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My crumb is a hit or miss Same recipe, same technique. One day it's a hit, another day its giant holes. Assuming it's not under-fermented, I wonder if my mixing method introduces too much air into the dough. What are your thoughts? Help appreciated!!Hit:Miss:\Top view of giant hole bread (sorry, post slicing)	what hydration percentage are what hydration percentage are you using? if its a super wet dough might be worth lowering the percentage a little and seeing if it helps
Dehydrating Sourdough Hello everyone, I'm still trying to learn my way around here, for I just joined. I live in B.C Canada and love all my neighbors. My question is I was gifted official Yukon Sourdough from the chilkoot Trail ( apparently it was tested) . Im asking how can I dehydrate it safely for shipping and st...	What I do is mix it with What I do is mix it with extra water to thin it out, then spread it on a sheet of teflon or silpat, and let it dry. Once it is dry, I break it up by hand, then put it is the food processor to grind it up a bit. Have never had a problem refreshing it.
Uneven Crumb I've been baking sourdough bread for about the past 3 months now, and overall, I'm pleased with the results of each loaf - decent rise, good taste, good crust, etc. However, in almost all of the loaves I've baked, I've noticed that the crumb is very uneven - usually a few large air pockets near the top, an...	Crumb that is very uneven Crumb that is very uneven usually indicates underproofing. Try letting your bulk run a bit longer, and keep in mind that the times for these things are very temperature-dependent.
lack of oven spring , oven limitation hi guys! I’m very new to sourdough baking; about 3 weeks old , and would like to seek your expert advice! i’m on my 8th loaf and still havent achieved the coveted ear and nice open crumb. I use 78% hydration, 3.5 hrs bulk ferment ( i live in hot and humid Singapore!), and 12 hrs co...	Looks nice, probably overproofed 3.5hrs bulk plus 12 hours cold proof in your climate likely leads to overproofing. Try 3.5hrs cold bulk and 3hrs cold proof and see what happens. 220C is lower than I like to bake. If you don't have a higher temperature option, then you need to work with it. Can you put a baking ston...
Rye starter from white Hi,I’ve got a white starter up and running. It seems healthy and making good bread from it. I want to start a rye or wholemeal starter for a bit of variety. Because I like the idea of everything coming from the same starter I was wondering if I can use my white starter to start a rye one? I was t...	Multiple starters from one Hey SD! Although I did the opposite of what you are asking, I initially started with a rye starter a few years ago, and have subsequently 'built' a straight AP flour one and a mix of AP/WW/Rye and a straight WW one and use each depending on what I'm baking or if there is a new recipe I want ...
Troubleshooting Request Hello!I would like some input as to what might be going wrong with this loaf. Following the Overnight Country Blonde recipe from FWSY but overnight proofed in the fridge, after my last attempt turned out even worse than this (if you can believe that!). I have spent hours trying to find definitiv...	Dan, tell us everything you Dan, tell us everything you can about your starter. Please include temperature. Closeup images should be helpful.You mention fermentation time, but in order to evaluate we need to know the temperature of the room during the fermentation.Dan, the other one...
Please help me troubleshoot this loaf I have been making sourdough for about 10 years, using the River cottage method which includes 10 minutes kneading, 1st rise, deflating, second rise and baking. This made pretty good loaves. Then I decided to try no knead and this is where things started to go wrong. As you can see...	I should add that the flour I should add that the flour was 80% strong Canadian white 20% wholemeal spelt. I am in London, England and it hasn’t been very warm, in fact unseasonably cold. I let it rise 14-15 hours in the fridge overnight. I fed my starter regularly in the 36 hours running up to baking.
ww and rye starters hydration ratio I wonder if anyone uses a higher ration for ww and/or rye starters.At 100% they're both pretty stiff and show little activity over days.	my rye starter does start out my rye starter does start out pretty stiff. but as the yeast/bacteria work on the flour, they do soften up enough and rise. i think as long as the flour is well hydrated, it should be ok. at subsequent feeds, the starter that you retain will be softer.
FWSY Overnight country blonde : Over or underproofed ? Crumb does not look as homogeneous and "bubbly" as last attempt. Does it look overproofed or underproofed ? It seems the loaf rose also less.Today's loaf :Previous one :	(•◡•) / (•◡•) /
Bread rising too much in the middle when using baking steel Hi! I'm wanting to bake my bread on my baking steel because the bottom part of the crust comes out less dark than it does when I bake it in the DO. However, the two loaves I've done have really domed in the middle. The loaf baked on the baking steel is in the ...	Honestly it looks like you're Honestly it looks like you're just getting better oven spring. Do you not like it for some reason? I'd be thrilled, personally! :)
First Time: Starter has no rise - Smells great Hello and thank you to this site...lots of info here. I'm a first timer and having trouble getting my new starter to rise. I'm too new at this and I don't know how to interpret this language. Using Bob's Red Mill all purpose, unbleached, flour.Started with, and adding dail...	Welcome millerbn Both to The Fresh Loaf and to the wonderfully quirky world of sourdough.Since you are feeding equal weights of water and flour, I presume that your starter is approximately the consistency of a pancake batter. Is that correct?If so, all signs (fragrance, bubbles) are good. The lack of rise is most li...
Help needed - my breads are blowing up like balloons 81279B2F-1B8B-437F-BD09-2AC8A538AA36.jpeg Hello all! I’m at my wits end and could use some help! I’ve picked up sourdough baking some months ago and have been every other day since - I must have baked around 50 breads already. But apart from one lucky excepti...	Try a smaller loaf Try cutting down to about half or even less that size (whatever it is) maybe even a third th size. Start small - see if you can produce an ear then work up from there ;)
What is sourdough, and why bother? In the strictest sense, sourdough is the result of naturally fermented flour from grain (usually either wheat or rye) that achieves a symbiotic relationship between lactic acid bacteria and yeast that is used for the purpose of leavening bread.The advantage of this “natural” process i...	Why? I've been reading for years about the health benefits of fermenting foods. Some foods are eaten in their fermented state, supplying the body with probiotics and diversifying the flora in our digestive tract, while others, like LAB bacteria in bread, benefit us by acidifying the dough, removing Phytic acid and pred...
