I think you are making a mistake in calculating your hydration percentage. Your 50% hydration is on a volume basis, but in baking percentages are calculated on the basis of weight.
As flour is less dense than water, 1 cup of flour weighs much less than 1 cup of water. So you are actually ending up with a highly hydrated dough.

For example, for 1 1/3 cup of water to 3 cups of unbleached APF;
1 1/3 cup water = 315 g , 3 cups APF = 360g , so your hydration is (315/360) x100% = 87.5%
As you can see, that's a highly hydrated dough. You can get excellent results with high hydration, but it is very difficult to work with such a dough.

• Reply