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I’ve been a recent follower of the Fresh Loaf and I am in awe of all the experience, help and knowledge within this forum of fellow dough lovers. I am hoping you may be able to offer me some assistance in some issues I having with the detrempe of my croissant.

I am based in Barbados, a hot and humid tropical island which, despite the amazing rum and beaches, makes it difficult to really prepare many yeasted doughs. This is my fourth attempt at making croissants, first three were at room temperature (around 29C/84F) and would obviously have issues with butter leaking. Now, I was able to prepare my final attempt in an air conditioned environment in which the room temperature is 25C/77F. Fortunately, the AC is located directly above the working counter so the immediate temperature there is 20C/68F and had no issues with butter leaking.

Unfortunately, I have another issue that persists and that is the softness of the dough. Here is my recipe, adapted from Advanced Bread and Pastry:

• Bread Flour (100%, 350g)—protein content was 11.2% from a regional brand of Baker’s Flour.
• Milk (34%, 119g)
• Sugar (18.5%, 64.75g)
• Salt (2.9%, 10.15g)
• Yeast (1.4%, 4.9g)
• Malt (0.4%, 1.4g)—I didn’t use malt, instead used molasses since I love the flavour, although such a small quantity won’t make an impact.
• Butter (5.7%, 19.95g)
• Poolish (87.5%, 306.25g)—this would have fermented at RT for 13 hours and was perfectly active.

I decided not to go with the “hand mix” version since that would have been too much of a wet dough. The DDT on this 22-25C, and I achieved 22C. The dough was prepared to an “improved mix,” which showed an uneven window test, where the dough would only break in the corner—I figured this was perfect since I don’t want too much gluten development considering all the folding and laminating, just as txfarmer described in her wonderful blog post.

After that, I allowed to rest for 1 hour in the fridge. When I began to roll it out to encase the butter, I noticed that the dough was gassy and soft—I was really confused! I had a nice, somewhat elastic and firm dough that became so soft. When I would roll it, it didn’t really resist—it was quite soft. However, when I would life the dough, it would contract quite a bit which made it difficult to work with.

I managed to encase the butter and then folded and allowed to rest, but yet again, a very soft dough. Not the most pliable but same issue—would roll and when lifted, it would contract quite a bit. Noticed a few gas bubbles throughout.

I began to wonder if maybe the volume of yeast used in this climate was perhaps too much? Creating a very soft, gassy dough—tbh, I always assumed croissant dough should be pliable, somewhat form and hold shape Ike what I’ve seen online.

So here are my theories as to what would have gone wrong:

• too much yeast for this hot and humid climate
• maybe should have used a much lower DDT to prevent fermentation
• improper gluten development (although, I am pretty sure I nailed the kneading of the dough—used a KitchenAid commercial mixer).

Really hoping you all may offer any advice. If I was to cut back on the yeast, how would that impact flavour? I figured the poolish may supplement that.

Hello, everyone! First-time baker here so, please, pardon my ignorance. :)

I wanted a good challenge and went straight for Ken's Forkish Overnight Country Blonde, which, as it turned out, was not a great option for a complete novice. I followed the recipe precisely with the only difference of reducing bulk fermentation time by an hour or so as the dough seemed ready by then (almost doubled in size), and I was too scared of over-fermenting it. My room temp is about 70F during the day and 68F at night.

The whole process was quite enjoyable and I didn't experience much difficulty working with the wet dough (mixing, applying folds, shaping, transferring, etc). When placed in the dutch oven the boules were perfectly round, tight but airy and jiggly. 

As you can see, the bread has a pretty decent shape and nice big holes (or too big?) but it's quite moist inside. Otherwise, it smells and tastes amazing. I did let the bread rest for 2 hours before slicing it.

What could have gone wrong here? Considering the crust has the right color and crunch but the crumb is wet, am I right assuming my oven temp was too high? I had it set to 475F but I know some ovens run hot. Should I try and reduce the temp by 10-20 degrees after taking the lid off and increase the baking time by, let's say, 10-15 minutes?

Was it a fermentation issue? Over/Under proofing? Also, my starter is quite young - day 11, but fed every day, never refrigerated, and seemed pretty active. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!

Just wanted to give a shout out to Allbulkfoods.   I ordered 50 pounds of Prairie Gold for about $38, and with shipping ,  it was only $60,    and the best part is I put in my order on Monday night, and it arrived on Wednesday, which is pretty quick. 

I’m reading through Stanley Ginsberg’s The Rye Baker and I have a question about the Sour Culture Maintenance Refresh instructions:

• 70 g Rye flour
• 70 g Warm water
• 7 g Rye sour culture
• Mix the ingredients, cover, and ferment at room temperature overnight. Store refrigerated.

The rye sour culture that is built over seven days weighs about 210 g. For the refresh, does that mean to discard all but 7 g of the rye sour culture? That seems very wasteful.

Or are these instructions meant for building a sponge to be used in a recipe?

I have not baked with sourdough for many, many years, so I’m trying to learn about current practices. I’m also mainly interested in using the sour for rye breads, not for all my bakes.

Thanks!