Best way to incorporate mix-ins? Hi everyone!I've been experimenting with adding things like seeds, dried fruits, and olives into my sourdough these days and was wondering how other people get everything mixed in properly.I've had the most trouble with olives as they are often quite moist and oily, so they don't stay p...	Mixing in olives... I know this post is several days old now, but I have a theory on this: pat the olives dry, and give them a light dredge through some flour. I know this method is used for keeping blueberries from sinking to the bottom in blueberry muffins, I imagine it would also help the olives incorporate into yo...
PLEASEEE HELP! Sourdough loaf troubleshooting I’ve been on a roll recently, making sourdough almost weekly, but I’ve just made my first stiff starter loaf, but when I cut it open, there was a weird gap in my loaf. It’s a 70% hydration, so I wasn’t expecting an open crumb initially! 84BB17E6-3A95-4A70-BD95-FD99874DCE4...	Now thinking about it I think Now thinking about it I think it’s underproofed☹️, but I had amazingggg oven spring
Interrupting autolyse/bulk ferment Hi everyone, another baking-newbie here and I’ve been pouring over various threads with all the usual questions, but couldn’t find the answer to this one. Any ideas welcome! I’m attempting two separate recipes at the moment, KA’s extra tangy (https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/ex...	Don’t worry It will be fine, as long as it is actively fermenting and not overfermented (probably isn’t, from your description).next time find a recipe and stick to it. Find one that you like (flavor, texture, etc), then experiment based on that.
Not enough seeds this time I seeded a sourdough today and it turned out pretty good.I used nigella, sesame and sunflower. I almost put flax in, but didn't care for the slime!. I added the seeds during the final shape but next time I'm going to increase the amount. D72_2406.JPG Is it better to put them in durin...	I stir them into the flour :) With a whisk or fork or fingers, whatever is handy. no slime either.
OK, how do they do this?? bought a sourdough loaf (sorry) the other day here in the UK from a supermarket.first impressions were WOW thats light!!!its a normal sized loaf, but feels like one of those 'Danish' loaves that are soooo light and airy. confusing thing is tho theres no big holes in the crumb, so how can a no...	Those breads are usually Those breads are usually mixed long (leads to even crumb with small holes) and some kind of fat is added (in this case cheap rapeseed oil), which leads to softer crumb and crust (fats are tenderizers). Dextrose (sugar) and emulsifier help with the soft quality too.They added some sourdough powd...
Question about acidity Ok, so just a brief intro before I get to my question: I am Mr Immortal, and it’s nice to meet you all! I have been baking bread for several years, although mostly just for special occasions, but sourdough is a whole new monkey to me. I’ve been working on my starter now for several weeks. My ...	Starter questions Hiya. Can you provide more details about your starter attempts (process, amount of ingredients, times of feedings, etc)? It would help in answering your questions. Also, after trying multiple methods a few years ago (unsuccessfully), I was finally able to quite easily get a starter going with organ...
Stiff starters? I’d like to get a more sour taste to my breads. I’ve had fair success with “common” 100% hydration starter- but the taste is only so so. I understand that reducing the hydration of the starter will lead to a more sour taste.jFrom a recipe I’ve found here, I have built a “stiff rye starter” that began w...	1. A ready starter doesn't 1. A ready starter doesn't need to pass the float test (rough handling can degas it for example). Instead, make sure it has peaked and fallen a little, at that point it's at peak maturity and ready to be used in a dough or to be fed.2. Yes, but check the recipe whether it uses a liquid or sti...
Please Help, Sourdough flat I urgently need help, I hit a wall. I watched many videos, tried many techniques but nothing seems to work. At the end I have a flat bread and can't understand why. I'm on the point of scream.I understand it can be numerous things so I will explain my recipe step by step to see if someone ha...	Spelt flour isnt as strong Spelt flour isnt as strong with its gluten structure compared to white flour or other whole grains so it wont hold its shape as well and doesnt rise as much. Spelt also absorbs less water compared to other flours so I wouldnt go too high on hydration. If you can change from 00 to a strong bre...
A great dough supplement + why is crumb more open on edges? This is (or was... we are devouring it at record speed) an 85% hydration loaf of primarily bread flour, but about 1/3 of the total flour was a mix of buckwheat, whole wheat, and a 7-grain "hot cereal" grain blend from Bob's Red Mill (whole wheat, rye, tritica...	possiblities Yes, it could be the final folding/shaping method. I suppose it also could be that the outer edges received more warmth during the proofing process, and thereby fermented more than the colder inside.Supposing... If your bulk ferment was cold (in the fridge), and your final proof at room temp, the outer ed...
Difference in bulk vs proof Totally noob question...But when you are done adding strength during the bulk (stretch and fold, etc), why not just go straight to shaping and let the dough proof longer? What is the benefit of a long bulk?	Yes That will work if you get method right so that all the factors (gluten dev. fermentation etc) converge at the right time.Search youtube for Martin O'Gorman simple sourdough. He has worked out recipe to do this. It starts with a higher percentage of the starter, I guess to give the boost that is needed with such a s...
Sourdough that doesn't trigger my eczema Actually I haven't used sourdough since the 1980s, but now I find if i eat much yeast bread my eczema goes active. I avoided it for a year and all is well but I miss it (my budget does too). A little research reveals that some sourdough starter recipes are actually probiotics ...	hello From what I have read, IF your eczema is an allergic reaction to store bought bread, SOME people have found that long ferments with a sourdough have allowed them to resume eating wheat based breads. Eczema, however is not one of the symptoms of wheat allergy that I have read about.
