Split (1)

train · 60.1k rows

instruction stringlengths 2 23k	output stringlengths 3 23.1k ⌀
Sponge Hydration Question I need a check of my baker's math, please.These come from the sponge formulae posted by doc.dough for Larraburu and for another SF bakery.Larraburu:100 parts flour50 parts water50 parts previous sponge"Other"100 parts flour46 - 52 parts water100 parts previous spongeMy question is, does the La...	First Sponges alter the hydration, at least that's how I figure it:Larraburu: If previous sponge is 50/50 (water flour): than the final result is Flour 125, water 75 so 60% hydration."Other": if sponge is 50/50 then assuming water is 46-52% then final is: 150 flour 100 water, so final is 64% - 68%It's late though so ...
Shameless Plug Those of you who are having trouble with sourdough starters, etc. might have an easier time of it with this. It requires no starter and in my judgement captures 99.9% of the flavor of old-school SFSD.http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/49375/san-franciscostyle-sour-breadYes, you will add lactic and acetic a...	Chris, I am waiting for the Chris, I am waiting for the Lactic acid you recommended. I am going to give this a try. The first bake will be exactly as you’ve instructed. I want to give this a serious try. QUESTION - in reading the Amazon reviews I noticed that a number of people said that the flavor resembled a lemon/li...
Yet another beginner proofing question So I'm new to the sourdough game but I am already an addictI live in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada not that thats relevant to this issue... although it may be.I've only made four loaves so far each with their own issues, but I seem to have one constant... my loaves are flatter than I t...	I protest! It IS right! You I protest! It IS right! You are making basically very good bread that needs a couple of changes to "take it to the next level". There's far too much basically bad bread eaten everywhere all the time. Your good-but-could-still-be-improved bread is already ten times better than what millions o...
Starter question Hi all,So I have about a 3-4 week old starter. The first few days it seemed to be growing like I expected. About day 5-6, it had a horrendous smell and stop responding to feedings. I read on this site that it may have been due to a bacteria and I kept pushing on. By about two weeks old, the starter was...	More Sour A few questions to narrow this down:How many times per day do you feed your starter? Does it rise and fall predictably? Are you using it at close to its peak (max height achieved after a refresh before falling?)How long are you letting the bulk ferment go? Your 18 hour proof -- what temperature was that at?
Starter unbalanced Hi! I seem to be having a little trouble with my starter.I used to feed my starter only with rye flour but since the crumb of my breads were gummy ( most likely because the enzyme activity was too high), i decided to start feeding it with refined wheat flour.Since then my starter only seems to rise 1...	How is the bread, with your How is the bread, with your new starter? It's worth at least trying it, isn't it?
Yet another attempt to replicate classic SF SD. Pending bake. This is a bit of a teaser ... or a heads up.I got another recipe for San Francisco Sourdough today via a FB forum. This one is 3rd hand from a 30 year baker for Parisian and Boudin bakeries in San Francisco. He is now retired and bakes bread at home. The pro...	David, waiting with baited David, waiting with baited breath.
Bulk Fermentation I am a sourdough newbie and would appreciate some input. After my initial loaves, I have been successful in my practice, nice rise and caramelization, pretty crumb with the traditional holes, and good flavor, for a novice. Today's attempt was sorely lacking. I know I went wrong with bulk fermentati...	I am not sure, but I think I am not sure, but I think once the food supply in the dough has been exhausted, and the yeast start to die off, there is no amount of shaping that will help. I agree, the next time, put it in the fridge and slow things down while life intervenes.
Blue Corn Polenta and Rosemary Sourdough Hi all!I recently tried Maurizio's recipe for a Polenta and Rosemary Sourdough. The main deviations from his recipe were as follows:Use a starter fed with exclusively whole wheat flour.Substitute King Arthur bread flour for all the white flour.Substitute the Type 85 flour with h...	Milling question Hello Nick,I recently bought some whole blue corn with only a vague idea of what I was going to do with it, but now want to try your variation on the Polenta and rosemary loaf. My question for you is about milling the corn. I, too, have a MockMill, which I usually keep at the lowest setting to mill w...
maintaining stiff sourdough starters in room temperature GreetingsI know that if you keep your starter in room temperature, you should feed it once every 12 hours, but that's for 100% starters. What about stiff starters? mine is 60% hydration. Is it ok if I feed it once a day, or even once every 2 days?Feeding a stiff ...	Fridge for me Hi sallam,Not answering your question about leaving the starter at ambient temperature, but...I keep a stiff culture in the back of my refrigerator, and bake using it maybe 2x/week. Once mixed, it lives back there in a container and, per dabrownman's, build schedule I scoop out scant grams per build of t...
My starter dropped after storing it in fridge Hello every one Im new here and new to the sourdough bread life :), i started my new starter after couple of failed attempts this time i hope im on the right track it was 10 days method with every 12 hrs feeding and discarding 2:2:1 (starter:flour:water) I started with whol...	When stored in the refrigerator It's normal for them to drop. Don't worry about that. Before I carry on I wish to save you confusion. When everyone here speaks of starter ratios the usual method is starter:water:flour. Just wish to bring this up so you don't get confused with other blogs and forum topics. Your starter ...
Best Recipe for Sourdough Experimentation? I'd like to make one recipe over and over with slight changes (one change at a time), keeping track of the differences in the resulting bread. Examples: proofing at different temperatures, changing dough hydration, changing starter hydration... Has anyone done this, and if so,...	Try a 1 2 3 bread Maybe try a 1 2 3 bread > 1 part by weight of starter. 2 parts by weight water, 3 parts by weight flour.
Surface tension issues ( is it mixing, ferment, proof or shaping?) I am having persistent problems where I shape loaves, appear to have the proper surface tension but the loaves collapse in the bannetons and on the couche during the proofing, surface turns wet, loaves deflate and flatten during overnight retard in the ...	Your loaves are over proofed. Most of your method is similar to mine except for the part after dividing. I let my dough rest for an hour and then it goes directly into the fridge after shaping. No counter proofing at all. The next morning (no more than 10 hours later), they go into the dutch ovens directly from the fri...
