If your dough is tearing like mine is, there are some typical reasons for this. Hi I'm Noris the Kung Fu baker with Sourdough Delight here to give you those answers!
First, your dough may have not been kneaded to the point where the gluten strands developed enough structure and elasticity- hence the window pane test where you stretch a piece of dough to see how thin it can be stretched before breaking. A good standard is about 8min of kneading; starting the clock at the point when all the wet and dry ingredients have mixed thoroughly.
Second, the wrong flour was used. There is a big difference between pastry flour, all-purpose and bread flour. Pastry has very weak gluten which is why you get a light and crumbly texture in cakes. Bread flour has a strong gluten content which gives you a chewy texture and has the ability to handle being folded and shaped without collapsing. All-purpose is a mixture of both pastry and bread flour so it's more versatile, which is why it works for cookies, bundt cakes and pizza.
Third, your recipe could be off in the amount of liquid (hydration), the wetter a dough, the soupier it is and harder to work with. The opposite is also true, the drier a dough the more effort/strength is needed to develop gluten structure. I shoot for 70-75% depending on the type of dough as whole grains absorb more and ingredients like nuts and dried fruit will absorb water as well.
In this case, I thought I was using bread flour but it turns out it was not. The first sign was my starter was a bit watery than normal for only being 6 hrs since the last refreshment/ feeding. Next, the dough was also more slack after mixing then normal, signs of either excess water in the recipe or really humid conditions in weather or in the flour or both. But since I make this recipe 2x a week with the same ingredient list for the last 5+ years and measure everything out to the gram, I'm normally spot on.
As I showed in the video, the doughs' temp was within my target range of 75-78F and had been fermenting at room temp (75F in the kitchen) for about 4 hours, which by then, it should be close to doubling in volume. But in this case, the dough has not risen much, mostly just flattened out from the last fold. Next, the surface of the dough isn't smooth and shiny, even after 3 session of stretch and folds with 20min rests between them. Typically, if dough wasn't kneaded to it's ideal point, your stretch and folds can help make up for it. In this case, we still have poor elasticity and visual tearing of the surface after only 4+ hours of bulk fermenting with ideal humidity and temperature. Now, tearing can occur after too long of a fermentation period or second rise. Excess acid will degrading the gluten matrix. It's like filling a balloon with air but then the rubber starts to dissolve because of the high acidity causing tiny holes or worse tears which allow the air to escape. This issue is often referred to as over-proofing.
In the past, I have baked this type of dough. It is a struggle to handle because it can tear very easily during shaping so speed and a very light hand is needed to keep deflating down to a minimum. Also, your second rise has to be very short (like 15min preferably less) so it doesn't flatten out and lose it's "loaf" shape and or tear. Plus, the dough doesn't rise well giving you a denser texture. Lastly, the crust lacks the beautiful caramel color remaining pale in spots (not sure why this is, if you know, please comment below). Therefore, I'm going to cut my loses short and give this batch to my chickens who interestingly enough love raw dough! Hope you've enjoyed and learned something- if so, please like and subscribe for more!
Happy Baking!
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