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Sourdough Starter Help I want to try baking sourdough bread so I started making a starter.Started with 100g Whole grain dark rye flour and 100g water on Sat evening.Sun evening took 50g of Saturdays starter and added 100g Rye and 100g water Mon evening took 50g of Sun starter and added 100g Rye and 100g water Tue even...	Stop You've done some quite big feeds too much too soon. What I would have done is mixed up 50g whole rye + 50g water then not do anything for 48 hours. By which time it should bubble up or have some activity. Then i'd go onto daily feeds of 50g starter + 25g water + 25g flour, once every 24 hours, until it bubbles up ...
Can I Convert My Starter Hi All,my Strong white flour sour dough starter is alive and well! Unfortunately I am struggling, in the present climate to get Organic Strong White flour to continue to feed it or, indeed bake anything. I have been lucky enough to source Organic Whole Meal Flour from a good mill.My question th...	Some say..... to transition in stages, using a small portion of new flour to a larger portion of previous flour, and then gradually increase the portion of new flour with each feeding.However, here are some tidbits of info that might help...The flour that you feed your starter does not necessarily have to be organic. ...
Lovely loaf, but a bit sticky on the inside I got a nice loaf that also tastes great. Unfortunately, it was a bit "sticky" on the inside, especially around the holes. Any tips on what I may have done wrong? Perhaps it's over fermented?	From the picture it looks From the picture it looks like a perfect loaf!That's totally normal. It might be that if it's underproofed (yours isn't) or cut too early, then it's quite tacky. But assuming you've done everything right, sourdough bread always has a certain tackiness.
Starters - What is your experience? Much discussion has taken place pertaining to starters. And rightfully so. The sourdough culture is at the heart of all SD breads.From this discussion, it is hoped that the experiences of others will shed light on this question.Will radically different starters remain distinct, IF th...	I’ve seen this over and over... The experience described below has happened to me many times and on numerous occasions through the years. Take what is written below and multiply that experience times 6 or more separate times over the past 15 years or so.Earlier this month I lucked out and made a “super starter”. One ba...
Autolyse Questions Hello, so I've made a few sourdough loaves now, each one gets better since I can kind of see where I might have gone a bit off. Anyway I was making a baguette recipe from a YouTube person I follow. The recipe was pretty much like a regular sourdough loaf, except for the shaping. Had an issue with the...	Add More Water One thing that's really challenging for new bread bakers to realize is that every single bag of flour will behave differently, and you have to adjust your recipe to make the dough 'right'. In this case, you need to look at the video. Is his dough moist and elastic? You dough needs to be moist and elasti...
Sourdough dough too runny after kneading and no rise during cooking. Hello everyone,I'm new to making bread and the baking as a whole. With the quarantine i decided to try my luck and make sourdouh bread. After feeding my sourdough for days it was finally ready to be used. I followed the recipe from this video on youtu...	No salt Now you know what dough without salt feels like. Can cut the salt in half but no saltt leads to all kinds of problems with dough handling and fermentation control.
Refrigerated starter disaster Okay, I had this starter of mine that was strong and vigorous, and baked several batches of great bread, into the fridge. A week later, it has fallen in size after initial growth, and became very sour and acidic. I refreshed it and made levain with the part of it, mixing 1:2:2 twice with 8...	I’m no expert, but I think I’m no expert, but I think leaving the dough out I’d not the way to go in bulk fermentation because your starter essentially overactivates and you overproof your dough, so it deflates. What I usually do is after the final fold I put it in the fridge overnight, then shape it the next day put i...
High Hydration Woes Hi everyone- my first time posting!I received a sourdough starter from a friend and they recommended the use of the Simple Country Loaf recipe by Chad Robertson (Tartine Bread). I have baked bread before but not sourdough.The dough is 75% hydration and is essentially no-knead, just plonk it in a box...	Without being one of the Without being one of the resident experts, I’d triple-check the quality (and protein content) of your flour. The stretch-and-fold (SF) method should be able to develop gluten adequately without the need for kneading (other than the initial mixing of the ingredients). At least it works for me, ...
