Dough Wet and Collapsing after Bulk Fermentation
I've been baking with sourdough for about a year now. I've mostly used Chad Roberton's Tartine recipe and no-knead method, and have produced acceptable results. Because of the whole Covid situation, I've moved back home (different country) and started a new starter a few weeks ago.
It shows good activity, and passes the float test. But I've recently encountered some problems with the bulk fermentation. The dough (75% hydration) remains way too sticky, wet and doesn't hold its shape, even after 3-4 hours in a temperature controlled proofing box at 79F and after folds at 30-minute intervals. It's therefore completely unusable, as it cannot be shaped. It resembles more of a cake batter than bread dough. The dough starts off being more cohesive at the start of mixing, but once the flour hydrates and starts fermenting, it just turns into a sloppy mess.
I decided to try a yeasted bread dough today, using Bon Appetit's Best Bread Recipe (https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/bas-best-bread), just to test out a relativity easier dough, though still with a high hydration. The recipe involved lots of kneading in a mixer, and the dough did develop substantial gluten, and it definitely passed the window-pane test. Yet, after a 3-4 hour bulk fermentation with folds at 30-minute intervals, the dough still collapsed and was unable to be shaped. This resulted in it being thrown into the bin.
Anyone know why this might be happening? Low quality flour? Inactive starter? I don't store the starter in my proofing box, but in a somewhat cool area. And yet it shows activity. I know high hydration dough is more difficult to shape, but surely it should maintain some sort of cohesive form?
Could be any number of possibilities. Assuming your starter is bubbly and working, it must be your flour combined with the hydration. Perhaps your flour is not absorbing the water well. So, if continuing with that flour, lower the hydration. Just not worth working with dough that cannot hold structure.
I thought it could be because of the flour! Because of the current crisis, I've found it difficult finding good quality flour. But I'll try lowering the hydration, maybe that will help.
Hi Matt Same happend to me. I think the problem is the flour.
When I follow the recipe as they are on the books, that always happend to me. What I do is pouring the water little by litlle. So in a recipe that ask me for 780ml I end pouring 690ml normally but his could change. The best tip I heard from a very well know Basque baker is always adjust with water, never with flour and since that my breads are better
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Exatcly the same problem! And started using the new flour also for the starter, would that be a problem also?
I lowered my hydration from 70% (my standard for this bread) to 65% and got same crappy results :(
Did you manage to fix it in the end Matt?
Different flours can absorb different amounts of water. People living in very low humidity places often make much higher hydration doughs than people in high humidity places. Higher protein flours often can absorb more water than lower ones, whole grain flours usually absorb more water than low extraction flours.
So it isn’t necessarily the quality of the flour, but many other factors including environmental ones that affect the optimal hydration of the dough being made with the flour.
If you’re using a new bag of flour, it is often wise to consider dropping the hydration the first time you use it at least until you get used to seeing and feeling what optimally hydrated dough feels like at mixing. Or employ a bassinage where you gradually add more water when you’re adding the salt to your dough to adjust the hydration higher then but starting lower is usually a good idea.
Benny
Great one.
Humidity also went to the rough with winter coming, so that can be part of the equation.
I'll try really low hydration ones and see how that works.
Can you give info on starter feeding - ratios and timings - temps also wouldn't hurt?
Hi Phaz,
I don't keep a tight schedule, but usually once a day at night at a 1:4:4 ratio.
Temperature is wild where I live. Two days ago max was 20 and min 12, today will be max 10 and min -3 :) welcome to South of Brazil! And in two days will be 24/14 ?
Didn't have any problems so far with the starter. Always rising well and reaching really good fermentation.
First problems arose with more winter days and change of flour.