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Two questions about baking straight from the fridge Hi, I'm baking two sourdough loaves after an overnight proof in the fridge. My plan is to remove one from the fridge, transfer it to a peel, score it, cover it with a stainless steel bowl, and then slide it right onto the hot stone in a 450 dF oven. Here are my questi...	I don't think there will be much difference The dough is going from the fridge into a preheated oven @ 450°F. It's not like something which is frozen being defrosted at room temperature.As long as your dough has proved enough in the fridge of course then I think you can bake from cold without straying from the guideli...
From volume to mass Greetings everyone. I have for a year or so now been using a San Francisco sourdough culture I bought at the supermarket. It takes the form of a batter and works fine. I'd like to get more scientific but everything in the included recipe is in volume units, so for instance: Mother sponge is fed wi...	Not if you go by volume. Hydration levels are measured via weight so "4 cups" of flour is too inaccurate to use for a good gauge. Since a cup of flour can range easily from 110 to 160g, that's a fairly large discrepancy. And since there's no "official" weight that a cup of flour is supposed to be, you can't truly conve...
covered roaster + poaching pod = steam This is such a Straightforward, effectiveway to add steam. I popped two ice cubes into a poaching pod.I baked these two boules at 475 oven, 10 minutes, Opened the cover, removed the pod, covered for 20 minutes, uncovered with lowered temperature to 450°	cool...well I mean HOT !! I don't know what a poaching pod is but a custard cup etc would work as well and I have TONS of those. Great idea ! That's why TFL is so great. c love to see finished product.
very stalled out starter HI All,I did a quick search and saw a similar question back in February- I just want to confirm, as I have not had this issue previously when I made my original starter (which I accidentally BAKED three years ago). I have a starter which was going nicely at first- then it stalled out- but much ...	You have probably diluted the You have probably diluted the microbes that you want to have in your starter.Switch to one flour and stay with it. I’d recommend using your whole rye for each feed. Once your starter is well established then switch to whatever you want long term.Do nor feed until you see activity, wait u...
Einkorn sourdough help/questions. My son has severe reactions to gluten so I tried making a 100% einkorn sourdough. It's been 24 hours since he ate two fat slices and he's had no problems. Usually he would be hanging out on a toilet all day after eating that much.That's the good news. The bad news is the dough was impo...	Site searching einkorn will yield more info but I can tell you right off that the flour needs more water, or yogurt and more time to hydrate than other wheat flours. Even for thickening sauces, pancakes and such otherwise the texture may be rough or gritty. Let the flour hydrate for half an hour before heating up. Don...
sourdough starter in Grand Rapids Good Morning! I am new to this community but have been in love with bread for as long as I can remember. My father taught me how to start my own leaven and use it to make bread. When I moved away to Grand Rapids, Michigan I tried (unsuccessfully) to capture my own starter. I am aware t...	Welcome! Great to have you on board.The yeasts and bacteria within a starter come from the flour itself. If a starter isn't kept warm enough (78°F is an ideal temperature) it can slow down a lot! So warmth is the key to speed things up.Other things you can do is add some whole rye flour, not overwhelm the starter with ...
Sourdough Starter Question from Bread Baker's Apprentice I am one week in to the starter recipe in Reinhart's book, Bread Baker's Apprentice. Seeking clarification of instructions on page 241 (hardcover edition) Day 3 and up...It says to put the starter in a clean bowl, mix and return to the beaker. Am I to pour off h...	Hiya Jenny I have never followed his recipe. When I make a starter I generally don't follow any recipe as it's more about reading the starter, knowing when to feed and how much. However one needs to have made a starter at least once to understand how to do this. I could help you without knowing his recipe but don't wis...
Mañana yeast So I've had a starter culture going for maybe 3 months or so. I like it because it saves the whole guessing game of whether the instant yeast I had in the cupboard is still viable or not.It's a wholemeal rye culture and I had no trouble at all getting it started. I keep it in the fridge during the week, ta...	What is your percentage of prefermented flour? What I mean by that is how much of your recipe's flour is in the starter? Example, if your total flour is 1000 grams (including the flour in the starter) and you use 100 g of that to feed your starter and make your levain, then it is 10% (100 g divided by 1000g). Your time...
Advice about sourdough culture I was recently given a packet of Florapan sourdough starter culture that has a high concentration in living cells that only produces lactic acid for flavor development in bread processes using a short sponge pre-fermentation. According to the leaflet, the preferment is incorporated into...	Verify I do not know the brand of "starter". I would verify by mixing the "starter" with warm water (~80°F), if it produces gas, it has yeast.I recommend the pineapple juice solution for producing a starter.Ford
Levain Build Amount & Adapting for Various Recipes Hi All –Couple questions for the knowledgeable here. I am a newb to the whole sourdough situation and wanted to try and wrap my head around a few things before I took the dive (which I am excited to do). 1. Leavin/Starter Quantity – I know this is a topic of discussion...	No problem 1: by all means reduce the amount to more manageable proportions when making the starter. Just keep the same percentages. You are building a starter! which means you are just cultivating the bacteria and yeasts.This is the starter from which you can build endless amount of off-shoot starters (levains) at any...
Panettone Hi everyone, I posted on here awhile ago for some advice about my panettone recipe, and after many trials I finally nailed it. So I wanted to share it with everyone in case there is someone out there like I was looking for a recipe with a lot of detail about the steps. It is a combination of Matt Tinder's rec...	crumb shot ]someone cut it and left that large line it it but it is so delicate and light thank everyone for the advice and for looking, hopefully this helps someone out there nick
Dried Out Starter Hello!I'm trying to restart a sourdough starter after a long hiatus. However, I keep finding that my starter dries out/gets very crusty within the first couple of days. I usually place the flour/water mix in a mason jar and leave uncovered on the counter to wait for some activity to happen. But it alw...	I don’t think leaving the I don’t think leaving the starter uncovered is a good idea. If your starter is healthy the yeast and bacteria (a good thing) already reside in your starter. Actually the flour itself, especially whole grain contain the necessary yeast.Try covering your starter and keeping it warm.How much star...
