One should be sticky, and one should be dusted with flour. Gluten is the foundation for good bread, so you wont get very far if its not developed. Sourdough made with bread flour can take up to 6 hours to cool properly. Sometimes removing the bread out of the Dutch oven and baking it on the shelf for the last few minutes has a positive effect. Without these it will be sloppy and hard to handle. However under fermented dough will not cook all the way through, so this sourdough bread problem can have a deeper cause. Mix with the paddle on low speed until it forms a thick batter. This is really only an issue once you've done bulk fermentation and you are trying to shape your dough. For now, you need to know exactly whats causing your sourdough to be sticky and what you can do to help yourself with it. We know that flour is essential, but you need to make sure that youre using it correctly for the best results. We want to mix the dough until it develops adequate gluten network which is indicated by a dough that is stretchable without tearing but at the same time offers a degree of resistance when pulled apart. The water almost wholly stops the sticking, so you dont have to worry about messing up your dough. By using the tips below, youll be able to learn how to handle your dough without it sticking to you, so you can actually manage it and make great sourdough bread. Well, sourdough is a stickier, wetter dough than regular yeasted bread. If you've found this article on handling wet, sticky sourdough helpful, you might also enjoy these: What a great resource you've created here. The Number #1 Reason your sourdough bread might be flat is using the wrong flour. Levain hand-mixed, Rubaud style, for 5 minutes. Don't close the oven door or the crust will become soft and wrinkly. Autolyse is an important part of the baking process where flour and water is initially mixed without any other ingredients and left to rest for about 20 to 60 minutes. Start by swapping out 12-15% of the white flour for whole grain flours; then increase to 25% (and so on) if you are happy with the results. The dough will develop further in strength becoming dry and workable, as it will be able to retain more moisture once it has gone through the bulk fermentation phase and the folding phase. Then the dough is less likely to stick to them. Then, mix in 70 grams of active sourdough starter. Ingredients: 300g water 100g sourdough leaven* (made with your starter) 100g of stoneground organic wholemeal flour 400g organic strong white flour Day 1 - The Start. When I first started baking, everything that could go wrong, went wrong; it felt borderline alchemy to me. Add the sugar and salt. Modified: Dec 27, 2022 by The Pantry Mama This post may contain affiliate links. Instead, stretch and fold it. It's when this doesn't happen that problems start to occur. Cutting the bread while still warm will create a gummy interior as the crumb hasn't finished setting. Some recipes are simply wetter and stickier than others. Once you get the hang of the sourdough process and the various phases, then start introducing whole grain flours into the mix. You can read more about this trick, Use water mist or ice inside your Dutch Oven to ensure you get a, Leave the sourdough bread in the oven to cool after it's baked (you'll find a. But you could also use other methods such as kneading or coil folds. Your dough might be too sticky because you added too much water when making the initial mix, too. Just dont freeze it. Throughout the shaping, the dough felt aerated and light and bouncy and it was easy to handle after dipping our hands in water. When water is excessively hard, it tightens the gluten as well as decrease fermentation rate. You want the bread to be completely cool so you'd generally want to wait at least 3-4 hours and some bakers recommend waiting 24 hours to enhance flavor. The crumb is open and definitely "finished" - the bread can be compressed and springs right back. @halfbakedharvest.com Cheaters No Knead Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread. (12-15% protein content), plus extra for dusting 2 teaspoons fine sea salt Method. You/we need a hydration % of the levain too, to figure out how much flour and how much water is in the levain. Stir vigorously until combined; it might look like a sticky, thick dough. Sourdough does not stop cooking when you take it out of the oven. Approximate size of sourdough bread: Approximate cooling time: small dinner rolls: 30 minutes: small white loaf (1 lb): 4 hours: large white loaf (1.5 lb): 8 hours: small wholegrain loaf (1lb): 5 hours This allows them to get an understanding of how to handle basic dough before moving onto something more tricky. