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Dave Miller's method for semi dehydrated starter storage
Just wanted to write to say how well Dave Miller's method of starter maintenance with a semi-dehydrated stage is working for me. Learnt about the method from a forum post here that referred to this web page.Basically I just take a small amount of starter (typical... | good to know
Good to know this works for you. It is interesting to see you have four starters! Have you done any controlled (insofar as this is possible for us) experiments making the same bread with two of your starters? I've also been curious about his stepped 25%, 50% and 75% inoculation, but haven't tried it. |
David's San Joaquin Sourdough Baguettes
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/32906/san-joaquin-sourdough-baguettesFor those looking for a great sourdough baguette recipe, this must be one of the best.I just finished my first bake using it, and, while I'm an average bread guy, I'm pretty please with this initial attempt.
... | Nice work
Those look great, Alameda Steve.Alameda Phil |
Looking for a good interval timer
GreetingsI'm looking for a reliable interval timer tool. I tried many android apps, but most of them are not reliable. The famous among them, called Impetus, doesn't have hours, only minutes and seconds. It also stops working in the middle, just like the rest.Does anyone know of a good... | It might help
if you'd name the ones you've already tried. and even more if you'd say why you feel each is deficient. |
Help please! Huge gas holes Sourdough overnight fermentation
Hi all,I have been encountering the same result for the last weeks. The Sourdough boules have huge holes on the top part of the bread. I am not sure if I should degaz a bit more the boule before shapping and proof it. Or maybe no proof enough?? The bread is a... | Could be
Shaping and/or underactive starter.Please talk (or write) us through your starter maintenance, levain build and recipe method. |
Costco flour... did I make a mistake?
Day one: Three days ago I was very eager to start my very first sourdough starter, but at the time all I had was Costco's Ardent Mills Harvest all-purpose flour. With that flour and some pineapple juice I made a hundred percent hydration starter.On this on this day the starter was... | Re: Costco flour... did I make a mistake
King Arthur All Purpose Flour is a great option! I use their flour too! I might suggest adjusting your starter recipe a bit. Buy the following:-an equal sized bag of King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour or your local chain supermarket's Whole Wheat flour -buy a 24 oz. jar of pickles-e... |
Sourdough 1.1.2. - new formula for Sourdough Bread
I've been trying and trying to get my sourdough bread up but have had little success. The 1-2-3 recipe worked out ok except it was always too gloppy to make anything but ciabatta. So I started experimenting with different forumlas, twice a day for two weeks. I think ... | 1. part ripe starter
1. part water
2. parts flour
2% salt
Here's my technique. I take a nice ripe starter and measure out the first part. Normally I use 150g as a base. Then I stir in 1 part water (150g) to make a slurry. To this I add the 2 parts flour (300g) and mix in to incorporate. I use a fork and my fingers... |
When to feed the starter before using for Ciabatta
I'm going to go on a bread baking tear this weekend! Quick question - For this Ciabatta recipe modified by "tchism" to use sourdough starterhttp://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2984/jasons-quick-coccodrillo-ciabatta-bread?page=1443 g KA bread flour272 g water453 g 100% wil... | Ciabatta Question :)
Hi GreenThumb,Did you ever get a response or did you figure it out yourself? Would love to know as I have some starter I would like to use for this Ciabatta recipe.By the way, did you ever make it, how did it turn out etc., if you did?Thanks in advance!Koo |
Hooch: pour out or mix back in?
I am currently making my very first mother starter. In the event that I get hooch, do I pour it out or do incorporate it back in the starter? | hooch...
The hooch is not a bad thing at all. You can either pour it off the top or mix it back into your starter when you refresh.Good luck! |
Sourdough storage
The picture is of two loaves of Vermont Sourdough from the book Bread by J. Hamelman. I made them Sunday, the 26th. I used to store all bread, even sourdough, in plastic bags. But the sourdough crust would soften. These loaves were stored in paper sacks. The sandwich I had today with this bread was ... | Hi Pmiker, I too have to
Hi Pmiker, I too have to avoid the hard crusts due to the evil dentist. But I can still enjoy CAREFULLY the chewy texture IF I do one of 2 things. First, wrap the bread in a good tea towel and let it cool, but that is not my favorite way. Get a paper towel and get a good pat of shortening an... |
Recipe conversions for starter
Good morning, I have recently purchased the Roger Saul SPELT book and got my own sourdough starter going. Smells amazing!! I will be baking my first loaf with it today. Throughout the book, the recipes call for a certain quantity of either fresh yeast that we need to crumble, or the comm... | Convert Recipe to Sourdough
Here's a video on how to convert any yeast bread recipe to sourdough:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUjj4wNSEb0 |
Mojo is back
Thanks to all for your help last week! I took the advice and did my bulk fermentation in the oven with the light on - what a huge difference! Best results I've had with the Tartine country loaf so far. | It certainly is!
Lovely loaves, heidus.Paul |
Another attempt, another flat bread
Another loaf, another flat disc. I just cannot seem to get a handle on sourdough bread. I have been meticulously maintaining my starter for two months now, never skipped a single feeding, never let it get stagnant, always calculate to the gram, always careful of its temperature, alwa... | Whatever is going on
Your starter is doing something as I see a nice crumb structure. Agreed it's a bit flat however the interior looks very nice. How does it taste? |
Spelt Starter question
So I made two loaves in my dad's old bread maker. One whole wheat, one spelt. Both came out pretty dense but edible with sufficient toppings.I took the leftover spelt and began a starter (50g each spelt flour and water). At 36 hours it appears to have almost doubled in size, so growth is good. Th... | Spelt starter...
