Yes! I think it's also important to remember that you're cultivating a living organism. It's an art, and you should adjust your schedule based on what the dough is doing.
The "Quarantine bread" receipt was wonderful last week. This week, for some reason it turns out terrible (dough very sticky, bread burnt on the outside, etc.) No idea what went wrong and what I should have done to fix this.
Temperature and humidity can change day-to-day (and certainly week-to-week) in a residence. Same with the temperature of "cold" water coming out of your tap. A thermometer and a kitchen scale go a long way towards consistently implementing recipes (and therefore getting consistent results).
Some general tips:
- If the dough is too sticky, add flour! Check the stickiness before bulk fermentation.
- Check the dough during the rise. If it has risen a lot and "domed" early, punch it down or give it a fold. If it's time for a fold but it hasn't risen much yet, let it rise longer!
- If you find your rise times are shorter than the recipe, use cooler water. If your rise times are too long, use warmer water.
- If you don't have a baking stone, baking steel, or dutch oven, you can use an inverted cast iron pan as a baking steel.
- Preheat your oven for an hour or more. Residential ovens often have substantial internal temperature variations. I use dutch ovens to bake bread, but also keep a baking stone on the lowest oven rack as a way to regulate the oven's temperature.
Leaving it for ten minutes/waiting for the flour to hydrate then mixing again can help out when the temperature is off.