Question about my starter My question is on the video thanks for your time.https://youtu.be/h_-HjZKcCMQ	Ok so i've had a look How many times must it be fed before being used?Well it depends on how you maintain your starter. Has it been sitting in the fridge for a week or two between feeds? If yes, then it will benefit from more than one feed. But if you use your starter often and it's never more than a few days between f...
Overproof Sourdough? w/ 3 hour bulk ferment Hello! First time poster here. I've been having issues with loaves collapsing after being turned out of the banneton. It never used to be an issue but since I've gotten a proofing box it keeps happening. For this particular loaf: 50% Cairn Spring Mills AP Flour (11.8%) (...	Welcome! A weak white flour, 50% spelt and 20% rye starter I wouldn't expect it needed a 3 hour final proof especially if the dough has doubled in volume with the bulk ferment. 1 - 1.5 hours tops seems more within the range. Don't go by the clock. Either go easier on the bulk, or cut down on the final proof by at least...
Sour Dough Add-ins SD newbie now able to consistently bake easy SD "bread flour" boule. Procedure is the standard - mix - rest - multiple folds - shape - retard overnight -proof - bake.Seeking some variety by adding in seeds, nuts, grains, fruits to the basic loaf. What do you recommend, and at what step do you add...	Well you can have a field day with add-ins! I have a fridge door filled with containers of add-ins: amaranth, millet, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, bulgur, hemp hearts, cranberries, raisins, currants, flax seeds, chia seeds, oat groats, buckwheat groats, Kamut and Spelt flakes... you...
Struggling to get a good loaf I’ve been making Tartine bread for several years now (never really consistently) and I can’t ever seem to get a good bread twice in a row. Something will work once and then not ever again. My current problem is lack of proper fermentation during the bulk fermentation stage and almost no te...	One step at a time Your leaven only rises 40-50%? Tell us more about your starter. A brief history, how you maintain it and how you build the leaven.
My third sourdough - getting there So, I had posted a couple of weeks ago about my second attempt at a sourdough bread. See the post "My sourdough ran like water" in this forum for background. After receiving some wonderful advice from people on this forum I changed my recipe. 150g levain900g all purpose white flour600...	that is a really nice crumb! no wonder they were gone in no time.well done and keep it upLeslie
Hybrid of Brioche and Pannettone...? Hi, I am going to make this and pretty excited, spent the last 3 days prepping with making elderflower starter. I literally had 150 ml of elderflower wine I was bottling and didn't fit, I left it and forgot to drink and and decided to experiment.It was slow to start but my starter ...	Just go for it You’ve already succeeded in coming up with something different that is your own. I say use your judgment to come up with any little adjustments or additional creative techniques to make it work with the recipes and gear you already have.
A Useful Tool? Hi all,I've been a long-time lurker, and just did something this weekend that I thought might be appreciated.I've only recently gotten into working with sourdough, and finally have a long enough period of time where I'll be home and able to tend a starter. As I got to preparing it, I remembered I had pur...	Available on Amazon and Ebay After reading your post I was intrigued enough to do a search. There are complete easy fermenter kits available for the enthusiastic. It does sound like a great idea but someone can DIY something similar by using the old, bubbling airlocks from their home brewing days. I made one with a rec...
old dough quantity - same as starter quantity? GreetingsYesterday I fermented a pizza napoletana dough in RT with a tiny 0.66g sourdough starter (0.2% of total flour) (direct fermentation, no preferment). It worked fine. The dough doubled in 27 hours. But since it was not easy to weigh such kind of quantity yesterday, ...	No problem If your starter was 100% hydration and the dough ended up being 80% hydration then the flour within the 0.66g of old dough would be slightly higher than in 0.66g of the 100% hydration starter. But we're talking such minute quantities don't sweat it. I only mention this in case you decide to do this in future...
Sourdough Bread not rising enough My starter doubles in size after about 2 1/2 hours in oven with light on, and i bake bread with it, and then even after six hours of rising i dont see any difference really. Oven spring is great, but mostly semi tight crumb with some big holes. Any ideas why it doesnt rise? ( ps: It pa...	My experience with non-rising SD doughs is... ...that I'm in too much of hurry. And I rarely refresh my starter before using it even if its a week or two since the last time I did refresh it. So, as long as your ambient temperature in your rising space is 70-85 F, just wait it out. Unless, of course, you're doing s...
Yeast Water in 3.5 days Tuesday night I put together one cup of currants (in my last post I wrongly called them sultanas - what's the difference?) and two cups of water. Every day I kept them in a warm 29C environment using my yoghurt maker and by early hours Saturday morning it had matured. All the currants are floa...	Congratulations here is my .2 worth. When the fruit is floating I leave it alone. I just joined the Fermentation baking Facebook page and they remove the fruit from the YW once it gets fizzing well . So they store in the fridge without fruit. They then remove however much they need for a bake and feed it back to very a...
Scandinavian Style Rye Bread (Rugbrød) To those who live in Sweden, Norway or especially Denmark, you will be aware how popular and important rye bread is. Dark, dense, heavy, full of seeds: not your average sourdough loaf. My problem is that when i add my flours after soaking the seeds, the rising from my starter esse...	Watch this. In my hands it's never failed. This is my go to recipe for this kind of bread. I've never refreshed my SD starter in advance. LIke him, I've never measured anything, only used his textures. I've varied virtually everything (kind of rye flour, added all sorts of other flours to vary the flavor, added lot...
Tartine polenta bread with blue cornmeal Well, it was fussy to work with. I think the blue cornmeal didn't absorb as much water as the standard polenta would have, so it was very wet. Still it has a lovely flavor with sunflower seeds and chopped rosemary mixed in.	Nice!!! Can’t wait to see the crumb!
