THICK and CHEWY and Perfectly Sweet Chocolate Chip Sourdough Bread Recipe! (2024)

FAQs

What makes sourdough bread tough and chewy? ›

It might be cold dough. One of the most common mistakes is having a dough temperature that's too low for the starter to feed on all the flour in the dough, resulting in a crumb that's dense, with fewer openings.

Keeping the lid on for the first part of baking allows steam to expand between the gluten fibers to rise the bread and create a fluffy loaf. Step 4: Remove the lid and bake for an additional 12-14 minutes or until the crust is crispy and golden brown. Once you take the lid off, the bread likely won't rise anymore.

Most likely when this happens, it's not you - it's your starter. If your loaf is dense, has uneven holes and a gummy texture, most likely there wasn't enough active wild yeast in your starter to make the bread develop and rise during baking. This can be the case even if your starter seems really happy and bubbly.

Over-kneading has a tendency to result in chewy bread. Here's how to tell if you've kneaded enough. Another possibility—you used bread flour when all-purpose flour would do. If a recipe with bread flour turned out chewier than you like, try it with all-purpose and knead only as much as the recipe directs.

Note: As loaves begin to overproof they lose their height and shape. The crumb becomes more dense. The holes become more ragged and irregular in shape. The crust begins to thin and separate from the crumb.

Step 7: Wait For The Sourdough Loaf to Cool (The Hard Part)

The loaf needs to cool outside of the Dutch oven for at least 30 minutes, and ideally more like two hours. When you pull the bread out of the oven, it is still baking inside. Cutting into a loaf too early will stop this process and result in a very gummy loaf.

Increasing moisture can be accomplished by simply adding more water, you can also increase moisture by adding some oil the the dough. The chewiness of your bread, or lack thereof, is related to gluten content, hydration levels, and proper kneading to develop the structure of the dough.

If your dough is too sticky and it's impossible to work with you can add some extra flour, just a little at a time. Make sure you weigh the extra flour you add and then you'll be able to adjust the recipe correctly the next time you bake.

There are many ways to get a more closed crumb: 1) use a lower protein flour, like all-purpose, 2) push the bulk fermentation time / rise, longer, 3) add a higher percentage of whole wheat flour, 4) de-gas the loaf when shaping.

Bread flour (or baker's flour) is a high protein, white flour that is milled specifically for baking bread and sourdough. What is this? You'll get the best results for your sourdough bread from using bread flour. The most popular bread flour in the US is King Arthur Bread Flour.

What is underproofed sourdough? ›

Underproofed bread dough is simply dough that has not had enough total fermentation time: the time from where your preferment (such as a sourdough starter or levain) is added to the dough until baking.

Olive oil. A bit of olive oil helps make the bread perfectly chewy and soft. I also find it keeps my sourdough softer longer.

Uneven heat in your oven can be the culprit – if you loaf is nicely golden on the outside but gummy or moist in the inside, it's baking too quickly on the outside. Trying reducing the temperature you're baking at and bake for a bit longer. Experiment until you find the sweet spot, and take notes along the way.

Stretching the bread dough up and over further develops the dough's gluten, bringing increased elasticity. Compared to more intensive dough strengthening, like the slap and fold kneading technique, these folds may feel like they aren't doing much. But in fact, they are.

I feel like, more often than not, the issue is under-hydrated—meaning you didn't put enough water into the dough. If your dough is too stiff, basically that means it's resistant to being blown up by the yeast. DOGU: If your hydration is low, increase it.

Splash some water over the top of your bread, just enough to become slightly damp. Place the loaf in a 250°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Watch it closely and remove it when warm.

For bread that hasn't yet been sliced, keep it in a cloth bag or wrapped in a breathable tea towel (like linen or cotton) for 3-4 days. This is ideal. Uncut bread can also be stored in a paper bag, but it does get tough sooner, so only keep it this way for a day or two.