February 11, 2007 - 1:35pm
Working wet dough
I have some dough sitting waiting for me to knead it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in order to get big holes, or at least bigger than I have been getting, the dough needs to be wet. I have this issue every time. It's really sticky. How do I knead it without having sticky fingers? EVERY time, it starts out wet, but I end up adding flour to stop it from sticking. The bread turns out good....I've been posting pics, but I don't get big holes. I've read about folding after the rise, but what about the initial knead? Jim wrote to let the dough rest after mixing, before kneading. Mine has been resting for an hour. Hopefully, someone will respond soon. If not, I'll use what I learn next time. ;-D
Steph
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Hi Steph:
Working with wet dough is a learning experience in how to handle it. It is very wet and will of course stick to your fingers and hands if you are hand kneading. I flour my kneading area very little when kneading the dough. You only need to hand mix it for a few minutes. Then, flour a large bowl and shape your wet dough as best you can into a boule shape and drop it in the bowl, Cover and let rise 45 min to an hour and flour your counter with flour (good quantity) scrape your dough (gently) out of the and stretch it out as long as you can without tearing and fold it letter style (this is the first turn). Place it back in the bowl smooth side down and let it rise for an additional 45 min or so and repeat above. You may have to make as many as 5 turns before the dough is ready to form. The dough will get more springy as you progress. Let it rest after the final turn for another 45 minutes or so then shaple your loaves as usual. Hope this helps. King Arthur Flour has a very informative DVD that shows this process very well. Hope this helps.
Wayne
I just made my first two loaves of sour dough yesterday and was somewhat disapointed in the tight crumb and weight of the bread. The flavor is good but I think I could probably use them for door stops. My dough wasn't nearly wet enough I think and we waaaayyyy over kneaded it 10-15 minutes per the recipe. *Sigh*. I will try again next week-end. In the meantime I did a google search and found this great site that has some short bread making videos intorduced by Julia C. Here's the link:
http://www.pbs.org/juliachild/meet/silverton.html
Okay, so is there a trick to keep it from sticking to my fingers? Thats the worst part. Just touching it gets so icky. The more fingers involved, the more dough sticks. Or do you just fold it and wash off whatever has stuck to your hands?
I'm still dealing with my dough from yesterday. It's really wet.
This cannot be good.
Steph:
Your dough is way too wet for handling by hand..............add some more flour until it sorta looks like lava flowing out of your mixing bowl..........still very wet, but dry enough to handle. Put it on your board and act like you are shaping it into a boule, give it a quarter turn and repeat. After a few minutes the "top" of your boule shape will begin to be shaped. Just make sure you do not add any more flour while your are doing this....it will be very temping to add more flour so the dough is more manageable, this is exactly what you do not want to do. If you add more flour at this point you are destroying the big holes you are trying to achieve. Transfer the kneaded dough into a bowl and let it rest for 45 min or so. Think you should use a bowl until you are accustomed to handling wet dough like this. Through some flour on top of the rested dough (sprinkle on top and along the sides.) Sprinkle some flour on your kneading board, enough to keep the wet dough from sticking, and use a plastic dough scraper around the sides of the bowl, scraping down and under the dough ball and it should fall out onto your board. Then, make your first turn and place the envelope , smoth side down, back into your bowl. Repeat, making as many turns as you need to get the dough envelope firmer and springier. Good luck. Don't give up !
Wayne
I folded it several times as best I could. After it rose twice, today I put (poured) it into small bread tins I have. They should be cooled in about an hour. I'll post pics after I cut one of them open.
This altitude sucks for baking. 65% hydration is too little, 75% is obviously too much. I'll try 70% next time. I'll just pour in 65%, then add a couple tablespoons at a time until I get the consistancy I want.
Steph