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Slap and Fold: The Technique That Tames a Wet Dough
Not every dough wants the same hands.
A stiff bagel dough and an 80% hydration ciabatta are two different animals, and trying to work them the same way is where a lot of bakers get stuck. Low hydration dough you can knead on the counter like your grandmother did. But take that same approach to a wet, slack dough and you'll end up with a sticky mess glued to your bench, wondering what you did wrong.
You didn't do anything wrong. You just need a different tool.
This is the slap and fold. You might have heard it called the French fold. It looks a little wild the first time you see it, almost like you're punishing the dough, but there's real method in it. You lift the dough, slap it down on the counter, stretch it toward you, and fold it back over itself. The slap builds tension. The fold traps air and lines up the gluten. On a high hydration dough like this 80%, it develops strength fast without you having to add a pile of flour that would throw your whole formula off.
Here's the thing most people miss: at the start it's going to stick to everything, your hands, the counter, your patience. Don't fight it and don't flour it. Keep going. Somewhere around the four or five minute mark the dough stops fighting you, pulls cleanly off the bench, and turns smooth and elastic. That moment, when it goes from shaggy and sticky to silky, is the whole point. That's the gluten doing its job.
Going through my archives, I found a short demo you can watch to see the rhythm of it on an actual 80% dough. Watch the hands, watch how the dough changes:
Give it a real try this week on a wetter dough and tell me what happened. Did it stick longer than you expected? Did you feel it turn? Drop a comment below. If you've already got slap and fold in your hands, share the tip that finally made it click for you. Somebody in here needs to read it.
Henry ⭐🔥
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Slap and Fold: The Technique That Tames a Wet Dough
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