This site is powered by Drupal. After sourdough fermentation, the lactic acid bacteria produce acetaldehyde. Wet, sticky dough can be super messy - and preventing mess in the kitchen is always a good thing! Generally, flat loaves will still taste ok, they just lack that beautiful airiness we want to see in our sourdough. 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. Ensure that your dough is well fermented prior to shaping. #1 Sourdough Bread Baking 101 | Udemy 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). SOLUTION - reduce proofing time. Will be back to update! Bake in preheated, covered DO at 475F for 20 minutes, then uncovered at 450F for 20 minutes. We all know that drier dough is easier to handle since it sticks less, so use this to your advantage and make a basic low-to-medium hydration sourdough before you try the more difficult higher hydration ones. Cover the bowl and set aside for 30-60 minutes. Without these it will be sloppy and hard to handle. If the actual final hydration does meet your goal, or whatever formula/recipe you're working from, then the next suggestion for something to tweak would be bake temps and times. You want to be quick when moving or shaping the dough to prevent sticking. Its like an extension to your hand and can be used to improve your technique with the dough. (Top Reasons). All original site content copyright 2023 The Fresh Loaf unless stated otherwise. 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. You see, when your hands are wet, the dough cannot stick to them easily, so it just slips right through them. Over-proofed Sourdough Bread When sourdough bread is given too long of a rise time it will result in bread that is over-proofed. #1 Sourdough Bread Baking 101 - The Baking Network We will hold on to the knife the next time and be sure to wait longer. First, in a large mixing bowl, whisk the starter, water, orange zest and juice, and maple syrup or honey. My Sourdough Bread with a "Young" Levain - The Perfect Loaf Content posted by community members is their own. We can prevent wet sourdough from sticking by oiling our work surfaces, using wet hands to handle the dough and dusting the proofing containers. Even then the hydration would be on the very high side. Shape into batards. The steam that is trapped inside needs to move towards the outside. Bread SOS Episode 5: STICKY / TACKY / GUMMY Sourdough Crumb - YouTube The easiest thing you can do to handle your sticky sourdough is to simply make it less sticky by cutting back on the water. Autolyze reduces the wetness and stickiness of the dough and makes mixing and handling of the dough much easier. Easy everyday sourdough bread | King Arthur Baking 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. Small Batch Sourdough Bread - Ahead of Thyme However, if you are just about to shape your dough, adding flour is not an option. CAUSE - Spreading can be caused by a few factors including under fermented or over fermented dough as well as poor shaping technique. 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 If youre new to making sourdough bread, youre bound to run into a few issues at first, especially if youre not experienced with sticky dough. Rest for 30 minutes @76F. The remaining water coats the outside of the dough, causing it to appear wet and sticky. 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. When the lame scores the dough, the air escapes causing the dough to collapse. Bread mix, all-purpose flour, self-raising flour or cake flour can produce undesirable results when making sourdough. 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. On the other hand, rye sourdough is a bread that starts with sourdough starter instead of yeast but has at least some rye flour. sourdough before baking. If youre struggling with high hydration dough, then you should absolutely lower the hydration and see if you get better results. Instead, stretch and fold it. Make sure that you do your best to avoid this mistake by learning about sourdough fermentation timing and knowing when its ready to move onto the next step. Place on a peel, slip into the oven, and watch. 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. PROBLEM - Base of my sourdough bread is thick and chewy. Beginner bakers are best to start off with low to medium hydration dough before moving onto high hydration. If you're having trouble understanding the timing of bulk fermentation, I've written an easy to follow guide. Place a small oven-safe cooking pot (6x6-inches) with a metal lid into the oven and preheat to 450 F. Gently place dough with parchment paper into the pot. full guide to stopping your sourdough bread from collapsing here, Flavored Sourdough: How To Make Additions To Sourdough Bread. . Perfectly Crusty Sourdough Bread For Beginners | Bigger Bolder Baking Sourdough does not stop cooking when you take it out of the oven. Rye Sourdough Bread Red Currant Bakery It will look like cloudy water. And then mix in the other ingredients and forge ahead. Required fields are marked *. Cheaters No Knead Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread. - Half Baked Harvest 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. Bread SOS Episode 5: STICKY / TACKY Sourdough Crumb. You can find resources on shaping. Some Student Reviews: by Pam H - Outstanding. Breadopedia.com 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. Stir together until the starter is dissolved and the water looks cloudy. Then, introduce the remaining water in stages and mix only until the water is incorporated into the dough. Cranberry Orange Sourdough Bread If adjusting the bake times is something you want to explore, I'd suggest trying 450 covered for 25 minutes, then 400 uncovered for 25-30 minutes. If youre using a lot of wholewheat, youre going to be left with a very sticky dough, especially if its paired with high hydration. If your dough does not develop a sufficient gluten network, it will be wet, sticky and have no structure. Make sure that you're not using too much flour when shaping your dough. The trick is to pinpoint which one is affecting your dough so you can fix it or change your formula for next time. If you're not sure about some of the terms used in this article, you might find this sourdough glossary helpful. 