Exasperated with trying to get that "basketball"-type oven spring I've been making sourdough for years but rarely ever get that explosive oven spring where the outer layer peels all the way back as that basketball-size inner dough expands. My loaves have a gentle smile but not that head-back, full-throated laugh you se...	I feel for ya. I feel for ya.But you're still leaving out some pertinent info. Your crust surface hints at something that I can't quite identify and need more facts... about either the ingredients or the oven.Most cases of "long term frustration" where the baker says "i've tried _everything_ and just can't get it right...
Friends of Carl Starter....here we go! Whelp. I've been baking bread for a couple years now and am just starting to get more serious about it. After weeks of anticipation my 1847 "Friends of Carl" starter just arrived in the mail and, tomorrow is the big day. Any gotchas or advice from anyone before I start? I figur...	Bobby Vee would say... "Take good care of your ba-a-a-by Please don't ever make her blu-u-u-ue (or pink for that matter) Just remember to feed her cover and refrigerate her In all the bread-stuff you do-o-o-o" But seiously, congrats and have fun with the starter. The folks here can answer just about any question you'l...
to give up? so i started a starter about a week ago. all good and already in the first 2 days it rises and float on water. in the middle of the week i had to leave the house so i put it in the fridge and when i came bake i feed it regularly.since then it never rises and today i test it and it didn't float on water. ca...	Don't give in This is normal. A sourdough starter after the initial bubbling up goes through a quiet stage. And further more it sounds as if it hit that quiet stage when you had to refrigerate it. The initial bubbling up is quick and looks impressive but it's not a viable starter yet. For now stop feeding it, keep it w...
Getting good crust with baking steel I recently got a baking steel and have been baking sourdough buns/rolls with it. They seem to cook a lot quicker with the steel compared to before (about 6-7 minutes vs 13 minutes on a regular tray) but the crust turns very soft after a few minutes out of the oven. How can I get a c...	couple questions... are you couple questions... are you using parchment paper? how long is your preheat?
Using starter after refrigerating? Hello.I am going away over the weekend and i need to put my starter on hold for 3 days. So how do i start using it again after taking it out of the fridge?Leave it to room remperature? Feed it immediately? What do i do?	Bring it up to room temperature Then carry on as normal - is the usual way. For myself I see no reason in carrying on straight away and waiting that extra time it needs (the difference between a 6 and two 3's). Or feed it using warm water.
Finally getting it figured out (?) Slashing was always my nemesis. I don't understand the connection between gluten development and "skin tension" (what's the correct word?) of a dough ball. Gluten development itself is still fairly mysterious for me.But maybe I'm finally starting to figure it out. King Arthur All Pur...	Great looking loaf What a great feeling to see a good looking loaf coming out of your very own oven. The smell of home made bread being baked. I can really get into your enthusiasm. Thanks for sharing your success!You said, “I could already feel bubbles bursting under my hands as I kneaded” Now you’re making me jealous...
My sourdough loaf is one big hole - help! Hi!I’m looking for some advice on the bake pictured – I want to try and bake again tomorrow and improve the disaster of today, but not sure which elements I’m getting wrong!This is my fourth bake, and I loosely followed this video by Trevor Jay Wilson, Open Crumb from stiff sou...	Holy, holey bread Sometimes a large hole occurs, doesn't mean it will happen every time, not likely! That big hole is known as "The room where the baker sleeps!"
Sourdough starter passes float test bust bread isn´t rising. My 6 day old starter passed the float test without any problem, but my bread dough won´t rise...Its made out of 50 / 50 rye and wheat flour. And is acidic and nice tasting, and it floats slowly dissolving the dough,	A bit young and might need more time Can you give us a brief history of your starter? How did you make it and how do you maintain it? What recipe did you use for the bread? Etc...
Netherlands Yeast I think I know the answer, and this will seem like a silly question to some: Does the fresh yeast found in the Netherlands (play doh-like yeast) need to be fed? I think you just use it until it's all gone, yes? Anyway for people to make it at home? I've only read how people buy it in markets in Europe...	Use it until it's gone Fresh yeast is best left to the industrial manufacturers to make. Use it before too long, or it will lose its power.It's technically possible to grow pure yeast at home, but it requires sterile technique, equipment and a lot of patience. The only people who do this are homebrewers, since brewing ...
Yeast Water So I've finally been able to find some unadulterated sultanas. It's amazing what cr*p (excuse the French) goes into dried fruit. Is it too much to ask for? It's now Tuesday evening and I wish for the YW to be mature by Saturday night to make a levain. What temperature does it need to be?	80-84F No more no less. It is a LOT easier to start a YW from an organic apple. Way easier. I started mine almost 6 yrs ago. I tried raisins 2x and it never amounted to anything. Sweeten the mix with a nice piece of orange or tangerine or other citrus peel. Make sure and keep lid loose and shake it a couple times a day...
After proofing my dough ran like water... I made a sourdough with 400g levain, 700g flour, and 500g water. The dough was a little too wet so as I was mixing I added more flour until the consistency seemed "right". I folded it every 30 minutes for 1.5 hours, let it rise another hour, and then divided it into proofing ba...	Overproofed? Seems like a lot of levain for an overnight rise. Maybe try it with half the levsil and at least 2 more folds. How much salt did you add?
Dough strength from machine mixing/kneading I read but I don't always retain. I'm sure this was all discovered long ago and I am just "rediscovering" it now.I usually machine mix my dough for about 10 minutes total, on speed 1 or 2 on Wifey's ancient Kitchen Aid mixer. That would be 8 minutes with starter, followed by ...	I often run my KA Pro at 4 or I often run my KA Pro at 4 or so for any kind of dough. It seems a speed that is likely to pick up the dough, form a clean ball on my spiral hook, and clean the bowl. I boost the speed temporarily if the dough spends too much time on the hook to loosen it off then return to 4. I find 2 to ...
Why is my dough so dense! Last week I made a pair of beautiful loaves of sourdough! Honestly one of my best bakes (I've been baking sourdough just 6 or 7 months now). I tried replicating what I did this week but came out with one of my worst bakes in a while. I now have 2 pretty dense loaves (one in the oven again to b...	Back up a bit I think the answer is in your starter. Can you explain what happened before the making of the dough. Starter maintenance and prep for the bake!