Starter smells different and doesn't fall after peak I need someone who knows more about sourdough starters to help me understand what's going on:I've had a rye starter going for about a year now that I would feed once a day. It always smelled like a really nice, warm, sweet aroma when it was rising, would about triple...	A. It warn't broke. B. You A. It warn't broke.B. You fixed it anyways.?What happens if you go back to what was working? Note: if there are no terrible smells, no mold, and clearly some kind of generally positive-looking activity happening, then it's probably still worth trying.
Why make a hybrid SD starter/yeast bread like Ken Forkish? Hello all, I started my levain for two different doughs last night and began making the final doughs this AM. I have not regularly been doing the float test,and have been having some fairly good success,but decided to do it today. Neither of the tw...	It's very clear that as a It's very clear that as a universal test the float test is a complete failure.However, that doesn't mean it's not useful for the situations where it does apply. If you are using methods in which the float test is valid, then why not take advantage of it?The trick is to find out which methods a...
100% whole grain loaf help Hi - I am a relatively new sourdough baker. I have successfully made AP flour loaves, and half AP flour/half white whole wheat loaves. My crumb is not spectacular (I don't get those big holes), but they taste great and everyone in the family loves to eat them! I've been using variations of t...	For a 100% whole wheat bread, For a 100% whole wheat bread, I suggest leaving behind this recipe and finding a completely different recipe that's built for the job. It's not simple or easy to tweak the wrong recipe. It is easy to find a new one.
Help! How to save dough that was stuck to the banneton on cloth? Hi there everyone, After some success with low hydration doughs, I decided to kick things up a notch this afternoon and make a 75% hydration loaf. Boy oh boy, was I not prepared for how different the dough is! Shaping and kneading aside, my biggest challe...	If you are still trying to If you are still trying to remove your stuck dough, you can try putting it is the freezer (long enough to make the dough more solid, but not so love as to freeze it). I guess about 20 minutes or so.Then bake it cold.HTHDan
100% whole-wheat sourdough Very pleased with this crumb. A no fuss recipe: 400g whole wheat flour320g water 8g salt40g starter (left over starter from my detmolder rye bake)Mix and leave for overnight. Get two folds in before bed within 1.5 hours. Next morning when more than doubled give it one more stretch and fold as...	what a beautiful loaf and amazing for 100% whole wheat. Nice work. hester
Throw Away Half It's always been puzzling to me that recipes for sourdough starters begin with a series of steps that typically include, at some point, throwing away half of the mix. That doesn't make sense to me and, I admit, I've never complied with that direction. My starters develop nicely and I haven't found any...	I think it was explained that I think it was explained that "throwing away half" was to keep the home baker's starter from becoming too large to be efficient for their novice baking needs. No other reason really. I'm sure they never throw away half in a commercial bakery.....I think professonal bakeries usually don't...
Reviving frozen starter I was away from my house for 8 weeks, so I froze my starter, and have come back and am trying to revive it. After the first day, it smelled awful, I can't even try to describe it. Nail polish, vomit, somewhere in that spectrum, and a thin layer of clearish/cloudy liquid on top. I upped the feedi...	"...so I froze my starter" My sympathies.My experience is...a lot depends on the hydration of the starter before freezing. The dryer, the better the chance of reviving. From here, It sounds not good and it might be better to start a new starter rather than fussing with this one. (Stop feeding it until it shows more si...
First Bake - Diagnosis? Hey all,I got a lot of help from here with getting my starter going before. Now I finally tried baking a loaf for the first time and was just wondering if I could get some thoughts on the crumb here?I was following The Perfect Loaf's Beginner Sourdough recipe. Overall I found the crumb to be kin...	Hi Lofi The outside of your bread looks great! The blisters are super nice.I think you are correct in assuming the dough needed more fermentation. How is your starter. Please tell is all you can about your starter. We need to be sure it is active.Dan
Tartine sourdough with spelt flour I've been using the Tartine recipe the last few months. I had been adding 50-100g of rye flour, though this week I ran out, so I used some spelt flour instead. I don't notice much of a change in flavor, the chew seems slightly different though, spelt seems to have more of a grainy te...	It looks fantastic! You are getting amazing oven spring! As to your baking addiction, welcome to the club! ?
Layers in dough and dough structure Hello everyone, I have been baking 4kg of Champlains today and just as I was about to pre-shape and reached the end of bulk I came across this beautiful post from Benjamin Wolters aka beansterbaker on IG.... showing some dough with the most amazing layering and dough structure...ht...	Is Benjamin mixing by hand or Is Benjamin mixing by hand or in a mixer?
Wild yeast on fruits and vegetables In The Sullivan Street Bakery, Jim Lahey describes harvesting wild yeast from the waxy coating on some fruits and vegetables. The pictures showed a dark-leaved kale with a whitish coating.But where did the yeast on the leaves come from?	From the air It's everywhere, just floating around.
Rye starter questions How do I know if I have the correct beasties in my rye starter? I couldn't keep the temp at 74°F. It varied from 70-88°F with the oven light on.It has never been refrigerated, is 100% hydration, and was fed dark rye flour once per day. I had used the NMNF recipe at 62% hydration, but after 2 weeks...	Could you please provide the amount of rye starter you have and how much flour is being fed? Any aroma, density or flour color changes?100% hydration only means equal weights of flour and water but does not describe the weight of starter culture being elaborated. Is the starter culture equal in weight to the flour?"Do...
I have many ideas, this may be a good one - estimating BF I am interested in your thoughts about this idea.We are all aware of the importance of the degree of fermenting a dough during the Bulk Ferment. It is a difficult thing to communicate in the recipe instructions. But how about this? Once the dough has completely ...	hmmmm I think there are too many variables in bowl sizes and flour and room temps etc. I like using a standardized marked cambro and then I can really be pretty sure about the BF amount.
Bread measures 95°C in centre but seems underbaked? Hi,Having some issues with the centre of my sourdough being underbaked. I use the 1-2-3 ingredient method so dough is just over 70% hydration, stretched and folded over 4 hours, then goes in the fridge over night. It gets another ~3 hours at room temp in the morning b...	You really should wait till You really should wait till the loaf is cool to the touch. I wouldn't slice until at least 3 hours after it came out.
