Hi,
I know there is a separate baking group but this group has more
activity so I thought I'd ask here...I made a crumb cake using the
sweet yeast dough recipe from Family Circle All-Time Baking Favorites
book. I followed the recipe exactly. The dough came out so sticky I
couldn't knead it and it wouldn't come off the surface I was working
on. The recipe said "...using only as much flour as needed to keep
dough from sticking." I had to keep adding flour and the bread while
very tasty turned out too heavy and also got hard and crumbly a couple
of hours after I took it out of the oven. What can I do about sticky
dough? Was the extra flour the reason it turned hard so quickly?
Thanks.

Islands wrote:
> Hi,
> I know there is a separate baking group but this group has more
> activity so I thought I'd ask here...I made a crumb cake using the
> sweet yeast dough recipe from Family Circle All-Time Baking Favorites
> book. I followed the recipe exactly. The dough came out so sticky I
> couldn't knead it and it wouldn't come off the surface I was working
> on. The recipe said "...using only as much flour as needed to keep
> dough from sticking." I had to keep adding flour and the bread while
> very tasty turned out too heavy and also got hard and crumbly a couple
> of hours after I took it out of the oven. What can I do about sticky
> dough? Was the extra flour the reason it turned hard so quickly?
> Thanks.

You probably did end up adding too much flour to the dough. Post the
recipe along with the instructions here. Sometimes it helps if you let
the mixed dough rest for several minutes before trying to knead it.
This gives the flour a chance to absorb the liquid in the dough. If it
still seems too wet try kneading it inside the bowl some before turning
it out on to the counter. Resist the temptation to keep adding flour
to the dough. I've had doughs that have been almost like batter that I
thought would never come together but they all eventually do.