How do seeds affect the taste of crumb? How do seeds affect the taste of crumb? Let me clarify.I love Hamelman’s Five-Grain Levain. I have baked a lot of different breads searching for another bread that rival or at least compete with the Five-Grain. Every bake falls short for taste. When I taste it, I always think, “t...	Short answer: Yes and yes! I don’t have s long answer but toasted seeds definitely affect the flavour profile.And freshly milled flour provides a flavour that can’t be beat. I can attest to this having participated in a trial during a cooking class with pitas. The ones made with freshly milled flour were excellent and...
NMNF Starter is 20 weeks old, but PH is 4.0 I have an NMNF Starter that is 20 weeks old, but PH is 4.0. The starter has an extremely acidic smell. And it has made some great bread.This is how I ran the PH test. I thoroughly mixed equal parts of starter and distilled water. Then I wet the PH strip with it. It appears to...	Uh 4 is pretty low on the pH scale! I have fish tanks and when the pH gets around 6, I freak so 4 is way way down there!
how would i know if it's a bad stink or a good stink...? so.. i started my starter 60 hours ago. i fed it after the 48 hours and also now (12 hours later).the starter is doubled in size and all seems like i read\watched.but... it kinda stinks. the all kitchen now have a smell of yogurt-like. is it good? is it bad? BTW...	Very normal It's still very young and you'll need to keep on feeding it for a few more days until it is ready. It might go through a variety of smells and even get less active. Have patience, keep it warm and feed when it needs to be fed. If all goes quiet then you can skip a feed or two. If the activity keeps up then ...
P̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶R̶u̶s̶t̶i̶q̶u̶e̶ Fancy Schmancy Bread P̶A̶I̶N̶ ̶R̶U̶S̶T̶I̶Q̶U̶E̶FANCY SCHMANCY BREADMY WEEKEND BAKERY’S VERSION OF THE HAMELMAN RECIPEINGREDIENTS FOR THE POOLISH180gwheat (bread) flour45gwhole wheat flour225gwater (room temperature)10gsourdough cultureINGREDIENTS FOR THE P̶A̶I̶N̶ ̶R̶U̶S̶T̶I̶Q̶U̶E̶ FANCY SCHMA...	Beautiful! Hi,What an amazing loaf and scoring! Dan said that your are in UK and I was wondering whether there is any UK bread that you would recommend? I am based in Suffolk and have used Maple Farm Organic stoneground white bread flour and their rye but I think it might not be strong enough and just today tried Marri...
can my dough overproof while in the fridge for final proof? Hey everyone out there in SourdoughLand.Could my dough have overproofed while in the fridge? I did a 2-1/2-hour proof after a 1-hour autolyze, and 3 stretch and folds. Then put into the fridge for 14 hours. When I took it out of the banneton and into the clouc...	I think so.. I'd say yes. I think you can over ferment your dough in the fridge. It's all about how much starter/levain to flour you had in your mix. The more levain you use as a percentage of final dough the shorter the time you can give it to work it's magic in a cold retard- and vice versa of course. And how long in...
Poor oven spring and ear (grigne) Lately, I've been frustrated with my sourdough bakes, I can't seem to get the desired oven spring and ear I'm aiming for.I thought it might be an issue with my starter as I had been using it only a few times a month and was storing it cold (always with 1-3 refreshes before baking). Aft...	Looks good to me Actually, that looks like a lovely bread with a nice texture (and I'm assuming it tastes good too!). However, it might be a little bit overproofed if you are looking for more oven spring. I have found my high hydration doughs often overproof if they are retarded for the final proof. I prefer to retard ...
Tip - Open Crumb Mastery - Convert PDF to Kindle From what I’ve been reading, it looks like a lot of us have been reading Trevor’s book. All I hear is rave reviews and I couldn’t agree more.I like the book so much that I printed out the entire book. I prefer print to digital. But, sadly after printing I discovered that...	Highly recommend his book for "holey grail" pursuer Hi,I just started the book and really, really like it! I would not dare to call myself 'intermediate' but have been trying Sourdough very regularly since November with mixed results...I found the book really encouraging and now start looking at my starter again with h...
Extremely Sluggish Starter I have a starter that is definitely alive, but extremely sluggish. Our house is kept at 68* Fahrenheit. I feed it twice a day with:40g starter40g water20g rye flour20g bread flourEverything I look at recommends a much lower inoculation percentage, but mine would be completely inactive. All of...	A bit more history about your starter How did you make it? How old is it? Have you made bread with it success? Was it always sluggish? I'd say try a feed at 78F and report back if it's still sluggish or not. And another thing... You say that many of us do larger feeds and have no issues but you're afraid that your star...
Sourdough from Tartine It's been three months now and I'm growing more confident about my ability to make sourdough breads. Here are today's loaves: two rye and two standard country breads from the Tartine book.	Well, they certainly look Well, they certainly look fantastic!
Deflating after bulk fermentation? Hello. I recently saw a video of a bakery making sourdough bread. Their process seemed normal until it got to the shaping. They don't seem to handle the dough "gently and with care", instead they shape it fast and "violently" (sometimes even pressing down on the dough) which i am gues...	Up to you. Gentle shaping Up to you. Gentle shaping should give more open and wild crumb, degassing would even out the crumb.
Would appreciate your feedback Hi,This is the first time I'm posting a bread here and I'm not sure if this is the right place or format so apologies in advance if it is not! It's my go to recipe for olive bread. It goes like this: Salt 10 gramsWater 350 grams100% hydration starter 100 gramsBread flour 500 gramsMix all ...	And how does it taste? That’s And how does it taste? That’s my main criteria. Bread is for eating. I make six pounds of sourdough, and it’s gone in four days. Crust is a bit light. The loaf isn’t 100% symerical. The crumb is tighter than average, but when I bake three or four loaves on Sunday and it’s gone by Thursda...
