water) slightly (eg. 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. The loaf will also feel light in your hand, rather than heavy. Be sure you open with an autolyse, a step far easier than it sounds. This excess water is not retained inside the dough but rather coats the doughs surface causing it to be wet and sticky. During shaping, a light dusting of flour is what you need to prevent the sourdough from sticking to your kitchen counter. 3/4 cup (170g) active sourdough starter 1 tablespoon honey 1 teaspoon salt Instructions Add all ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook. Shaping it and baking very shortly afterwards is recommended. When youve kneaded the bread dough enough, stretch it while looking at a light source. Similarly, the reason we use baking parchment paper when baking is to minimize the use of additional flour in the baking process. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Always shape your loaf on a piece of non-stick, silicone paper, then when it's proved, stick it straight onto the hot stone and reduce the temperature of the oven down to around 180-200C. . This is the dry mixture. I am constantly baking hockey pucks! When you have finished Sourdough Bread Baking 101, you will have the confidence to not only bake using your own sourdough starter, you will be ready for more advanced sourdough baking techniques which will enable you to bake all sorts of sourdough artisan breads. Over time, youll become more confident and comfortable working with dough, so you can gradually increase the hydration and get better at handling it. In order to have an easier time handling the dough, you need to maximize gluten development. For example, the problem may be a recipe that calls for more hydration than the flour youre using requires. The gluten network serves to provide structure and strength to the dough but it also plays an important role in containing and holding water and moisture. PROBLEM - My sourdough bread has an unusual cone shape after baking. Add the sugar and salt. If you're using all purpose flour, it can be a good idea to add some vital wheat gluten to the mix. When working with high hydration level dough, the dough gets very close to the point of 100% saturation from the high quantity of water, and it is difficult to get any more water to be incorporated into the dough. If your sourdough has a very thick base which is burnt or just very tough, there's a very simple fix for this. PROBLEM - Pale crust hasn't browned. Below, Ive listed the main reasons your sourdough is sticky, so have a look through and see how they might be affecting your dough. If you do have a watery starter, you'll need to adjust the amount of water in your dough or set about finding a solution to thicken it up. Boil the kettle too. We are compensated for referring traffic and business to Amazon and other companies linked to on this site. 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. Add of the water and dissolve or break up the sourdough with your hands. The Fresh Loaf is not responsible for community member content. A. It can also be called Fool's Crumb where the bread appears to have an "open crumb" however the holes are large and surrounded by an uneven, tight crumb that is not desirable. Plastic and metal dough scrapers are useful tools and both have their own pros and cons. Scrape into a greased 9" x 4" x 4" pan; cover and let the loaf rise until it's within about 1" of the pan's rim, about 3 to 4 hours. It's when this doesn't happen that problems start to occur. Will be back to update! Stir together until the starter is dissolved and the water looks cloudy. Some Student Reviews: by Pam H - Outstanding. 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. 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. This makes it easier to handle. Yeasted Pre-ferment (Poolish & Biga) VS Sponge VS Dough. Second, mix the dough using a previously fed, active and bubbly sourdough starter, water and a mixture of bread and whole wheat flour. Add in your white and whole wheat flours. Meanwhile chop the cranberries. That's one of four for the set. 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 your bread contains rye, it can take up to 24 hours! First, good effort, but where did you get the recipe from? If your dough is under fermented it will lose shape quickly and spread when it's tipped out of the banneton. Instructions. CAUSE - This is typically caused by under fermenting your dough, but can also happen through using too much flour when you shape your bread. Let the integrated flour-and-water mass sit for up to an hour. 