February 4, 2020 - 10:37am
Cause of Stiff Dough
Tonight I will be baking my weekly sourdough bread. I have a healthy starter and follow the same recipe each time. 65% hydration with 15% Levaine and 2% salt. But this time I noticed my dough was unusually stiff while kneading it.
The only thing I can think that is different is that I just opened a fresh bag of King Arthur bread flour. I use it all the time. The flour I had been using was older by 6 to 8 months.
Is it a fluke or does freshness matter? Or is there some other explanation?
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Could be your local climate. Maybe your older flour had gained moisture while sitting around, and the fresh flour started out with less moisture, making it less workable with the same amount of added water.
Or,... your old flour was "normal" and the new flour had "dried out" during its storage.
Or,..... maybe your older flour had oxidized some, making it more workable, and the newer flour was less oxidized.
I'm adding 1/8th of a tablet of 500 mg Vitamin C to my loaves that have about 625 grams of flour (90% whole wheat) and that seems to help with making the dough more workable. That works out to 100 parts per million. Dissolving it in the water seems to make it distribute better.
It's not uncommon for the flour to be drier during the winter months.
causing fast evaporation while working the dough.