Not refrigerating dough before baking Hi! Like everyone, I usually refrigerate my sourdough at night before baking the next day. My question is:is it ok to remove the Bread a few hours early to come to room temperature before baking? Wouldn’t that give me a more open crumb?	Like everyone? I don't usually retard my dough. Shortening the retard? Could. Try it and see. :)
Borodinsky rye Hi guys! I’ve finally taken the leap to make a Borodin rye loaf, and to be honest it was comparatively an easy loaf, but I still feel like I need to assess my result! What do you guys think? 8EBE868B-66A8-4296-90CA-B43EE713354F.jpeg	Not authentic Here's the real deal:free formor in a tin.
Is it better to shape before or after the cold fermentation phase? Im a little torn on whats better. Does it matter? Do certain breads do better pre-shaping (like boules) and certain others not do better (baguettes)? Thanks pros!	if you tried to final shape if you tried to final shape the dough straight out of the fridge it'll never work as the dough would be too firm so you couldnt get it to the shape you wanted. You would have to let it warm up, then you risk over proofing.Also a cold retarded shaped dough is easier to score and also contains...
Rising and Proofing I am trying hard to watch the dough and not the clock during the bulk ferment, but I'm having a hard time finding the balance between rise and the "poke test". For example, my dough is supposed to rise to double at room temperature for 8-10 hours per the recipe. It has been 5 hours, it has risen but...	I struggle with this too! Something that has helped me immensely recently is watching foodgeek on YouTube. He clearly explains what he is looking for at each stage and then moves on. It gave me a lot more confidence. A great example is in his 100% whole grain video:https://youtu.be/Uj9nfkpS2u8
Troubleshooting a starter Greetings, I have had a starter going for a few weeks now, and what I am noticing is that it isn't doubling and the bubbles are small. I have good activity, after eight or so hours the top is very bubbly, and it will pass the float test, but I am not getting the bigger bubbles and doubling tha...	if it seems runny/thin, if it seems runny/thin, decrease water amount. Bubbles and rise show better with a little thicker consistency.
Extensibility nearly vanishes with delayed salt method Am working with 80-85% hydration, high-gluten wheat flour and + a bit of rye for flavor. I've recently started trying a 45-minute autolyse without starter or salt; then add starter later and rest; and finally add salt before beginning stretch-and-folds and heading...	Pretty good description of what happens Your observation is correct. You never get back the extensibility of a slack dough after you have mixed in the salt. First, autolyse does one thing - in the absence of salt, the amylase enzymes that are in the flour (or added to the flour) begin breaking down the starch to make ...
Is there a certain ideal ratio of starter to flour? I have read 20-30% starter is ideal. Is there a certain ideal ratio of starter to flour? I have read 20-30% starter (bakers percentage) is ideal.	It depends on how strong your It depends on how strong your starter is and how much time you have.I use 20% and the bulk rise takes about 3,5 our on 28 C.It is then somewhere between 30 and 50% rise.Perfect for ak proof in the fridge.
Sourdough Overview with L. sanfranciscensis I chanced upon an interesing overview of sourdough processes with some specific detail of methods used in the making of San Fransisco bread.It may be old news to some, but I found it interesting and potentially useful, with some details of pH at various stages.Lance	Sourdough Overview Being the chemistry-impaired person that I am, even I found this interesting, and helps explain a lot of the "Whys?" that I have had. And now I won't whine about the bread taking so long to rise. Thanks for providing the link to this article.
What dictates how long should I leave out my dough before I put it in the refrigerator? Is it the relative amount of starter? Or do I just do the finger poke test? Is putting the dough in the refrigerator more to develop flavor than actually proofing the bread? Thanks!	It is common practice among It is common practice among many successful SD bakers to bulk ferment the dough until it rises between 30 and 50% of original height. That takes faith in your starter. Most new bakers let the dough rise much more because they think the loaf will rise higher. The real rise of an exceptional S...
Hi from Paris... and help with possible overproofing? Hi all,As many others, I decided to tackle sourdough baking during these two months of lockdown. These forums have been of great help as I always ended up reading the discussion on these forums when I was looking up some information or trying to clear up a doubt.My ...	Starter has matured. This is my guess: Your starter has matured and become stronger since the first loaf. Even though it will rise bread at, perhaps, the 7 to 10 day mark, it still becomes more balanced, mature, and strong over the next 3 weeks.So, if your dough is now over-proofed, what changed? If it was not the fl...
Don't be a Bread Hostage I've seen a few posts here regarding a King Arthur recipe detailed in Don't Be a Bread Hostage which was developed by Maura Brickland and then modified by Martin Philip. I've used it successfully recently but am thinking of branching out to see how it could be further modified: mixing in black...	Thanks for sharing I saw this and had to try it and it worked as advertised. I went with the mix in the morning and shape in the evening and then baked the next morning. I did 35 gr fresh starter15% WW and the rest KAAP at slightly less than 80% hydration. A great way to make bread without a lot of forethought and not...
Ardent Mills Dark Rye Flour - Too Dry? Hello! I've been a longtime lurker but this is my first post. I've been doing sourdough with wheat for a while, I recently started baking with rye and, having been laid off, I impulse bought a 40lb package of dark rye flour, Ardent Mills brand. I have no complaints about the flour...	Rye will absorb significantly Rye will absorb significantly more water than regular white flour, but typically 80-85% hydration should get you there. However, water absorption is not constant, it changes based on season, geography, and a particular variety of rye.
Starter activity and bubble size Hi all. I am very new to sourdough. I reactivated a dried starter about 1.5 weeks ago. Within a few days, it was doubling in size within 4 hours. Then it slowed down and wasn't rising as much. I increased the frequency of feedings from 1x/day to 2x/day and activity seemed to go up (doub...	using warm water and leaving using warm water and leaving the starter in a warm environment will speed up the starter.It can also depend on the the consistency of your starter on how well how high it rises, if its watery then it wont rise as much. Do you feed the same amount of flour and water?