My first success Hey all. Yesterday was my 3rd attempt at baking sourdough. My first attempt was underbaked and/or underproved and on my 2nd attempt I forgot the salt, so I was pretty pleased with this latest try. I'm getting the hang of things, learning how the dough should feel at various stages and how to stretch...	Here's the inside view: Here's the inside view: sourdough3.JPG
100 % whole spelt sourdough fermentation time Hello,I am fairly new to sourdough baking (I started about a month ago), but I am really eager to learn as much as I can about it. I am just amazed by all the health benefits of sourdough bread and it has really impacted my daily routine a lot. I have a good sourdough start...	I use whole spelt, mainly in I use whole spelt, mainly in combination with AP white wheat, and whole rye. Proportions vary from 30-50% whole spelt, with the other two flours making up the balance. One thing to be aware of with spelt, is its significantly lower strength relative to wheat and rye flours. This should ...
What is your favorite bread? I would like to discover a new favorite sourdough bread. It may also be featured in a Community Bake.Please try to describe the qualities and characteristics of your favorite. If the formula and process are posted to the Internet, a link would be nice.Some will probably find it necessary to...	Favourite breads Cedar Mountain's Grass Bread http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/58029/grass-breadBread1965 Let's Blame Cnn http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/54129/lets-blame-cnnSarah Owen's Honeyed Spelt and Oat http://scottsbreads.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/5/3/10536109/honeyed_spelt___oat-08-40-s.pdf
Yeast water I’ve been making sourdough bread for a while now, still somewhat of a beginner. Some people in my family don’t seem to like the bread to be too sour, especially for sandwiches that aren’t grilled. Recently I created some yeast water using raisins. I made some bread using that vs regular sourdough starter....	Too Sweet? Did you replace a lot of the water with yeast water? That's one way to do it. But another way is to do two builds. First is just to convert a little of the yeast water into a starter by mixing in some flour. The second build is the first build plus flour and water! This way not a lot of yeast water is used. ...
My first white sourdough loaf. Hi everyone! I have started getting serious about home baking recently and have been following this forum on and off. So I thought why not get some valuable critique on my latest bake.This is a somewhat improvised loaf.77% hydration~12% levain75F FDT and ~12h bulk fermentation13h proof in...	First of all Lovely bake. It's your first loaf and your starter clearly works. You should be proud of that.Now for some analysing...12h for 12% levain seems long and yet from the crumb alone i'd think it was under fermented. Big holes can mean shaping issues however it's a tight crumb elsewhere indicating it needed mor...
Interesting Snipet from The Rye Baker About Preferments Having a look through The Rye Baker (my go to site when planning a rye bake) and came across this recipe with the following paragraph explaining its 3 stage sponge which I thought would be interesting to share..."Three-stage sponges are especially interesting from...	Fascinating Is this the next bread you are going to try? hester
Over-proofing vs. oven spring While intending to proof this bread (75% hydration sourdough, 30% whole wheat) for 1.5 hours, it was left to proof for almost 7 hours at room temperature due to an unforeseen situation. The dough ballooned dramatically and became very soft and fragile. I decided to bake it anyway and did n...	Next time Next time I overproof which probably will be soon I will try not scoring.
Reviving a Starter Hello!I have been gifted a wonderful sourdough starter by a friend all the way from a bakery in France. However, I recently was traveling for a month and a half and failed to care for my starter. It has been sitting in the fridge, and has been given no love. It's a bit dense right now... Are there an...	Reviving a Starter I believe you're in the right track. Unless the starter smells totally awful which shouldn't be the case I would do exactly as you described. I would keep it at 100% hydration. That is: add equal amounts of flour and water. I use scales. If you want to leave it overnight I'd use something like 20g of...
Starter Refrigeration I have maintained my starter on the counter for well over a year now. Because of this I have no recent experience with refrigerating a starter. When is the best time within the refresh cycle to refrigerate? Should the starter fully mature, half mature, or what?Thanks in AdvanceDan	It’s not too critical At various times, I think I’ve done most of the above... and the starter doesn’t really seem to mind. The only thing to bear in mind is that if you let it use up all its food before you put it in the fridge, it’s going to get hungry quicker than if you put it in there just after you’ve fed it.Pers...
Uneven Oven Spring So I have been making sourdough for a couple months now with a starter that I cultivated(had a lot of time on my hands during the government shutdown). I have made a dozen or so batches of sourdough and had had some issues with an uneven crumb that has huge holes in one area and small ones elsewhere....	Your dough was under proofed. Your dough was under proofed. 67F is cool. Maybe you need to bulk ferment longer.Any idea how much the dough rose during the BF?Also, tell is about your starter. Danny
Starter - just curious. Could some obliging starter expert explain this starter behaviour for me, please? I made two separate small levains (same ingredients) with differing amounts of water. The first was fed as follows: 25 seed: 50 flour ( equal parts dark rye and ww atta) and 84 water. The second had only 75 water. ...	Absolute guesswork from me: Absolute guesswork from me: If they both started out with exactly the same amount and quality of seed starter, and they are both quite new, then there probably won't be a major difference in their ability to raise the same batch of dough, just because there hasn't been time for much divergen...
Help with a sprouted wheat loaf I have made this loaf before but this time I am trying to get a little more of an open crumb and a loftier loaf. I used the attached recipe to the T. Bread was delicious and actually pretty nice but what can I add or do to get closer to my goal? Maybe not kneed but rather do S&F's?Thanks...	stretch and fold and autolyse you could add the water and flours let that sit for 30 - 60 minthen add the starter.Also do stretch and folds not just onehope Other folks will chime in .
Banneton and dough size - Dense crumb, small loaves I'm wondering if my dough isn't proofed enough and if my banneton is too small. This banneton is 25x15x8cm (9.8x5.9x3.1"). The dough is 100g starter, 500g flour, 400g water and 10g salt. Even though I made sure the bowl was in a warm place all the time, it didn't fill...	How cold is your refrigerator? Im getting confused, there are several posts using practically the same recipe and having problems.http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/59169/persistent-loaf-issuesMaybe you guys should get together with your 82% hydration dough and compare notes.More worried about the dough sticking to the b...