I have a (white) spelt starter - I kicked it off from my white wheat starter. A couple of uses later and the wheat content was down to homeopathic levels, so that's fine. So convert yours to wheat to keep a starter going, then back to spelt if you like - or keep it wheat. It all depends on your aim - I... |
Commercial Oven troubles
Howdy to all the Sourdough aficionados. I have recently upped my game and I am renting space in a commissary kitchen. Their oven, as giagantic as it is, is presenting a unique challenge for me to bake in. The oven is 8 feed wide with 6 racks that rotate around a natural gas flame At the bottom... | From expansion?
Is it from heat, or from the bread spreading out, or similar? I've seen something like that with bread where the cut didn't make it far enough to the ends of the bread, so there was lots of expansion in the middle, but it would break near the ends as it tried to rise and the "caps" of the uncut area ke... |
Bread Flour vs. AP
Making a 75% hydration loaf--slightly modifying the Tartine Bread recipe. What will be the effect of substituting bread flour for AP flour? | My guess...
...is that the loaf will be a bit more chewy, both crumb and crust, but otherwise not much. I prefer the bread flour option. |
Stringy dough
Hi thereLooking to do my second sourdough bake today, but I've mixed the dough (or attempted to) and the dough is really stringy and difficult to mix. This is being done by had as a don't have an electric mixer. Is this dough ruined? The dough got stringy after 2 hours autolyse.I'm using this recipe (for ... | "Stringy"?
Hmmmm, difficult to say when "stringy" is such a subjective word! Normally, as gluten develops in wheat flour bread, long strands of gluten will form. This is normal and a good thing! If it gets tight and difficult to mix or stretch and fold (as described in the recipe), then just leave it sit for 10 minutes... |
HELP! Giant caverns, dense outer crumb
Hello! Heavy lurker of TFL since January, first time posting! A little background: I've wanted to take a stab at sourdough bread baking for a while and finally took the plunge in January, made my own starter, and began baking. I watched numerous videos on bread baking, read artic... | Looks like to me
Your starter is struggling. How much salt? Has this changed at all? Please confirm this isn't a typo or you've changed the amount from your successful ones to the failures. |
Mold growing on my first starter?
Theses images were taken 3 days after being placed in my living room and covered with a paper towels with holes in them.The recipe used was-4 cups of boiled potato water-2 teaspoons of salt-2 table spoons of honey -4 cups of flourI found this recipe on youtube, this was my first time e... | Start over
Your pictures did not show on my screen. I am not sure of your recipe, but I find that Debra Wink's pineapple solution is almost foolproof. Search for it in the search box, upper right of this page.Ford |
leaven not sour but dough does
HiI hope someone can help me. I have previuosly checked hundreds of opinions but instead of helped me they confused me more instead as there are very different points of view about...My starter is 100% hydratation with organic white flour. It works fine, I feed it twice a day. 8/10 hours ... | How about
leaving out the refrigerator part of the process , and see what happens . Some folk like sour bread , some don't , some folk refrigerate their dough , some don't . There may be a correlation there somewhere .Baking bread is ancient , refrigerating dough is modern , lol |
Newbie: Flour question
Hello all! I'm starting on a sourdough adventure (I actually have two loaves proofing right now), but before I dive into all different kinds of flours....I would like to take the time to learn about how factors like time and temperature affect the finished product, so that when I start to experim... | Keep it simple...
If you bake through FWSY that will teach you plenty... all you need at this point is a bag of unbleached white bread and of whole wheat.. playing with those two flour types .. the time and temp of your starter, levain and water and room.. along with fermentation times gives you plenty to play with.. a... |
Why does my sourdough dough just lay there and get flat?
I have, I think, plenty of gluten formation and a tight skin and not too soft a dough, and then, I put it into my proofer and it just relaxes and goes flat. So, I take it out and add more bread flour and reknead it and shape it and put it back into my proofer an... | A bit more info
On recipe and method? |
Need shaping help!
I've watched tons of videos to learn the process and I think I'm doing it correctly but my last several loaves all have huge mouseholes at almost exactly the same spots. I try to make sure I don't have an excessive amount of flour on the sections that get folded to the interior of the loaf, I tighten... | Might be bulk ferment problems
You have 250g levain to 500g flour = 50% starter3 hours at 70° for 50% starter might be too long.Then you further final proof for 3 hours. Now it's far too long.I think it's not the shaping but the timing.P.s. about the retarding and same issues. 8-12 hours for 20% starter with a bulk fer... |
Ginsberg's Scalded Rye Bread and bread pans
Recently I made Ginsberg's Scalded Rye Bread (73% medium rye flour, 27% coarse rye meal, 87% hydration) where he calls for the loaves to be proofed and baked in a charlotte mold or two 9x4x4 Pullman pans or two 9x5x3 loaf pans. I don't have a charlotte mold and I have only on... | Probably would fit
I have not made this bread, but I have routinely baked 1–1.3 kg of Ginsberg's rye doughs in a 23×13×8 cm Pullman pan. I also made the Oldenburger Landbrot from Ginsberg's website and the dough weight was 1.6 kg and it also fit in the Pullman pan.Ginsberg also suggested a round cake pan for this dough... |
Diagnosing a few sourdough issues
I did my first sourdough bake in a while this weekend. Results were absolutely delicious, but didn't look great, so I was hoping y'all smart people can offer some insight.I used Claire Saffitz's recipe, with the addition of whole oats:700 g King Arthur bread flour200 g locally milled w... | Step 10
Usually, when a dent remains after the poke test, the dough is fully proofed and verging on over-proofed. Then you put it in the refrigerator, where fermentation continued until the dough grew cold enough to bring the yeast to a stop. So, no big surprise that oven spring was minimal.Curiosity question: Step 2 ... |
feeding a pinch from a pitch pile
I've been feeding a starter daily for about three weeks. It is finally at the point of doubling overnight and passed a float test for the first time this morning. However, in the meantime, I've been keeping a quart jar that I've been pitching the not-quite-ripe throwaway in each mornin... | Sounds good to me
If it looks like a starter, smells like a starter and behaves like a starter... then it's a starter. As long as all traces of off smells are gone and there is no mould (in particular reddish/pinkish mould which one should be very wary of and if there is any then it's definitely no good) then go for it... |
Is my Starter the Culprit?
