To pass the water test you have to take 2 tablespoons of your sourdough starter and feed it 100g of bread flour and 100g of water. Make it rest in a warm and dark place for about 4h and it should be able to pass the test.
- 200g sourdough starter
- 400g water
- 300g organic white flour + 300g wholeweat organic flour
- 12g of salt (should be added after mixing the above and letting it rest for 1h)
After mixing all the ingredients and letting it rest, I added the 12g of salt + a splash of water but the splash was maybe too much as the dough was really sticky ==> too hydrated?
Being too hydrated it is really hard to work on it. I did not let it rest over night in the fridge and decided to bake it directly. Take care not to put too much water when putting it in the dutch oven.
This time the surdough did not pass the water test.
All the same as the above except that I tried with only 2 tablespoon of water when adding the salt but it is still too hydrated and sticky.
The surdough passed the water test.
I let it rest in the fridge for more than 2 days. I'm not sure about the effect it had on the dough but it might have soften it way much than needed. The dough was still too hydrated and it was a mess trying to put in the oven. It cracked and I had to throw it in the dutch oven.
I think the solution to too much hydration is a long kneading time. Perhaps 10min kneading and 30m rest, repeat the cycle multiple times.
The sourdough starter passed the water test.
The quantity are the same as the 2 previous try but this time with only one tablespoon of water when adding the salt. It didn't change anything. The dough is still super sticky even though I kneaded it 2 times during 10min each and resting 30min inbetween.
I start to wonder if the problem does not come from the flour I use. I use ** whole wheat rye flour** and white wheat flour. Perhaps the problem is also the way I manipulate the dough. I might be better of working it with my fingertips instead of my full hands.
Another way to solve the problem would be to level the quantity of water I put in. Keep the 400g of water but don't add the whole quantity and judge by the texture. Or perhaps increase the whole wheat quantity instead of the white wheat flour it soaks up more water.
The sourdough starter didn't pass the water test.
The quantity were:
- 200g sourdough starter
- 400g water
- 700g 50/50 rye whole wheat flour and white wheat flour
Autolyse duration: 45min.
The dough is a lot less sticky on the finger. I feel I'll be able to work it a lot better now.
I let it rest for pretty much 24h. It went all bubbly and the result was just way too hydrated as always. Impossible to manipulate it without having the whole dough on the hand. I can't even properly fold it or whatever. I'll just send it in the hoven as is. Next!
Having the dough resting that much makes it more sour.
Perhaps the quantity given by Alex are good. I'll try to add some flour to the first work on the dough maybe that's what is going to make the difference.
It definitely changes the game. I can work more easily the dough even though it still sticks to the fingers.
I tried to make a parmesan cheese bread this time. I kept the same quantity as usual but I added 180g of cheese. The dough is a lot less hydrated and sticky than before. It definitely looks more like the one in Alex' video. It was a bit cumbersome to knead it however, perhaps I shall add some more water next time I had cheese like that.