Gooey Dough

Toast
kay-dee on 25 Jul 2025 at 18:46

I’m new to baking and wanted to try this Italian bread, over-night rise:

  • 4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1-2/3 cup water (used the 2/3 for yeast activation with honey)
  • 3 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

I combined the ingredients and after resting for an hour, the dough easily doubled in size. I was now supposed to grab the dough on one side, stretch it out 12-inches or so, and fold it over. I might as well be trying to grab cold porridge from a bowl. No way. Slipped through my fingers.

I ended up folding with a spatula for about 8-minutes and letting the dough proof for a couple of hours. It was still very gooey. I dusted heavily with flour and repeated with the spatula. The dough is starting to firm up and I left it to rest for the night.

In the morning, I’m supposed to “stretch” it again and let it rest for 4-hours before baking.

Here are a couple of variables: I’m in the tropics and it’s warm... upper eighties inside. I don’t have a stand mixer. I followed the recipe exactly. Duh!

If anyone can see a glaring mistake, or has suggestions, I’d love to know. As it is, I think I’ll still have a loaf tomorrow, but it might not be Italian.

Thanks everyone,

Katie

I think there's something off about the recipe. It works out to about a 75% or 76% hydration, which would be doable but wet and loose.  Then there's that 2 ounces of the oil on top of the hydration. That's bound to be a very loose wet dough, very hard to handle.  You said it's supposed to rise overnight but you didn't say how much yeast was involved.  Since it's warm where you are, I hope there wasn't more than 1/4 tsp of yeast, otherwise this dough is likely to way over-rise by the time you get around to that last 4 hours.

3 tsp salt is much more than one usually use (3.4% baker's percent vs the usual 2%). True, that will slow down the fermentation but the bread is also likely to taste salty.

With that dough, you might have been able to work with it until it would hold together and show some body, but not with only one or two stretch-and-fold sessions, and maybe not able to hold a loaf shape even then. You probably will need to use a loaf pan.

I think if you want to stick with this recipe, you should reduce the water and the oil considerably, say to 10 - 11 oz of water and 1/8 cup of oil. Use 1/2 tsp yeast. Reduce the salt to 2 tsp. Since it's warm in the kitchen, cool the water, say to 60 deg F/18C (not a critical number).  That will give you more time to work with the dough before it gets to fermenting too much.  When it's risen by around 1 1/2 times, refrigerate it for overnight or until the next day.  Let it warm up then for 1/2 hour (not a critical number), shape the dough, and let it rise again, then bake.

This should get you a dough that's much easier to work with but still have some similarity to what the original recipe was after.  If the loaf seems to be reasonably close to what you want, you can start adjusting the recipe by using more water or oil or both, and by adjusting the amount of yeast.  Otherwise, find a new recipe to use as a starting point.

TomP

If it's really wet - like you can't mix it by hand - it's too wet. What could be the problem - that is a bit much oil. Or it's just to wet. At least it's a start. Enjoy!

Thanks so much, guys. Kinda happy to hear it is a wonky recipe and not me screwing up for once. I used a packet of yeast: 7 grams or .24 of an ounce; closer to one teaspoon I think. Too much, I guess.

The sun has gone down and things have cooled off. The dough, sitting on the counter, has risen again, about double the original size, but still quite wobbly when I move the bowl. I’m sure I won’t be able to “stretch” it out as the recipe suggests. But I guess I’ll leave it ‘till morning, then use the spatula again for 8-10 minutes before letting the dough rest for a few hours. Hopefully I’ll be able to form it into a ball for the oven because I don’t have a loaf pan. And there’s always faccacia if it comes to it. I’ve got lots of onions :-)

Thanks again, I’ll let you know...

Katie

...about breadmaking, get a kitchen scale (if you don't already have one) and weigh your ingredients. Recipes written in grams are easiest. It is very inaccurate to measure flour by cups. A packet of yeast, 7g, is 2-1/4 tsps. I would guess this dough is going to be hopelessly overfermented by the time it gets baked. Not to worry, there is always tomorrow. My first wet dough attempt was glass bread (link above) which was a flop, but the second attempt was just fine.

This morning, the dough had returned to twice its size but was still wobbly in the mixing bowl. I used the spatula again, for ten minutes, to fold it onto its self. No way could it be kneaded by hand. After three hours of resting it looked the same so I gave up. I poured the dough into a baking tray and turned it into a faccacia. It was too soft to hold the traditional dimples so I just added onion, an oil/water mix, and salt on top. 450F for 25-minutes and I had a crispy treat.

Thanks every one for the advice and links. I’ll try this bread again with the adjustments outlined here.

Katie