Tartine bread proofing questions Hi, New bread and especially sourdough baker here. I've been reading posts here and learned so much. Thank you all the experience bakers here.I have chosen the tartine bread as first loaf to try my hands on, not much luck so far. My starter is only a bit more than a month old. I keep it...	How old was the starter when How old was the starter when you start to putting it in the fridge?If you feed it 1:1:1 how long does it takes before it doubled in size or start valling down again?This should happen in about 4 ours at 78 degrees.
banneton causing bread splitting? the last few loaves ive baked have resulted in the side splitting and hardly any opening from the score I do, so at a bit of a loss as to what is causing itstarter is strong and active.dough is 70% hydration (wholegrain spelt and white flour mix) Ive always used this amount as I prefer...	sounds like it's probably the oven. "... have resulted in the side splitting and hardly any opening from the score I do,.."Most cases of that happening are due to using a convection/fan oven with top heat. The upper heating element (or the moving hot air) dries out and "sets" the upper crust before the sides/bottom, p...
Opinion on loaf Since this whole situation, I’ve really gotten into making sourdough bread like lots of people :). I’ve literally lost count on how many I’ve made so far! I wanted to get your expert opinions on my loaf :) !	Looks realy nice. I am sure Looks realy nice. I am sure it taste great to.
Newbie Baker Seeking Experienced Advice!! Hello all!I'm fairly new to baking bread and baked my first sourdough loaf last week. Today I'm baking my second loaf. Both times I've done this they have deflated slightly as I've scored them so that I've felt that I've needed to get them in the oven quickly. I'm wondering if ...	Use the fridge Hey Chris! Are you doing a final proof in the fridge? This has helped me considerably--I do the final proof in the fridge, for at least 3-4 hours, which helps develop flavor, makes scoring easier and seems to improve oven spring. I've read about some folks popping their room temp dough in the freezer ...
Does anyone have a recipe for kneaded sourdough? I want to try a SD without a super long ferment. Also, how long do I have to wait for the bulk ferment and the final proof when I do a kneaded SD bread? Those times would be longer than a commercial yeast bread, right? Thank you!	2 hours each In my recipes it requires about two hours for both bulk ferment and for the final proof. It will tKE LONGER IF you do the proofing in the refrigerator, about 8 hours each. Do you need a recipe?Ford
newbie question Hi,i had very little activity with my starter for the first 6-7 days. There was just some bubbles on the top of the starter. Starter was on kitchen counter temperatue range between 68-78 degrees depending on time of day. On the 8th day I put the starter in my unlit oven with the light on. Today is the ...	newbie question I used the King Arthur starter recipe using white whole wheat flour 113 g and 113 g water initially and fed with 113-113-113 starter, white flour and water.
Sourdough Starter Ratios, House Temperature, and other stuff I'd consider myself an intermediate level baker. Probably baked about 300 loaves by now. I still have so much more to learn. I realized recently one major mistake I have been making... I haven't been very nice to my sourdough starter.First, let me go over my ...	Some details I left out in the initial post This is my 4th attempt at maintaining a starter. We started this batch about 5 weeks ago.This time, we ordered a dried San Francisco sourdough culture off of Amazon, in order to give us a kick start on the process (as opposed to making the sourdough culture from scratch). We ...
Suddenly Sluggish Starter Hello,(First time poster!)My 100% hydration starter is 2 months old and suddenly sluggish. I’ve used it to bake several loaves and have had more than satisfactory results. It is typically very active and doubles within 6-8 hours. I normally bake once a week and take out my starter from the fri...	what flour do you use to feed what flour do you use to feed it?
100% Wholegrain Emmer with Yeast Water Biga Big	450g wholegrain emmer flour230g water40g refreshed active raisin yeast waterMix roughly. Do not form a dough. Should resemble wet sand. Place bowl in plastic bag and leave to ferment for 10-12 hours. Since it’s low hydration (60%) for 100% wholegrain it won’t expand much. To tell it’s ready the bag will be wet from con...
why? I am new to that community , i have some questions that i google it and don't have answers.1_ why i should feed my stater by constant ratio of water and flour? can i feed it by sense_ some water ,some flour _ ? 2_ why i should feed my stater at constant time? can i feed it when it shows signs of hungry such as sm...	if you dont feed it properly if you dont feed it properly then you risk changing the balance between yeast and bacteria and diluting your starter too much. a weak starter will not rise your dough enough.Depends what you feed your starter. Starters made of rye flour are more robust so after use you can put them in the f...
Starter changed smell after a month I began a starter 40 days ago. It is fed every 12 hours at 1:5:4 and triples in about 9 hours. So far, 5 loaves were made from this starter.Since starter rose 20 days ago, it had a nice "beer and fruits" smell. But since about a week, it went from this nice smell to a less pleasant "...	ok I think the starter is normal. Make your bread.Ford
AM I FEEDING STARTER CORRECTLY? My sourdough starter has been going now for approx 6 weeks and my loaves have improved as my main issue was a lack of rise in the final loaf.I would say that there’s still room for definate improvement in that my loaves are lacking the nice large air spaces accustom to sourdough loaves. ...	Consistent ratio You want to keep the ratio of starter to new flour/water consistent with each feeding. If you only add a fixed amount each time, in relative sense, the yeasts will have less and less food to eat (because new food remains constant while the amount of starter increases). That's why people discard the sta...
New flour Hi,I recently got this flour from Azure Standard online, the website description says: this hard red spring wheat has the highest concentration of protein of any flour you can find in the U.S. At <16 percent, it’s got plenty of gluten. This unbleached flour has been sifted to remove the largest particles from...	link please? Welcome to TFL! That's great that you found some flour.Can you give a link to the exact product that you purchased?--Here's what I'm thinking....What is the ash% and/or extraction % of this flour? It sounds like it is not a "white flour" (refined, branless, germless) like KA bread flour.You wrote: "... ha...
