My husband and I are fairly experienced bread makers - using commercial yeast - but we've just started with sourdough, hoping that we can make it fit better into our busy schedule.  I bought 'Tartine Bread' on a recommendation and we've been trying to work with the standard recipe, but we have not yet managed to get the silky-looking dough the pictures show after the first rise.

One major problem is that we just cannot manage to schedule the bulk fermentation into a time when we're around to turn it in the bowl, and there seems to be no alternative given in the instructions.  When we empty it out of the bowl - after an 8-hour overnight bulk rise - it is drippy and not right, so we generally add a huge amount of extra flour, but it's still way too sticky to knead, turn or generally do anything with.  On one occasion I have been reduced to tears, with hands absolutely covered in sticky, wet dough, which was running off the worktop and which I could not get to develop any kind of tension.

Do we reduce the water in the recipe?  Or is one turn right at the beginning of the bulk rise - all we can fit into the schedule - going to be enough to develop the tension?

Please help!