How to apply seed to top of bread What is the best way to apply seeds to the top of breads?At this time I am spritzing the dough with water and then putting the upside down proofed dough on a tea towel covered with a thick layer of seeds. The problem is getting the high hydration dough off the towel and into the DO wit...	Seeds I proof in a banneton, and add a layer of seeds to the bottom after I’ve floured it. I also add a few around the side of the shaped dough once it is in the banneton. As well as giving me seeds on the top it also seems to help with releasing.
A lesson in bringing out the tang So I am blessed with a rather sweet starter and tang normally eludes me. Don't get me wrong, I get lovely tasting loaves and very happy with my starter, but tang it's not its strongest point. I laugh when people tell me they don't eat sourdough because they don't like sour bread. How l...	Bread is beautiful, thanks for the write up Abe, have you tried Whole Rye grain in your starters? I've tried a lot of things to get sour. I love the taste. But in my experience nothing makes sour better than Rye.Caution; it will run through the "feed to recede" cycle much faster than bread flour. It's a beast {;-)Dan ...
Commercial Bread vs Sourdough I recently read the ingredients list from a bag of commercial sandwich bread. WOW!I decided that I would print out the information on a small piece of paper and put it in the bags of the breads I give away. Thought some of you might like the idea. This is my first draft.-------------------...	May want to be careful with May want to be careful with this one. I'm assuming that you are planning to give someone the list of ingredients in the Holsum's bread? Seems innocent enough... but I just had the image of your friend (or whomever receives your tasty loaf), and rather than share with your amazement and enjoy...
Sourdough STARTER Contamination I just want to ask if I work with commercial yeast and sourdough on the same day, won't the commercial yeast contaminate my starter and be the dominant yeast species in there leading to a change in flavor not just in my starter but also in the subsequent breads made with it? Also, is it ...	How would there be starter contamination? If you don't put commercial yeast into your starter then how will there be contamination?I wouldn't worry.
Starter can not keep going with White Flour Hi, I'm new here, I'm from Brazil, sorry for my bad english, hope you can understand me.I'm reading a lot of your stuff for the last weeks and have tried creating my starter a few times. I did it when I found the pineapple juice solution and I had 3 starters going on. Two fro...	How old are the starters? Starters don't usually die. They sometimes need time and patience to adjust to a new flour or a change. Watch the starters not the clock too much.
Saggy loaf! I baked my second ever sourdough loaf today (first was a complete disaster!) and while there was some improvement it’s still what I’d class as way off base. The particular problem I had was that when tipping out of the proofing basket the ‘top’ of the loaf (i.e. the part lying on bottom of banneton during c...	Could be a few things going on This isn't a bad loaf. If it tastes good then its a winner. While I feel there could be some improvement in judging the fermentation better (it's difficult I know! comes with practice and took me a long time - still learning) I'm thinking those caverns could be also a shaping issue. Are y...
No-muss-no-fuss Wheat flour disaster I converted my 100% wheat flour starter into 66% NMNF starter 2 weeks ago. The result was a disaster. In just 2 weeks in the fridge, it lost almost all its yeast power. The second week when I used it to build a levain, it failed to rise 4 hours after the second feed. Even after disc...	That hasn’t been my experience I’ve been using dabrownman’s NMNF scheme for over a year now with great success. I’ve used 4 different flours: Organic Beehive (white flour), whole dark rye, type 110, and most recently whole wheat special, all from Central Milling. Yesterday I used my whole wheat starter that has been in...
What 5 Grains are in Hamelman’s Five-Grain Levain? What 5 Grains are in Hamelman’s Five-Grain Levain? I’ve baked this too many times to count. Today I was mixing the soaker and realized that I didn’t see 5 grains in the formula. Since I work from a spreadsheet I thought for sure that it was my error. After checking the...	Grains and seeds, really Whole wheatCracked ryeFlaxseedsSunflower seedsOatsIt's a delicious bread.David
Einkorn Question I guess it's Einkorn week. My next recipe, which I'm in the middle of, is 100% wholegrain Einkorn. Now my usual Einkorn method is as follows...Flour : 100%Water : 70%Salt : 2%Starter : 10% @ 70% hydration The method is simple. Mix until a dough is formed but don't over knead. Stop before it turns reall...	Pictures please? Can't help you with the questions, but looking forward to seeing what your loaf looks like..
Using bread machine whole wheat in starter Hi all,It just occurred to me that the last time I purchased whole wheat flour, I had accidentally bought WW flour intended for use in bread machines. I have been using up to 10% in loaves, and 50% for starter refreshes. I noticed that the gas bubbles in my starter will hold t...	WW flour intended for use in WW flour intended for use in bread machines sounds like a marketing gimmick. Should be perfectly fine in a starter.
Cultures evolving and adapting to the environment? New to this forum-- this is my first post. I've been baking sourdough breads for a year or so now, but am never satisfied with the taste of my finished product, mainly because the "sourness" flavor is not to my liking. Sure, I can make a loaf more or less sour by using...	It might be you And I say that with tongue only partly in cheek. There are numerous LAB strains that are "native" to humans, rather than to grain. It is possible that your sourdough is seeded with LAB that are from yourself, or your household, and that those LABs eventually come to dominate the other flavor-producing...
Starting out - tips to improve, please! Hi there - so after a long absence I'm baking levain bread again. I have got a pure rye starter going (100% hydration) and am using the basic Tartine recipe to get myself back into practice.They've been getting better: for my first two tries I retarded the proving stage in the f...	I’m making Tartin bread right now I’m making Tartin bread right now. Baked one yesterday and will be baking another today.You might like this video. It’s what I’m using and the results are great. http://www.breadwerx.com/make-tartine-style-country-bread-video/ This was my first attempt. I followed Trevor’s video.Wishi...
Rejuvenating a starter As have many of you, I've downloaded and have been devouring Trevor Wilson's book over the last week or so. A light bulb went off early in the book when he was discussing the strength of your starter and the fact that it might have too high an acid load. My old starter was getting a little eye wa...	LOVE that book I had the exact same experience, and did a very similar refresh. My bread has been loving it! Fantastic book, no?
