It's really important to develop the gluten in your sourdough to ensure you don't end up with a wet and sticky mess. 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 Cover with plastic wrap and keep covered in a warmish place in your kitchen at around 77F (24C) for 1 hour. Set aside. Gently turn the dough out onto a separate floured flat baking tray (not preheated). The gluten structure has become weak and is unable to hold up. It's wider on the bottom and almost pointy at the top, rather than having a rounded shape. 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! When the percentage of damaged starch particles in flour exceeds 10%, your dough will become wetter and stickier over time. Third, mix in the soaker, mixing and incorporating the grains and seeds into . The two main bread baking systems commonly used today are the sponge/pre-ferment system and the straight dough system. 3. Throughout the shaping, the dough felt aerated and light and bouncy and it was easy to handle after dipping our hands in water. Your dough should be split into two sides. Stretch dough into rough 10"x17" rectangle, laminate and move to clean vessel for bulk. So I suspect a miscalculation, and you might actually be doing 80% final hydration. Nothing smells better than the wheaty aroma of freshly baked goods; I enjoy it so much that I decided to quit my day job as a management consultant to teach others about the delicate art of baking! Once you get it all set to go try this delicious Sourdough Focaccia recipe yum! Young sourdough starter lacks the established yeast colonies necessary to raise bread. It is often easier to make. As gluten develops more readily in a drier environment, this method allows the extra hydration to be easily incorporated into 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. We can prevent wet sourdough from sticking by oiling our work surfaces, using wet hands to handle the dough and dusting the proofing containers. Your email address will not be published. bread sticky after baking. Autolyse vs Fermentolyse: Which One Should You Use? 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. If you find your sourdough bread dough is too sticky when you are dividing and preshaping, it might be because it's over hydrated, under strengthened, or under proofed. 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}. This site is powered by Drupal. Stir together until the starter is dissolved and the water looks cloudy. I think it's quite common to get some stickiness if you are slicing fairly soon after the end of bake. A well developed gluten network has the strength to hold the gases and produce an even crumb. However, the dough may be too hydrated for your location. Even though our dough doubled in size at the end of four hours with visible strength around the rounded sides, there weren't bubbles on the surface of the dough. I love adding cornmeal, both for flavor and texture, into my bread doughs: Here are some options for working with wet, sticky over fermented sourdough. Whenever you handle your sourdough, you want to avoid pulling and stretching the dough too much or using sharp materials around it. All original site content copyright 2023 The Fresh Loaf unless stated otherwise. Wet hands are a good idea when handling dough, however you should be able to shape your dough with dry hands very easily. Let your sourdough bread come to room temperature before you cut into it. Bread SOS Episode 5: STICKY / TACKY Sourdough Crumb. Sourdough made with bread flour can take up to 6 hours to cool properly. I am constantly baking hockey pucks! American flour has a damaged starch percentage of roughly 8-9% while European flour has a lower damaged starch percentage at about 7%. We should fold once every hour of bulk fermentation. I've been making breads recently which, while they're delicious, seemingly well-baked, and with an open crumb, are a bit tacky/sticky to the touch and during slicing. You don't want to add extra flour as this will affect the texture of the end product (which actually won't be very good at that point). Your email address will not be published. Sticky and unmanagable sourdough. Kneading manually will most likely just make a sticky mess thats stuck all over your fingers and difficult to clean up, but with the stretch and fold, youre touching the dough very little and you wont have to worry about it sticking too much. This method works better with slack dough anyway. In this article, we're going to talk about some of the causes of what makes this happen, as well as how to sort it out if it does happen. BAKE YOUR SOURDOUGH Preheat your oven to 450F (230C) half an hour before the end of proving. Final internal temp 211FSliced after cooling for 4 hours. Placing a baking tray underneath your Dutch Oven should do the trick. This site is powered by Drupal. Help! You might want to leave the bread in the oven for 10 minutes with the oven off and door ajar to help wick away some of the extra moisture. Baking parchment paper is characteristic for its non stick ability without the need for any dusting of flour or oiling. This is a one of the most frustrating sourdough bread problems to have. What to do: This is a heavily over proofed dough. If you simply cant handle sourdough with medium-to-high hydration, its better for you to either gradually knead in more flour or start off with less water in the first place. The flour you choose can have a big bearing on how your dough feels throughout the whole sourdough process. High hydration can be anything with 70% water content or higher. If your dough is too dry, add a little moisture and mix it, adding just a little more water if necessary. . 