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. We are compensated for referring traffic and business to Amazon and other companies linked to on this site. Baking the Sourdough: Preheat your oven to 450F (225C) and a baking pan. 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. More often than not a thick crust developing on the base is caused by cooking your bread in a Dutch Oven. I'll come back with the results in a week! You can try to prevent the problem by being more careful when proofing the yeast. (Rest for45 minutes @76Ffollowed by coil folds) - repeat 3x. Then the dough cant stick to them. It'll just take about 30 minutes in the fridge for the dough to firm until it's ready to roll. It's possible that the dough is rising too much during the cold retard which will also cause this issue. Wet and sticky dough not only sticks to the work surfaces but also to our hands, increasing the risk of tearing and making it very difficult to work with. Add in your white and whole wheat flours. When mixing dough of very high hydration, it can often be excessively wet and sticky and you may find it difficult for the dough to hold in all that water. The dough should be a little sticky before you start kneading it. Place the lid on and bake for 30 minutes. strengthening and maturing your sourdough starter. Bread needs gluten development in order to trap gas and rise, but this also helps the dough to become less sticky. If you're using all purpose flour, it can be a good idea to add some vital wheat gluten to the mix. Heres What To Do. Heres What To Do, how to stop sourdough sticking to everything, Good Food Good Mood Sign Free Printable. A hollow sound indicates that it's cooked. It is often easier to make. Why Is My Sourdough Too Sticky? Here's What To Do How Long Does Cookie Dough Last in the Fridge. The more gluten it contains, the better it holds together. We should aim to minimize the use of dusting flour in the baking process as the introduction of additional flour into our mix can significantly change the hydration level of the dough, resulting in a crumb that is drier and denser. The dough will be sticky and doesn't quite form a ball. Inside of bread too moist and gummy - Sourdough Place the bread pieces on a parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer. 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. One of the most obvious causes of wet dough is using too much water in the dough. Content posted by community members is their own. This allows them to get an understanding of how to handle basic dough before moving onto something more tricky. While the dough is proofing, preheat your oven to 230 C (450 F) and place your Dutch oven inside to preheat as well. More noticeable sour taste, possibly unpleasant. No matter how long you leave it to ferment, the yeast and bacteria won't actually grow or change. 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. Flip the bowl over onto the countertop so that the dough is now on top of the parchment paper. Oiling works just as well as dusting to create a non-stick surface which prevents your sticky dough from sticking and tearing. When water is excessively hard, it tightens the gluten as well as decrease fermentation rate. Second, mix the dough using a previously fed, active and bubbly sourdough starter, water and a mixture of bread and whole wheat flour. Rest for 30 minutes @76F. Maybe try leaving it a bit longer? Simply combine your flour and water before any of the other ingredients, fully incorporating the flour. This is really only an issue once you've done bulk fermentation and you are trying to shape your dough. CAUSE - This odd shape is caused by under fermentation. But we are utterly puzzled by the outcome again. Then, I use my wet hands to pick up a side of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over. You need to make sure that you keep your kitchen at a temperature between 24C - 28C (75F-82F). BEST TOOLS FOR MAKING BREAD AT HOME (Links to Amazon below). Your dough might be too sticky because you added too much water when making the initial mix, too. 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. Always ensure that youre using the right techniques for your sourdough to build the most gluten. Mix everything together. Stretch dough into rough 10"x17" rectangle, laminate and move to clean vessel for bulk. CAUSE - a tight and or uneven crumb is generally caused by under fermentation, but can also be due to not having a mature or active starter. You haven't let your dough bulk ferment for long enough so the yeast and bacteria have not been able to do their jobs effectively. 