Kombucha dough becomes wet/gooey!

[skald89]

I found a recipe for sourdough bread using kombucha. I divided the recipe by 2.25 and used cups instead of weight. When I kneaded the dough it was fine to hold and fold without it sticking to my hand. After leaving it for 2-3 days to ferment and rise the dough (in a fridge and at room temp) 'melts.' Its all gooey inside and sticks to everything. I have to add cups of flour for it to become something I can hold and stretch out for pizza. Any ideas what could be going wrong?

Original Recipe

• 700mL kombucha
• 900g plain flour

 

[Norcalbaker59]

You can’t use UK plain flour for bread and pizza. The domestic wheat varieties in the UK are naturally low in protein. The plain flour protein is only about 10%, which is way too low for bread and pizza. It’s only suitable for cake, biscuits, tarts, and scones.


For bread and pizza you need to use strong flour. The protein needs to be 11% or higher.


The hydration in your recipe is 78%. That’s extremely high. Classic Neapolitan style pizza dough is 70%. The flour absorbs the water as it sits. Plus the kombucha has sugar in it. Sugar is hygroscopic, meaning it pours water out of its environment. So it’s pulling water out of the air as well.


Pizza dough is fermented 24 - 72 hours. But that long fermentation should cold, not at room temperature.


Using volume measurement is very inaccurate. There is no standard for 1 cup of flour. Depending on how the cup is filled, 1 cup of flour can be any where from 120g - 155g. But if you use the scale 700 g is always 700 g. So the ratio of flour to yeast was most likely wrong.


Kombucha produces alcohol. The longer kombucha ferments, the higher the alcohol content. Yeast for bread making cannot survive in a high alcohol environment.


If you want to use kombucha in bread or pizza, it better to create a kombucha sourdough starter. Then use that in your dough.