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. Too much dusting of flour can also reduce stickiness to the point where sufficient skin tension is not able to be developed. CAUSE - There are a few reasons your crust is too pale. Other ingredients, like honey, may also make your sourdough wet and sticky. SOLUTION - Allow your bread to cool for AT LEAST 90 minutes (much longer for rye bread). Since using dry hands can be such a big problem for the sticky dough, Id advise that you get yourself a bowl of water to dip your hands in before you handle the dough. The stickiest of doughs are the ones that dont have a developed gluten network. Take the temp before cutting into it. On the other hand, rye sourdough is a bread that starts with sourdough starter instead of yeast but has at least some rye flour. Place a long piece of parchment paper over the bowl with the dough. It has a more uniform appearance than a quick bread, and it cant leave you with a nasty chemical aftertaste. A. Boil the kettle too. If your sourdough has a very thick base which is burnt or just very tough, there's a very simple fix for this. You just need to reduce the heat on the base of your Dutch Oven or baking tray. Its like an extension to your hand and can be used to improve your technique with the dough. For the most recent of these, I used the following recipe/process:66.67% 600g King Arthur Bread Flour33.33% 300g Whole-Grain Einkorn (locally grown and milled by River Valley Community Grains, in NJ)20% 180g Liquid levain (King Arthur AP Flour)2.1% 19g Kosher Salt75% 675g Water, Levain built and matured for 3 hours @85F . But you could also use other methods such as kneading or coil folds. Thanks so much. Bread mix, all-purpose flour, self-raising flour or cake flour can produce undesirable results when making sourdough. Add the honey or maple syrup, pumpkin pure, pumpkin spice and salt. After every fold, you will notice a significant improvement in dough strength and significant reduction in the wetness and stickiness of the dough. How Long Does Cookie Dough Last in the Fridge. 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. In my other courses, I teach how to bake all sorts of sourdough breads, but in this course, I won't load you down with lots of information, just enough so it is easy and fun to bake your first loaf of sourdough. Acetaldehyde is a known stomach irritant and causes watery diarrhea. Place the lid on and bake for 30 minutes. Once one side is stretched and dusted, you should shape the dough and put it into your banneton. When the lame scores the dough, the air escapes causing the dough to collapse. Autolyse for an hour before adding the starter (rest 30m) and salt (rest 15m) all by hand using the folding and pinching method. Then, I use my wet hands to pick up a side of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over. An under fermented sourdough loaf will have a shiny, pale crust that lacks crunch. SOLUTIONS - These are the things you can do to try to avoid your dough splitting naturally: PROBLEM - your sourdough bread has an uneven crumb. sourdough after baking. Let's dive into each of these reasons and see how you can avoid or correct the situation. This is particular difficult if you're working in humid conditions. Sourdough can be a little tricky as it can take time for the flour to absorb the water during the autolyse process. Steaming. Also check the temperature of your fridge to ensure it's 4C or under. 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. 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. Extending bulk fermentation will help to fix this problem. When using the autolyse method which call for the initial incorporation of only flour and water without salt, we may sometimes forget to include salt in the final mixing phase. The water and other wet ingredients are absorbed into the flour. Large mixing bowl Measuring cups and spoons Bread thermometer ( fancy or a budget one) Scoring lame Extra (nice to have): Kitchen scale Dough scraper and bowl scraper (yes, they are different) Cooling rack Baking stone (you don't need a dutch oven if you use this) Learn how to make bread and pizza with this awesome book. In our previous attempts, we thought it was undercooked, hence the longer baking time for Charlie this time round. Use a 65% water content and you should be able to handle the dough and shape it with little to no problem at all. A simple way to check that your dough is cooked through is to tap the base. Two things - the hydration listed (390g flour and 350g water) is way too high for almost any bread that's not 100% whole wheat. Dough made with a young sourdough starter just won't develop. Shape into batards. You can try to prevent the problem by being more careful when proofing the yeast. Without these it will be sloppy and hard to handle. Rest for 30 minutes @76F. Second, mix the dough using a previously fed, active and bubbly sourdough starter, water and a mixture of bread and whole wheat flour. This will give the sourdough a chance to find new pockets of sugars and starches to consume. BAKE TIME: 30 Minutes with the lid on at 230C/450F plus 10-15 Minutes with the lid off at 210C/410F. Place the bread pieces on a parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer. This site is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. . Hot water strengthens the gluten in the flour. 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! Add a little flour and knead it a few times to make it more manageable. I went here and checked the recipe -https://www.abeautifulplate.com/artisan-sourdough-bread-recipe/ it called for 350 BF and 90 WW, for a total of 440, plus 45 from the starter ( which was 100% hydration) for a total of 485. Thanks for the suggestions about leaving the bread to cool longer. You see, when your hands are wet, the dough cannot stick to them easily, so it just slips right through them. Remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes to get a brown crust. Maybe 80% final hydration if your levain is more "liquid" than 100% Hyd. We will hold on to the knife the next time and be sure to wait longer. Please take that into account. 25 minute proof at room temperature. STEP FOUR: Pour the starter/water mixture into the flour mixture and stir, using a fork, into a thick, sticky ball. 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. Mix until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl . A lack of oven spring could be due to a shaping issue, under fermentation or poor gluten development - but more often than not it's a combination of a few things. The water absorbed from the damaged starches is then gradually released and the dough that was initially dry and strong becomes wet, sticky and weak over time. I understand in the beginning you want to see the inside but do yourself a favor and wait at least 3 ours. Instructions. 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. Hi, I'm Kate! Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. One of the best might just be whipping up a batch of sourdough crackers with just a cup of your discarded starter, a cup of flour, a dash of salt, and about a quarter cup of butter. water) slightly (eg. 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. 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. 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. I wouldn't reduce temperature, but rather increase baking time. This happens because it is more difficult for gluten network to be developed in a wetter dough, which makes it more difficult for water to be retained into the dough, and the dough tends to stay wet and sticky throughout mixing. 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. Some things to have on hand to work with really wet dough are: So how do you fix wet and sticky sourdough? Loaf In a small mixing bowl, mix the flour and salt together thoroughly. 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. Step 3 - Total amount of flour is 80 grams + 600 grams = 680 grams. High temperatures can cause premature over fermentation, which will result in wet, sticky sourdough. Even then the hydration would be on the very high side. In other cases, the issue is the recipe. The problem with damaged starches comes from the over absorption of water. The yeast has too much energy when it hits the oven and this excess energy causes a "rush" when your dough hits the oven. Learn how to make bread and pizza with this awesome book. This method involves mixing the dough so the flour is fully hydrated before performing a series of stretch and folds. Dough that splits in this way is almost always under fermented. Just dont freeze it. No matter how long you leave it to ferment, the yeast and bacteria won't actually grow or change. Content posted by community members is their own. Score the bread on top with any design you like. The only solution for this is to toss your dough and put your time into strengthening and maturing your sourdough starter. In my other courses, I teach how to bake all sorts of sourdough breads, but in this course, I won't load you down with lots of information, just enough so it is easy and fun to bake your first loaf of sourdough. When water is excessively soft, the lack of minerals results in a sticky andslack dough. Jack Sturgess. *This article may contain affiliate links. For example a gummy crumb can be caused by a starter that's too young and or under fermented dough. The only thing you might need to fix with your sourdough is its hydration. The next day, preheat the oven to 500 degrees for 60 minutes. 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. Baking the Sourdough: Preheat your oven to 450F (225C) and a baking pan. Remove the pot from the oven using pot holders (please be very careful ). 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. It will be sticky. We can prevent wet sourdough from sticking by oiling our work surfaces, using wet hands to handle the dough and dusting the proofing containers. 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. Mix dry ingredients together. Sticky sourdough isnt something anybody wants to work with, but it is completely normal and something that you need to get used to if youre going to get good at making sourdough bread. Over fermentation is a cause of wet, sticky dough. Thanks!! Below, Ive listed the main reasons your sourdough is sticky, so have a look through and see how they might be affecting your dough. It can be caused by over fermenting or under fermenting your dough, but also by other things like shaping issues. Think about how professional bakers look when handling their dough. I bake high hydration (88-90%) near 100% whole-grain loaves. 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. 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. 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. The flour will absorb water and become incorporated during the stretches and folds. Instead, stretch and fold it. Also, remember that sourdough is extra sticky when the gluten isnt fully developed. If youre struggling with high hydration dough, then you should absolutely lower the hydration and see if you get better results. It can be a mixture of rye and wheat or just rye. If the recipe is overly generous with the sourdough starter fermentation time, you end up adding too much-trapped air to the recipe and get a sticker dough. High temperatures can cause premature over fermentation, which will result in wet, sticky sourdough. Damaged starch particles also varies from one milling facility to another. Different types of mixers uses different mixing arm which develops the dough at different rates. You should aim to handle your dough more like that as you get more practice. This will ensure that the bread is cooked all the way through. no one but me would notice or care). We actually followed this recipe twice, the first time was in the exact proportion mentioned with a hydration of 81% and "Betty" turned out tacky and moist. If you're not sure about some of the terms used in this article, you might find this sourdough glossary helpful. PROBLEM - My sourdough never puffs up in the oven. During this time, the flour has the chance to fully hydrate and gluten network is able to develop in spite of the lack of mechanical mixing. Sourdough can take up to 24 hours to fully cool and come to room temperature. Read more about me and Breadopedia story here. This is done in intervals over the course of a few hours, so the dough has plenty of time to become more elastic and less sticky. Often the bottom of your sourdough is burning. full guide to stopping your sourdough bread from collapsing here, Flavored Sourdough: How To Make Additions To Sourdough Bread. If your dough is under fermented it will lose shape quickly and spread when it's tipped out of the banneton. Carefully make it round again pushing the seams underneath. Over-proofed Sourdough Bread When sourdough bread is given too long of a rise time it will result in bread that is over-proofed. It will stay very wet and sticky, rather than strengthen with each stretch and fold. 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. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.Thanks!Jeff.