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. Instead of kneading your dough manually for 8-10 minutes, youd be better off using a series of stretch and folds to develop gluten. This is the dry mixture. Steaming is one of the most crucial steps when baking bread. I've written about 6 things you can do to ensure you get good sourdough oven spring (and leave the hockey pucks behind) here. Lightly Flour One Side Of The Dough During Shaping. Sticky Sourdough after baking | The Fresh Loaf Turn out to lightly floured counter, divide into 2, preshape. 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). 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. The flour will absorb water and become incorporated during the stretches and folds. More often than not a tight crumb with a number of larger holes - but it's not even or open. They give you what is called slack dough.If the dough is very slack and it isnt because you added too much water, then autolyze. If using a stand mixer, change to the dough hook. 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. Yes you read that right! 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. 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. If the dough breaks before you can pull it so thin that you can see the light, resume kneading. More often than not, gumminess is a result of under fermentation (cutting the bulk fermentation time too short). This allows the dough to absorb the water into the flour and start to form gluten strands that hold the bread together. Mix by hand until all the dry flour is incorporated. An under fermented sourdough loaf will have a shiny, pale crust that lacks crunch. Is Flatbread Healthier Than Regular Bread? 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). The only issue with this is that the oil will mix in with the dough and alter the flavor, so dont use a type of oil you dont want to risk tasting in the end product.Some people suggest waiting for dough to rise. Gently turn the dough out onto a separate floured flat baking tray (not preheated). If the bread dough feels correct but is the baked loaf is fragile and sticky inside, it is under-cooked. Russian Sourdough Dark Rye Bread Recipe 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. Or you need to give the sourdough starter more salt.Another root cause may be the recipe relative to your environment. 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. 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. Why Is My Sourdough Too Sticky? It is possible to make 100% hydration (or even higher) so there's really no such thing as too wet. . 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. Also, if you find the outside is brown and the inside is moist, that normally indicates you should lower the baking temp. Maybe 80% final hydration if your levain is more "liquid" than 100% Hyd. If you are doing decorative scoring, it's still advisable to have one "utility" score and then your more shallow, decorative scoring. I baked a loaf this morning and I dont gone cute it until we ready to eat it. Remove the potion from the refrigerator before chopping and boiling it. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'crustylabs_com-box-3','ezslot_2',120,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-crustylabs_com-box-3-0');There are other reasons besides having very high hydration levels that can cause your sourdough to be wet and sticky. Ensure that you have scored enough - you need one good score to ensure that your dough expands. Flour issues. I find that I need to bake the moisture out before the top crust gets too hard and seals in the moisture, and if that happens then you just end up over-baking the crust while it's still gummy inside. The bassinage technique is used to help build the dough up to the desired high level of hydration in stages. Some people add too much water to compensate. 2. 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. Mix with the paddle on low speed until it forms a thick batter. Just know that it will be sticky early in this process. Being slow or having any hesitation can lead to the dough adhering to something it shouldnt, which would make your life a lot more difficult. Let the integrated flour-and-water mass sit for up to an hour. Second sign: The dough has become loose and slack, and doesn't seem to hold any kind of shape. It will only improve the flavor. 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. I love adding cornmeal, both for flavor and texture, into my bread doughs: SOLUTION - Tunnels can have a few solutions: PROBLEM - My sourdough isn't cooked all the way through. This part is extremely important as its what determines whether you end up with a well-shaped sourdough or a mess. The chains of gluten give your dough strength and structure. Sourdough generally contains more water, which makes the gluten more likely to cling to everything. Place the sourdough into the pot using the silicone sling or parchment paper as a handle. If you're using a young sourdough starter, there's always a chance that it's just not quite ready to bake with and will cause your dough to be too wet and sticky. 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. 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. 