Help for a newbie HELP :):)
I'm new to the hobby and was drawn by the lure of a good, homemade sourdough. I brew beer at home, so fermentations don't intimidate me. I have a nice, healthy sourdough starter, so I'm good there. I purchased Forkish's FWSY and tried my hand at the Overnight Country Blonde. It didn't go well.
This is dough was so sticky that I simply couldn't perform the handling techniques prescribed in the book. For example, after folding, Forkish's says to turn the dough over So the seams are at the bottom. But it's so sticky that I can possibly get the dough out of the bowl to turn. It aslso sticks to my hands so bad that simply removing my hand makes the dough tear. Come loaf shaping time, I couldn't do the streching technique that requires the baker to "pull" the round dough toward himself. And even if I could, the dough is hopelessly bound to the counter. Bottom line, the dough so strongly binds to everything that I can't "work" it. Am I possibly doing something wrong? So very frustrated by my first two attempts. Any advice much, much welcomed!!