Hi everyone I would really appreciate some input on this! I have been baking a lot of sourdough bread in order to improve my technique, bulk fermentation and shaping! I am getting a beautiful oven spring (my breads get tall), during the bulk fermentation my dough get airy and pillowy, and dur... | more, more, longer and higher...
I would try more kneading, more water, longer fermentation and higher gluten flour |
Combining bread and work
Hi everyone, I'm a keen baker and I've been trying to respect proofing times to the letter as prescribed in books and online recipes. I do work full time, however, which is often hard to combine with fermentation times if you want to go to bed at a decent time. :-) As I'm out of the house for 1... | You have answered your own question
Make the timings fit your own schedule by retarding the dough in the fridge.That's the gist of it. To fine tune it one would need to know the recipe from starter build to final dough and how much time you have to spend on it. |
Sour dough starter, lavain, poolish, sponge, The Mother....
ive recently been given a sour dough starter and have begun doing a lot of reading on how to care for her (Martha) and how to use her to bake bread. I've had a few successes, some 'meh' bread, and several fails. The more I read, the more I'm confused about ... | *oops....polish
Well now I know why I mispelled poolish, because of auto correct each time! Anyway..... |
Dough Constantly Overproofing
So basically for the past two weeks, I have had about 2 good loaves, the rest have all overproofed. Thing is I feel like it is within the the normal time range for a retarded final proof. I do use quite a bit of whole grains, mostly 50-70% that I mill. Here is my processMake 4-5 Hour leave... | At just 5% leaven
And a short bulk ferment for that percentage then into the fridge I'm at a loss at how you overproof.How do you know that overproofing is the issue? |
Second attempt at Tartine style sourdough
85% hydration. First attempt I had some issues handling the dough, but the second time was much better. The dough is a bit "fluid" (as I guess you'd expect with that hydration), but it set up reasonably quickly on the stone. Is there any way to coax a "rounder" (more like a bal... | I'm seeing
Starter and/or fermenting issues.More info will be needed. From starter build through method. |
Amount of starter and BF in fridge
Hi,I use 20% of my starter and I bulk ferment for 4-5 hours.I want to make pizza dough in the afternoon and leave it in the fridge till next day afternoon. If I use 20% starter and put it in the fridge right away, is it ok? Can I calculate somehow the % amount of starter for BF in the... | I'm never quite sure about
A complete bulk ferment in the fridge. I'd rather think you'd need to up the starter to quite a high percentage or drop the percentage to 1% and do the 24 hours at room temp. |
Salt: when and how?
I'm trying to understand when and how to add salt.The short version of the story is I took a recipe from BreadWerx and modified it. (It worked for me at 65% but when I went to 67.5% it wasn't doing so well.) I changed from adding the salt in with the flour and having it sit overnight before adding s... | Add
the salt to either the water or the flour when you mix the dough . |
Crust too hard and thick that almost causes gum bleeding
I'm a newbie to the bread making world. I decided to learn and make my own bread after I fell in love with a heavenly good multi-grain toast at a cafe. And I hope bread makers here could help me with my questions:1. What can I do to avoid such a hard and thick cr... | A coupe of things
I have never heard of adding the salt after the first rise. Are you sure the recipe called for that?Putting the loaf in a plastic bag after it cools will soften the crust. You do need a bread knife and a scale. |
Problem with fridge rise on Tartine bread
Normally, I get great results with the Tartine sourdough recipe. I rose the bread in the fridge for about 17 hours overnight. When I baked it, I had a very close crumb, with a gummy texture. What happened? I'm guessing I over proofed it. How long can bread rise in the fridge? | It depends
How much starter and how much bulk ferment at room temp.The norm is 8-12 hours for the final proof in the fridge. |
troubleshooting tartine sourdough please :)
I've been practicing Tartine's method for awhile and gets decent results except for a few consistent problems.Timeline for this bakeWed 9am : mix leavenWed 7pm : mix bread dough -> autolyse -> add salt+water -> stretch and fold for the next 3 hrs in oven with breadproof setti... | I love the 1st one
Looks great to me. The only issue about those large holes I think is shaping. That's it.2nd one was baked differently. I can see the scoring opened up somewhat but not as much as the first loaf. Was the steam sufficient? It looks like it might have crusted over before the oven spring was finished hen... |
Looking for MILD sourdough
Is there a way to get the flavor of sourdough without the VERY STRONG sour taste? thanks! Jim | Google is your friend. Comes
Google is your friend. Comes down to manipulating speed... this article lists all the ways and has a chart at the end.https://truesourdough.com/18-ways-to-make-sourdough-bread-more-or-less-sour/ |
First time making bread need some help
I just made my first loaf of bread and it came out very doughy and dense. My starter is a week old feed it every 24 hours with 120g flour and 110g water. I used 10g salt , 500g of flour , 225g of starter and 250g of water and then mixed it kneaded for 12 min. I let it sit f... | One week old is very young!
