Hi all, first timer here, I'm at the shaping phase but the dough is just soggy and impossible to work with.
Used 90g starter (fed same day, slightly past peak), 285g lukewarm water, 350g white flour, 50g wholemeal and 10g salt. Added salt after a first 30min rest (someone said to cover bowl with wet tea towel in winter so I did), poked it in like focaccia and mixed it in by hand, let sit for 30min. Did 3 rounds of stretch & folds and 2 of coil folds every ~30min, I think. Everything was just fine and not at all runny when I left it to bulk ferment overnight. It was fermenting for 16hours in total (count starts from when the starter is added, right?) and I don't know if it's over or under fermented and if there's anything to do to save it. It was at least 50% in size, airy and jiggly but stuck to the sides. I tried doing coil folds and it got a tiny bit of shape but still no way I could shape it. Later tried slap and folds but it just started getting soggier. Help! I should by a thermometer but I think my apt is ~21°c (70 fahrenheit).
by royalserenity
33 Comments
I’m a beginner at sourdough but it looks over fermented like crazy
Yes, throw it. See if it will stick to the wall or ceiling. Any anoying neigbours would work as well. /s
Overnight at 21 degrees is quite the overkill, I’m afraid; this is overfermented as heck. I say bake it anyway, though! It’s tricky to make a perfect bread, but easy to make an edible one!
Wow, that is really slack dough! Sixteen hours is a long bulk ferment, even in cooler temps than the 70 degrees you report. Your dough is likely overproofed. But all is not lost! Add a generous spread of olive oil to a sheet pan, spread your dough out in the pan, top it with more OO, salt, rosemary and bake at 425 for about 22-25 minutes. And voila! Your first batch of focaccia. 😊 Better luck next time.
P.S. The Sourdough Journey has a bulk ferment guide here: [https://thesourdoughjourney.com/the-ultimate-sourdough-bulk-fermentation-guide/](https://thesourdoughjourney.com/the-ultimate-sourdough-bulk-fermentation-guide/)
Throw it on a parchment lined cookie sheet in blobs and you’ll basically have ciabatta
I have baked enough loaves to eye the water by instinct and handling, I can recommend adding a bit of flour till it holds shape, add a drizzle of olive oil and then let it bake into a [delicious focaccia ](https://alexandracooks.com/2019/03/22/simple-sourdough-focaccia-a-beginners-guide/)
This is overfermented. Best solution is to make focaccia out of it or bake directly on a hot pan as flatbread. Both options will be delicious either way. No need to throw it.
Time for focaccia!
Try less water next time. This is 71%hydration. For 400g flour try 240gwater
What protein content is the White flour?
Temperature dependent, but bulk fermentation would likely be complete in 4-6 hours with 90g of starter in that amount of flour. If you wanted to go 16 hours you would need to cut the starter down to 30-40g, maybe less.
This looks insanely over fermented, to the point that the gluten structure has completely broken down.
This either goes in the garbage or becomes focaccia.
Try this. I was having so many issues as a new starter and a friend sent me the below link and it really helped me. Have a lot of patience as well, its all a learning curve.
https://alexandracooks.com/2017/10/24/artisan-sourdough-made-simple-sourdough-bread-demystified-a-beginners-guide-to-sourdough-baking/#guide
I wish you luck and if in doubt just bake it anyway, theres no harm in it. Even for a giggle, ive done that plenty of times
That’s turned back into starter you can use it in discard recipes or in another dough
Focaccia
The longest BF time I think I’ve ever seen in this subreddit! All good, you could attempt focaccia with this one, and next time shorten your BF to be more like 9-10 hours long. Definitely check it at the 9 hour mark, and then keep checking every 30 mins or so until you see that it’s domed and has some bubbles near the top.
Over proofed, I love when this happens cause then I get to make focaccia lol
Over fermented, quite a long way as well.
Temperature is a very good guide to how long you should do the bulk ferment for. A nice digital probe thermometer is not that expensive, I have a Thermofisher that I absolutely love. It’s orange and has a fairly potent magnet on the back so it’s kept stuck on the fridge.