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. There are plenty of methods for developing gluten, so its up to you to try out different variations and figure out which is best for you. In the first few minutes of the bake, the surface of the bread must be kept moist and pliable. It really is a delicate balance to ensure that the yeast have consumed enough of their food to produce those beautiful pockets of air - but not too much so they can still provide oven spring at baking time. Maybe tomorrow but it can also be the day after tomorrow. You just want to make sure it's not too wet for you to handle. Well, sourdough is a stickier, wetter dough than regular yeasted bread. Here are some of the problems that can cause wet and sticky sourdough: Many people say "just use wet hands" if your dough is super sticky or wet. Copyright 2021 The Pantry Mama 2021 - All Rights Reserved, 5 Ways To Strengthen A Sourdough Starter: Give Your Starter A Boost, Sourdough Discard Crackers Recipe with Parmesan + Rosemary, Easy Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread Recipe, Sourdough English Muffins {with a discard version too}. But as it cooled, the crust wrinkled and collapsed what happened? When I first started baking, everything that could go wrong, went wrong; it felt borderline alchemy to me. Your sourdough starter is not ready to bake with yet and needs some time to mature or you need to take steps to strengthen it. Now it is the sourdough starter or its use that is suspect. CAUSES - There are number of causes here, but the main one is that it was not baked long enough for the moisture in the dough to be baked out of the bread. Score the top of your loaf using a sharp knife, razor or lame. Think about how professional bakers look when handling their dough. If you're looking for troubleshooting your sourdough starter - you'll find a list of the most FAQ here. Make the Dough: Meanwhile, in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the boiling water, pumpernickel, oil, salt, molasses, instant coffee, and chocolate. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.Thanks!Jeff. This arguably makes the dough easier to work with. You just need to reduce the heat on the base of your Dutch Oven or baking tray. Bake in a Dutch Oven. Dusting with flour is useful for some parts of the baking process for preventing sourdough from sticking, but it is not the best method for every application; other methods for preventing sourdough from sticking is to wet your hands with water, oiling the work surfaces and using parchment paper for baking. Young sourdough starter lacks the established yeast colonies necessary to raise bread. SOLUTION - Lack of oven spring can be a complex problem. 475 F covered, and 450 uncovered for 20 min seems too hot to me for only a 30% whole grain loaf: 300 g einkorn / (900 g + 90 g from levain) = 300 / 990 = 30.3%. Under fermented dough will also cause you to have a pale crust that just doesn't brown up, even when you cook it longer. Youll notice that you can stretch the dough further and less will cling to your hands by the time youre done. Place the lid on and bake for 30 minutes. We preheated the oven (which was constrained at 480F) for an hour, and baked Charlie for 40 mins (tried 25 mins for Betty) in the cast iron, and 20 mins on the rack. More often than not a tight crumb with a number of larger holes - but it's not even or open. Allowing your sourdough starter to mature (it needs AT LEAST 14 days to be viable and often several months before it's mature). If your dough is too dry, add a little moisture and mix it, adding just a little more water if necessary. 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 Cover and let the dough double in size, about 12 to 16 hours. SOLUTION - The solution to this problem is to ensure that your dough is fermented correctly. The easiest thing you can do to handle your sticky sourdough is to simply make it less sticky by cutting back on the water. We will be trying out as what you have suggested for a 75% hydration for the next one, will be back to post our results! The problem is that the crumb is very tacky to the touch and abit sticky on the knife. SOLUTION - Tunnels can have a few solutions: PROBLEM - My sourdough isn't cooked all the way through. The hardness of water measureshow much calcium and magnesium ion is present (expressed as ppm). The water almost wholly stops the sticking, so you dont have to worry about messing up your dough. Under mixing and over mixing results in insufficient gluten strands to trap water inside the dough, causing the dough to be wet and sticky. All Purpose flour is ok, however it generally doesn't have the protein necessary to develop a strong gluten network. 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 the dough is too sticky at this point, add a little flour and knead it in. Nor should it be sticky after youve baked it. Then remove lid and continue to bake for another 20-25 minutes. Next, add 8g fine sea salt. Hi, I'm Kate! These need to be done without hesitation. This increases the chances of tearing, which can make your life more difficult when shaping or kneading it. Thank you in advance! When Im not baking sourdough, I love to hang out with my three boys on our farm, tend to my jungle of indoor plants and drink good coffee. One reason why people add too much flour and mix it in is to try to get the dough more manageable. There are generally two causes of this (it can be a combination of both): SOLUTIONS - Depending on which of the above has caused your gumminess, you can fix by: PROBLEM - Your bread dough spreads and loses shape when you flip it out of the banneton to bake. All flour has a certain percentage of damaged starch particles, but when the amount of damaged starch particles exceed 10%, dough becomes wet and sticky. