet dough. Although I followed the recipe precisely, the differences in flour ask for adjustments, and , honestly, I’m not comfortable yet to find the proper texture of the dough when mixing/kneading. I mostly rely on mesure, which wont account for flour differences. So this is a very probable cause. But, as far as I can tell, the dough looks ok during all the processes. I can say that it was not really messed up. 

3. To little gluten structure (not enough kneading or stretch and fold). Again, I followed the timing. I can never say if the dough is to wet or under worked…

and the last suspect:

4. Over proofed. The poke test indicated perhaps a slight overproofing… But not much. Just a tad. 

How can I tell which one is the culprit?

What to look for when adding water to know it has being enough?

How to know if the dough needs more water, or flour or SaFs, or kneading?

I'm having trouble to learn those by my self, any hints on that?

 

Thanks a lot!

 

ps. not sure in which category I should have posted. Correct me please.

 

 

 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

try shortening the proofing times to see if that helps.  Recipes are only guides and often warm rooms temps will speed up the process faster than one realises.  What are the temps of the room and dough?  

Generally whole flours will ferment faster than "white" flours.  

I tend to mix my sourdough a little stiffer than my regular dough as it softens so much during fermentation, stretch and folds help a great deal but when mixing and comparing, that is what I do.

_vk's picture
_vk

Hi Mini Oven. Thanks for the input. I'll try less proofing next time. I think this is where I am now. Learning how to consider the recipe just as a guide... The dough was about 25ºC. Room, around 20ºC.

Do you think I could have re-shaped and re-proofed?

 

thanks

 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

"...the dough did not hold it's shape when transferred from banneton to baking sheet, spreading quickly."

Yes, depending on how much it was flattening out, a reshape might have helped.  The next proof would be even faster so keep an eye on it.  

One thing I forgot to mention is that if the starter is new, it should be speeding up with regular use.  It can be that the doughs are proofing faster than last week as it contains more yeast.  Just a mention.

_vk's picture
_vk

Thanks again for your thoughts Mini Oven. I've never heard of this before, thanks for the insight. My starter is rather fast from the beginning, so if it is going to go faster...

:)

thanks.