Almost 2 Week Old Starter Help Hi all,First post here and I'm in desperate need of help.I started a sourdough starter 12 days ago and my starter does not rise much at all.I was initially following the instructions at The Perfect Loaf. I started by feeding it 100 g organic light rye along with 125 g water at 80 degrees ...	Looks good tip... feed it more it may rise more. How long does it take to peak? Try a smaller amount of starter, say 20g and feed it 80g flour and enough water to make a soft paste or dough.Interesring name for a starter.
Underproofed or overproofed?? I cannot say...This time, I tried to bake my loaves directly in the oven (steam mode) on a steel plate (just to see what difference it would make compared to the DO)...:-)))))My bread has never ever been that flat and pathetic!!!!! Please do not hesitate to share your thoughts on this com...	Just some initial thoughts Just some initial thoughts and questions: -Did you mix in mixer to full gluten development? -What was dough like at end of bulk? Strong? Sticky? Just right? -How much rise by end of bulk?-How long from last fold to pre-shape? Were you happy with the quality of your final shaping? -Did you pro...
Even height on a pan loaf Hi,Just hoping for tips on how to achieve a pan loaf that doesn't have tiny slices at the ends and skyscraper ones in the middle, as pictured. Approx twice as high in the middle as the ends. This is slashed. If I don't slash, they tear to similar effect. If I slash on angles, the unslashed bit...	I wonder if this problem is I wonder if this problem is even fixable when using this pan. I think you should be proud of this bread, and disregard the ends being lower.The loaf pans made with flat rigid lids ("Pullman pans") exist only to fix this problem, by forcing the loaf into a nice neat rectangle while baking. If...
Sourdoughmergency!!!! Need help...After a power outage ( over 12 hours, all electric home ) I am faced with the following: 1. A bowl of dough that has been bulk fermenting 48 hours in fridge (less the outage) and looks like it has doubled in size, presenting very large bubbles on top.2. A bowl of flour and water that h...	I'd say don't worry! It's I'd say don't worry! It's all quite resilient stuff, try it, you might be surprised. What have you got to lose now?
Wild starter my starter was not doing anything and was very runny and tiny bubbles. I was doing 60g flour ,60g water. On the 6th day I changed to 60g flour 30 g water and within 3 hours my starter was bubbling away and over doubled in volume. Should I refrigerate it now? If I put some in water is stays floating	Starter I assume this was a new starter. I would keep feeding non-chlorine water and whole wheat flour daily for another two weeks. Then you may refrigerate and feed on a basis of once eery two weeks,Ford
Sourdough pizza I have been experimenting with sourdough pizza for a few months (friday night = pizza night). The first ones came out flat and hard although my sourdough was very active.We live in Canada, so it is sometimes too cold for the pizza dough to rise properly. I put the dough in the oven to rise with the ligh...	. What is your recipe and process? If you want the dough to ferment faster you need more starter in it. I ferment my pizzas 24-48 hours at 15C, but have also made same day pizzas with more starter.What do you do after the first rise? If it ferments less than 12 hours you don't need to do anything to it after mix and so...
All rye starter Hi everyone,I've recently started an all rye flour starter, I've been feeding on a schedule since 1.24.19 on the daily. I've noticed that it's rising to double in size every day very well but I don't see it deflate much at all. I do 100 gr starter, 100 gr dark rye and 100 gr water. After 2 hours I see a...	Quirky rye. Gotta love ❤️ it. The rise and stiff dome that doesn't fall is typical of a rye starter. Under the dome it most often has fallen by the 8 hour mark but because of the stiff dome, it appears to be peaking. Poke it gently to see if it is hollow under the dome. The starter can indeed fall and rise a second ...
Danish Rye Questions Hi All,Following The Rye Baker's recipe and have two questions. 1: would coffee be a good substitute for the beer? 2: we have a starter build, preferment and final dough. I'm half way through the starter build, will be doing the preferment tonight and final dough tomorrow morning. The final dough i...	maybe use caution someone posted recently either here or on Perfect Sourdough that they were successfully making a coffee culture. At first it seemed to work but then as a few days went by it was no longer active and stayed that way through subsequent feedings. He said it was " falsely" active initially because of the...
Bread Either Splits or Falls confused Hello,I’m new here and new in the world of sourdough. I was given a starter by a friend and have been really into baking the past month or so. My problem comes during baking. I bulk prove for 3 hours and then fold and separate and prove for another three hours. The recipe I use i...	Preempting the preemptive Preempting the preemptive preempting ?:When starter is 320 g, then it probably matters how much of the starter is water, and how much is flour.
Urgent help required! I am about to begin the final ferment of Yohan Ferrant's Do Nothing Bread (my first attempt!) the bulk ferment has been going for 18 hours at 21C in my Brod and Taylor. Should I do the final ferment at the same temperature or something higher, say 24 or 25C? I'd be very grateful for some instant ...	You've probably figured Something out by now. I'm not familiar with the recipe but quickly looking at the recipes tell me that the dough should be shaped after it has doubled in volume. Did it do that? Final proofing time will also vary with temp so be on your toes. As with most sourdoughs, I would not let the proof...
New to sourdough,looking for more rise and oven spring Hello, I've just gotten into baking in the past few months and have been mostly working through the straight yeasted doughs and those with pre ferments out of FWSY by Forkish. Having had some good success I've decided to try sourdough. I've begun my starte...	Nice work! I reckon if my first few SD loaves had looked like that, I’d have been over the moon :)Try giving your autolyse a brief knead half way through, and again at the end after you’ve put the salt in. I find it really assists the gluten development. If you want still more, reduce the amount of water in the autolys...