Let me see... 500g flour (100%)250g water (50%)10g salt (2%)225g starter (45%) [75g water + 150g flour] Hydration = 50% Something wrong with this recipe. The hydration is very low indeed! and yet it kept flattening out. But i also see you bulk fermented for 2 hours and then final proofed it ... |
Bulk Fermentation: Issues with timing
Hi, I am having some issues figuring out when to stop my bulk ferment and move on to the next step of dividing the dough. I have overproofed (extended my bulk fermentation for too long) where the dough becomes extremely pillowy when shaping. The pictures from the Tartine bread book... | You will get a variety of answers
on this from no bulk fermentation to hours and hours in the fridge. I can only tell you what I do and what works for me and my schedule. The short answer is that I bulk ferment until the dough is double. The long answer is that I put my dough in a warm spot (oven with light on and door... |
Struggling with Semolina Durum Starter...
Over the last two weeks, I have tried to get a semolina durum wheat starter going. This is for a recipe of Pane di Altamura from Daniel Leader's book 'Local Breads'. I made it with organic Greek yogurt, bottled spring water and organic durum wheat as per his directions. The sta... | More info needed
I've never heard of this method. I've used water and sometimes pineapple juice just to get it going. More info is needed...What are you feeding it now? What is your feeding schedule?Does it rise and fall? If so, over what time period?What does it smell like? P.s. I've just started converting some star... |
Trying to increase my starter
Hi! I'm new here and I have a question. I was given an amazing starter that I've been using for a few weeks. My schedule isRemove 3/4cAdd 3/4c water1c flourI will occasionally stick in the fridge because I forget to feed it. I want to try and increase the size of my starter so I can bake a... | Easy, don't discard any
Next time you feed your starter, don't discard any. Just feed it equal amounts of water and flour equivalent to the weight (not the volume) of your starter. In other words, take an empty bowl and tare out your scale. Pour the starter into it. Now divide the weight by two and feed it 1/2 wate... |
Making sourdough starter
hi! this is my first time making a sourdough starter, i used 1:1 ratio of bread flour and water.i made it this monday and fed it yesterday.this is what it looks like now, theres a separation of water and flour at the bottom. Is this normal?this is the top viewhttp://i474.photobucket.com/albums/... | By 1:1
Do you mean by volume or weight?I think you went by volume. |
Simple bread..
Simple bread. I need a bread for my breakfast :-)Hydration 60% you can spread the jam :-)Little underproof...Bulk fermentation 5 hours final proof: 4 hours in the fridge after 4 hours at 28°CRecipeWhite flour 10 g protein 1000 gWater 575 gStarter ( hydration 100% ) 150 gSalt 20 gGood flavor.Gaetano | Very nice!
It looks delicious! Well done! |
retarding the second rise
Quite a few recipes advocate putting the sourdough in the fridge for many hours after is it shaped. Some of these indicate you can leave the dough in the fridge for a very long time -- 12 hours and more. In my fridge, dough left for 10 hours seems overproofed. It looks ok when I remove from... | You are preparing a yeasted bread
I looked at the recipe and I think the problem you are essentially preparing a yeast bread and it has plenty of added yeast. Even with a colder temperature the presence of the yeast is likely leading to over proofing. Those of us how do 100% levain/sourdough breads can refrigerate ov... |
starter troubleshooting help
I made my own starter and have been making bread since January. At first things were going really well considering I'm a beginner - nice color, great flavor, chewy crust with a soft almost creamy crumb with good holes. I wasn't getting the oven spring that I wanted and thought the problem... | Explain how you
Explain how you used a starter in a recipe. If an example recipe is...500g bread flour300g water10g salt150g mature starter @ 100% hydrationHow wouldn't know go about preparing your starter to use in the recipe? |
Should I keep both?
Hello bakers.During carnival I was out in the country for a week. While there I made a new starter. It was easy and fast. Just water and whole flour and in 3 days it was already full of activity. Smelling like bananas and rising strongly.So I bring it back, and baked with it. Everything went fine.I ... | Combine
IMO. Keeping more than one starter is time consuming unless that doesn't bother you. Combining them will help make a new interesting starter and it'll take on different characteristics. I believe it also helps with health of a starter. Not so inbred. I make new starters every so often for the fun of it but neve... |
Progress, With An Issue
Hello all, it's been a while. I've been working, had a trip to Cuba so I could turn my head off and reset myself, and forget about life and the world, and also been dealing with some real life things.I've been baking a fair bit and have been very consistent in my results, even with some flour co... | I'm just a newbie...
...but ran in to a similar issue when trying out a version of his 50% whole wheat formula. When it started losing tension immediately when pre-shaping, I decided that instead of being frustrated and fighting with it, that it should have a "time-out" in the fridge, and I should have one with a glas... |
L.M./Lievito Madre - dry up and re-start for the occasional user - how? - or stick to poolish?
I have a rye starter for 2+ years going and it works perfectly fine. However, I don't like that taste in lite colored (T55/550 etc) breads. My idea is a milder starter - so L.M./Lievito Madre looks interesting.Problem is, I d... | Have you tried making a white
Have you tried making a white levain with your rye starter? That's the easiest solution to reduce the rye flavour without maintaining a second starter |
Proofing calculations please
Well my fridge is holding steady at 54F and I can't get it to drop any lower. A new fridge won't be here for at least 10 days so I need to get a rough idea on the time it will take my loaves to proof. Total flour amount is 1100 grams with 148 g of that prefermented so about 13%. Bulk fermen... | Proofing calculation
I assume one could just apply Arrhenius equation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrhenius_equationto get a rough idea? be sure to use deg Kelvin, not F |
Rate my Sourdough!
