HELP - problems sealing dough
The great majority of times my dough doesn’t seal very well. This issue has existed for as long as I can remember. Only the tiniest amounts of flour, if any at all, is used during the preshape and shape. The sourdoughs are most often 72% hydration and above. I have no idea why the dough won’t seal well and have tried for a long time to figure this out. I’ve watched countless shaping videos, tried every kind of shaping method available, tried cinching and stitching. For the life of me I can’t get my dough to seal like demonstrated on the videos.
Sure hope someone can solve this one for me.
Here are a few images. NOTE - the dough in the banneton was floured after shaping to prevent sticking to the bag. It is sealed, but the second image shows how the folds will separate once it relaxes.
how long and at what temperature has the dough fermented? To my eyes it looks as though (no pun intended) it could proof a little longer.
The dough images are from my latest bake. But the cracks and splits are typical examples of my problem.
This particular dough proofed at 77F for ~1 1/2hr. I would think if it proofed longer the dough separation would only open more.
For some reason the folds in my dough don’t stick together as well as I would like.
Danny
Dan, do you include a bench rest before putting the dough into the banneton? That allows the dough to relax after the initial shaping, and I find that a little more elasticity helps the dough to stick together. Also, as a final step before putting the dough into the banneton, I spin it around on the counter with the seal on the bottom, and then I let it sit there about thirty seconds or so before lifting the dough and flipping it over to put in the banneton.
Happy baking. Ted
I like the idea of letting the shaped dough sit on the counter, seam down for a while. I’m going to give that a try.