July 9, 2020 - 6:31pm
I feel like I'm not getting enough gluten development with just stretching and folding/coil folding.
I'm using high gluten flour. My starter more than triples. I can't figure it out. No matter how much I stretch and fold or coil fold it just feels like my dough is a sticky mess that either doesn't or barely can manage the windowpane test. What can I be doing wrong? Thank you!
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what's your formula? and what brand of flour is it? how do you build your starter? share timing, etc.
might be just too much hydration or starter/levain is over ripe and too acidic.
Well, starter seems just fine (as long as it's not thin and soupy - doesn't sound like it), flour shouldn't be a problem (I'll assume it's not 50 yrs old and I've made bread with cake flour), so we're left with methods.
Stretch/coil fold - does little to develope gluten, very little, unless you stretch/coil a hundred plus times. Time and rising, when done properly, create gluten. That brings up the question of - how much time from first mixed to in the oven? If around 24 hrs or more, there should be lots of gluten. There are other more nefarious things that may be happening, but more info is needed before getting into that.
My first thought would be to try adjusting the amount of water you use. Just a little less water makes the dough much more manageable. Make sure you measure it so you can reproduce the results, though, if you like what happens.
For what it’s worth, I never mastered no knead. When I tried it all I got was lumpen, unrisen gummy loaves. I have gone back to kneading, in two 5 minute sections separated by about 15-20 minutes, I add the salt at the time of the second knead. I then stretch and fold about 4 times, knock down, rise again a couple of hours and retard in fridge overnight . It works for me.