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Set aside. Some people add too much water to compensate. Place the bread pieces on a parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer. This isn't the worst that could happen :), but I would really like to understand why the stickiness, and how to get rid of it. When youve kneaded the bread dough enough, stretch it while looking at a light source. After fermenting for too long, the gluten in the dough begins to break down, which leaves you with a thick, gloopy mass of flour and water with no way to make good sourdough. Place the lid on and bake for 30 minutes. You might think it seems dry when you first mix it and add extra water. Thank you for going the extra mile to check the recipe! Loaf In a small mixing bowl, mix the flour and salt together thoroughly. Turn the mixer on 1-2 (never higher than 2 or medium-low) and let the mixer knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Bake for 15-30 minutes until golden brown and dry (not burned). If the dough is too sticky at this point, add a little flour and knead it in. Once the dough doesn't tear when you stretch it between your fingers, you're ok to set it aside for bulk fermentation. Wetting your hands before handling your sticky dough is a game-changer. If you see anything inappropriate on the site or have any questions, contact me at floydm at thefreshloaf dot com. However, you should avoid using a mixer to do this, because it can overheat the dough and break down the gluten strands. PROBLEM - You may have baked a loaf of sourdough which appears to have large tunnels of air or just one big hole surrounded by a tighter or dense crumb. Salthand-mixed, Rubaud style, for 5 minutes. Youll find that most recipes are making sourdough with fairly high hydration, which means that the sourdough is naturally stickier, but this doesnt mean that all sourdough has to be sticky. Sourdough can be a little tricky as it can take time for the flour to absorb the water during the autolyse process. One solution is to use a wet dough cutter or scraper. Young sourdough starter lacks the established yeast colonies necessary to raise bread. Thanks for the suggestions about leaving the bread to cool longer. Add in your white and whole wheat flours. 1. You can get the tool under the dough so you can pick it up or manipulate it. Then, I use my wet hands to pick up a side of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over. Make sure that you're not using too much flour when shaping your dough. The only thing you might need to fix with your sourdough is its hydration. The problem here is, there's not a lot you can do with over fermented dough. Sourdough bread offers a number of benefits. You just want to make sure it's not too wet for you to handle. So 180 grams would mean 80 grams of flour and 100 grams of water (because 80 x 1.25 = 100 grams; see above section for calculations) Step 2 - The recipe contains 600 grams flour and 360 grams water. Damaged starch absorbs water during mixing as opposed to undamaged starch where the water merely coats the outer surface. 150g bread flour, 150g all-purpose, 90g whole wheat flour with 350g water (slightly warmer than room temperature by the touch), with 90g of starter and 9g of salt. Just know that it will be sticky early in this process. SOLUTION - Depending on the cause of your spread, you can implement the following fixes: PROBLEM - Dough splits in places other than where you've scored or even splits messing up your decorative scoring. 3. The dough will be sticky and doesn't quite form a ball. Thanks!! Many people use food thermometer to measure the internal temperature of their bread. Preheat the oven to 230C fan/456F/gas mark 8 with a baking stone on the middle shelf and a deep tray on the bottom. This increases the chances of tearing, which can make your life more difficult when shaping or kneading it. I bake at 525F, sometimes 550. Meanwhile chop the cranberries. Generally, a good hydration starting point is 75% or so when working with bread flour, 80% or so with whole wheat. This arguably makes the dough easier to work with. When it comes to building the gluten, everyone has a different preference in how to do it. In our previous attempts, we thought it was undercooked, hence the longer baking time for Charlie this time round. Shape into batards. It's possible that the dough is rising too much during the cold retard which will also cause this issue. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Step 1: feed the sourdough starter About 12 hours before you plan to mix the dough, to a clean jar add; 10 grams unfed starter 25 grams water 25 grams flour Cover the jar loosely and allow it to rest and room temperature. Use a very sharp knife to cut a cross shape into the top of the . Ensuring that you a strong gluten network is also essential in aleviating this issue. Bake with Jack 199K subscribers Overfermentation Video Number 116: https://youtu.be/XdYkdI_vgxQ Send your bread making problems to breadsos@bakewithjack.co.ukInclude your name, your location, a. Dough that splits in this way is almost always under fermented. Mix until no dry patches remain. However, the dough may be too hydrated for your location. Final internal temp 211FSliced after cooling for 4 hours. Stretching and folding the dough is a common method of gluten development in sourdough bread making. So that should work out to (282+45)/(390+45)=75%. After toiling through many failures, I finally reached a level of consistency that I can be proud of - it is amazing the intricacy that is required to produce a great bake. The bacteria produce both lactic acid and acetic acid. Place the sourdough into the pot using the silicone sling or parchment paper as a handle. This could be a result of problems with a thermostat, heating element, or possibly the timer. To calculate, add up all the flour, including the flour in the starter, then add up all the water, including the water in the starter, and divide the water by the starter. If so, fix that, and try it with your standard bake