Why poor oven spring? Hello,Please offer thoughts on each of the following possibilities as to which are MOST LIKELY to be the cause of poor oven spring:- Starter not fed and brought to high activity before adding to autolyse (I often just use it right out of the jar... it does always activate and ferment the dough tho...	I'd guess either overproofing I'd guess either overproofing (so needs less bulk), or not enough tension/structure developed during bulk (so needs more folds and tighter shaping). Can you share a crumb photo?
Starter:Doubling and stirring For those of you who don't know me from my beginner's growing pain, Sisyphus is a quarantine baby I've almost killed twice in the oven.I'm now feeding it 1:2:2 half rye and half AP. Yesterday, I was able to really watch it and try to learn its habits so I could bulk ferment more predictabl...	Another question if anyone Another question if anyone can answer is whether I should be using the starter after its first rise and fall, or the third/last one?
Slowing starter in Fridge Hello everyone, I just fed my starter for my upcoming bake and it is just starting to grow. However, I just found out that I cannot prepare my loaves until tomorrow. I would like to save my well fed but under-grown starter without having to do it again tomorrow. Is it okay if I put the starter...	mine lives in fridge. That's what I mostly do. Feed starter, let it sit for 3 hours at room temp, and the put in fridge before it starts to fall back. That way it still has food left to eat, slowly, in fridge.I can then use my starter up to 2.5 days later without having to feed it again. Maybe warm it up, but somet...
Overnight Proof Hi Everyone, Joined the fresh loaf site today, i can see there is so much helpful information on the forums and the webpage. I wanted to ask a question about overnight proofing. I usually proof my loaf overnight in the fridge, i want to scale things up and make 6+ loafs. Can i proof overnight at room ...	A final proof on room temp A final proof on room temp for say 12 ours is way to long. Maybe you can do the bulk fermentation in the fridge?
Sourdough gluten problems after bulk fermentation Hi everyone,I've been observing a fairly consistent problem with my loaves lately, and I'm hoping you can help me out.Basically, the gluten in my doughs appears to be degrading instead of developing over the course of bulk fermentation, and I can't quite figure out why....	Forgot to mention... Also, I forgot to mention, this week, I've been feeding my starter as follows, with the hope that it'll fix my problems:20g starter40g WW flour40g waterMy early observations are that the starter level seems to be a bit higher when I get home at the end of the day, and when I wake up in the morning,...
Dough is ALWAYS too wet Hello, I am new here and trying to figure out how to make a high hydration sourdough that will hold its shape. I tried a new recipe today that I found online:325g flour253g water65g starter7.5g saltI mixed the flour and water and let it rest (autolyse?) for several hours. I then added the starte...	How healthy is the starter? How healthy is the starter? An underfed starter can get very acidic and that can interfere with gluten formation - which is what will combine with the water and make a dough tacky instead of sticky. PS - you don't really need high hydration to make bread. Tis better to stay around 65% till y...
Sourdough not ready Hi, I’m new here, and I hope this topic is not a duplicate.I’m currently living in Ontario and I’m trying to create my sourdough for the 5th time. Each time I create the sourdough, after 1 week I don’t see any activity. This time is a little bit better but when I try to use the starter on the final ...	Feed till its a thick glob - Feed till its a thick glob - wait till it i gets almost watery - repeat. When it gets almost watery in a day its ready. Enjoy!
Help me diagnose my sourdough loaf please Hey everyone , so I just created a starter about 3 weeks ago and decided to make a sourdough loaf today. But as you can see it came out terribly. I sort of knew it was going to come out poorly because I more or less used the same bulk and proof times as my commercial yeast doug...	Under fermented Next time don't refrigerate the preferment till it has peaked! Should be very active and bubbly. Don't give it a set amount of time but move on when the time is right.Same with the dough. No problem in allowing it to double and don't shape till it has done so. I think between the pre-ferment and the bul...
Flat loaves:( this beginner needs help I made a couple of half-size loaves following the Tartine recipe. I monitored the temperature throughout the BF and it was around 80F. I then did a long second proof in the fridge from 3pm until 8am. See the pictures to see what a sad flat pair of loaves I got :( The taste is nice...	Very underproofed Your bread is underproofed.The picture with the big hole is a perfect example of an underproofed bread that went too early into the fridge for proofing. Great! ;)
Help! Forgot to save starter I had three loaves of sourdough in the oven and was upstairs, about to step into the shower, when it suddenly hit me that last night, when I mixed the dough, I forgot to hold back any of my starter - all of it went into the bread.So I raced downstairs, yanked a loaf out of the oven, broke ...	Sorry to hear that, Joan. If Sorry to hear that, Joan. If you have whole wheat or whole rye, try feeding that. No more than 1:1:1, maybe even 2:1:1. All you can do is try. Danny
Sourdough Critique and Help Request for Better Crumb Hey, everyone. I'm probably just like the many other new people here that have gone down the rabbit hole of sourdough baking given the environment outside. I've been browsing the forum and scouring other resources quite a bit before getting started. I just finished m...	Looks extremely good to me If I’d produced that on my second attempt, I’d have been ecstatic LoL!I think you could go for a little longer bulk, but meh... it’s not a competition :-) just enjoy your excellent bread.if you do want to fiddle with it, change ONE factor at a time and keep copious notes - that’s really impor...
Loaf #7 - Butterfly Pea Flower Loaf = best yet, but now I have so many questions Hello! I’m guilty of being a pandemic sourdough baker and very new to baking in general. This is loaf #7 with butterfly pea flower swirled into the dough. I followed FullProofedBaking’s recipe and instructions. I believe my hydration wa...	First of all, great result First of all, great result with your bread flour loaf.Don’t forget that whole grain dough will proof much more quickly than white flour so if you have two doughs proofing side by side the whole wheat will be done sooner than the white. Second, you may not get as good oven spring from the who...