Sourdough Failure - Advice and Tips Hi Everyone,I am new to baking and am looking to improve my sourdough baking abilities.Having lurked in the background for some time, this definitely seems the place to get some good advice.My latest attempt can be seen below:The problems i am having are:The bread whilst baking does ...	What temperature What temperature are you baking at? It looks like your bread did rise, it has lovely air pockets. It could be pale and soggy if you are not baking at a high enough temperature. I also googled a what a Lekue is. A lot of bakers use either a baking stone or a dutch oven because they heat up and retain he...
Adding raisins or nuts So I have a recipe that I like and I can fairly consistently get decent results with. Now I'd like to change it up a bit by adding some nuts, or maybe raisins.How do I do this? Just throw them in during autolyse, or levain mixing? Do I need to adjust anything in the recipe? Increase / decrease hy...	Are you doing any stretch and folds? Are you doing any stretch and folds?I typically add add-ins during the s&f process, starting with the 2nd s&f.Works for me. Your mileage may vary.
I am pretty sure my Sourdough starter is overripe levain?? I am making Nancy Silverton’s sourdough starter recipe from the food.com site. Due to that there were some unclear directions and when I began to feed my starter after the 6 days of grapes soaking I put the feeding into the bucket without only using a portion o...	I'm not very experienced but I'm not very experienced but I just took a look at that recipe and there are many things it does differently from the usual recommendations. What stands out to me most is the advice to refrigerate when it's so young and weak, the advice to refrigerate when feeding daily, and the advice tha...
Too Sour So I’ve been baking with my starter for about two years, and a few months ago it suddenly turned extremely sour. It literally happened between two feedings, and as far as I can remember nothing changed. It’s so much that the final bread tastes like vinegar. Before that, the bread was great with a very mild tas...	baking powder? Most of what I do with sourdough is to encourage sourness. Adding more water and adding heat helps me make things sour. I'm sure others who know better will chime in, but I think you need to make things nicer for your yeast by lowering hydration by increasing the flour-to-water ratio and keeping it at a ...
Bread internal temp Which internal temp typically indicates that a loaf is ready? Does it vary from recipe to recipe?	The temperature chart I The temperature chart I follow is thisSoft bread/dinner rolls180 to 190ºF Scones200ºF Sourdough bread200 to 210ºF I forget where I found that chart.
Sun-dried Tomato in Sourdough Good morning,I was wondering how to best use sun-dried tomato as an ingredient in a sourdough recipe. I’ve tried to search before opening a new topic, but i didn’t find anything relevant. So, here’s the deal:(1) Would it be better to use dry tomatoes or oil-soaked tomatoes? I’d rather us...	To answer your last two questions Adding sun-dried tomatoes to my fougasse dough did not seem to affect fermentation at all. I diced them finely, but did not treat them differently than any other add-ins.Yippee
Leaven Vs Fed Starter I am new to baking sourdough. Some recipes ask that you make leaven from fed sourdough starter and others just use the fed sourdough starter directly. I just fed my started about 7 hours ago, it has more than doubled in size, is bubbly and passes a float test. The recipe I would like to try says t...	Starter vs. levain You can do either one, some prefer to make a levain as an off-shoot of their starter and some use starter straight from the jar.
Dough sticking/losing structure during/after shaping First time trying to make my own bread, I'm certain I did something (or some things) wrong but I'm not sure where. Please help. Here's roughly how it went up until proofing.Created from a starter I created two weeks ago, that is by all accounts mature and healthy.F...	Just go with it and get it in Just go with it and get it in a round cake tin, bake at 350 with steam, slashing with an oiled blade the moment before it goes in... cut deepish. It will rise in the oven, then whack the temperature right up for the rest.I scrunched up some baking paper and put it around the bottom of a ro...
dense but delicious Ok so I followed girl versus dough recipe. I'll include photos of the final product. my starter almost triples consistently. ive had it going for about 2 weeks. But when proofing it didn't double. The flavor is amazing, but its definitely dense. Tips.. ideas? I followed her recipe to a T except I di...	Link? We would know more if we knew more about the recipe...
Mother/Starter? I've been watching (way too many!) You Tubes on sourdough, and am coming to the conclusion that "starter" is used interchangeably with "mother". But I'm thinking there is a dif.For the most part I see mainly references to starter - where a "master copy" is kept in the fridge (mother?) and for each bake...	Yes! In the interest of Yes! In the interest of efficiency and economy, I only keep about 1 or 2 tbsp of the mother culture. It lives in the fridge most of the time. When I want to make a larger volume of starter for baking, I pull it out of the fridge, add flour and water to the mother culture, let it ripen, take ...
