After proofing my dough ran like water...
I made a sourdough with 400g levain, 700g flour, and 500g water. The dough was a little too wet so as I was mixing I added more flour until the consistency seemed "right". I folded it every 30 minutes for 1.5 hours, let it rise another hour, and then divided it into proofing baskets overnight.
In the morning the dough seemed "swollen" like there was a lot of gas in there, and when I tipped the loaves out of the bannetons you could hardly pick it up it was so "floppy". I had to use bread scrapers to get it into something I could toss in my dutch ovens. It seemed like it was falling apart, like trying to hold water in your hands. The bake went fine, and the final result looked OK but the crumb seemed "stringy".
This was my first attempt at a sourdough bread, and so I know I have a lot to learn. I would be interested in your thoughts on what was going on there, especially if you have seen the same before.
Brian
Seems like a lot of levain for an overnight rise. Maybe try it with half the levsil and at least 2 more folds. How much salt did you add?
I added 21 grams of salt, which is my standard measure for 1000g of flour (two loaves). So your suggestion is to go with 200g of levain, two more folds, and then let it rise overnight. This rise is at room temperature (on the cool side, since Ohio winters are cruel), since I don't have the refrigerator space to do a long proove at lower temps.
You could use a cooler with a bit of ice to do a lower temp proof.
Fascinating idea... I'll definitely try that.
Thanks!
I'd recommend even less, 20% levain, which is 140g.
I attached a picture of the final product. It turned out better than I thought, but I think less levain and a longer proof period will yield a better result.
Thanks for the helpful comments!
Brian
Crumb looks really good to me.