Starter not as jet lagged as me i wonder if anyone else worries about their starter when they are on holidays ? Away for 6 weeks, I made a golf ball of starter at 60% hydration and put it into a jar of 500 grams of 100% flour and water batter and in the fridge for 6 weeks.first thing I did when I got back was not to u...	With just my regular feeding schedule my starter hangs out in the fridge for 3-4 months, no problem. The only thing I worry about on vacation is whether I can get a small jar of starter past airport security to bake with while I'm gone. I wouldn't put it past those guys to confiscate it for some stupid reason. ...
Question about the Honeyed Spelt & Oat Sourdough recipe Hi All, I’m making this for the second time, thanks to Abe for recommending it. He mentions that it can make one large loaf or two smaller ones which I did the first time. I’m feeling a bit lazy today and am considering just making one large loaf but am somewhat h...	My mistake Sorry Sharon but upon checking the book it says it makes two loaves. Not one large loaf or two small loaves. The single loaf was my reworking in red. However there's no reason why you couldn't make one large loaf if you have the banneton to fit. It's have to be a very large banneton though. I think you can f...
Tips and ideas for teaching a sourdough bread baking class! Hello bakers! I was recently asked to teach a sourdough baking class at a community center. I bake and have been baking every weekend for two years now. I feel very confident in my skill and knowledge. I learned everything I know from watching youtubes videos,...	Show and Tell Bring some mature starter so the students can see and smell it.Demonstrate mixing and kneading.Will you have an oven available? If so, you could bring some dough and bake it.
How do you usually maintain your starter from the refrigerator? My starter rises beautifully within an 8-12 hr period and even deflates within 24 hours. Since I started storing it in the refrigerator, I've noticed it deflates within just two days without doubling (picture on day 3 after feed) as it would outside. Is th...	You need to make it thicker! I keep mine at a 66% hydration (66g water to 100 g rye flour) so that it can sit for a few months in the fridge without feeding. To bake, I take 10 grams out of the fridge and feed it 10 g water and 10 g flour. I feed again about 12 hours later 20 g water and 20 g rye flour. 12 hours later ...
Most Efficient Kneading Techniques There are so many ways to knead dough. Slap, stretch, fold, pull, roll, and the such. It seems that the gluten is most efficiently formed by some kind of stretching. Since I’ve been kneading my starter (dough) twice a day, I’ve had plenty of short practices. If stretching is the mos...	less and less I am going backwards as far as touching the dough. I have reverted to the almost no knead method. I watched a Rubaud video to find out what his method is about. I have found that I can mix everything....flours, liquids and levain and salt and get it all wet and then just go away. I come back and it is be...
Question about an old starter of my grandma So this starter my grandma used to make my mother put it in the refrigerator ,it's being there for a while like years xD it was like rock. And then there was some molded parts that we took off. and then i try to activate with oil water and the old starter and left it for a ni...	I love old starters Old starters can give you a head start on developing a culture of yeasts and lactos that have already been proven to work together-if they survived. A new culture has to build the neighborhood-grandma already did that and as dry and mangled as it looked, they just went dormant.The video was helpful ...
how to increase acetic in a dough? I've read that it is mainly acetic acid that causes the final dough to have a tangy flavor. The problem is that acetic acid seems to have a negative effect on wild yeast bacteria. For a short time its fine, but in long time if would slow the yeast..Debra Wink says here that:Bacteria c...	Very sour bread Dan Wing on p.68 of The Breadbuilders discusses this.His general recommendation (lacking a number of specifics): make a stiff sponge (50% hydration) using 30% of the total water, 3 days before final mix - set out at room temp (he doesn't mention how much starter to add, so I'd be careful here...perhaps ...
Underproofed? I have made sourdough a few times now. My starter is about 6 weeks old. Seems pretty healthy as it triples in size after a 1-4-4 feeding of 70% bread flour/30% WW flour.I feed my starter before going to bed.Start in the morning with 60 Minute autolyse prior to adding starter and salt5 1/2 - 6 hr bulk ferm...	Mix well in a each process. Mix well in a each process. Enjoy!
SD Microbes are everywhere Since having to clear my kitchen sink drain line twice, I starter cleaning my tools in a bucket. Once the bake is finished the cleaning water to thrown out into my yard. To my surprise I noticed fermentation in the cleaning bucket.Debra has told me through the years that bakers who bake often...	I also heard that us bakers I also heard that us bakers are less likely to get food poisoning. We have richer microbiome!
Sourdough Pizza...a tried and true recipe..? G'day! I'm currently searching for a sourdough pizza base recipe. I'd love to hear from those who have a tried and true recipe. I was just going to try one of my white sourdoughs and make a few adjustments. I'm also a newbie to the art and would love to hear of fellow affi...	Ed Wood Has anyone tried Ed Wood's recipe for a sourdough pizza base?
Substituting a poolish for conventional yeast in a levain hybrid Forgive me if this question has been answered already and just point me to the post... I am tearing my hair out over too wet dough (beyond anything workable) - I enjoy baking without yeast because it's fun. I am trying to use Ken Forkish's hybrid recipe...	Forkish always uses 1000 g of flour in his recipes. I believe his hydration is usually around 75 %. I would have to check to see what that particular recipe calls for. Get the required amount of flour and water that you need for your polish from those amounts and save the rest for the main dough.
Storing Starter Discard? With no luck I have been trying to find out if I can store a starter discard either at room temperature or in the refrigerator? I don't want to throw it out and I don't have time to bake during the week, any ideas? Thanks!	Starter Idea Here is an idea. I would preserve some by drying it out just in case some time in the future your mother starter goes bad or to give away to friends and family. This is what I did with some of mine.https://food52.com/blog/19257-how-to-preserve-your-sourdough-starter-for-months-sans-freezer/amp
how to turn dry sourdough to active one. I dried all my sourdough and keep it in a mason jar in the refrigerator. Now I would like to reactivate the dry sourdough to an active one and forgot how to do it. Please help.Thaichef.	Rehydration It's only a matter of rehydrating the dry sourdough. You can start with a relatively small batch, say 50 g of warm water and 50 g of flour along with 5 or 6 g of the dried starter. Mix well and cover, then keep it at a warm temperature, between 74F and 82F. The first build may not be particularly active but...
