Sourdough Pandoro Trouble
Last week I asked about Foolish Poolish's sourdough pandoro and got great responses (including FP himeself), thanks! Unfortunately my attempt this past weekend failed during the mixing stage. I first used my KA Pro 600 to mix the final dough without butter until I got a pretty strong windowpane, then I added butter all at onece (I know FP added in stages, but he was kneading by hand, I saw Wild Yeast's mixing instruction using a mixer was to add butter all at once), after that the dough simply collapsed. Remained a soft puddle no matter how much I mix. So did I overknead? Should I have added butter little by little even with a mixer? I don't remember exactly, but I MAY have used speed 2 to mix in the butter (rather than speed 1 as WY instructed), was that the problem? I want to try again this coming weekend, would love to know how to correct the problem!
Thanks!
What was the temperature of the butter? Was it frozen? ( I'm wondering if ice crystals in the butter might have destroyed the gluten network beyond saving. )
Very foamy.
No offense, but, maybe that was the reason it is to be added in stages?
At least, maybe, it might have been noticed earlier that problems would be arising(pun intended).
Good luck!
These things depend quite a bit on the quality of your butter - some brands contain more water than others. If I were you I'd put a paddle and mix the hell out it - if it is a batter-like dough with no structure what's the harm in going up in speed? Did you try to proof and bake it?
I didn't try to bake it since it's such a puddle of mess. I did try to go up in speed though, with no effect. I think this coming weekend I will try to add butter a little at a time. I have a feeling since the gluten is very well developed before butter was added in, maybe the extra kneading afterward resulted in overkneading.
Overkneading sounds right. Perhaps the extra conditioning effect of the butter broke the gluten down. Like buttermilk might. Ray