Despair on windowpane
So I have been making baguette for quite a while, and have just (as so many have) turned my hand to sourdough. While the results are decent, I'm trying to up my game. So I have done research here and elsewhere, and the answer appears to be "develop more gluten", which I have translated to "keep kneading until you get there". But I can't get to windowpane. yes I get a nice resilient ball, but instead of windowpane, I get a shaggy sheet that tears easily. I'm using a conventional Canadian all purpose flour (about 12% protein). I can knead for an hour by hand (yes, a full hour, i just did it) and still not get any further development of the dough. The recipes I'm using are from Reinhart (Crust & Crumb) for his pate fermentee baguette, and I was just doing his SF sourdough. On the sourdough, Reinhart says 12minutes of hand kneading. I'm following the instructions slavishly (I think), weighing ingredients, etc. I wonder if perhaps my kneading is too vigorous??? I can't think of anything else. Help. Please.
I would recommend for baguettes to mix until the dough comes together and the fold every 20 minutes or so to see if the dough will smooth out and get more elastic. If you want an open crumb you should not work the dough too much. An autolyse of 20 minutes will help get the gluten started. If it is tearing give it a rest for a few minutes before kneading again.
You could try the following. Mix together some flour with 70% of the weight of the flour in warm-ish water (no salt). Bring together until there is no more dry flour in the bowl. cover and leave to sit for 2 hours. No window pane? No elasticity whatsoever? The problem may be the flour
You can over knead and over stretch, breaking the gluten strands shorter. This usually happens to me if the dough is underhydrated. The warmth of your hand etc will reduce hydration directly over an hour of kneading by evapouration.
A good test of kneading point is to push your fingers into the back of your dough like you are turning it inside out. It stretches out in a dome facing you and you can see how well your layers stretch without tearing them.
FWIW the recipe in this recent thread ("The simple pleasures of IDY baking") did the trick. I think it was the combination of 75% hydration, which meant that the French folds made a lovely splat, and the letter folds, which helped get it too a really smooth extensible silly-putty dough.
I've had much more difficulty approaching true windowpane with lower hydration doughs like the one you're trying -- as you say, you just keep kneading and it makes no difference. I'm using Graincraft Morbread, 12% protein, so maybe I need to cut in a lower-protein flour.