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'crustylabs_com-box-4','ezslot_1',121,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-crustylabs_com-box-4-0');It is completely normal for very high hydration doughs at more than 75% hydration to feel excessively slack, wet and sticky after the mixing phase. Switch to a wood spoon. SOLUTIONS - These are the things you can do to try to avoid your dough splitting naturally: PROBLEM - your sourdough bread has an uneven crumb. Mix by hand until all the dry flour is incorporated. The yeast has too much energy when it hits the oven and this excess energy causes a "rush" when your dough hits the oven. Send your . It'll just take about 30 minutes in the fridge for the dough to firm until it's ready to roll. Once you get it all set to go try this delicious Sourdough Focaccia recipe yum! It can be a mixture of rye and wheat or just rye. Evenly roll out your small 2- to 4-ounce balls into small circles a scant quarter inch thick. And dont let it sit in the fridge so long that it dries out. Your dough should be split into two sides. If the dough breaks before you can pull it so thin that you can see the light, resume kneading. Most loaves are soggy at the bottom because they've not had the heat but you can simulate that at home by using a hot stone. This is really only an issue once you've done bulk fermentation and you are trying to shape your dough. However, it shouldnt be so sticky that it is hard to knead. Wet and sticky dough is caused by a few different issues. Oil the mixing bowl, the bowl used for bulk fermentation and folding, and the proofing vessel. Many people use food thermometer to measure the internal temperature of their bread. The chains of gluten give your dough strength and structure. Cutting it too soon stops your sourdough from completing the cooking process and results in a gummy, wet texture when you cut it. Your dough might be too sticky because you added too much water when making the initial mix, too. Agree with the previous comments and hotter, longer and let dry, https://www.abeautifulplate.com/artisan-sourdough-bread-recipe/, Lamination butter for croissants - question, Mexican buns aka coffee cookie buns aka rotiboy buns, Farmer's Market Week 18 (Whole Wheat Walnut YW/SD Combo), Red Fife x 4 = Awesomeness!!! Thank you for visiting! The answer to this really depends on what is causing your dough to be so sticky and wet. Throughout the shaping, the dough felt aerated and light and bouncy and it was easy to handle after dipping our hands in water. It has a more uniform appearance than a quick bread, and it cant leave you with a nasty chemical aftertaste. Avoid using cake or pastry flour for dusting as it contains a higher starch content and tends to lump up more than bread, rice or semolina flour. Then, I use my wet hands to pick up a side of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over. This is particular difficult if you're working in humid conditions. Second sign: The dough has become loose and slack, and doesn't seem to hold any kind of shape. A large mixing bowl A round cane banneton 2 clean tea towels A Dutch oven, La Cloche or bread pan A large heatproof pan, a sharp knife or 'lame' to slash the dough with. Ensure that you have scored enough - you need one good score to ensure that your dough expands. You might get a drier dough, but you wont get the same rise in the dough and a solid crust that you were expecting. If youre using a lot of wholewheat, youre going to be left with a very sticky dough, especially if its paired with high hydration. As the flour is better hydrated, more water is absorbed by the dough, and less water is coating the doughs surface which makes the dough feels less wet and sticky. High temperatures can cause premature over fermentation, which will result in wet, sticky sourdough. Generally, a good hydration starting point is 75% or so when working with bread flour, 80% or so with whole wheat. The bacteria produce both lactic acid and acetic acid. As gluten develops more readily in a drier environment, this method allows the extra hydration to be easily incorporated into the dough. Why Is My Sourdough Too Sticky? the yeast has not fermented for long enough and still has too much energy to burn when it hits the oven, the yeast lets off too much gas all at once when it hits the oven. Cover with plastic wrap and keep covered in a warmish place in your kitchen at around 77F (24C) for 1 hour. Make the dough. We will hold on to the knife the next time and be sure to wait longer. "Final" or "overall" hydration is supposed to include both the water and the flour in the levain. However, you should avoid using a mixer to do this, because it can overheat the dough and break down the gluten strands. Take the bowl off the scales and mix well, it will look rough and lumpy, but never fear it will soon start to look like bread dough! This method works better with slack dough anyway. 