High hydration dough shaping (video) You know when you see a video which gives you techniques that you didn't pick-up from books?"High hydration dough shaping" from the San Francisco Baking Institute was one of those for me:https://youtu.be/vEG1BjWroT0Using the dough scraper in the pre-shape and final shape of high hyd...	a great video! i found it about 10 days ago and found it really helpful too! still have to work on my shaping but yeah, great to actually see someone doin' it
Sourdough starter very sour I use some rye and AP flour to feed my starter and when i try to use it to either make bread or flat bread, turns out very sour - is it time to make a new starter? Appreciate your advice	I suspect The answer is in the maintenance and could also be how it's used in the final dough. But first things first...A bit of history about your starter, it's maintenance and a typical recipe you have tried. ...and there's no need to ever throw your starter away unless it's got red/orange mould (in which case not ok...
Help with Crumb Like everyone else. I want that open crumb.Been baking for a little while now and lately, I feel like the crumb at the bottom of my loaf differs pretty drastically from the top. It seems to get tighter and more dense as you work your way up. I'm looking to see if anyone has had this issue, and what thei...	How do you pre-shape? I am by no means an expert. But you mention when you drop the dough onto the counter, the bottom is now up. So what was at the bottom of the bowl is now on top.Do you flip it before folding it into a boule and then flip it again so the seam goes down? I believe you should.You don't need to flip it...
Book natural starter Hi guys, I'm new. Do you have some books to recommend for baking starting from natural starter (fruit and vegetables). I would like use them for bread and pizza dought. Thank you	Natural doesn't always mean Natural doesn't always mean good.The natural starter you want comes only from grain or flour, not from fruits or vegetables. The fruit- and vegetable-grown yeasts certainly exist, but they are not the right ones for this job. Edited: Here's a link to a good method for creating a sourdough st...
Help needed... Really struggling here in Jamaica to produce a good sourdough.The attached image was produced with:Levain:150gmature starter/150g flour(75Ap&75WW)/150gh2oafter levain peaked(7hrs),final mix was:402gAll Purpose13gWhole Wheat25gRye330gh2o(75%)108g levain11gsaltAutolyse at 5.56pmmix at 6.35pmFridgefold at 6...	Underfermented Bulk ferment in the fridge then just a 15 minute final proof? What might be better would be to do the bulk ferment at room temperature then shape and final proof in the fridge. At 25% levain why don't you develop the gluten at room temperature, you'll have 2-4 hours in a warm climate, then leave it till...
Does sourdough bread ever make you sick? Hi all, I started baking using the La Brea Bakery basic white bread recipe yesterday and thought the first loaf was gorgeous and tested great - until my kids all got stomach aches a few hours later. I suspect the bread and don't doubt I did something wrong - it was my first try ...	Only if I eat so much that I get a belly-ache More seriously, no, sourdough bread should not make you sick. Just as seriously, how much did the kids have? And do any of them have any food allergies?It may just be that I am concatenating two things that should stay separate but when I read the statement "I just starte...
Extra Flavor for a SourDough Loaf Would like to (easily) add some extra flavor to a "standard" (Pain de Campagne or Pain Rustic) all-APF sourdough loaf. Something like seeds, dried fruit, nuts, etc) that I could simply mix into the dough just before first proof. Perhaps a suitable topper or glaze?What are your favor...	My favourite is to not mix My favourite is to not mix stuff in, but to dip it in stuff after I’ve baked it.Here are some of the very best:(1) dunk a chunk of bread in a good fruity olive oil then dip it in a bowl of home made dukkah (https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/dukkah)(2) dip into warm bagna cauda (https://www....
Baking Sourdough bread I am new to posting on this website but I have always used the website forum for advice. I have managed to successfully bread my very own sourdough starter, this took 10 days and I did the float test to be sure which passed.I have always baked loafs and bread related food for my family with fresh...	While I am personally a fan While I am personally a fan of buying more baking equipment and tools, in general, once you get to putting into the oven , sourdough behaves very similar to commercial yeast , so the same tools you are using now should work fine. I believe Hammelman suggests that you steam sourdough a li...
Point me to a Sourdough Rye? I have the craving for that rye tang. Could someone point me to a good sourdough recipe? Preferably not using prepackaged yeast?	You might want to try This one:http://theryebaker.com/sourdough-tourte-de-seigle/#more-1000 I've had my eye on it for months, but am having trouble sourcing whole grain rye flour.Good luck and make sure to report back!Carole
Jamaican sourdough Was directed to this site by Phunky Pharoah,seems to be the place to be,I’m a beginner,living in Montego Bay and struggling with the heat/humidity for bread making.The FWSY book is not particularly accurate for obvious reasons.Today was high 70’s temp and humid.Attached picture was the overnight bulk...	Honolulu also hot and humid ... usually Well, not too humid. Not like Chicago during the summer. We have tradewinds. It's cold now, like, down into the 60s! Brrrr ... I keep my starter in the refrigerator. Mix up flour and water for autolyze and also weigh out my starter and my salt. Leave the starter on the counter wh...
Adding oil to sourdough Hello! Happy Saturday.I am a beginner baker and I would love to hear your insights and advices on the bread I just baked!I wanted to experiment with adding oil to this sourdough recipe to see if I can make the bread keep softer. When I usually bake this recipe, it tastes amazing with nice crust ...	Feels wrong But bag it in a plastic carrier once sliced, you loose the crisp crust but it'll keep all week easily.
Spying on your starter... Just sharing a tip...If you've got an old iPhone or tablet lying around, it really is dead easy to use it to take a time-lapse video of your starter's response to feeding or the inflation of your dough :)I can't speak for other devices, but on the Apple ones you just bring up the camera, swipe...	Just a note, ... ... that when you do this, the Sourdough Elves always know about it right away, and they won't visit. If you want the Elves to come, you have to leave the cameras and timers off.(The good news, though, is that every time you do this, the Elves are diverted to the aid of some other person's starter, the...
First okay loaf! First loaf not to be a frisbee! I’m so happy!!! I know it’s not perfect but I’m so ready to improve, would love any tips on shaping, scoring, proofing, anything! This might be my 9th or 10th try, my method hasn’t really changed since my 3rd but the one missing puzzle piece was the flour! I switched to ...	Congratulations! Crumb looks really good. A not-very-deep suggestion: try scoring down the middle rather than down one side. The bread will have an easier time opening up.
