Dough suddenly turned liquid while kneading
Hello folks. Been lurking a while; first post.
About 3 or 4 months ago I tried to bake my first loaves of bread because I can't get Cuban bread where I live. The loaves turned out fantastic. So I decided to try other kinds of loaves of bread by using internet recipes with varying levels of success and disappointment.
Then I found out about Robertson and Forkish and read a couple of their books and started baking their recipes and following their techniques. I felt like I was getting pretty good at it. I was consistently baking delicious loaves with crispy crusts and open crumbs.
Then, since after a couple of months I had become a master baker (lol), I stopped following recipes and would just decide whether I wanted any whole wheat or rye in that day's loaf and what hydration I wanted and just bake bread.
I've had a million questions that I've wanted to ask and can't seem to find answers to just using google and reading through forums. I'll start with one of the million: I want to understand kneading. If the goal is the Forkish-type loaves with the big holes and the glossy crumb, what happens if I knead more? What happens if I knead less? What if I just stretch and fold? What if I fold 5 times instead of 4? What if I take the dough out of the bucket and do the French slap and fold thing? I consider this just one question. The internet just tells me over and over that I knead to build the gluten structure. OK but what if I knead x amount of time instead of y? Or what if I use this technique or that?
As for my title, my last two loaves have been disasters. (OK I don't know for sure yet about this one because it's almost time to go shape the loaves) But today I decided to make the 80% biga recipe again from FWSY. I've made it before and it was great. I had done a couple of folds but the dough seemed slacker than it should have been at 75% hydration, so I took it out of the tub and started kneading. Things were going well for a minute then suddenly the dough seemed to go liquid. Is that even possible or am I imagining it?
Thanks for taking the time to read this rambling post and thanks in advance if you take the time to give me some advice.
Yes, the kneading mixes the ingredients so that the gluten can form. Kneading also allows you to form a uniform crumb. I doesn't matter which method you use for kneading as long as it works for you. You can even do the "no knead" approach, but the crumb is less than satisfactory with that. Unless you are using a machine you cannot over knead, unless you are Superman. The machines can generate too much heat in the dough and the high temperature may kill the yeast; sourdough is especially sensitive.
As for the dough turning very fluid, this can come about with the acid conditions of sourdough destroying the gluten. Unless the dough is very old, I cannot imagine what could have happened to the structure with commercial yeast. Perhaps someone else can shed some light.
Ford
Yeast starts to die off around 120 F. If your dough gets to 120 F in the mixer bowl, you're doing something seriously wrong.
I'm absolutely no expert in it, but you can search "thiols" on this site, and I also linked a number of posts in my blog about my (possible) experience of them here. It's fairly rambly, I'm afraid. The relevant links are in the second paragraph. An unexpectedly liquefying dough is the main complaint.
Or maybe your issues are entirely unrelated.