1 our is defently to short. A dough scraper is your best friend when handling any kind of dough. The bread is heavy, hasn't puffed up in the oven and has a moist, dense texture inside. Bake the sourdough bread. After sourdough fermentation, the lactic acid bacteria produce acetaldehyde. However, the dough may be too hydrated for your location. This just means that you are taking the sides of the dough, stretching them up, and folding them over the dough 4-8 times, or until the dough is too tight to do any more. Place the bread pieces on a parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer. I understand in the beginning you want to see the inside but do yourself a favor and wait at least 3 ours. Content posted by community members is their own. Without salt, the dough becomes sticky and slack in nature, making it difficult to work with. The only solution for this is to toss your dough and put your time into strengthening and maturing your sourdough starter. You can try to fix things like high humidity in your house or waiting until the kitchen has warmed to room temperature before getting to work. Bake for 15-30 minutes until golden brown and dry (not burned). Dough that splits in this way is almost always under fermented. The recommended method to prevent wet and sticky dough from sticking to our hands is to wet our hands with water whenever we are handling the dough; wet dough sticks to dry hands, but wet dough does not stick to wet hands. Sourdough does not stop cooking when you take it out of the oven. This step hydrates the flours and helps with gluten development and dough structure. Sticky and wet crumb means the crumb is too wet; there is too much water in the finished product. If you are doing decorative scoring, it's still advisable to have one "utility" score and then your more shallow, decorative scoring. Steaming is one of the most crucial steps when baking bread. I bake high hydration (88-90%) near 100% whole-grain loaves. Wet, sticky dough can be super messy - and preventing mess in the kitchen is always a good thing! (Top Reasons). It's best to choose a higher protein flour, such as a bread flour. Signs of over-proofing are: A huge puffy ball of dough after the end of the rising time. Water was 350 plus 45 in the starter for 395. You can try to prevent the problem by being more careful when proofing the yeast. Lightly Flour One Side Of The Dough During Shaping. Bread Baking Tools A Must Have For Any Baker, Learn how to make bread and pizza with this, Why Did My Quick Bread Not Rise? And wait longer before slicing. Score the bread on top with any design you like. Another tactic is adding flour to the work surface before you start working with the dough. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'crustylabs_com-leader-1','ezslot_6',124,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-crustylabs_com-leader-1-0');The table below is extracted from Jeffrey Hammelmans Bread Book that shows the relative mixing time between different mixers and hand mixing to develop the same dough to the same strength. The solution here is to either use the exact same flour the recipe requires or adjusting hydration levels, watching the dough instead of ingredient ratios. The uneven crumb occurs because fermentation has not been long enough to allow the gases produced by the yeast to evenly distribute, resulting in some larger holes (generally in the middle). Sometimes removing the bread out of the Dutch oven and baking it on the shelf for the last few minutes has a positive effect. 8 oz active sourdough starter, 12 oz warm water, 5 oz rye flour, 12 oz bread flour. The dough was definitely NOT underproofed - I'd recently been overproofing and this particular bake was, if anything, still a little over. Also check the temperature of your fridge to ensure it's 4C or under. 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. A tell tale sign that you haven't let your bread cool properly is having a "sticky" knife when you remove it from your bread. You see, when your hands are wet, the dough cannot stick to them easily, so it just slips right through them. One fold consists of the folding of all four sides of the dough into its centre. Youre right, the actual hydration is around 77%, and I understood that from the start. PROBLEM - Gummy sourdough (dense, moist crumb) is the most common sourdough bread problems facing home bakers. Q: My dough is too slack and is not developing good strength. Skin tension during shaping is developed when one side of the dough sticks lightly on the work surface while the hands pulls the dough inwards from the opposite side, stretching the surface of the dough taut. As Ive already mentioned, gluten is essential to prevent too much sticking. Instructions. SOLUTION - reduce proofing time. Set aside. side question: Does the 675 g of water, and 75% hydration include what's in the levain? It is often easier to make. First, in a large mixing bowl, whisk the starter, water, orange zest and juice, and maple syrup or honey. However, sourdough hydration levels can be pushed past 100% with the right technique which we will discuss in the subheading below. It really depends on where you are in the sourdough process. 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. What Basic Methods Are Used To Make Quick Breads? MAKE THE DOUGH Mix the sourdough starter and water together in a large mixing bowl - I use my dough whisk for this. Many start at 400 F and drop to 375 F at some point during the baking. Mix, and add some spices, dried herbs, or even some cheese powder. We can prevent wet sourdough from sticking by oiling our work surfaces, using wet hands to handle the dough and dusting the proofing containers. Cut one loaf of sourdough bread into 1" cubes. Take the temp before cutting into it. Bread (well anything really) continues to cook for some time after it comes out of the oven and, although it is hard to resist, if you cut the bread while it is still hot, the starches will not have completed setting and the crumb will be soft and seem a little 'doughy'. 