temps/times, And then, if the problem persists, then add to the lower hydration the lower/longer bake temps/times, too. If youre struggling with high hydration dough, then you should absolutely lower the hydration and see if you get better results. It affects pretty much every part of the process. On the other hand, rye sourdough is a bread that starts with sourdough starter instead of yeast but has at least some rye flour. CAUSE - Spreading can be caused by a few factors including under fermented or over fermented dough as well as poor shaping technique. You went with 150 and 150 - which is only 300, then 90 WW and 45 starter, for a total of 435. and so that drove the hydration from 81%, which is still fairly high, to over 90%. High temperatures can cause premature over fermentation, which will result in wet, sticky sourdough. Charlie was a little better probably because we increased the bake time, but the higher hydration did it in. It will be sticky. Wet, sticky dough can be super messy - and preventing mess in the kitchen is always a good thing! If those figures do not include your levain, then you have at least 77% final hydration assuming a levain of 100% hydration. We can use the mixing time below as a sanity check to determine if we have indeed under mixed or over mixed our dough; if you fall way out from the range in the table, increase or decrease mixing time to stay within these guidelines. This is a one of the most frustrating sourdough bread problems to have. They are purposed for cakes, slices, muffins, and other cooking. Concentrate on shaping evenly and with plenty of tension to ensure your dough rises evenly and doesn't split other than where you've scored. Over fermentation is a cause of wet, sticky dough. You can try to prevent the problem by being more careful when proofing the yeast. At the same time, we should dust the work surface lightly during shaping as we need some level of stickiness and friction between the dough and the work surface to create sufficient skin tension. This is the sourdough baking course you need if you are just starting out in sourdough bread baking. Temperature is one of the most important factors when making sourdough. I love adding cornmeal, both for flavor and texture, into my bread doughs: PROBLEM - My sourdough looked great when I removed it from the oven - it was crusty! It can be caused by over fermenting or under fermenting your dough, but also by other things like shaping issues. Also check the temperature of your fridge to ensure it's 4C or under. . Turn out the loaf out onto a floured peel, make a cut in the top with a grignette and slide it onto the baking stone. Your dough can become sticky when you add too much water or the flour isn't suitable for the type of dough you are making. These need to be done without hesitation. Place a lidded pot (Dutch Oven) in the oven to preheat. Insufficient gluten development is what makes the dough so sticky, so if youre using a low protein flour (protein in flour creates gluten), it wont be able to create as much gluten in the dough and it will, therefore, be stickier. 1 our is defently to short. When the dough is excessively over mixed, it first becomes very strong and stiff, then when mixed further, the gluten network starts to unravel and unknits, releasing the absorbed water out into the dough environment, causing it to be wet and sticky. The problem is that the crumb is very tacky to the touch and abit sticky on the knife. Another tactic is chilling the dough for a while. If youre going from low hydration (60-65%) bread dough to a sourdough (65-80%) hydration, youre most probably not going to know how to handle it properly. Rest for 30 minutes @76F. Our problem was with the tacky, rubbery, sticky insides of the baked bread (I could press a piece of the inside between my fingers and it would stick on without falling) no matter how long we bake it for (Charlie was baked for 40 mins in the cast iron and 20 mins on a rack, and the picture attached shows the insides). If you're looking for troubleshooting your sourdough starter - you'll find a list of the most FAQ here. Wet hands are a good idea when handling dough, however you should be able to shape your dough with dry hands very easily. It can be leathery rather than crispy. Pale crust after baked. If you can see the light through the dough, youre done the kneading. The difference between wet dough being successful and wet dough being a big sloppy mess is dough strength. Sliced through the bread in an hour and it left sticky residue on the knife and the insides was tacky. This method involves mixing the dough so the flour is fully hydrated before performing a series of stretch and folds. . CAUSE - Your sourdough is lacking oven spring, which means your dough is not growing in the oven as it should. Your email address will not be published. Also, remember that sourdough is extra sticky when the gluten isnt fully developed. Mix everything together. I have, however, always let my bread cool for at least 4 hours, until its at or very near room- temperature, and it continues to be sticky - even when left in the oven to steam out for a little while after baking is completed. It may be that you just need to cut back on the water. #7 The bread cooled in the oven When the bread looks ready, some bakers turn the oven off and leave it inside for 20 minutes to make their bread less gummy.