December 17, 2015 - 2:36pm
My dough ball tears
when I mix up a loaf, the dough ball tears instead of forming a nice smooth surface, I thought that maybe there wasn't enuff water. Any thoughts anyone?
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when I mix up a loaf, the dough ball tears instead of forming a nice smooth surface, I thought that maybe there wasn't enuff water. Any thoughts anyone?
Sorry, no suggestions, but I thought it was funny that I read it that way. :-)
Hi there
We love to help diagnose problems for our fellow TFL folk but we do need a little more to go on. For instance in your post you haven't given any indication whether you were using a mixer or doing it by hand, I suspect a mixer as its difficult to overmix by hand, as you can feel the dough changing in your handsas you mix. You haven't indicated how long you are mixing, and there is no dough formula for us to either confirm whether your thoughts on hydration are correct or not,is this your first foray into bread making or is this dough tearing just a recent occurrence?
Kind regards Derek
I agree that more details would be helpful. I suspect that you aren't letting the dough rest enough before shaping
more detail would be good, but perhaps its too dry or youre working it too much
I had this problem when I kneaded dough without giving it rests. I would always wonder it would never become "smooth and elastic." You can feel it get tight before the surface begins to tear, now I stop when I feel it get tighter and let it rest a few minutes before I mess with it. I like stretch and fold too. Admittedly I have a lot to improve in my mixing so I'm coming from a place of my own enduring efforts to work the dough appropriately.
Ouch.
I would suggest that when ever you see the gluten structure tear, then that might be the same time to stop and relax (for the benefit of both you and the dough).
But I might be wrong.
dobie
I use a KA stand mixer. I noticed that there didn't seem to be enuff moisture to gather all the flour into a ball. I'm in Arizona and the flour I'm using has been sitting all summer in 90 deg heat. That's what I set the thermostat at when we leave for the summer. Is it possible that the flour would dry out to the point where even if the hydration was 61% it really isn't becuz the flour was dried out. I kept adding water to the mixer until it started to look better. Then I did an autolyse for 10 min but I still didn't get a nice smooth dough ball. Even with all of that the loaf didn't turn out too bad.
cbn
I think you might be on to something regarding your dough hydration.
A lot would have to do with how the flour is stored tho. If in the paper sack from the store, it would dehydtate more than if secured in a tight 'tuperware' type container.
I think your idea of adding more water (or flour if that ever becomes an issue) to the recipe, to get the dough to behave as you envision correct, is a sound practice and one I would not hesitate to do (keep good notes, tho).
Please realize I am transitioning my thoughts from NY to Arizona when I ask 'You set your thermostat to 90F when you leave for the summer?'. I'm thinking that means the AC will kick in when over 90F and not that the heat would kick on to make sure you maintained that temp (if it got lower). It's got to be the former, but I have to ask.
And yes, most of our worst failures are better than the crap from the supermarket.
Keep going and don't hesitate to give more details.
dobie