Unattractive Sourdough Loaf After Scoring I am new here, so please forgive me if this topic as already been discussed. I am a beginner baker and have baked a few boules, but I can't seem to nail the scoring technique. I try to score the shape of a cross, but each time it results in not looking quite as attractive as ex...	Good over spring Hi and welcome. There are many new bakers who would “kill” to have your oven spring. It is a lovely loaf. But if you would like to reduce it, just proof it longer. You didn’t describe your process so I can’t comment on how much longer, try maybe another 25-50%. You can also try some different scoring p...
Uneven Baking If anyone has some advice on this, I'd appreciate it... I've been making sourdough for years now. I had good results for a long time, until this year. I can't figure out why there are pockets of apparently underbaked dough hidden inside my loaves. Some things that have changed:I use more home milled ...	Images would be a great help. Images would be a great help.
worried about acetone smelling starter, doing a side by side test, should I toss out the acetone smelling starter Hello!I am new to this forum, as well as to sourdough starters. I could use some advice regarding whether I should keep my acetone-smelling starter, a result of me missing two feedings -> cutting from 2X/d...	the acetone smell is fine, it the acetone smell is fine, it just means the starter is more sour and hungry. If you dont want an overly sour starter feed it more often using cooler water and a lower temp fermentation, otherwise feed like normal and you'll find the smell goes until its hungry again.
Starter keeps getting watery Hello!This is my first time attempting a sourdough starer, I live in a tropical country and daily room temperature is around 80-85°F and humidity is pretty high.I started with 40 gram whole wheat flour and 40 gram water with daily feeding and started discarding half from the 3rd day. The fi...	Have a look here http://www.thefreshloaf.com/comment/388264#comment-388264
Bread no holding shape/no oven spring we are baking sourdough with 75% hydration. Our dough is not holding its shape. As soon as we transfer it into the Dutch oven from the proofing basket it just kind of oozes out. Im not sure if we need to develop more gluten? We did 6 stretch and fold during our bulk fermentation. I...	Holding shape If you could provide a few more details about your bake, that might be helpful. Several possible suggestions: lower the hydration amount in your dough until you get a better result, lower the inoculation temp during bulk ferment (perhaps it is too warm where you are?), do a dough retard in the fridge aft...
Overnight retard for soudough Hi everyone, When I retard my sourdough overnight in the fridge, I cover my dough in the proofing baskets with plastic shower caps. However, I recently saw a video on YouTube by Bake With Jack, and he suggests leaving them uncovered in the fridge to form a skin. Do you retard covered or un...	I'd be afraid of it picking I'd be afraid of it picking up flavors being uncovered in the fridge.
Starter, starter question Finally decided to post after lurking for a few weeks.About 4 weeks into getting my starting going. Using a 1:2:2 ratio (30g , 60g, 60g) and refreshing daily with 50:50 whole wheat and bread flour. This lives in a proofing box at 80°The starter seemed extremely sluggish. A week back following ...	Far too slow a 1:2:2 feed should not take so long to peak. Taking 9 hours to double in 80F is a sure sign it's not firing on all cylinders. And that is your starter speeding up to-boot.Not sure why it's taking so long. Can you give us some more history of your starter? How did you make it? Where do you live and what wa...
First 80%+ Hydration crumb feedback Hi all,So after spending a few days on my starter and getting it more active with some regular feedings I had some success with my normal loaves and attempted this 82% recipe from theperfectloaf, high(er) hydration. 80% strong white 20%WW.I did a 4hour bulk at about 25-26c, preshape,...	That looks pretty good to me! That looks pretty good to me! Mine typically look about like this:
Community Bake - Maurizio's Fifty-fifty Whole Wheat Sourdough - Everyone is Welcome It's that time again, this will be our second "Community Bake". The FIRST ONE was a great success! This time we are baking Maurizio's Fifty-fifty Whole Wheat Sourdough. Guess what? As luck would have, today Maurizio celebrates the 5th a...	Dan's first 50/50 I decided to test bake the 50/50 sourdough. I am concerned that I may have included too many large pictures. My intention is to show those that are new to this type of bread as much information as possible. If enough people find this post too long and large, I'll be happy to edit it at a later date.Th...
Help!! Can I rescue overly chewy sourdough boule after incorrectly storing it after baking? I'm embarrassed to ask and I'm kicking myself for doing this. I finished baking my almost-perfect sourdough boules (finally after three tries) late last night, and I didn't want to leave it out in the open overnight cooling. So ...	Back in the oven I'd pop them back in a 350F oven for 20 minutes, which should help crisp the crust back up as well as get rid of any extra moisture inside the loaf. Also, don't worry about leaving freshly baked loaves out all night. Sourdough keeps especially well and will be fine for quite some time out on the coun...
Shaping, Scoring, or Something Else? Issues with ears and oven spring Hello! First time posting here and so excited/eager for your wonderful help and feedback. I am new to sourdough baking but have baked 14 loaves so far in the last 2 months. Despite my determination and practice, I still am not getting an ear, and whi...	I believe that you need for I believe that you need for the dough to hit intense heat to get good oven spring. Is your bread pan thoroughly preheated? You didn't mention this.
Sudden surge in starter activity ? Hi everyone, this is my first time posting here, I just successfully built my starter a few months ago and it had been pretty consistent and predictable, until my most recent bake where it became super active, tripling in size in 9 hours after feeding. I was excited for the possibilit...	It's not unusual for a It's not unusual for a starter to change over time, especially a young one. If it was a water/flour only starter, I would say a couple months is about right for a truly well established, stable starter. Its time had come. A less likely, but possible, scenario would be another type of bacteria set...
