I've been making sourdough recently and trying to get the knack of using a really wet dough. I've watched a number of YouTube videos, and I do all the stretch and folds and periodic reshapings, and this all seems to work – the dough builds up some tension and becomes much less sticky to the touch on the non-seam side. I do all this in a pyrex tray.
The problem comes when I tip it out onto the bench to do the final shaping. Then, although I flour the bench, it starts to stick to it quite badly, and then when I try to pick it up to put it in the proofing basket it just turns to slime, loses its shape and becomes very sticky again.
I then leave it to proof overnight in the fridge, and while it rises perfectly it sticks to the proofing basket, which causes it to deflate in the oven. This is despite covering the basket with large amounts of flour beforehand. I'm assuming this is partly because I've messed up the tension in the dough by not picking it up properly.
My questions are (1) is there something I might be doing wrong that's causing it to stick to the bench and become very difficult to pick up, and/or (2) is there a special technique for picking up wet dough off the bench? In the videos people seem to just deftly scoop it up into their hands and it doesn't look especially difficult, but I might be missing something.
In case it makes any difference, our bench top is made of metal.
Best Answer
If it is turning to "slime", losing shape, and becoming sticky again, you are probably not building enough strength in the dough. First, I would try the same recipe, holding back 50 - 100 g of the water. Work with a slightly lower hydration until you get the feel for things. Then, make sure your initial kneading/stretch and fold takes at least 8-10 minutes. Subsequent slap and folds should be 1 set (to me that is like four folds, which reshapes the dough into a sort of ball), spaced by about 30 minutes. I use no flour on counter, even with very high hydration. Initially, with a wet dough, you will get a lot sticking to fingers. This will reduce with time and the building of the gluten structure. For final shaping, either a very light dusting of flour (often none), but a wet bench scraper and wet hands usually does the trick.
High hydration dough is tricky. I really had to work up to it to understand the behavior of the dough.