Newbie help Hi, I'm completely new to sour dough and am just trying to get my starter going. I've tried twice and have hit the same issue each time. I'm using a 'recipe' from Paul Hollywoods Bread Book (flour, water and grapes). Each time I've put in the ingredients and it's bubbled up really well. I've then discarded ...	What's the basic method And recipe? A bit more detail please! Try this recipe...https://youtu.be/SuU0xmqEZyIJust some suggestions to add though:1: don't worry about the exact flour. Any will do, wholegrain is better and wholegrain rye even better!2: for the initial mix use pure pineapple juice instead of water and do n...
New to Fermented Sourdough Hello, All! I am new to this site and baking bread in general 'my baking knowledge in general is elementary.'Recently i've been researching the benefits of fermented sourdough bread and i wanted to see if anyone here could recommend and tips and tricks to making a fermented sourdough bread st...	Do a search for the pineapple solution on this site. Use rye flour. I had a viable starter and baked with it in 10 days.
Multiple starters and rubber/plastic tools I sometimes got multiple starters around the kitchen. The various jars I've gathered and use are plastic or glass and I usually favor my small rubber spatulas, which are fantastic for working with the starters in the jars. I've read a few places about people recommending metal...	Contaminating your culture ... ... with a few random bacteria, is very unlikely to be a problem. Contaminating it with dishwasher detergent might easily kill it. If you're concerned, I suggest two things:1. Rinse your spatulas with boiling water after you've washed them in your normal way. This is mainly to make sure a...
High hydration loaf... ears please? I recently started moving towards high hydration doughs (around 80% to 85%), the texture of the crumb is super airy and tender and i love everything about those high hydration SDs, but for some reason I won't get the ears and oven spring compare to dough with 70 to 75% hydration. i t...	Recent thread There's another recent thread with exactly the same problem - you may want to follow that one.One thing I would say for starters is that if you want ears, you want to be making batards not boules - the ear is considered a major feature of the former, but not the latter.Yours look a bit in between, but mor...
Really stiff inactive sourdough starter Hi. I have started a sourdough culture for the last few weeks but my sourdough starter is stiff and not bubbly from the top. Everyday with 50ml starter I add 50gm flour and 50ml water but it is super stiff but DOUBLES within 10 to 12 hours. I have seen other videos of sourdough s...	You say ... ... that it doubles in size.When the "patient" (starter) is obviously alive, and has no fatal diseases (no mold, no terrible smells), it would be a shame to give up. This "patient" should be saved! ?
How do you ensure results on a fixed schedule? When baking bread at home, especially sourdough, I find that scheduling is a bit of a hit and miss. The timing for getting the dough ready can vary due to so many factors: the maturity of the starter, temperatures, how many times someone opened the fridge’s door when the d...	overnight proofing in the fridge works for me I take my starter out in the evening 2 days before baking and feed it. Make my preferment 1st thing the next am. Its ready to use in late afternoon. I ferment at room temp then the loaves are ready to shape at bedtime. Into the fridge, bake straight out of the fridge first ...
Urgent(ish) Please: Adjusting Baking Time / Temp for a larger loaf Hey there all! I've been away far too long :)I'm baking a larger than normal loaf (1.5kg or 3.3lb) - just realised I don't know how to adjust the time/temp from my normal one (1kg or 2.2lb)Due to requests from the family for a squarer loaf (tuh!) last...	Ot's in the oven now, so we will see :) I read somewhere that the internal temperature should be slightly under 100 deg C when it's read to come out, so I might try that. I've never been too convinced by the 'sounding hollow' thing - they always sound hollow to me...
retarding = more blistering? In my experience, cold retarding generally results in more blistering for a given dough. I think that this has to do with the dough temperature/consistency going in to the oven rather than how fermentation is effected by the lower temperatures. I want to get nice blisters on a same-day brea...	One fabulous baker on TFL -- I Hinksey it may be txfarmer or trail runner -- swears by putting her loaves in the freezer for 15 minutes or so before baking. You might try the search box to see what turns up.Keep on baking, Carole
Consistently good results. After struggling for a few years, good results sometimes, mediocre at others I've found a formula that works for me. I'm at 7,000 ft so that may be the secret of my success or not. I realized I was overkneading and over fermenting. I cut my kneading back to 3 minutes in the KitchenAide so the...	Bob's Artisan bread flour. I'm also using Bob's Artisan bread flour that has 5gm of protein per serving vs King Arthur that has only 4. High protein flour is supposed to really make a difference in high altitude cooking.
What should I bake? I want to bake something with the goal of immense oven spring. Here are some things I want to focus on:focus on oven spring, so lots o steam but any recipe would be good for that. I am very curious about the 1-2-3 ratio method. But I am not sure of the measurements. I did one that started with 60g o...	I have some links that will I have some links that will probably interest you. The 123SD is a great formula. Check these links out.http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/56678/123-sourdough-no-knead-do-nothing-breadIf you bake this bread and post to the link below, you will recieve help.http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/57530...
What is the role of water chemically? why is the ratio of water to flour always 1:1 when feeding a starter? Whether it be 1:1:1 or 1:10:10 the flour and water are always the same, why? I mean what is the function of water, chemically? I accidently added about 10% more water than flour to my refreshment and it got me th...	Not always one to one Flour to water ratios vary. A one to one ratio yields a 100% hydration and is easy math, half water half flour by weight. When making dough involving living tools like bacteria and yeast, water not only pulls the flour into dough (so it could be capable of trapping gases) it provides a way for the...
Please help with Tartine Style Loaf Hello, In years past I baked the basic country loaf recipe out of Tartine Bread with great success many times. After about five years, I'm back at it in a new home and haven't had much success in my first few tries. The loaves haven't had great spring and I'm not sure what's going on...	Leaven Hi Josh. It sounds like your starter might have been too old? To test if your leaven is ready to be used, you drop a spoonful of it in water and if it floats you're good to go. A strong (young) starter should smell sweet and be bubbly. I feed mine twice a day, and I usually use my leaven when it's 5-6 hours old ...
