Sourdough Hydration Explained (What, Why, How & When) Why Your Bread Dough is Stick and how to Fix it Easily Sourdough baking is a never ending journey of learning - and that's what makes troubleshooting it so damn interesting! Then remove lid and continue to bake for another 20-25 minutes. The good news is, there's always a way to fix your sourdough bread problems for your next bake! Young sourdough starter lacks the established yeast colonies necessary to raise bread. We would like to share the recipe we used here, hopefully to get some help from the experienced bakers around! Or you need to give the sourdough starter more salt.Another root cause may be the recipe relative to your environment. Add the all purpose/bread flour and whole wheat/spelt flour. A basic sourdough is made with only wheat flour, sometimes just white flour and sometimes a combination of whole wheat flour and white flour. High temperatures can cause premature over fermentation, which will result in wet, sticky sourdough. This makes it easier to handle. The bassinage technique is used to help build the dough up to the desired high level of hydration in stages. 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. Once you get the hang of the sourdough process and the various phases, then start introducing whole grain flours into the mix. Its very important to avoid tearing the gluten as this causes it to become sticky again. Flour Cleaning: How to Clear the Dough After Baking - Food & Wine This will ensure that the bread is cooked all the way through. Hi community, i am new to this forum but have been reading a lot of advice from fellow bakers here while my sister and I are trying out our very first sourdough.. We have gotten to "Charlie" (we name our sourdoughs alphabetically hoping to get it right before the alphabet "Z"), but our sourdoughs were never right. If you want to you can spritz your dough with extra water before you put the lid on. Learn how to make bread and pizza with this awesome book. 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. But we are utterly puzzled by the outcome again. Second, to the wet ingredients, add the bread flour, whole wheat flour, and salt. 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. Mistakes Everyone Makes With Sourdough - Mashed.com Using too much water for the amount of flour you're using will result in a wet dough that's really hard to handle. Too much dusting of flour can also reduce stickiness to the point where sufficient skin tension is not able to be developed. This is when you let the dough rest after it is mixed but before you start to knead it. When it comes to building the gluten, everyone has a different preference in how to do it. 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. 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. Final internal temp 211F Sliced after cooling for 4 hours. Once you get comfortable, you can gradually increase the water content of your dough and see how you manage it. Beginner bakers are best to start off with low to medium hydration dough before moving onto high hydration. Add in your white and whole wheat flours. 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. In the first few minutes of the bake, the surface of the bread must be kept moist and pliable. 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. The exterior was perfectly brown. Second, most bakers wait more than 1 hour before cutting into the bread. Makes 1 x 800-g/1-lbs. Generally, flat loaves will still taste ok, they just lack that beautiful airiness we want to see in our sourdough. Perhaps your sourdough is too sticky when you start working with it. Rest 50 minutes. Sourdough can take up to 24 hours to fully cool and come to room temperature. For now, you need to know exactly whats causing your sourdough to be sticky and what you can do to help yourself with it. If you are doing decorative scoring, it's still advisable to have one "utility" score and then your more shallow, decorative scoring. Why Is My Sourdough Bread Gummy? - Busby's Sourdough Rye Bread - Baking Sense Shaping it and baking very shortly afterwards is recommended. Sourdough does not stop cooking when you take it out of the oven. So if you're over-shooting the original formula's hydration due to miscalculattion, that would be the first thing to correct. You might think it seems dry when you first mix it and add extra water. Ingredients: 300g water 100g sourdough leaven* (made with your starter) 100g of stoneground organic wholemeal flour 400g organic strong white flour Under fermented dough will also cause you to have a pale crust that just doesn't brown up, even when you cook it longer. I hope this guide helps you to troubleshoot your sourdough bread problems and ultimately bake a better loaf! Thanks for the suggestions about leaving the bread to cool longer. 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. 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. Cover the bowl with a clean shower cap or plastic wrap and rest at 80F/26C for a minimum of 1 hour or as long as 2 hours. Even with parchment paper, the base of your bread is sitting on the hot base of the Dutch Oven causing it to cook more quickly. 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. Help! My Sourdough is Too Wet and Sticky - Crusty Labs Steaming is one of the most crucial steps when baking bread. Sourdough Loaf for Beginners Bake with Jack Begin mixing the flour in with a spoon or fork, then continue mixing with your hand, until all the flour is incorporated and you have a shaggy dough. If you wet or oil the work surface, the dough will just glide over the work surface and not able to be pulled taut during shaping. This is the dry mixture. Sourdough Bread Troubleshooting Guide and FAQ - A Beautiful Plate water) slightly (eg. Alternatively, you'll need to adjust the amount of starter in your dough to suit the temperature of your kitchen. Bread mix, all-purpose flour, self-raising flour or cake flour can produce undesirable results when making sourdough. 25 minute proof at room temperature. The more gluten it contains, the better it holds together. Set aside. Is Cake Flour The Same As Self-Rising Flour? 14. I'll come back with the results in a week! Thanks. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. MAKE THE DOUGH Mix the sourdough starter and water together in a large mixing bowl - I use my dough whisk for this. What Went Wrong With Your Sourdough? | Epicurious Mix dry ingredients together. The gluten structure has become weak and is unable to hold up. One should be sticky, and one should be dusted with flour. It's best to choose a higher protein flour, such as a bread flour. Once mixed, the dough enters the bulk fermentaiton phase where folding also takes place which helps significantly to develop more gluten network as well as to incorporate more water into the dough making it feel less wet and sticky. This is the most comprehensive and easily understandable explanation of sourdough I have read. Then, introduce the remaining water in stages and mix only until the water is incorporated into the dough. If your dough is too dry, add a little moisture and mix it, adding just a little more water if necessary. Unfortunately, this results in tougher bread. This is because of the moisture that remains in your sourdough. Easy everyday sourdough bread | King Arthur Baking This allows them to get an understanding of how to handle basic dough before moving onto something more tricky. As Ive already mentioned, gluten is essential to prevent too much sticking. Mix together the flour, sourdough starter and 250ml/9fl oz water in a bowl. Thank you for visiting! Troubleshooting Sourdough Bread - Baked It's when this doesn't happen that problems start to occur. Make sure that you develop your gluten network really well during the stretch and fold stage. It will look like cloudy water. Extend your bulk fermentation time. If your bread contains rye, it can take up to 24 hours! You'll know you have sufficient gluten development by performing the window pane test on your dough. So you __may__ need a longer bake, which will mean a lower temp. 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. 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. 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. SOLUTION - Tunnels can have a few solutions: PROBLEM - My sourdough isn't cooked all the way through. Sourdough that has hydration levels of more than 72% tends to be sticky and tears apart easily when it is handled. Baking parchment paper is characteristic for its non stick ability without the need for any dusting of flour or oiling. High hydration can be anything with 70% water content or higher. I bake at 525F, sometimes 550. Pate Fermentee VS Poolish VS Biga VS Sourdough Starter. It has more energy than it should have left when it hits the oven - meaning you might get a great oven spring - but it destroys your scoring (and will more than likely be gummy inside). 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'. Instructions. Another tactic is chilling the dough for a while. Cutting it too soon stops your sourdough from completing the cooking process and results in a gummy, wet texture when you cut it. The recipe I followed was from "a beautiful plate". The water almost wholly stops the sticking, so you dont have to worry about messing up your dough. The majority of the time, I see this because the dough needed less water or more kneading upfront (or stretch and folds during bulk fermentation ). In our previous attempts, we thought it was undercooked, hence the longer baking time for Charlie this time round. Then the dough cannot stick to the surface. And wait longer before slicing. If you've just completed autolyse and you feel that your dough is too wet, it is possible to add some more flour at that that stage. Within eight to 12 hours of feeding your starter, you want to see a noticeable increase in volume and it should be putting off a pretty pungent. If the bread dough feels correct but is the baked loaf is fragile and sticky inside, it is under-cooked. Just know that it will be sticky early in this process. Add 60g of sourdough starter and set the tare to zero again; then add the salt and water, again, I find it easier to set the tare to zero before adding the flour. More often than not, gumminess is a result of under fermentation (cutting the bulk fermentation time too short). Place a long piece of parchment paper over the bowl with the dough. However, it's much better to find out the cause of the problem so you can fix it and prevent it from happening again. link to Yeasted Pre-ferment (Poolish & Biga) VS Sponge VS Dough, link to Pate Fermentee VS Poolish VS Biga VS Sourdough Starter, Stand Mixer (KitchenAid Type All Purpose Mixer). Sourdough Bread | The Splendid Table Below, Ive listed the main reasons your sourdough is sticky, so have a look through and see how they might be affecting your dough. Gluten development is strengthened by adding salt to your dough, so don't forget to do this! no one but me would notice or care). . Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread | EmilyFabulous You'll find a full guide to all purpose flour vs bread flour here. All Purpose flour is ok, however it generally doesn't have the protein necessary to develop a strong gluten network. 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. SOLUTION - Allow your bread to cool for AT LEAST 90 minutes (much longer for rye bread). You can get the tool under the dough so you can pick it up or manipulate it. Rest the dough for 30 minutes. You see, when your hands are wet, the dough cannot stick to them easily, so it just slips right through them. Place in bannetons. Sourdough starter is wild yeast and bacteria. The sticky side should only touch the dough. Step 3 - Total amount of flour is 80 grams + 600 grams = 680 grams. Thanks so much. Place in bannetons. Under mixing and over mixing results in insufficient gluten strands to trap water inside the dough, causing the dough to be wet and sticky. Rest uncovered for 25 minutes. 