/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Well, I bought 50 lbs of flour a year ago, and went through about half of it before giving up on my sourdough dreams.
It almost never rises, online recipes are almost always way to sticky, and adding almost 50% more flour while kneading doesn't change how sticky it is.
Nothing rises unless I turn the light on in the oven for a few hours an get it warmed up to about 90f. Room temp is 77.
I've had two decent loaves, but a dozen or more flat bricks.
I've done a little better with dry active yeast, but not much, and the flavor isn't nearly as good.
I did one loaf of Irish sodabread, but it's not my cup of tea.
I've tried yeast rolls, but the crust burned while the inside was still not done.

So I decided to try again, and it's just a nightmare.

Here's the recipe I'm using:
400g water
100g starter
500g flour
2 table spoons gluten
mix, cover, rest 1 hr in a warm place.
At this point it's a little sticky, but with wet fingers I can handle it. It's barely risen at all.
10g salt
10g water
mix by hand
stretch and fold 8 times
turn over, tuck edges
cover, rest 1 hr in a warm place.
By now, it's a hopeless sticky mass. It has risen a little, but not "double in size". I can't form or shape it all. Kneading it doesn't firm it up. Gradually adding about 3 cups of flour doesn't change a thing.
It's like my kitchen is in the Twilight Zone.

Since the oven was already pre-heated, Instead of throwing it away, I just dumped it into my dutch oven as beast I could.
It's had almost 25 minutes with the lid on. The recipe calls for taking the lid off at this point.
I'll let you know...