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. Sourdough Rye Bread - Baking Sense - lower hydration in the total dough formula (already noted above). Placing a baking tray underneath your Dutch Oven should do the trick. Spelt Sourdough Bread: The Ultimate Guide to Health and Flavor The flour you choose can have a big bearing on how your dough feels throughout the whole sourdough process. Without salt, the dough becomes sticky and slack in nature, making it difficult to work with. Soft water has <50ppm, medium 50-100ppm (best for bread baking), hard >200ppm. Once you get it all set to go try this delicious Sourdough Focaccia recipe yum! In order to have an easier time handling the dough, you need to maximize gluten development. Instructions. Temperature is one of the most important factors when making sourdough. When I first started baking, everything that could go wrong, went wrong; it felt borderline alchemy to me. You'll find a full guide to all purpose flour vs bread flour here. 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. CAUSE - This is typically caused by under fermenting your dough, but can also happen through using too much flour when you shape your bread. Remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes to get a brown crust. However under fermented dough will not cook all the way through, so this sourdough bread problem can have a deeper cause. Thanks. This method involves mixing the dough so the flour is fully hydrated before performing a series of stretch and folds. 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 bread may still be sticky after baking if it has been underbaked, has too much water in it, or has had problems with gluten development in the dough. Temperature is one of the most important factors when making sourdough. You just get more un-fermented dough that wont stand up. It will stay very wet and sticky, rather than strengthen with each stretch and fold. You'll know you have sufficient gluten development by performing the window pane test on your dough. Sometimes white bread, while initially fine, after a few days becomes sticky inside as if its going back to a dough-state, though not quite. 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. Dont forget about your dough or leave it in a warm area for too long or youll end up regretting it. However, it's much better to find out the cause of the problem so you can fix it and prevent it from happening again. This arguably makes the dough easier to work with. All Purpose flour is ok, however it generally doesn't have the protein necessary to develop a strong gluten network. 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%. Just dont freeze it. I tried your suggestions, kinda - 2 large (880g) loaves baked covered at 465F for 25 minutes, then uncovered at 425 for 25 minutes. While sourdough is a wetter, stickier dough than what you may be used to, it should still be able to be stretched, folded and shaped without too many issues. Hi @Semolina, we waited only an hour before cutting into it, hasty on our part! Rest 50 minutes. 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! First, good effort, but where did you get the recipe from? Add the honey or maple syrup, pumpkin pure, pumpkin spice and salt. You can still bake it and eat it, but it will be a solid mass, not the light, airy sourdough you were expecting. I wouldn't reduce temperature, but rather increase baking time. I hardly ever bake with BF or AP, but I think you might want to try something in the range of 75% to start. It could be using the slap and fold, stretch and fold, rubaud kneading, or whatever youd like. This is called having over-proofed bread. Sourdough Bread | The Splendid Table If your dough is dry, it is because you added too much flour. The solution is to give it a few more folds after you add the dash of flour so that the flour mixes in fully and makes it more manageable. A good example of a low protein flour is general wholewheat flour. If you see anything inappropriate on the site or have any questions, contact me at floydm at thefreshloaf dot com. Troubleshooting Sourdough Bread - Baked Too much dusting of flour can also reduce stickiness to the point where sufficient skin tension is not able to be developed. 8 oz active sourdough starter, 12 oz warm water, 5 oz rye flour, 12 oz bread flour. Wet and sticky dough is caused by a few different issues. How To Make A Sourdough Starter - Sourdough Bread Undigested sourdough bread can ferment byproducts in your gut when it reaches your colon. 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. Why Is My Sourdough Bread Gummy? - Busby's But what if your dough is really wet and sticky and you just can't do anything with it? Read more about me and Breadopedia story here. 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 . 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%. Rest the dough for 30 minutes. . The only thing you might need to fix with your sourdough is its hydration. Place on a floured cake or bowl with a tea towel and fold over. Sourdough can take up to 24 hours to fully cool and come to room temperature. When water is excessively soft, the lack of minerals results in a sticky andslack dough. Water was 350 plus 45 in the starter for 395. 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. @halfbakedharvest.com Cheaters No Knead Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread. High temperatures can cause premature over fermentation, which will result in wet, sticky sourdough. If your dough is too dry, add a little moisture and mix it, adding just a little more water if necessary. This also provides its sour flavour and. Another tactic is adding flour to the work surface before you start working with the dough. 16 hour cold (38F) retard, in closed plastic bags. Now it is the sourdough starter or its use that is suspect. Oil the mixing bowl, the bowl used for bulk fermentation and folding, and the proofing vessel. 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.