Troubleshooting · symptom → cause → fix
Dry, stiff dough that won’t shape
The dough cracks at the edges, won't form a smooth ball and feels hard.
Most likely cause
Too much flour
How you know: You kept adding flour while kneading until the dough stopped sticking.
Do this: Weigh the flour and water and stick to the recipe. Sticky dough at the start is normal – it becomes smooth through kneading, not through more flour.
Other possible causes
-
The flour was measured by volume
- How to tell
- You followed the recipe by volume, not in grams.
- Fix
- Weigh everything. The same scoop of flour can weigh quite different amounts depending on how it's filled.
-
The dough has dried on the surface
- How to tell
- A dry skin formed on the surface while the dough was rising.
- Fix
- Always ferment in an airtight container or under cling film.
Quick answer: the dough has too much flour relative to the water – usually because flour was sprinkled in during kneading. Weigh your ingredients and let the kneading make the dough smooth.
The nerdy explanation
Hydration is the weight of the water as a percentage of the weight of the flour. Every extra handful of flour lowers it, and the dough gets firmer, drier and harder to stretch. A dough that sticks for the first few minutes is often exactly right – the gluten just hasn’t bound the water yet.
See hydration and kneading, and scale your recipes in the calculator. More problems are in the troubleshooting section.
Frequently asked questions
Can I knead in water afterwards?
Yes. Wet your hands and knead in a little water at a time, or do a few rounds of stretch-and-fold with wet hands. Let the dough rest between rounds.
What hydration should I aim for?
The house method uses 65 %. For an ordinary home oven, 60–63 % works well. Below 58 % the dough gets dry and hard to stretch.