Bulk proof is turning my dough into sticky honeycomb !
I’m based in the UK. I have tried making sourdough bread twice now and seem to have come up against the same problem on both occasions. I’ll describe the second attempt…
My starter was about 10 days old since inception. I took it out of the fridge in the morning, and fed it immediately. Within two and a half hours, it had doubled and was bubbling well, so I decided it was a good time to use it within the next 90 minutes.
I mixed my flour and water (560g of 100% Allinsons strong white bread flour, 72% hydration, and my weighing and maths are good!) for a minute or two; the water had a tablespoon of sugar and a tablespoon of olive oil added before mixing. I then let it autolyse for an hour before folding in 100g of my starter (thick batter consistency) and 12g sea salt from a grinder.
Over a further two hours, I carried out 4 stretch and folds. The gluten developed well and by this time, the dough was holding some shape reasonably well, strong and elastic, and coming away from the sides of the mason bowl. No other kneading was carried out.
I then left it to prove at about 24/25 degrees C for a further 5 hours, covered in cling film.
When I looked next, bubbles were appearing on the top, and the volume of dough had increased by a half, but the surface was not domed, and the dough had lost its structure and turned sticky again (almost looking like gloopy honeycomb, if that paints a picture). As soon as I tipped it out of the mason bowl onto a floured surface, of course it just collapses into a spongy mess with a very sticky skin when I touch it. Based on videos I've seen, I had been hoping for something that still resembled a ball of soft marzipan in terms of uniform texture and a "dry skin" whose gluten allows it to remain structured - much like the pizza dough that never fails me when I use dried yeast.
This is almost exactly what happened first time – it is the batch rise that seems to scupper everything. The only option I have at this point is to add a load of flour to make it even partly workable, but there’s just no surface tension left in the dough at all (as I’m used to with a dry yeast), and there’s no way I can lame the dough, so whilst it bakes, the end product is on the dense side and poorly aerated, and not looking like those wonderful samples I keep seeing on endless websites and Youtube videos!
Any thoughts on where I might be going wrong ? Should I prove less ? Prove cooler ? Try < 72% hydration ? I'm lost !
Thank you
Gary
Different flours have different characteristics. Add to that the tendency for sourdough fermentation to “loosen” a dough’s consistency.
If that doesn’t do the trick, you might then look at more dough development and/or shorter fermentation time.
Paul
Hydration and proofing time.
If 72% is your hydration before adding in the starter. then your final hydration is above 74% (assuming 100% hydration starter). The table spoon of oil also works against gluten development.
stretch and fold over 2 hours plus 5 hours covered at warm temp is 7 hours proofing. That is quite a long time. the stretch and fold time counts towards bulk fermentation (basically, once starter is mixed in bulk fermentation starts).
I would say reduce or remove the olive oil completely, and cut the bulk ferment time down to 3 hours (including the s&f time). preshape, rest 20 mins, final shape, rest 30 mins - 1 hr. and bake.
If a dough looks like a honeycomb, and by that I mean stringy and full of bubbles, which can look like holes, it's over proofed. Knead it a few times and proof again to save it, cut back on fermentation/proofing to remedy. Enjoy!
As I commented this morning to Sabba, who is also baking in the hot UK (London), long fermentations are not advisable in hot summer kitchens. As ciabatta counseled above, seven hours is too long -- about five hours too long. You want your dough to show some life: starting to look and feel a tiny bit puffy, with some bubbles on the surface. But that's about all. Fermentation is definitely a good thing but more is not necessarily better. So try to restrain yourself and underferment next time. Two hours total is a good starting point for this time of year. Three in winter.
High of 31˚C forecast there tomorrow. Ouch. Back to "normal" by Saturday though. Whew.
Tom
Based on what you describe i think it has over fermented.
I bulk between 23 deg and 25 deg and find that around the 6 hours is about right for me (that's 6 hours from inoculation with the starter to putting it in the fridge). You don't need the oil or the sugar; i'd focus on getting a basic flour, water and salt recipe right before adding sugar and oil.
baking in the UK too, sounds like you are over fermenting. My kitchen was 80 degrees yesterday and my dough was done in 3 and a half hours. I do use part whole grain spelt in my recipe so the bulk is shorter. I go by these times as a starter
Range
Time
Outcome
Sourness