Nailed it on the sixth try 65% hydration, both autolysand and starter, seems to be what I can handle.I reduced the salt because one of my friends said that 11 grams was too salty. Took it down to 9. I think I might get more oven spring if I had a completely working oven. My oven's top element burned out, cannot be repl...	Glad you finally got a loaf to work out for you. Would baking it longer give you more colour on the top? How does it taste?
sourdough starter on other types of flour Ok so in a common wheat sourdough, there are a multitude of yeasts and bacteria and each sourdough has a slightly different combination of them due to water/air/flour/etc... but the main ones are always present. I can imagine that in other wheat varieties, like emmer, einkorn o...	Semola rimaccinata You may wish to try using fine durum flour, otherwise known as semola rimaccinata, as a different levain. About 2 years ago there was a flurry of activity on TFL about baking Pane di Altamura, a 100% semolina based bread. If interested do a search on that bread to see what a number of others, inclu...
If the bottom of the loaf is burning when baked in a dutch oven Then here is a good idea.	That’s a really good idea! Thanks for the link!
Changing flour ratio in Tartine country bread I am new here but have been baking bread the past couple years using a no-knead sour dough method. I have been mostly satisfied except for not having much of an open crumb. I just tried a standard recipe for Tartine country bread (with adaption for refrigerated bulk ferment...	Chad Robertson gives 800gm Chad Robertson gives 800gm water to 700 wholemeal, 300 breadflour. Also 800 water to 170 rye, 830 breadflour. Same method as basic loaf.
Making the bread, should you feed it before making the bread or just use the sourdough starter? As the title says so this is my first time making the bread and i am wondering should i feed it first before taking the starter to put on the flour or should you feed it first and then use it on the flour?	Are you following a specific Are you following a specific recipe? Many of them will spell out exactly how to handle the starter, how much flour/water to add, and how much time between steps to allow for the dough to rise. If your recipe doesn't address these steps, I would suggest that you first try baking bread by fol...
Einkorn Country Loaf EINKORN SOURDOUGHOVERALL FORMUL	Flour : 100%Water : 68.18%Salt : 1.8% FORMUL
Starter left out for 5 days, still good? Hi all,I’m still very much a beginner with sourdough. I have been maintaining my starter for 2 years and it has been active and healthy. When baking often, i would feed it daily. When not baking often, i kept it in the fridge and fed it weekly. It would double to triple in h...	If it has no mould Then give it some TLC till it loses the acetone smell and rises well. Edit... and of course don't overfeed it. Wait until each feed matures before feeding again. Sorry for my quick reply... was about to board my flight. That's what I meant by TLC. Golden rule is to allow your starter to dictate when ...
Feeding when kept in fridge Hi,I have a starter that peaks after I feed it 1:1:1 within ~6 hours in 23C. I want to stop feeding it every day and start to keep it in the fridge and feed it once a week, when I can also take some to make bread and put the rest back in the fridge.My concern is that when I feed it 1:1:1, I'...	Not sure if this will answer Not sure if this will answer your question exactly but just some perspective. I can pull my cold starter out of the fridge and feed it twice (once to "wake up" and once to make active for baking) It's usually good to go. This is when it's in the fridge for a week or a month. I do regularly ...
1st ever levain starter questions I've been creating my first levain starter this week per Ken Forkish's instructions in FWSY. It should be ready to use on Friday and I'm excited to try lots of levain recipes this weekend. However, having not ever used it before, I'm hoping for some tips and explanations from you pros ...	First things first You have your starter from which you build a levain. The starter being the seed (not necessarily built to the correct specifications but rather a home for the yeasts and bacteria) and the levain being an off-shoot starter built specifically for the recipe you're doing. You're building a starter.Some ...
Sourdough Quiche/Pie Crust?? Hey was hoping someone could help me, want to take advantage of some starter discard by making a quiche crust.Does anyone have anything they've had success with? Any advice?Weights or percentages would be ideal and if I could employ the lazy kitchen-aid even better.thanks so much!	lots of ideas it is an acid and as such takes the place of the lemon juice or buttermilk that you might use instead in pie crust as well as many many other uses. Google is your friend. Good luck ! You will never have enough discard :) https://www.google.com/search?q=using+sourdough+discard+pie+crust&oq=using+sourdough+...
Danni bread 5.0 I reduced the water slightly, used KA bread flour, and used 75% starter. Still quite wet. Handle-able, but just barely. Need to reduce hydration further.	Why don't you do the opposite? When forming the dough better to work up and stop when it feels right then slowly reducing with each bake. You'll find a good hydration far more successfully.
Lötschental Valley rye bread technique Does anyone know anything about the bread that this Swiss culture made. A rye bread with a long fermentation? At least a couple of weeks fermentation. What technique they used. I know they sifted the bran and germ out of the flour and used 100% rye grain. It was supposedly a very ...	Try The Rye Baker Stan Ginsberg, longtime FreshLoaf poster, has several books-the last one titled "The Rye Baker". He has a website of the same name and actively responds to posts and questions. The book is wonderful and the website has many recipes. I didn't find a recipe with that particular name but he has studied r...
Turning dough during cold bulk fermentation? Hi All, I'm working on this recipe: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDqMWhgSTguE5FrgIjXRxNl-N7XGZvvR5I've decided to put the dough in the fridge after 2 hours of initial room temp fermentation. (Only because I can't bake in the time that it would be fermented at room ...	I have done what you said I have done what you said several times and never turned it while in the fridge. P
Gummy/Chewy Sourdough I finally got a "decent" loaf of sourdough on my third attempt. I used Trevor Wilsons method of making a loaf at 65% hydration, which I found a lot easier to handle being new to this. So my question now is, although I got some rise out of this loaf it turned out to be on the chewy/gummy side, what...	Dial it in.. I think you're over fermenting given the 10 hour bulk unless your room is pretty cool.. Try this.. feed your starter AP flour only for a few feeds and see how it reacts. You won't taste the difference in the final bread - at least I don't - over using rye and bread flour for starter feeds. You'll find your...
