4 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:@Al Percival, maybe @JoaoBertinatti can comment since he just posted about making it a month or so ago. I can't speak to the Panettone directly, but quite a few types of additions cause a dough with good gluten formation to temporarily break down -- with the French lean bread and the sourdough the answer for me has been either a) more mixing (sometimes a lot more) or b) more time (sometimes a lot more!).
Thanks Chris
I kept mixing for about 10 - 15 minutes after the gluten dissolved and there was no change to the structure - if anything it got even weaker. I even refrigerated the dough for about 6 hours to see if it would reform - but no. The consistency was closer to mashed potatoes than dough. Out of curiosity I then took some of the 'batter' (as it was then) and added some baking powder and baked it in a loaf tin to see if it would create a worthwhile cake. The consistency of the cake was like it had been made from a gluten free recipe - there was no crumb or structure and it just crumbled despite the high hydration.
Here in Australia we don't have a much choice over flours - the main one we can get is 11.5% protein which works well enough for most of the breads I do.
I've ditched the dough now. It might be a while before I try again unless I can be sure I understand what caused this.