Hi all, First-time poster & new baker who recently went on a sourdough baking course & LOVED it!Whilst i'm relatively happy with my bread this weekend (Pics Above) wondered if you had any tips on how to make it better?Three specific questions:- How do i get more oven spring in my bread so more airy? ... | I would go up to 70 or 75%
I would go up to 70 or 75% hydration and perhaps let the bulk proof go 3-4 hours. Also I recommend baking in a dutch oven, La Cloche, or on top of a stone or steel and under an inverted bowl for steam's sake. Otherwise the bread looks pretty good. You may just want to add water since you want... |
Sourdough with a travel-heavy career
I have been baking bread for 2 years now, and work only with yeasted recipes. This is largely because I have an unusual career which requires me to travel a lot, not for a few days at a time, but usually for 2 months at a time, and I do 2-3 trips like this a year. My travel takes me... | If kept cool, in the fridge,
If kept cool, in the fridge, a small amount if starter with a lot of food can last for a month, or more. Freezing is another option, but I hear it can be tough on a starter. When dried, it can last for years. Reviving the starter would take only a day or 2, a little longer maybe for dried. ... |
Sourdough fail
I have a bit of a love hate relationship with sourdough - I love to eat it and hate to make it.After getting up extra early for 2 weeks to cultivate my starter and getting in trouble with the Mrs for leaving messy dough flecks all over the sink, the failure of my last attempt at sourdough last summer put... | Hi
12 hours at 22/25°C no good It must tripling in 5/7 hours at 22/25°C.Gaetano |
Anyone got a recipe for sourdough bread prepared in bread machine?
My sourdough | What make is your bread machine
And does it have a sourdough programme? |
Dough looks like wet pancake batter
I'm trying to follow this sourdough recipe, where it calls for 1000g of flour , 70g of wheat germ, 150g of leavan and an initial 800g of water for the autolyse. I just mixed all of these together and it wants me to add 50g of water with the salt after but right now it looks like real... | Agreed
Very high. What percentage bread flour to whole wheat are you using? And what type of flour?It can be done but not a hydration I'd recommend as an introduction to bread baking. Leave out that extra 50g when adding the salt. |
musings on flour quality
So I thought I'd save some money on my starter flour. I mean, single-celled organisms aren't gonna know the difference, right? And KAF all-purpose is a little pricey.Bought the store brand 5 lb. bag for $1.60 or so.Wow.Within two days, the starter went acidic, gray and (almost) lifeless.Subst... | What additives are there in...
...the store-bought flour? And how old was it? |
long rise sourdough HARD outside
this was my first time ever making sourdough. I wanted to make a traditional, long rise sourdough. It ended up going on longer than 24 hrs. Is this why? I got a good healthy starter going, and then did the following: -1 cup healthy starter plus 3 cups all-purpose flour and 1.5 cups wate... | Why the sugar?
Why the sugar? |
Sourdough rolls...
Hi allI've been attempting to use my starter to make rolls, using the same 1:2:3 recipe as I'd use for a loaf, first prove circa 1-2 hours on the countertop and then cut/shape and second prove overnight in the fridge.They taste lovely, but they're more like standard rolls in texture, quite a close cr... | 1:2:3
Would make the starter 33%. You might be able to get a longer bulk ferment out of that. When you say 1-2 hours are you sure the bulk ferment is done? |
Rustic Loaf Too Soft
Hi All, I've been making Ken Forkish's pure levain recipes with some quite amazing, yummy results this past fall/winter. However, with two earlier such breads that I made (same KF recipe) - the interior of the bread was "too soft". Even though it had a good crust the interior was sooo soft that ... | Gummy
It sounds to me like you're talking about a gummy crumb. Did it seem like the crumb (you are correct with that term) was overly moist, doughy or even under baked? That's a gummy crumb. And if that's the case, it's usually either a result of under baking, cutting into the loaf too soon after it comes out of the ov... |
Drying SD for travel
I am getting ready to travel for an extended stay in a different location and taking my cultures with me. I have 3 SD starters and kefir that I routinely travel with. I thought it might be beneficial to show how I do this. A picture, after all, is worth many words. i must give credit to TFL because... | Happy travels
Isn't it fun to get to destinations and wake up your starter? I get such a kick out of that!Bon voyage and keep on baking! Carole |
Refreshing Mother Starter according to Reinhart's "Artisan Breads Every Day"
Hello,
While still at the seed culture stage I'm reading Reinhart's book ahead to the mother starter stage and I admit to feeling confused. His instructions to convert from seed culture to mother stage are clear; it's the instructions for ref... | It depends on the state of your starter
The instructions with 4 oz are for a healthy starter. If it gets pretty sad (left in the fridge too long between feedings), then you can start with a very small amount (1oz), feed, then use 4 oz of that to rebuild a usable amount.
I always leave at least 1 oz behind of the old... |
Now what? A Newbie's problem.
Ok, I've finaly gotten a starter to be consistently rising. I've had my patience tested, to be sure, but my starter is doubling (and more) within 2-3 hours. I just discard half, add 2 oz bottled water and 3 oz unbleached flour. The 1 oz starter to 2 oz water and 2 oz flour just never worke... | When measuring in volume
Stir it down. When weighing one gets around the problem of bubbles in the starter. Weighing is the way to go!Prepare your starter and used when peaked. My suggestion is find a good simple recipe and practice till perfect before moving on. Watch videos, of which there are plenty, for good ideas.... |
This is absolutely delicious
I got my inspiration from this recipe http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/50996/walnut-and-raisin-levain and gave it an Abe twist. Levain Build : 24 hours before62g bread flour4g whole-wheat flour73g warm water21g starter @ 50% hydration (Comes out to 160g @ 100% hydration)Method: Build the L... | That looks awesome!