4.Under-baked bread 5. If those figures do not include your levain, then you have at least 77% final hydration assuming a levain of 100% hydration. If you only want decorative scoring, you will need to push your bulk fermentation to the limit. CAUSE - Spreading can be caused by a few factors including under fermented or over fermented dough as well as poor shaping technique. Instructions. But we are utterly puzzled by the outcome again. The bassinage technique is used to help build the dough up to the desired high level of hydration in stages. Thanks guys!!! I've written a full guide to why sourdough deflates after scoring here. If you see anything inappropriate on the site or have any questions, contact me at floydm at thefreshloaf dot com. Some recipes are simply wetter and stickier than others. First, it's helpful to have a small bowl of water nearby to dip your hands into before touching your dough. You can read more about this, Take some time to strengthen your sourdough starter (particularly if it's been in the fridge for a while or it's doubling consistently). Making good sourdough bread is something that takes plenty of practice, but you can learn how to handle it fairly quickly. Mix the drier dough until it has developed into the desired dough strength. Bake in a preheated 425F oven for about 45 minutes, until bread tests done. Place in bannetons. The problem with damaged starches comes from the over absorption of water. Carefully make it round again pushing the seams underneath. And sometimes the issue is the recipe. The steam that is trapped inside needs to move towards the outside. Your email address will not be published. We performed up to 6 sets of stretch and fold during the first two hours of fermentation before leaving it to bulk ferment for the next two hours. Perhaps your sourdough is too sticky when you start working with it. Hi, I'm Kate! Add 850g water to your mixing bowl and mix with your hand until the levain is wholly dissolved. High hydration can be anything with 70% water content or higher. This is when you let the dough rest after it is mixed but before you start to knead it. Flour contains starches, and some of these starch molecules inevitably cracks and breaks due to the harsh milling process; these are known as damaged starch particles. 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. . It can be leathery rather than crispy. Second, most bakers wait more than 1 hour before cutting into the bread. Salt is called for in every bread formulation, but it is the one ingredient that we most commonly tend to forget to include into our mix. A strong, mature sourdough starter will reward you with amazing sourdough at your next bake. #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. Rest 50 minutes. Both of you mentioned a point in common on the hydration where I made a huge mistake on as I did not account for the hydration of the starter added. Also, remember that sourdough is extra sticky when the gluten isnt fully developed. This method of developing gluten should prove to be much cleaner and easier, but its up to you to figure out which gluten-development method you like the most. It should be room temperature. Modified: Sep 13, 2022 by The Pantry Mama This post may contain affiliate links. This blog contains scientific explanation on all matters related to baking written in simple words; I hope you will find something useful here and leave as a better baker. If your kitchen is too warm, the dough can become a sloppy, wet mess. Youre aiming for maximum gluten development for the dough to become easier to manage. To solve this problem, try taking the bread maker out of equation by baking in an oven. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'crustylabs_com-leader-4','ezslot_20',129,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-crustylabs_com-leader-4-0');If you are proofing your dough in a non porous material such as a metal or glass container, then oiling is preferred over dusting with flour. Charlie was a little better probably because we increased the bake time, but the higher hydration did it in. If you're still unsure a good thing to do is to let your bread cool in your oven. Placing a baking tray underneath your Dutch Oven should do the trick. Sliced through the bread in an hour and it left sticky residue on the knife and the insides was tacky. For now, you need to know exactly whats causing your sourdough to be sticky and what you can do to help yourself with it. Place a long piece of parchment paper over the bowl with the dough. To achieve a 75% hydration I will attempt again with the following: 390g of flour mix to 282g of water, adding on 90g of starter (at 100% hydration as I always to a 1:1 flour water ratio feed). Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. If you're not sure about some of the terms used in this article, you might find this sourdough glossary helpful. Oiling works just as well as dusting to create a non-stick surface which prevents your sticky dough from sticking and tearing. The only thing you might need to fix with your sourdough is its hydration. In a large bowl, combine 350 g of water with the sourdough starter, stir to dissolve the starter. 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.