Bread, Dough and extreme frustration...

[rodentraiser]

I know, but apparently having all those holes in the baguette is the Hol(e)y Grail of baguette making (that's a pun!). I got sort of close to that once, but I don't know how I did it and I've never been able to reproduce my best effort.

One thing about having all those holes in a baguette is when you slice the baguette lengthwise to make sandwich bread, it isn't so terribly dense. And all those holes are nooks and crannies for whatever you put on the sandwich.

 

[Mad Cook]

Ok so I'm not normally a bad cook, most things come right the first time I try them, including complex cakes and the like but...

I can't make bread.

This is so frustrating for me. I've finally got the temperature right for the yeast and I get a good rise but I can't get the dough right.

I can never get my dough to look like the dough in almost every youtube video I've watched. It simply never happens. The dough is either much too sticky that I can't kneed it, or much too stiff and it 'tears' as I kneed it and kneeding it for 30 mins doesn't result in a silky elastic dough.

I'm using the Great British Bake off reciepe as they are normally a good place to start:

700grams strong bread flour,
450ml luke warm water
7g Dried active yeast,
2 tablespoons of salt.

Mix the dry, make a well, add the liquid.

But I had to add more flour for it to be kneedable and now it just 'tears' and rips as I kneed it. It also feels somewhat stiff but I've no idea what is too stiff or not.

I dont want to add more water, as even now, when I kneed it hard and ir rips and tears, it gets sticky again and I have to dust more flour to continue to kneed without it getting stuck to my fingers...



Any advice?

Dough does seem too moist when you first start kneading but persevere and it will "come to". Don't run mad with extra flour while kneading as this is what it making your dough hard. Do you use a mixer or processor to start the kneading? It helps if you don't like the initial stickiness.

It's more or less impossible to successfully add water once the dough is at the kneading stage.

You may need to experiment with your flour. The age of the flour and even the weather can affect the amount of liquid your dough will require but not by a huge amount.

 

[GotGarlic]

I know, but apparently having all those holes in the baguette is the Hol(e)y Grail of baguette making (that's a pun!). I got sort of close to that once, but I don't know how I did it and I've never been able to reproduce my best effort.

One thing about having all those holes in a baguette is when you slice the baguette lengthwise to make sandwich bread, it isn't so terribly dense. And all those holes are nooks and crannies for whatever you put on the sandwich.

Well, there's a wide range from dense to airy. I think that particular example is too much on the airy side. The holes are too much and too big. This is what I would prefer.

I don't know whose Holey Grail it is, but it's not mine!