Hi Alexis, when making a high hydration dough like ciabatta bread it's really difficult to develop a windowpane by hand, nor is this necessary. Try doing the slap and fold for more like 6-8 minutes, and trust that the subsequent folds will continue to develop dough strength. Also, if you're using another brand of unbleached all-purpose flour this will lead to a wetter, weaker dough which will be very difficult to develop and work with. For best results, be sure to use a flour for this (and most other bread recipes) that has a protein content of at least 11.7%.
May 14, 2020 at 11:02am
In reply to I tried this method on my… by Alexis (not verified)
Hi Alexis, when making a high hydration dough like ciabatta bread it's really difficult to develop a windowpane by hand, nor is this necessary. Try doing the slap and fold for more like 6-8 minutes, and trust that the subsequent folds will continue to develop dough strength. Also, if you're using another brand of unbleached all-purpose flour this will lead to a wetter, weaker dough which will be very difficult to develop and work with. For best results, be sure to use a flour for this (and most other bread recipes) that has a protein content of at least 11.7%.
Barb