Let’s say you are taking your dough out of the kneader or while you are shaping it, you notice that it tends to tear.
Two causes are possible:
(1) you may have “tough dough” or,
(2) you have what’s called “too short” dough.
Here are some tips to reduce strength or give scalability to your dough!
Why is my dough so tough?
The causes can be multiple. This can come first from your flour:
- Your flour is too strong (excess gluten or excessive kneading)
- Your flour is not very diastatic
- Your flour has an excess of ascorbic acid
Other causes may also explain a dough that is too tough, including:
- An excess of fermented dough (and / or it’s too old)
- An unjustified flap, or too much tightening,
- oo firm or too hot dough,
- Too little hydration,
- A lack or excess of kneading,
“Too short” dough tears very quickly and has no flexibility. This effect is often linked to the use of flour that is high in gluten or a dough that is too acidic (particularly due to the use of sourdough).
What if my dough is too tough?
Once the causes of your “too tough” dough has been identified, there are several options available to you. For flour, use flours with weaker P/L levels.
For the dough, here are some tips:
-
-
- Increase its hydration to have a softer dough
- Reduce the time and dosage of your pre-fermentations
- If your dough is too short: use a young fermented dough or cool the sourdough
- Don’t degass your dough too much when shaping
- Remove the rounding to the shape.
-
If it’s about your material, you can loosen the shape or decrease the number of foldings by hand.
Discover our kneading advices in this video :