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). Semolina (used for dusting pizza dough) however is much coarser in texture and it really comes down to your personal preference; if you like the coarse texture by all means go for it. So I added 390 flour, plus 45 more from the starter ( assuming your starter is 100% hydration) to get 435 flour. How to Preshape Bread Dough | The Perfect Loaf How Do You Know When Your Sourdough Starter Is Ready To Bake With?. Thanks for the tip! If your dough does not develop a sufficient gluten network, it will be wet, sticky and have no structure. How Do You Know When Your Sourdough Starter Is Ready To Bake With? I've written about 6 things you can do to ensure you get good sourdough oven spring (and leave the hockey pucks behind) here. First, good effort, but where did you get the recipe from? Artisan Sourdough Bread Recipe - A Beautiful Plate Your email address will not be published. Heres What To Do, how to stop sourdough sticking to everything, Good Food Good Mood Sign Free Printable. CAUSE - Spreading can be caused by a few factors including under fermented or over fermented dough as well as poor shaping technique. If youre using a lot of wholewheat, youre going to be left with a very sticky dough, especially if its paired with high hydration. Sourdough does not stop cooking when you take it out of the oven. Content posted by community members is their own. Next, add 8g fine sea salt. Mix everything together. Let's dive into each of these reasons and see how you can avoid or correct the situation. Dont try traditional kneading techniques like punch and turn with moist sourdough. A. SOLUTIONS - These are the things you can do to try to avoid your dough splitting naturally: PROBLEM - your sourdough bread has an uneven crumb. The steam that is trapped inside needs to move towards the outside. Simplified sourdough bread for beginners - ABC Everyday If you only want decorative scoring, you will need to push your bulk fermentation to the limit. Score the bread on top with any design you like. Stir together until the starter is dissolved and the water looks cloudy. Once one side is stretched and dusted, you should shape the dough and put it into your banneton. 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! CAUSE - This odd shape is caused by under fermentation. Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread - Cooking Gorgeous 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}. 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. Youll notice that you can stretch the dough further and less will cling to your hands by the time youre done. I tried your suggestions, kinda - 2 large (880g) loaves baked covered at 465F for 25 minutes, then uncovered at 425 for 25 minutes. Sourdough generally contains more water, which makes the gluten more likely to cling to everything. Im the face behind The Pantry Mama and I want to help you bake delicious sourdough bread, no matter what your schedule. It will be sticky. Add the dry mixture. It may just be that you need to leave it in the oven longer with the lid off your. Different types of flour all have the ability to absorb different amounts of water, so the flour youre using might be making stickier sourdough than it should. Also, if you find the outside is brown and the inside is moist, that normally indicates you should lower the baking temp. PROBLEM - My sourdough feels moist or wet inside, even though it's well fermented. Now it is the sourdough starter or its use that is suspect. 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. 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). Wet, sticky dough can be super messy - and preventing mess in the kitchen is always a good thing! The flour will absorb water and become incorporated during the stretches and folds. Similarly, the reason we use baking parchment paper when baking is to minimize the use of additional flour in the baking process. However under fermented dough will not cook all the way through, so this sourdough bread problem can have a deeper cause. Always taste the mix to be sure that salt has been added before mixing. I am constantly baking hockey pucks! Third, cover and rest the dough for 30 minutes. A new bake this morning. Only add more flour if it remains excessively moist or sticky after youve kneaded it in. CAUSE - the dough has been over fermented and/or over proofed and has too much air trapped in the shaped dough. This is mainly because sourdough is higher hydration, meaning it contains more water. Step 4: Bake. When using a proofing basket, line it with a clean cloth and dust its surface with flour by using a sieve to ensure an even coating. Will be back to update! Basic sourdough bread | Sourdough Recipe | BakeClub Well, sourdough is a stickier, wetter dough than regular yeasted bread. 2. No Knead Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread | Small Batch Sourdough Sourdough that has hydration levels of more than 72% tends to be sticky and tears apart easily when it is handled. Rest for 30 minutes @76F. It will only improve the flavor. (Rest for45 minutes @76Ffollowed by coil folds) - repeat 3x. After every fold, you will notice a significant improvement in dough strength and significant reduction in the wetness and stickiness of the dough. This part is extremely important as its what determines whether you end up with a well-shaped sourdough or a mess. The only solution for this is to toss your dough and put your time into strengthening and maturing your sourdough starter. This increases the chances of tearing, which can make your life more difficult when shaping or kneading it. Turn out on to a surface and knead for 10 minutes or until the 'windowpane effect' is . Bake in preheated, covered DO at 475F for 20 minutes, then uncovered at 450F for 20 minutes. #1 Sourdough Bread Baking 101 - The Baking Network Here are some options for working with wet, sticky over fermented sourdough. 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. 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). CAUSE - This is typically caused by under fermenting your dough, but can also happen through using too much flour when you shape your bread. In this article we will look at all the factors that makes your sourdough excessively wet and sticky, as well as various ways we can reduce the wetness and stickiness of sourdough without changing its hydration level. We will hold back from slicing it too early the next time!! If baking in a pre-heated oven, turn on the oven to at least 200C/392F, once heated, add two big glasses of water to a dish on the bottom shelf full guide to stopping your sourdough bread from collapsing here, Flavored Sourdough: How To Make Additions To Sourdough Bread.