Help! Gluten degradation during bulk fermentation.
Hello. I ran into a problem recently when attempting to make sourdough. I was following the Tartine Country Bread recipe, with the exception of using all purpose flour (because it is the only unbleached white flour I had) over bread flour.
When it is time to bulk ferment (which is supposed to take 3-4 hours at 78-82 degrees) I run into a not so slight problem. First 2 stretch and folds seemed fine, I can feel the dough becoming stronger and after that is when all hell breaks loose. The dough, well rather, gluten began degrading. With each subsequent stretch i am greeted with more loose and slack dough. Now this happened two times with two different starters (one rye, the other whole wheat/ap flour).
Now i read about gluten degradation by Lactobacilli and I feel like this is what is happening but at the same time, I feel that my starters are not proteolytic as both of them smell and act as they should.
I have been using a heating lamp to hold the dough within the 78-82 range both times. Could it be that the heat is what is playing against me. Using the thermometer i can always see that the dough does not go above 82 but perhaps i am missing something? Perhaps the "direct" heating affects the dough negatively? I am going to attempt the same recipe without the heating lamp in a few days and see what results i get. Meanwhile, I would love some input on this issue.
Thanks in advance!
P.s. The Levain that I use is of small inoculation and is pretty "young" before the mixing of the final dough.