I am bookmarking this one!! |
Sourdough rising question
I have a powerful and sour starter. The only problem I have is when I turn my bread dough out from the reed banneton it collapses and spreads out like a focaccia. I tried to add more flour to the next dough, KA bread flour, and the dough got stiffer but did not rise much and collapsed when I... | High Stuart
Collapsing when scored is a sure sign of over proofing but before I commit I'd need the recipe and method followed. |
Recipes for Red Fife and Turkey Red
Red Fife (Whole Wheat) and Turkey Red (is at 85% extraction)!Can anyone recommend some good recipes for these flour types?A couple sourdough recipes would be great. | Treat them as you would any flour
Find out what the protein % is which will give you a clue to how much water will be absorbed. If the Red Fife is 100% whole wheat remember that you won't get as good development as you would if you were only using 10% of it. You should be able to use any sourdough recipe and just adj... |
14 day to create mother starter vs. 4 day mother starter?
I am trying to learn and soak in as much information before embarking on my first starter of my own. I found this awesome mother starter video but it took her 14 days to create her mother starter. Yet, here on this website a video that was just recommended which... | Without watching the videos (too many, too long)
Type of food and temp are the 2 biggest factors. With white flour being the slowest, and rye the fastest. Whole wheat somewhere in the middle, probably closer to rye (more nutrients and bugs in whole grains = quicker creation time - also different flavor profiles, with w... |
Starter recommendatation for white bread types.
I want to learn to make a mother starter, but this can be very confusing. First I will start with my favorite breads which are plain white French types and some "mild" sour dough breads.Given that, can someone recommend a good starter that a beginner can try? thanks in ad... | Here is a good visual
How to make a sourdough starter
Video of How to make a sourdough starter
This is a great video. Some things to add...1. Don't be too concerned about the flour ratio he uses. Use bread flour with some wholegrains. Whole rye and/or whole wheat.2. Keep warm! 3. If you experience a quiet peri... |
Einkorn, White Wheat, Oat Groats & Sesame Sourdough
Hey Everyone! The day has finally come. After many months (years?) of hanging out on this site, I have set aside some time to sit down and figure out how to post one of my bakes. If it doesn't turn out well, know that I tried my best. If it turns out good, well, that ... | Very nice! Thanks for
Very nice! Thanks for sharing your bake. |
Hamelman's Starter is at 125% hydration, why?
Hi everyone, everyone loves Hamelman's recipes. I just got his book and was surprised to learn that he uses 125% hydration starter.Does everyone convert their starters to this before baking his recipes? Any solutions? | You could use your regular starter
You could use your regular starter but be sure that you account for the extra water and add it to your dough. |
Anyone tried Elaine Boddy's sourdough method?
I tried it once and although the end result was pretty good as regards the loaf shape, the bread was rather too sour for my taste. It's a quite easy way to prepare the dough, but the sourness is a minus for me. If you tried it and it worked for you do you have any suggestio... | Too sour bread
I am familiar with her website but have not tried her specific recipe. I will note that her bulk/proof times are a little ambiguous, including a second cold proof between 3- 24 hours! after an overnight room-temp ferment of approximately 10 hours. So, depending on which times you followed, that likely ... |
Tough stretching - due to low hydration?
I make bread for two reasons - so I have great bread to eat and to teach myself how to make bread. Today's effort is toward the latter purpose. I'm making a Tartine country loaf. I've done this recipe a few times before, and while it was yummy, the crumb was wrong - dense on ... | Yes, a lower hydration
will be stiffer. Good to notice the differences. A sourdough batch will also feel different as fermentation progresses. So you may note that the feel of the dough changes with time. You may also note that less stretches and folds are needed or that as the dough ferments, the gaps between the... |
How do you know when your WHITE Starter is ready to be used?
Hey guys, I converted some of rye starter into a white starter, and it acts completely differently! How do you know when its at its prime, when it has doubled in size, bubbles on top (this never happens with rye starter), also its 100% hydration! | 100% hydration white starter is sooo much more
runny than a rye 100% starter! |
Sourdough retarding
Hello! I'm totally new to the site and new to blogs and forums. I have been baking consistently for the past two years (making sandwich bread mostly) and now I have started to move into sourdough.My question is this: I made bagel dough with a sourdough starter, I let it proof for 2 hours at 78 degre... | Temperature
I haven't made bagels, but usually for bread, if it has risen sufficiently in the refrigerator, then you can just start baking, though it may take an additional minute or so to get done. If you have to shape them, then shape them and let them rise as called for in the directions.It sounds as though you alr... |
I must be mad but...
One cannot find Red Fife in the UK so I've just treated myself to a very expensive packet of Red Fife flour from Canada as a special treat. No! I am not telling you how much I've paid for the shipping :)This isn't happening too often I can tell you but had to be done at least once.This is "Red Fife... | I would first use a recipe
with which you are familiar. The differences will be more obvious and easier to discern.Ideas for the second loaf will most likely pop up while tasting and eating the first loaf. |
First Loaf Ever! | Congratulations
Looks good! Keep up the practice..Ford |
How to get a really elastic dough?
What is the best flour for achieving an elastic dough bread or all purpose? protein content, ash, extraction etc. I am still on my quest to get a more open structure for my breads! | The problem of achieving the open crumb can be solved but...
...but while it's many factored and not merely the choice of flour. That said, my advice is to stick to white bread flour for the time being, and ignore ash content, falling number, and extraction percent. Come back to them later. Then study recipes and vi... |
Sourdough Feeding Schedule: Adjustment Needed
Hi everyone I try and keep around 150 grams of starter at 100% hydration. I live in Texas where is it always hot. I want to be able to feed my starter only once a day. Can anyone suggest how much I should feed my rye 100% starter? Right now my feeding schedule is 50 gram of... | How about feeding twice a year?
No Muss No Fuss Starter |
How tart should sourdough bread be?
