Bread dough got sticky

Cafe Society
1

Making some homemade bread. I used 500g of 100% whole wheat flour with 80% hydration and autolysed it in the refrigerator overnight. This morning I kneaded in the active dried yeast (a whole packet which may have been to much. maybe it’s 1 pkt per 100g of flour) and salt at 2% the texture was perfect. Rose a couple hours then the stretch and fold. Rose another couple hours and the same thing. So far perfect. Here is where I made my mistake I believe. I gave it a third rise and it ended up sticky and despite my best efforts to shape it it spread out. I have it in the oven right now so we’ll see if it rises but I don’t have high hopes. I just didn’t get that tension when shaping it.

Here’s my question. Is that a symptom of overproofing the dough? If so, is there any way to recover my bread if it happens next time?

2

I don’t see how that can be from overproofing.

Bread dough is a great indicator of humidity. During the time of the various proofings, did the weather change? More rain?

~VOW

3

Three risings? I’ve never done more than two. Have you done that many risings before?

4

The third rising was an experiment since the first 2 were so vigorous.

5

I routinely do four; but they’re four in immediate succession, over a much less extended period than the OP is describing, so I don’t know whether the total length of time might be an issue.

Mine rises once in the sponge stage; then add the rest of flour, and oil/salt as/if desired, and knead; rise a second time, punch down; rise a third time, knead briefly, put into loaf pans; rise once more in the pans before baking. Each rising takes somewhere around 40 minutes, though, depending on temperature that the dough’s at.

I’ve never had it sticky except during the first kneading, when more flour is added each time it starts to stick. It gets coated with oil after that, which might also be a factor. If there’s no sweetener in the dough, sometimes the yeast does seem to run out of steam towards the end.

6

This is caused by one of three things (or a combination):

  • too much water in the dough
  • dough not mixed enough
  • used cold water instead of warm

Generally, the remedy is to add more flour. You can do this up until the second rise. After that, all you can really do is dust the outside with extra flour and pray.

7

A little off topic- but what is the “sponge stage”? I’ve never seen a recipe that used that term - is it something similar to sourdough starter or a biga?

8

The sponge method is to mix the dough the evening before you intend to bake it and let it double in size before you go onto knead it. This ferments the dough and gives the bread a greater depth of flavour. For me this makes a really tasty bread. You only need to knead once with this method so I also find it easier - it just means you have to start the process much earlier.

9

That’s a little different than what I know a sponge as. A sponge is a kind of starter that your ferment overnight (or longer) and then you mix in with the rest of your flour, water, and ingredients before baking. (You usually use around half of your ingredients for the sponge, then add the rest after the ferment and let it rise again with all the ingredients.)

So, yes, biga and poolish are basically types of sponges.

What I do (and what I’m doing right now), is that early in the week, I do a no-knead bread, usually at around 70-75% hydration, let it rise for about 6-8 hours at room tempt, then stick it in the fridge for severals days to allow to ferment and develop flavor. Somewhere around day 4 or 5 it peaks, and I let it come to room temp, do a normal rise, and bake. But that’s with white flour. I don’t know as much about whole wheat other than it takes more water and benefits especially from an autolyse step (which the OP did.)

10

What I’m doing for a sponge stage isn’t actually either of those. I’m not making a sourdough, and it doesn’t sit overnight. If it sat overnight it would eat the house – well, probably not if you kept it cold enough.

Warm water (or milk; I start with four cups of liquid which will wind up making three loaves), sweetener (honey or sugar or maple syrup, but something with actual sugars in it to help feed the yeast), yeast, and about half the flour; if some of the flour will be low or no gluten types, the half going in the sponge should I think be the higher gluten flour. Do not, repeat do not, add any oil or salt at this stage. (It’ll probably work without the sweetener, if the yeast is good and fresh; only the flour, water, and yeast are really essential.)

Texture should be about like thick pea soup. Beat well with a large wooden spoon or similar, but if there’s a tiny lump or two left it doesn’t really matter.

Let rise in warm place until doubled in size. Cover to keep drafts out, but not with a towel unless you use a bowl a lot more than twice the depth of the original mix! if you misjudge the timing at all you’ll never get the sponge back out of that towel. Cover with something easy to wash, like a plate.

Depending on temperature it may take about 35 minutes to an hour to rise. Set a timer. If you forget about it, it’ll climb out of the bowl and make a huge mess all over the place.

When you come back to it you’ll see why it’s called a sponge. Stir it down; add oil and salt if/as desired, and enough flour so you can start kneading it. Put more flour on your kneading surface, and knead well, maybe 10 to 15 minutes, adding more flour as needed every time it starts to get sticky.

Put some oil in the bowl, roll the dough around in it till it’s well coated (this and the oil in the pans is usually the only oil I put in the bread), cover, let rise until doubled again.

Punch it down, pretty much literally: shove your fist into it with some vigor about 30 times. Let rise till about doubled again.

Take it out of the bowl and form it into loaves. Put enough oil in the bread pans to coat well and put the loaves in first upside down then turn over so they get coated with oil. Cover with a towel, and let rise the fourth time; it should wind up well over the top of the pans. Then bake.

(I never put salt in it. The multiple risings, combined with quality whole wheat bread flour, maybe some unbleached white, and a cup or two of some other flour such as corn or rye, give it plenty of flavor – not just for me, whenever I make it for other people it disappears in a hurry.)

11

I just bought a dutch oven and I’ve been cultivating some starter for a couple of weeks. So Saturday I will introduce the starter to some dough and the oven.

12

Hijacking my own thread, anyone interested in sourdough baking may want to start their own starter and help NC State with their Sourdough Project. I’m doing that - 5 days in and doing two wild starters: one inside and one outside.

13

Saint Cad - How did that loaf turn out? You never said.

StG

14

No rise like I thought.

15

Hehe, I started one that’s become completely delicious after many feedings/refrigerator cycles. It’s served me well in making a bunch of homemade bread over the last couple of months. It’s gotten to the point where my wife and I are sometimes coming up with weekend cooking ideas based on the bread we can think up to bake. I might go ahead and start another two using their prescribed method so I can participate.