Newbie - help appreciated
Hi,
I started baking sourdough when I was given some starter and some very brief instruction from a friend. The bread that I was baking was quite tasty but rather dense. Having found out a bit more about sourdough baking recently I think that my dough was just too dry, not much different form a 'normal' bread dough.
For Christmas my wife gave me a book called "Do Sourdough", written by Andrew Whitley. It was a great read and I couldn't wait to get baking. Following his basic recipe though I have got a dough which is so wet (hydration rate of 77%) that it is sticking to everything and I just don't seem to be able to work with it. The only way that I have managed to do anything with it is to add more flour until it gets less sticky. It is still quite wet though. When I turned it out of the bannetton it just collapsed and made a very flat loaf.
If anyone is able to give me any advice I would be very grateful.
Many thanks,
Sean
that your starter rises reliably after feeding to make sure it is active.
A good book that I recomend to everybody who wants to bake is "Bread" by Hamelman.
Read the whole book and you will be a good baker.
Not familiar with the book you mention but I've heard of the author and believe he is reputable on the subject. It sounds like your maybe jumping in fast. You have a starter and the desire to make some bread.
I suggest reading up on both starter maintenance along with when your starter is ready for use. Also look into gluten development which it sounds the likely culprit to your problems at hand. Once you've done that I suggest watching some youtube videos on shaping and handling of doughs. There are a variety of methods but watching some videos on the Tartine loaf may help you to handle this type of dough (wet dough). The last thing we want to do is add flour as it throws the entire formula out of whack. If anything i'd suggest maybe a formula with lower hydration at first to get a feel for shaping and then move towards higher hydration doughs.
All of the information I suggest looking into can be found right here at TFL and you can use the search bar above to navigate the topics. There is a ton of good information to help you on your way.
Cheers
Josh
“The essence of baking is patience. The essence of sourdough baking is patience squared.” (Mike Avery)
The advice given by baliw2 and by Josh (golgi70) is good so I am just adding, not contradicting. You can work with a slack (wet) dough by giving a light dusting of flour, not working it into the dough. It usually takes a couple of weeks for a sourdough starter to become usable, and about a month to mature. A starter of 100% hydration should double in about two hours at 80°F. Your loaf should also double in about the same amount of time. If your room temperature is lower, it will take longer. I would suggest that you should not work with a dough of higher hydration than 72 to 75%, until you have more confidence. Big holes are not the greatest criteriion for good bread. I presume you are using weights in your measurements, if not, get a scale.
I wish you happy baking. Keep working at it, you will get the skill and "feel" to handle the dough. One more piece of advice -- judge the doneness of the bread by the interior temperature (195° to 200°F) not by time nor by appearance!
Ford
overwhelmed by the "wetter is better" school. I baked (and still bake) sourdough breads at 65-68% hydration on a regular basis. (I posted pictures of them so long ago they will never be found...) They had/have good flavor and were/are not dense in the least (yes, the big open crumb).
The "big holey crumb" is really an indication that gluten development and fermentation have been done optimally. But no, it isn't always the be-all and end-all of good bread.
I can (and do) work with very high hydration doughs (I've been at this a while), but starting there would have been a bit much.
So, work at lower formula hydrations (don't just add more flour to a very wet formula, because the salt will not be the proper amount) - but also heed the good advice above.
There are two books that taught me a great deal, and I think will allow a beginer to build up to a wet sourdough.
Joesy baker bread
flour warer salt yeast
both start you off slowly and build your skills. i skipped the beginning loaves in each and still learned a ton from them.
If adding more flour doesn't make the dough manageable, it might be overproofed rather than too high a hydration. If it is overproofed, the gluten structure is gone and it is unsalvageable.
Before drawing this conclusion, though, try making a loaf closer to 60% hydration (just use less water). The dough should have surface tension and it won't be sticky.