Hi all,this is my first posting here. I bought a book from Ken Forkish Water Flour Salt Yeast about two years ago. Basically everything works great except my sourdough breads have some tartness which other people like to mention, and sometimes to say it's a bit sour. In my opinion it... | Mine has a very slight tang,
almost unnoticeable because I don't care for very sour bread. I didn't find Ken's breads very sour either when I was following his recipes to the letter. It could be that your starter is especially strong. |
Trouble with tartine starter - bubbling but not rising
I recently bought Tartine Bread, and I have a two week old starter that I've made based on the formula in the book. I've been feeding my starter at 100% hydration every morning since around day 4. Most days, I get a good amount of bubbles in the starter, but absolu... | Are you feeding it by volume or by weight?
If by volume, your starter is too liquid to be able to rise. Try feeding it equal amounts by weight. This will produce a thicker starter that can rise.Also what kind of flour are you feeding it? I feed mine dark rye flour and basically get a lot of bubbles but very little rise... |
Sourdough starter confusion!
Hello I'm very new to sourdough but very keen to succeed. I am in the process of making my own starter but am confusing myself by reading too many differing articles and recipes. I'm on day 2 of the process and have just added my first batch of additional flour and water. I'm just confused ... | A starter has a few stages
1: initial bubbling up2: quiet period 3: a second bubbling up; maturity The initial bubbling up happens quite quickly within the first couple of days. This makes the beginner think that this is quick and easy but it's a false start, its bacteria you don't want. Then after the 3rd, or 4th, fe... |
Something different: fried sourdough breads from Multan
Here is a recipe that I tried a while ago, but wanted to share with this community. It is new and different for me, and I thought it might be for many others as well. I also wanted to see whether anyone knows of any similar breads (using a similar starter, but may... | Plain ones
Darker ones are 100% whole wheat
_yv76xBFSsSVyRtbngquCw.jpg |
Sourdough/Yeast Hybrid doughnuts
Hey guys!Ive been making a whole range of different doughnuts in the kitchen over the past few weeks i.e cake, yeast raised and brioche style doughnuts. But theres one last doughnut mission I have to conquer before i can put away the fryer for a while. The last on my to do list is a sou... | Sourdough
For flavour. Yeast for rising. So make the dough as normal just replacing a percentage of flour and water with starter but the rising will come from the quicker and stronger yeast. Like using up discard.Or you can make a larger % of levain with just a touch of yeast, as an added boost, so it's more hybrid lik... |
Pineapple juice for revival of slow starter
So, after refrigerating and reducing feeds, my starter totally lost its previous strength even though it does rise a little. I was going to throw it away to restart, but just as a last resort I fed pineapple juice and wwf to a batch I removed from refrigerator and it rose bea... | Don't throw it away and it has'lt lost it's strength
And no need for pineapple juice - it is plenty acidic. It is just cold and needs to warmed up and fed 3 times over a 12 hour period. White flour wet starters stored in the fridge go through their food fast compared to stiff whole rye ones. I keep my NMNF starter i... |
Levain or starter
Hi,as far as I have understood levain is build by mixing starter with flour and water and leaving them for some hours.And I have some questions:Does it add more flavor?Do you need an active starter for the levain? Can I use my starter straight from the refrigerator, so to make my levain at night, and ... | My own method is...
... to take just 10g of my stiff rye culture and mix with enough flour to give a 20% preferment at 100% hydration. I do this at night and leave it to ferment in the kitchen overnight. In the morning, I just add the remaining flour and water, autolyse for an hour, add salt during the stretch & fol... |
What happened to my surface tension?
I'm baking sourdough bread for a couple of years now. Most of the time with succes.But sometimes, without warning, something strange happens with my dough.I start noticing it during bulk fermentation. Were I had a nice gluten development after autolyse and during the first 3-4 folds... | Have you tried a window-pane test after you've...
...finished folding? It might give you a clearer idea of how developed the gluten is. Also, without changing the formula, it's sometimes a good idea to vary the techniques you use. This helps identify what the issue is; for example, is it one of technique or ingredient?... |
Changing flour percentages (San Francisco Method)
Hello everyone I was wondering if i could get an insight to what I'm doing wrong. I attended a course hosted by Vanessa Kimbell who taught us the San Francisco method of sourdough. I followed it a couple times after and had lovely loaves but wanted to start experimentin... | Changing for a different flour
Spelt ferments quicker than normal wheat. It also takes lower hydration but at that ratio and 66% hydration that was fine. Just watch out for fermenting times for different types of flour. It pays to follow a specific recipe for a certain flour before experimenting with it just so you get... |
Is this a sign of overproofing?
Hi - been a long time since I posted here - been getting back into breadmaking after several years hiatus, and decided to try some sourdough - specifically the Tartine recipe, after I tried a loaf a friend of mine made.I actually made it two times already - the first with a great success... | Sounds like the gluten breaking down
Did you machine knead this dough at any stage ? |
What's the difference...?
Between a small amount of starter and a long room temperature bulk ferment and a lot of starter with a long bulk ferment in the fridge?Time = Flavour, but does the temperature it ferments at change the flavour?I've done a small amount of starter, 1%, and 24 hours at room temperature but this w... | Temperature and hydration are 2 ways to change
the flavor profile of the bread. Low fridge temperatures at 70% hydration, about what bread dough is, promotes the LAB to produce acetic acid - the tang in sourdough as opposed to the normal sour of lactic acid the LAB usually produce, For me a good SD has both sour and ... |
Rainy day
Rainy day Thanks T.GreenwayAutolysis 3 hoursBulk fermentatio 6/7 hoursPre shaping shaping Refrigerate 10/12 hoursFinal proof Wonderful tasteGaetano | beautiful bread; needs butter
beautiful bread; needs butter or maybe some cheese & ?claudia |
Alaska Sourdough & Discard English Muffins
First up was Teresa Greenway's Alaska Sourdough. After recommendations from several folks on this site, I am following along with one of her online classes and this bake looked like a nice simple loaf for a busy weekend. The formula calls for a little bit of milk, which I repl... | They look great!