My First Sourdough My first attempt at baking sourdough bread, the first steps in what I expect will be a long journey of learning. I followed The Perfect Loaf sourdough recipe. My starter (Bella) was created on New Years Day and I worked on it for two weeks before baking. I ground rye and red winter wheat berries for ...	Sure looks great! Amazing how many people can make their first loaf of SD about 1,000% better than my first 10. Well done and enjoy the great bread!
Another attempt at Danni bread Danni posted a very simple starter recipe. I managed to screw that up too :( I used 100% hydration starter rather than the 70% hydration she uses. I had ramped down my former 1:1 by volume starter to 1:1 by weight, but forgot that this was still too wet.The dough was just on the verge of ...	The recipe I gave you (1 part starter, 2 parts water and 3 parts flour with 2% salt) uses 100% hydration starter which means half flour, half water by weight. It should have been fine. Where are you that your flour is not soaking up the water it should. Are you using all purpose or bread flour?
Sourdough starter with wheat flour? I kept reading where people added rye or wheat flour to help "feed nutrients" to the sourdough starter. so... I went and bought King Arthur whole wheat flour and instead of 100g of white ap flour, I used 40g wheat and 60g white along with my 100g of water. The starter did rise but ...	AP Magic... Don't know the "why".. but I ran an experiment a month ago and posted about it.. I found that AP bread flour is like crack for my starter.. great full rises.. but using bread or whole wheat and it gets lazy.. no idea why.. didn't get an answer.. and have moved on realizing that sometimes it's okay to just d...
Raisin Yeast Water pH during fermentation Test on four samples: Blank with BF, RYW with BF, ADY with BF, and RYW with AP. All samples are 20g flour at 100% hydration. No weight taken on ADY but picture shown. Will take pH at the end of fermentation for each.Calibration check RYW taken out of refrigerator and kept at...	I read this with great I read this with great interest. What is the pH of raisins in water before significant fermentation has occurred? Is most of the acidity from the fruit? My guess is that it is.
A Poolish Question I have always considered a poolish a flavor enhancer. Unlike a levain which may contain around 10 - 20% starter, my poolishes contain 0.009% yeast.When popping the lid on the poolish container after about 12 hours at 76 F there is always a great aroma that certainly augments the flavor of the bread. ...	I sometimes use poolish as I sometimes use poolish as the only leavener in a dough. The bulk rise takes longer, and you get a more tangy flavor.Yeast makes more of itself, given time. Like you I start my poolishes with very minimal yeast. But by the time it has bubbled up and doubled in volume (which may be 12 hours...
sour taste + oven rise, how can we have both ? GreetingsI make pizza for my family every week, using my own SD starter. I have one long standing problem that I hope to solve one day, with your help:No matter how I try, I failed so far to get both an oven rise and a sour taste. It seems as if I must make a choice of one...	The NMNF starter and bran levain were developed to The NMNF starter and bran levain were developed todo 5 things. Increase the LAB to yeast ratio in the starter, levain and resulting bread. Improve the flavor of SD bread by promoting both lactic and acetic acid production by the LAB, increase the openness and spring ...
"Nom Nom" Just tasted my starter for the first time since it's creation 4 years ago. It's been through many different flours and hydration in that time. More recently it's 100% hydration 50:50 blend of bread flour and whole-wheat flour. Fed 24 hours ago and refrigerated when peaked. Just built a levain from it and deci...	Following... No idea on what to look for but the couple of times I dared to sample a smidgen of my starter, it was just very sour/vinegary and not pleasant at all. Curious to see the other responses.
Trying to make a generic Danni bread Third go-round on making bread with the Danni method, based on my struggles with:Caramelized onion sourdough with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Italian herbsI've made the recipe above twice and both times it was too wet. The first two times I was using a very very wet starter. The third t...	Here you go! I posted this in another post at one time but I think most of this should answer your questions. I am playing with my procedure these days but the following worked well for me in the past. Danni’s Sourdough Procedure You are right that there are a number of things that I follow and it seems to be working ...
Temperature and Time Question Hello. I was wondering if you were to divide a sourdough bread recipe into 2 or even 3 or 4, making smaller loaves, would the time and/or temperature need to change? Thank you.	Times and Temps I wouldn't be too concerned in the early stages, like preferments, mixes, bulk ferments, but once the dough is divided you may want to pay some attention.The additional surface areas will evaporate hydration faster so move quickly and keep things covered. Proofing might run a little faster because the d...
Yoghurt & Soft Cheese Maker Twas my birthday on Boxing Day and my good friend bought me this Yoghurt & Soft Cheese Maker. It arrived yesterday and can't wait to try it out. I'm also thinking it'll be great for my starter/levains and at 1.65 litre capacity it might even be good for the dough.Time and Temperature control...	Great gift! What is the brand name?
Starter Survey - Number Crunching & Summary Hi All,I have played with the data and I have crunched the numbers.The response was great and we received about 30 survey entries. That's surprising in just 1.5 days. There's clearly interest in this.However, there are a LOT of variables. The more variables you have, the more...	Thanks, Amy Thanks, Amy. It gives us a collective peak into the methods used by others. What do you think about putting a refined version of your survey on YouTube? Wouldn’t the survey stay viable for a much longer time? As you said the forum topic burns out pretty fast. I am interested in the processes used by others....
What does your Sourdough Starter smell like? I have read so many different descriptions of the smell of sourdough starters that I do not think that there is a concensus as to what it should smell like. I guess because starters raised in different areas impart different flavor profiles to the finished bread that it is n...	After maintenance feeding After maintenance feeding (once a week, or sometimes every other week) the starter is scented very smooth, fresh, and sweet. After sitting in the fridge for a week or two it comes forth with something that reminds me of the spackling used for drywall..... :) Before I bake any sourdough loave...

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