Drying starter Hello all. I was wondering, when you dry your starter, in what state does the yeast end up. Is it dormant? i would think so. If so, why is it so much easier to revive than when you initially make a starter from scratch? Is it because the concentration of cells is so much higher in the dried starter ...	I don't know how but it works I smeared starter onto some parchment for drying in prep for taking it on a trip just today. I have no idea how it works but I revive it and it works. A few feedings and I have a starter-yeast and lactos.
I can't seem to get sourdough breads to rise as well as commerical yeast breads unless I'm using a Dutch Oven I can't seem to get sourdough breads to rise as well as commerical yeast breads unless I'm using a Dutch Oven. For example if I make sourdough baguettes, while they taste better than the commercial yeast baguet...	you need malt in your life Diastatic malt powder is the answer to your prayers. This natural gem helps yeast rise to its true potential. Your starter age, hydration, and composition also plays into the scheme of things. Are you using the same flour in the starter to make the bread? I have a weak starter and so am force...
What should the crumb feel like? I follow the Tartine method of baking sourdough loafs and the loaves appear to be successful: look good and taste fine. However, the crumb is quite soft. It appears that the fermentation process in creating the wonderful voids converts the flour to gas leaving behind a soft gluten rich ...	Yes, Tartine has a soft crumb The goal of the high-hydration Tartine method is to have a very open, very soft 'custardy' (not gummy or gooey) crumb, and a very dark, crisp, roasted, crust. The crumb should be tender and stretchy. It seems you have hit the nail on the head and are making some lovely bread. If you prefer...
1980s sourdough recipe was easier than today's recipes Back in the 80s and 90s, I had a sourdough starter and recipe that I got from my mother, who got it from a friend, who... I had young children at that time, and I baked three loaves and one something else (doughnuts, rolls, etc.) at least once a week. It made grea...	If you look around this site If you look around this site you will see similar ideas and process. I have never discard a drop of starter myself. That idea of prepping what you need the night before has been put out as a "new" idea by several people with different names attached but they are all very similar. I am sure ...
Whey from yogurt making - what does it do in my sourdough bread? i subbed all of my water in my last sourdough bread for whey left over from yogurt making. Had a lovely loaf, but I don't know what it does to the bread. Can any one help? Not sure if it will hinder or help the production of gas, does it effect the glu...	I don't know what it does But Emmanuel Hadjiandreou has a recipe for Whey Sourdough.
Sourdough retard My question may have already been ask and answered but I haven't seen it.Many of the sourdough recipes say to mix the dough, let it ferment a few hours and then refrigerate over night. My question is, could this process be reversed? That is, mix the dough, refrigerate 8 to 12 hours then take it out to ...	Yes! There are no hard and fast rules for bulk ferment. That said: The 'standard' approach you described allows a certain amount of fermentation and bacteria development to happen before it slows way down going into the fridge. Your alternative approach will slow all fermentation and bacteria development from the begin...
Discarding?! Hello,I'm new here and actually new to baking breads, but my son LOVES sourdough bread (the one thing he'll actually eat) and I have FALLEN IN LOVE with the process of making and baking it.I have a question that's been on my mind for a while now. I was gifted an amazing, active starter from a friend in lat...	The reason we discard is that The reason we discard is that if we keep feeding and feeding, we'll eventually end up with a monstrous starter. If you keep feeding the same amount, the feeding gets smaller and smaller in terms of how much each gram of starter gets to eat. If you feed a ratio so that each gram of starte...
My first nice crumb Hey everyone, I'm Vlad from Kyiv, Ukraine, and this is my first post here — nice to meet you all! I just got into baking a month ago, and on my 7th loaf, after reading Trevor Wilson's fantastic Open Crumb Mastery, I finally got my lightest, most open crumb yet! It's also the biggest one in volume by...	Vlad, this looks amazing. Vlad, this looks amazing. Nice job! I too found that a super long cold proof in the refrigerator helps.
How often do you replace your scoring blade? Title pretty much sums it...	Once a month. I score about 8 Once a month. I score about 8 loaves a week.
A very flat little loaf, what keeps going wrong? Hello everyone!I'm a new sourdough baker, with not that much experience in baking bread generally.Today was my 2nd attempt at baking sourdough bread (in my 1st attempt it went horribly wrong). I halved the following recipe as I only wanted 1 loaf:273g white bread flour 5...	I would blame it in on the I would blame it in on the combination of weak(ish) flour, too much water, and not enough gluten development. Reduce water from 660 to 580-600 grams, and do stretch and folds continuously through the fermentation.
Product for preventing burnt bottoms? I came across this product and was wondering if I could put a few on the bottom of my DO and place the dough on top (with parchment) to prevent burning the bottom.Curious what are your thoughts and whether this would work. I'm loosing the burnt bottom battle :(Have already tried pu...	I never had the burnt bottom I never had the burnt bottom problem in my electric oven. But when I moved and had to deal with a really old gas oven, it became a real issue. I solved it by only baking in the Dutch oven for the first part of the bake (the enclosed steam part). After around 25 minutes, I remove the loaf fr...
What is wrong with my starter? New Covid baker Hi All,I'm new to baking sourdough, When I started my starter (3 weeks ago) the temp here was a lovely 26c so after a few days it was ok bubbling along.... Then we got a huge drop and we have steadily been at around 13-19c so i have been keeping my starter in the oven with...	What is your process of What is your process of breadmaking? What exactly are you doing, start to finish?
underproofed Hi thereCan anyone tell me if this loaf is under fermented? I didnt get any bubbles on the surface of the dough during BF but as i understand that's not a requirement so i went ahead and shaped it being a little worried that it may be under fermented, wondering if i should wait for the bubbles which may ...	For my tastes, that's almost perfectly proofed. Then again, I'm not a fan of wide open, lacy crumb; too many openings to let mustard land in my lap. Could you have let that go slightly farther? Sure. As it is, the crumb is quite even and well aerated with no signs of inadequate or excessive proofing.Paul
1st attempt at sourdough starter Hi ,1st day of my starter when fine 113g ww flour same amount of water, 24 hrs later add 113g white flour same113g water.5 hours later starter doubled in jar temp was 74.2f.Morning of day 3 starter decreased back to day 2 level. Temp decreased to 70.2f during night. First feeding of s...	A normal sequence of events A normal sequence of events for a flour and water starter is, a burst of activity 2-4 days in, little to no activity for something like 4-7 days, then a steady increase in activity till it has matured a bit - which can be a week or more. What did it smell like during that burst of activity? ...