Is my starter okay? It turned into a purple alien landscape. I've used my starter for about a year, and unexpectedly found it looking very unusual today after a few weeks of neglect. Does anyone know what this is? Is it garbage?	YIKES! This is a case for Debra Wink. Hope you're wearing a hazmat suit. This is one for our resident microbiologist Debra Wink. Think you should message her. Is there any part of the starter that looks healthy? If so then you can carefully remove the top and then with a clean spoon take from the healthy looking starte...
Difficulty creating consistent ears This is a white sourdough, 70% hydration with Shipton Mill white flour. All these loaves went in my Rofco B40 at the same time (270c dropped to 200c for 35mins), with steam. As you can see, only one of the loaves seems to have developed half decent ears, whereas the rest have either...	Dough too slack It's because the dough doesn't have enough strength. You need to build more strength during bulk and then create more surface tension while shaping.Extensibility increases in the fridge making the dough more slack, but this isn't always a problem if the dough has enough strength before going into fridge...
Transfer to Dutch Oven challenges, parchment paper? So I'm having some issues transferring my dough into the Dutch oven. Sounds ridiculous, but it's true :) I've got the dough nicely proofed in the banneton, oven and dutch oven pre-heated to 465, then it's transfer time. I flip the banneton and dough onto my hand, and ...	I find that parchment paper ends up distorting my loaf although crumpling the paper up before using does help a bit with that. I do use parchment paper but I cut rounds that fit in the bottom of the Dutch oven and prevent sticking. What I do is flip the banneton over on a cornmeal sprinkled counter and then slip the ti...
Newbie questions hello all! My name is Julie and I have been baking yeast breads for over 20 years. I am new to sourdough bread though and wanted to start off with a few simple question. I read about the 1:2:2 ratio but if you don't have a starter how do you get the first part of that ratio? I researched and saw a 1...	Well the ratio you see is 1 part starter + 2 parts water + 2 parts flour by weight! This is how a feed, or build, is expressed. Could be used when making a starter, maintaining a starter or prepping a starter. Don't get too bogged down by this ratio or where it fits. If you understand the ratio then that's fine for no...
Building a sourdough starter from "old dough"? First post with my shiny new TFL account!I just started making bread last summer but have been heavy at it, and frequenting TFL for advice on just about every aspect. I'm baking a fair amount and am quite happy with the bread I've been producing, but up to this point I've ...	It's good! Yes, you're right, the oil and salt will disappear after some feedings and some use. The most important thing is that it must be "alive", and you can see that yours is very "alive" because it worked so well. The refrigerator will make it work slower, and then you can feed it much less often. When it's warm, ...
fermenting sourdough with other ingredients Hi there:Assuming a sourdough with only wheat flour, water, salt, I am able to change the variables and achieve fairly consistent bread by using a graduated cylinder with a small amount of sample dough. I measure the rise of the sample based on a standard, same height rise d...	Cinnamon According to Hamelman, adding cinnamon to a yeast bread dough significantly reduces the yeast activity. I would guess it would act similarly with sourdough leavener. Better to add the cinnamon by layering it with the sugar or etc. as you form the loaves."Bread" page 279
Retarding in Fridge Twice (Bulk & 2nd Proof) Question for sourdough home bakers out there.Due to a unique schedule and out of curiosity, wondering if anybody has had any luck with a method I'm trying out.Retarding dough during bulk fermentation (~14 hours), bringing it back to temp for an hour. Pre-shaping, resting 30m...	Conceptually, yes. We did Conceptually, yes. We did this in a bakery I used to work at. Will this particular recipe work on the first try? That I can't say! You very well may have to play around with the formula and learn how the dough needs to feel at each stage to achieve your desired results. But that general ...
Persistent Loaf Issues Hi there,Can anyone help?? I keep having similar problems with multiple loaves. They taste good, but rise really unevenly in the oven. There are huge holes some places and much denser areas elsewhere. The crust is also very tough and the crumb is a little too chewy, almost rubbery. Are there any ...	Give away "...denser areas elsewhere..."You've got great crust color so eliminate overproofingBig bubbles... try degassing more and fold carefully to not trap air into pockets, this may help the dough rise more evenly if you get your gas pockets about the same small size before retarding. If you feel air pockets in th...
How to 'use' starter after it's been slowed-down ? (Nobody?) I've created my 1st starter.100% whole rye fed, initially with pineapple juice.After 5 days, I had a very active starter. At 80degs, 1:1:1 feedings, doubling in 2-3 hours, finally on a 4x/day feed.Smells good, looks good. So I think I've got a decent, stab...	These are so exactly my These are so exactly my questions with regard to my starter. I want to slow down a little also. Hope you get some answers.
is my 8 day old starter supposed to have a strong acidic scent? hi my starter is about a week old i made it following susan's directions on her blog wildyeastblog.com i've been feeding it every day at 9am and 9pm so twelve hour feeds. yesterday i suddenly noticed it became foamy and bubbly overnight so today i used all...	Acid? It should smell a bit like beer. My white-flour starter that I got from Whole Foods had more of an acidic tang to it, but still has the underlying scent of beer.
Please diagnose my loaf I wanted to post and have everyone give their opinions on my loaf. It is a 100% BF loaf. Starter fed 8pm night before.100% Hydration starter190g of starter400g BF KA Brand190g water12g saltMixed starter, flour, water and salt. Autolysed room temp (72ish) for 1:30. Coil folds every 45 mins for 3x...	Certainly not 190 g water? Certainly not 190 g water?
Scoring - why didn't my bread open at the seam? Hello everyone, I'm a home baker who's been baking sourdough for about a year by now, and I feel like i have most things down so far. I'm mostly trying to improve on the aesthetics of my bread (scoring and crumb openness). A couple of days ago, I baked a bread that came o...	Would you say it was working fine... ... until you switched flour? If it was working fine, and then as soon as you switched flour it wasn't working fine anymore, ... don't you already have the answer?