No improvements from here. Just keep up the good work! :) |
Sourdough flour
I purchased sourdough flour from a local bulk food store. Yes flour. I'm not sure how to use it and Google's no help. All recipes include the word 'flour' but hits don't specifically refer to the sourdough.If someone can suggest a recipe, I'm game. I also have sprouted spelt flour, yes again flour (wh... | After a quick search
It has dried sourdough in the mix. I believe it's done for flavour only as it recommends adding yeast to recipes. So use it in a regular yeasted recipe for extra flavour. If you wish to go down the sourdough route you only need flour (regular), water and patience. 1 - 2 weeks to make a starter aft... |
Type of flour and starter activity- A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT
Hello, I'm new to this site but I really needed some suggestions from experienced bakers for a science project that I'm planning to do it school.I want to measure the different rates of activity of starters made with different types of flours (whole wheat, refine... | It'll work, but like any
It'll work, but like any valid experiment, the key is in the method.I would imagine that's the purpose of the experiment, so you'll see2 will tell yaEnjoy! |
Sourdough Getting Moldy
My sourdough has developed a white, fuzzy mold over the top. I have tried to "wash" it by taking small amounts from the bottom and feeding it often, but the mold always comes back. I live in Colorado, and it is a strange new problem, given that there isn't much mold that grows at my altitude; br... | Feed your current starter
With some pineapple juice and see if that helps with the acidity and mould. Once you have done a few feeds then switch back to water. Change the sponges in your kitchen. Sometimes cleaning the jar your starter is in can introduce bad bacteria. An established starter with correct maintenance sh... |
I cannot make sense of this baker's math for this recipe..please help! Stuck!
How do you derive at the pre-ferment flour percentage? Could someone help me figure this out, for this specific example Total dough weight: 1800gPre-fermented flour: 7.50% (how do you solve for this)? Hydration: 78% Yield: 2 x 900g loavesStar... | 40 g. bread flour 50%40 g. ww flour 50%80 g water 100%40 g starter (100%) 50%Final Dough Formul |
bread turning moldy very quickly
I have been baking with a homegrown starter for about 3 1/2 years or so with mixed success (thanks to those here for really helping me big time). Lately, my breads have come looking OK but the breads have been demonstrating a white powdery substance on the crumb after 1-2 days. I assu... | Not the bread's fault
I doubt this is a problem with the bread or starter. These have been baked and any mold would have been killed. I suspect it is the handling and storage. Make sure your hands and utensils are scrupulously clean when handling the bread that has been baked. Be sure that the containers in which y... |
discarding starter when refreshing
I'm very new to all this sourdough stuff and just trying to get my head around a few things. Why, when refreshing the starter, do some people recommend discarding some of the starter? Is this simply to keep the quantity of starter under control or does it have an impact on the chemist... | Discarding starter
If you don't discard when you refresh you will soon end up with a bathtub of starter by doubling each time.Ford |
Panettone Montanari
Panettone Montanari...again :-) I love panettone :-)Recipe:http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/49485/panettone-vecchia-milano-gmontanariGaetano | Looks beautiful!
I am seeing this before breakfast and it is making me hungry :) |
What to try fixing next time
I am new both to baking and the forum here, and started with "just" trying to make the basic country loaf from Tartine Bread. Yesterday (and, unfortunately, continuing into today) was my second attempt at it, and in both cases I've made good tasting bread but completely failed at reproducin... | Tartine first try?
Yikes, you are adventurous! If you do a search on this site for "Tartine" you will find many people who have had the same problems. I have had this problem too with Tartine and other wet doughs. And I've found the answer, at least for me. Many of these books sort of gloss over the step where you mix ... |
Sourdough failing!
Hello friends and fellow bakers,A newbie on the sourdough scene, I have baked a few successful loaves, only to move house down the road and suddenly they're not working. Instead of the lifting, caramelised crust I'm left with a smooth solid lump with a dense doughy inside.My starter doubles and float... | Same oven ?
New oven ? |
General sourdough questions and debugging
Hi,I've tried to get a starter going for months now and I seem to have failed/been impatient and irregular with the feedings. The only thing I found to have worked is a lievito madre - a white flour low hydration starter. I made it using white flour and some greek yogurt (I'm f... | First, if your bread is gummy
First, if your bread is gummy that usually means the dough is not developed properly. Give us your formula and procedure for the bread you are baking and take some photos of the crust and crumb to show us. There are many reasons why you could be getting the results you desire but more in... |
Is this normal
or is Rosie contaminated? I have just made a Yeast water dough with my raspberry YW Rosie. It is a bit scummy on the top and on the glass sides, smells good, isn't murky but I wonder if this is the way it goes as it matures? The poolish I made is bubbly and smells good too so I went ahead with the dough... | Waxed fruit?
Do you think any of the cherries you've used for feeding could've been waxed? Seems improbable. My fruit water is sometimes fed conventional apple peels which I'm sure are waxed, and I do see a slight film. Not quite as much as Rosie.Do you shake or stir? Could be the moisture on the sides doesn't have... |
Could I have killed the yeast in my starter .. getting bad results
consistently since starter was refrigerated.https://www.theperfectloaf.com/fifty-fifty-whole-wheat-sourdough-bread/ - tried this bread yesterday and the only things I changed:1. Used 44% WWF and 56% White flour instead of 50:50.2. Reduced hydration to 8... | I think by not making the
I think by not making the levain you actually didn't give the yeast enough of a chance to multiply to number required. The recipe would probably still work but you needed more time for the yeast to do it's magic. Gerhard |
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