Russian Rye Bread Using Excess Sourdough Starter https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/homemade-bread/russian-rye-bread-using-excess-sourdough-starter-zerz1809zmcgI need some advice. I am having a little trouble with these instructions. Ingredients:750g leaven or leftover discard from your starter750g water for t...	Wow, lots of questions. From your questions, you seem to have a good grasp of what's going on and where the recipe is fumbling. Let's see... smoke? Weird but two Tbs coriander and one of caraway sounds good, perhaps if lightly toasted before crushing is a good idea. The recipe sounds familiar. It would make two larg...
Turn yeast bread into sourdough Trying to change a yeast recipe for Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrod) to sourdough. Question is are amounts of cracked rye berries,whole rye berries & flax seed added to flour weight to determine amount of sourdough?Thanks for help!	Maybe this helps. https://foodgeek.dk/en/danish-rye-bread-recipe/
Strange activity from starter Hello -I am new to sourdough baking and I've been trying to get a starter going for a couple of weeks. I've been following King Arthur's starter recipe, but after about 10-12 days of feeding every 12 hours at a 1:1:1 ratio, I noticed that there was no rise, just stagnant bubbling.I read on...	Your Starter Is Not Behaving Strangely Go back to 1:1:1 and see how it responds. If it bubbles up within 12 hours then feed twice a day. If not, and it needs extra time, then once a day. Slowly increase the amount it is fed and how often according to the strength of the starter. Speed up as your starter's strength incr...
Oven Spring, 1-2-3 sourdough Hi, I'm having trouble getting decent oven spring with sourdough, so I'm hoping some of you can help me. This is a little long. My latest loaf is the one pictured.I've had a 100% hydration sourdough starter for about a year at this point, and it's been happily chugging along. It never gets ...	Jenny, 9-10 hr. is a long time Jenny, 9-10 hours is a long time for a starter to double, unless the room temp is extremely cold. What would you estimate your RT?Your starter probably needs to be built up in order to become more active. Can you get your hands on some whole Rye flour?Danny
Does a starter made with whole wheat take longer to peak and not peak as high? Just started using WW and it looks like im getting good activity but I wanted to ask for advice. Thanks!	Shorter and not as high Whole wheat has more nutrition which makes the yeast ferment it faster. But the bran interferes with the gluten so it can't rise as high.
Smallest advisable inoculation for starter feeding? Hi everyone. I'm new here and I want to start out by saying thanks for all the terrific information on this site. Thanks to you I am now sourdough-obsessed. lol. I wonder if all you sourdough experts could help me with a question I have. I'm trying to figure out a fee...	I think for me the amount is I think for me the amount is determined by the amount of starter from my storage starter that I use to make my bread. I'm comfortable with with 10 grams of starter being refreshed with 10 grams of water and 20 grams of flour. The breads I normally make use about between 10 and 15 grams of...
Converting a recipe that uses Instant yeast to a sourdough starter recipe Can anyone tell me... Is there a simple approach to convert a recipe that uses commerical yeast to a sourdough starter , I have been very happy with the sourdough starter that i am using and now want to convert more recipes to this style of bre...	Converting to sourdough This is my favorite way to convert to sourdough. It is by no means the only way to do it, but I like it because it is a very simple method......Converting to Sourdough The easiest way I have found to adapt a recipe without altering the ingredients too much is to take all of the liquid from the r...
Pane Cafone I'll let the video speak for itself. Only one thing to add that is not clear in the video... the final proofing is done in the fridge. Lovely recipe, enjoyable to do and great oven spring. Crumb shot to follow. Make sure your starter is mature and ready for the two Levain builds (described as first and sec...	That looks ace Can't wait to see the crumb. Well baked sir!
PLEASEEE help crumb issue Hi guys, I just baked a loaf of sourdough today, and when I cut into it , I feel like it’s a bit underproofed, but I’ve followed the recipe of a 4 hour bulk and an overnight retard in the fridge after shaping. What are your thoughts?	This looks great.. Congratulations. What don't you like about this? Texture? Mouth feel? Maybe you didn't get the oven spring you were hoping for? Or an ear?The crust look a little light otherwise the crumb looks ok. What recipe did you follow?
Need help top to bottom So this was round three of starting my sourdough starter. This time I was feeding it whole wheat flour and weighing everything with the kitchen scale and I got starter that’s been happy and bubbling and passed the flOat test. I tried making a loaf of bread with it but unfortunately all I had was...	'Incredibly dense' sounds 'Incredibly dense' sounds like underproofed (overproofed would end in a soupy mess). How old is your starter? If even after leaving the dough outside overnight didn't do much, it might be too young. The flour is less likely the culprit unless it contains antibacterial stuff like iodine. Though...
What happened here? Holes too big...Under-fermented?	This looks pretty well This looks pretty well fermented to me. It looks like a shaping issue.
Why did my dough spread out so much? (photo & details provided) I make a lot of 100% sourdough whole grain batards from home-milled wheat, but this one came out more like a ciabatta height, and I'm not sure why.Flavor is great and crumb structure is to my liking, but from the moment I tipped the proofed dough out of th...	How long did you mix the How long did you mix the dough? I guess it's this flat because the gluten network wasn't developed really far, so it didn't have enough strength to support all the gases and growth. Plus you had quite high hydration.There is nothing wrong with the bread, it looks properly proofed with a great c...

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