The bakery lady in El Paso told me to squeeze my dough and I finally get it
I was volunteering at a church bake sale in El Paso three months ago and an older lady named Rosa was working the table next to mine with her sourdough loaves. She saw me poking at my dough ball looking confused and she just grabbed my hand and showed me how to press it with my palm, not my fingers, so I could feel if it was ready. She said "if it springs back slow, it's done, if it fights you, give it ten more minutes." I've been doing the palm test ever since and my loaves come out way less dense now. Does anyone else have an old baker show them something like that in person, because watching videos never got it through to me.