Help diagnose my shaping/crumb issue? I've just begun my foray into sourdough and I'm using Peter Reinhardt's method from the Bread Baker's Apprentice (newer edition) . My starter seems healthy and I've had it for a month or two now. The issue I'm having is that the loaves seem to explode a bit in the oven and also the...	Another pic Another pic. IMG_20190209_193802.jpg IMG_20190209_193807.jpg
Size of Tartine recommended cast iron combo cooker?? in the Tartine bread book (as well as The Sourdough School book), they both reccomend cast iron combo cookers which Im guessing is the 3.2 Lodge Cast Iron combo cooker HOWEVER im a bit scared this isnt the one?!You can clearly see in the sourdough school book a 1kg d...	I went with the Lodge 5 quart I went with the Lodge 5 quart dutch oven. It will definitely do a kilo. The only difference, other than size between the combo cooker and the dutch oven linked above is the handle configuration. I haven’t used the smaller one. I have tried the enameled cast iron, but much prefer the plain...
Another 5 grain levain 5 grain levain #2 (see the community bake here) except this time i've swapped the bread flour for whole-wheat and vice versa. Works very well and it's more wholesome. Original dough was sticky, due to the add-ins, and decided it could cope with just a straight swap. For the soaker this time we ha...	Lovely! Don’t forget to give us a crumb shot when you slice into it. ?
SFSD by Michel Suas Has anyone baked the Suas formular for SFSD? It is very different from most variations. Advanced Bread and Pastry page 201 (215 of 1058 - pdf version)? Btw - the kindle version is only $3. https://www.amazon.com/advanced-bread-pastry-Michel-Suas-ebook/dp/B01FRD16Z2/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=...	I own the book but am not sure if the recipe you are asking about is one of the ones we did in the SD1 class at SFBI. I will have to look again.BTW, the book is superb, if you are able to decipher it. It is not a straight forward home baker guide. Although I like it and use it, and the recipes I've tried worked fabulou...
bought a kenwood chef classic, few questions/issues with sourdough Hi, I've decided to cut a few corners with my bread. My family and I go through a sourdough loaf every 3 days 1.7kg loaf. In the interest of saving time I got a mixer and had my first attempt today. Pre-mixer I would mix my ingredients (pre-ferment, ...	loaf is out of the oven, loaf is out of the oven, seems ok but probably could have risen a tad bit more..
Slow starter Hello everyone, I'm brand new to the forum and to sourdough. I've been making my own beer and fermenting other foods for a while so I'm somewhat knowledgeable with yeasts and fermentation. I've been following a "recipe" for my starter from a video on YouTube (Joshua Weisman) the basic schedule is;Day 1 - 1...	I have a suggestion Take a break, put your feet up and leave your starter to do the hard work. You've hit the quiet stage which is very normal and nothing to worry about. Keep it warm, stir every now and again and only start again with the feeds once it wakes up. Might take a day or two or even three. Enjoy your holida...
Best way to freeze my sourdough loaves? Sourdoughpals:I have been happily baking bread for 3-4 months now, and make 2 loaves at a time. I cut up the first one and freeze it in a plastic bag for use during the week. This bread has become our daily bread. Now, the second loaf I like to freeze whole. So, I wrap it in plas...	Re-use heavy-duty plastic bags My food co-op offers some large, heavy-duty plastic bags next to the bulk bin. I use and re-use those bags for freezing sliced bread and even for covering bannetons in the refrigerator. Just wash! Dunno if you can find these for sale; I haven't looked.
Heating Pad for Bulk Fermentation? I seem to have a great starter (doubles in 2 hours, passes float test) but I am not getting any rise during bulk fermentation. So even though I get fantastic oven spring, my loaves are always too dense. I can't seem to get the dough temperature up past 70. My kitchen is about 72. My o...	Done it I've done it and continue to do it for focaccia, since my proofer is too small for a sheet pan. It works great. For dough I put it in a cooler and put towels on top. You can put a glass of water inside and take the temp of the water after an hour or so to determine the air temp. If you find it's developing ...
Sourdough baguettes (feedback & improvements welcome) 2 baguettes are only pre-baked (for freezing) :After bulk fermentation : 1.jpg Dividing : 2.jpg Preshaping : 3.jpg Proofing (seam-side up) : 4.jpg Scoring : 6.jpg Mid-bake : 7.jpg Recipe for 4 small baguettes (70...	They look good If you are asking for advice to improve them then I would suggest a stone or steel to bake on. Baguettes rely more on oven spring in the first 5 minutes of baking. I think it is also better to fully bake before freezing because they reheat quickly.
First Starter has minimal development!! My starter is about a week old and he’s had pretty minimal activity throughout his life. He’s currently being fed whole wheat, bread flour and boiled (cooled) water at 24 hour intervals and is being stored in the oven with the light on due to the cold. I’m pretty new to this and ...	One Week One week is not overly long when making a starter. It can take relatively quickly, a few days, to as long as two weeks. So do not worry. Can you explain a typical feed. How much starter to how much fresh water and flour? What kind of flour? How warm is the oven with the light on?
Help! My Sourdough Misadventures I am attempting to make sourdough bread; I have a good starter going, and I feed it regularly. I have baked three loaves so far, and none of them have turned out good on the inside (the outsides look lovely.) Whenever I cut into them (after letting them cool,) they are always under cook...	Sounds like the times are off which can easily happen with a new starter. Tell us more information on how the recipe was followed, how long the steps took and detail about how the starter is maintained including amounts of starter, water and type of flour, how long the starter takes to reach "double volume" and "peak ...
Oxidation and Slap & Folds Is it possible to over oxidate a dough using Slap & Folfs (French Folds)?Doughs that are subject to over oxidation loose a noticeable and obvious amount of flavor.Dan”inquiring minds want to know”...	Oxidation It appears to me that with "slap and fold" the dough would have no more oxidation than by normal hand kneading or machine kneading.Ford
Slap & Fold @ 128% hydration While baking Hamelman's Five-Grain Levain for the Community Bake, I mis-read the water weight from the wrong column and added 284g of water too much. This brought the total hydration, including the soaker, to 128.6%. My gross error spawned a YouTube video that has taught me things and hopef...	Came out pretty great! With a wonderful crumb. You'll recall my: "if it works, you learn something, if it doesn't work you learn something". And here we are! One thing that wasn't accommodated for in all of the flour addition is that the percent of preferment flour dropped. Apparently it wasn't enough to alter you...

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.