At 21C the bulk ferment will probably take about 5-6 hours. If you then retard the dough (cold proof) you have a fairly wide window where you can bake. Sometime between 12-24h is ideal. Retarding is far less time sensitive than the bulk ferment. So that’s where you can relax a bit. Some recipes can go longer, but you tend to lose structure.
This is a very high hydration. Next time use more flour. The dough should be silky and easy to handle. You will like a tasty focaccia with this dough!
Hey, you could try incorporating more flour until it becomes more workable. Just add flour and knead as you go. You’ll probably need quite a lot of flour, maybe 100-200g and you’ll probably lose the hydration % but you’ll have a more workable bread than what you have right now.
For future breads consider lowering the water amount, it could be your flour that cant take such a high amount of water.
Add flour, it’s too wet. Probly wet your hands too much
Put your next batch in the fridge to ferment after the folds and turns at room temp (I do 4ish hours, filling and turning every 20-30 mins). Shape then throw in the fridge (I use a colander and wrap the dough in a dish towel sprinkled with rice flour since I don’t have a banneton yet). 16 hrs is wayyyy too much at 21 degrees room temp. 12-36 hrs in the fridge develops the best flavour too!
If you still have this, just keep it as more starter at this point. Or toss it. I dunno I’ve never fermented this long ever. Maybe you can make pancakes?
I think this might be too far gone (overfermented), even for focaccia
my suggestion would be to turn it into crackers 😊
unfortunately it’s way over fermented. in a 21c/70F apartment, i wouldn’t have left it longer than 12 hours max, & even then i always recommend watching the dough & not the clock, so i would’ve tried to peek at it before leaving it overnight or checked on it periodically throughout the day time to see where it was at both in terms of visual but also i usually poke it a bit to see if it still feels dense or if it is starting to feel airy
Check out bake with jack in our [Sourdough heroes](https://www.reddit.com/r/Sourdough/wiki/new_index_oct_2020/) wiki page. His recipe is based on 71f/22c. Jack is great.
I believe all these overfermented comments are not correct. I ferment my bread overnight all the time and it’s never been like this.
What type of water did you use? Is it city water with chlorine or any other chemicals? That’s why. If it has anything added to it, it will kill sourdough and the you will get a sloppy mess like this.
Is the water from a well but you use water softener? This will also kill your sourdough. Water softener uses salt and salt will kill it as well and make it all soupy.
Did you use reverse osmosis water? This will also mess with your bread. Reverse osmosis water basically has no bacteria or minerals and the sourdough needs some level of bacteria/minerals to eat away at so it can grow. Reverse osmosis water makes a sluggish sourdough.
Use plain, basic water. Well water with no additives if you have it. If not, use basic spring water from the store. Don’t use distilled water as this has the same problem as reverse osmosis water.
You should be aiming for 5-6 hours of ferment at room temperature, and then in the fridge overnight. If you did 16 hours at room temperature then it’s way over-fermented. This is how we learn! You’ll get it next time.
Every time I see dough like this I make the same comment.
There’s only one case where I have ever worked with dough this consistency, and it happens when making panettone with a starter that is too acidic – the dough completely breaks down like this. I’m not sure even 16 hours of fermentation would cause this. I keep a small amount of dough in a beaker to gauge rise. sometimes I keep the dough in there for over 24 hours because I forget about it in the counter. The dough is never this consistency.
My bet is always on the starter. It might have gotten too acidic. This is something that I find no one really talks about outside of panettone.
How do you maintain your starter?
Always throw is in the oven…
Where did you source your recipe, chatgpt?
Could be overhydrated. I’ve had a couple of batches turn out like this. I’m not sure how, but one was at least partially due to the amount of wine involved 😅
Hi. Your dough has collapsed into the fallen starter state and degassed through handling. The yeast is still live The only way to retrieve this would be to use it like a starter and feed it with more flour and a little fresh water.
For one loaf, and the same size loaf 300s;300f;75w. This should double in about hours. Enough time to autolyse and do three sets if stretch and fold before shaping and cold retarding. Thus should give you a similar dough consistency to the original but an enhanced bulk ferment characteristics.
The remainder can be saved in the fridge for repeat of the above.
Happy baking
Just treat it like starter.