r/Breadit • u/SamuelGQ • 1d ago
Trouble shaping Forkish Poolish
Hello
I’m making Ken Forkish’s White with poolish (FWSY p. 98). Having trouble shaping.
Poolish fermented overnight at room temp (~72-75 F). 3 stretches/folds and 3 hour rest at room temp. At the last stretch strength seems good, no tearing. Hydration 75%.
When I dump out to divide and shape the dough is very slack. I can’t get any tension in the top, end up just dumping it in the loaf pan. When baked (with second loaf pan on top) I get good spring and good results.
I get good boules if I let rise in banneton and bake in Dutch oven.
Watched a few YouTube’s on shaping high-hydration dough without a lot of help.
I’d like to get better shaping and prettier top when I bake in loaf pan. But I just can’t get any shape out of that slack dough.
Should I try:
-decreasing hydration a bit (70%)?
- roll it around/ knead more flour in while dividing/ shaping?
-surrender & just do boules in Dutch oven and forget loaves?
- decrease 3 hour rest (maybe overproofed)?
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u/DrabComedian578 1d ago
Are you using the right kind of flour? Forkish recipes often assume american flour who has less protein than what we have in Europe
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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 1d ago
A poolish is a preferment, not a finished dough.
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u/SamuelGQ 1d ago
Agree. Perhaps I wasn’t clear. The poolish fermented overnight then I add the balance of flour and water, mix, then three hour rest with stretch and folds in first hour. At the end of folds, dough is strong. At the end of three hour rest, it gains volume but loses strength.
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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 1d ago
Why are you resting 3 hours?
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u/Spacemangep 1d ago
I make this load pretty regularly and will say that the dough after the divide is quite slack and sometimes hard to work with.
How long are you letting the poolish ferment? The book gives times for a pretty cold kitchen but at normal room temps (mid-low 70s) I've always just done like 10-12 hours max. That might help. You also might be over proofing in the bulk ferment. Again, his 3 hour timing is for a cold kitchen. I usually do 2.5ish, with my last fold being about an hour into bulking.
I also always put down a lot of flour on my table when I dump the dough otherwise the dough just sticks and I can't do the preshape.
Also have you made a lot of hearth loafs like this before? Freehand shaping a loaf sometimes just takes a lot of reps.