Misshapen loaves Hi,I was wondering if anyone had any advice.I've recently been turning out some quite misshapen and flat loaves but I'm not sure why. My process is below:100g levain10g salt500g flour370g water I autolyse for two hours before adding levain. I wait another hour or so before adding salt. Then stretch and...	can we see the crumb? I had a few initial thoughts (and I am no expert!!!) but also think seeing the crumb would be helpful.1) 1 hour between adding levain and adding salt seems like a long time. I'd try cutting this down to more like 15-30 minutes.2) You said you do stretch and fold every 30 minutes for 3-4 hours. Tha...
When I do stretch and folds, am I supposed to flatten the dough each time? Because that's what it looks like is happening in the youtube videos I see, and I dont quite understand it. It seems like that would get rid of all the air in the dough. The first time I do stretch and folds it is easy to do. But but the second ...	Dough tears when Dough tears when underhydrated or overworked/ overstretched and the gluten breaks down. Try stretch slowly or autolyse with slightly more moisture.As for the flattening, Id suggest thats the bulk of the dough thinning out as you stretch it. I dont believe you are trying to wrap a small flap, more as fo...
First time using a long soak Tomorrow I plan to make a 60% whole wheat 80% Hydration sourdough loaf.The last time I soaked the whole wheat flour 6 ours and the white flour 1 our. This time a soak the whole wheat about 18 ours. It is standing on the counter right now. Not sure how long I wil soak the white flour tomor...	Balance What you're looking for is a balance of extensibility and elasticity.A longer autolyse will give you more extensibility. Elasticity can be managed through hydration - lower the hydration to keep elasticity needed when using a long autolyse.And then if you balance the two for the flours you're using, building s...
I need some feedback on my crumbs This is a sourdough loaf I baked today. It has nice oven spring and a small ear, but I'm not quite satisfied with its crumb. I guess the big hole on the top is because of the cheese cubes as well as folding and shaping. But can anyone help me look at the crumb near the bottom? They're ...	Shaping I think it looks very good. The ferment looks ok. As for the big holes I think that's just down to shaping. Or the cheese has helped create them.
Need help with spelt starter Hi, I'm entirely new to sourdough baking. I made my first starter 8 days ago using 100% spelt flour and have been feeding it daily, and for the last few days twice daily (using cold water). It's out on my countertop.It seems to be stuck in the same stage for the last few days: there are ple...	That looks healthy It's just too watery to hold bubbles and expand. Stir in enough flour to create a soft dough, then wait. It should expand nicely in a few hours. Allow it to peak, which may be more than double its original volume. When it begins to collapse, discard part of it and feed again. Paul
Fruit Starter Smells Like Cheese I’m extremely new to baking breads and just created my first two starters 8 days ago. I used plain flour and water for one, which made a great loaf and smelled fine until yesterday, but now smells like old beer. However for my second starter, I tried a method I found on Twitter that use...	I was thinking to start a I was thinking to start a thread asking people about the various starter smells they have come across. Vinegar is common. Paint thinner also. Often just generally sour or like alcohol. Cheese is common. Recently mine has been smelling like feet.
Lumps in dough What could cause some hard lumps in the dough? I could feel them even mixing in the levain, so I assume maybe I didn't mix my dough sufficiently during autolyse. Would appreciate any tips you guys have here!	If the lumps are big enough If the lumps are big enough to feel pull one out and pull it apart on the bench to investigate and pinpoint the source, could be simply flour lumps , sieving always a good idea. We once had some hard lumps that turned out to be plastic plates used in bulk flour bin travelators.
no spring, please help So, totally new to this. I followed a recipe from Masterclass on youtube. 800g strong flour460g H2O320g starter10g saltMix all ingredients, knock down at 3hr mark and split in 2 and shape. Let proof another 3+/- hrs. Bake at 450 in dutch oven 25min lid on 20 or so lid off, to brown. First attemot...	Hi Texas! When you say Hi Texas! When you say starter, I'm assuming sourdough starter? If so, I would skip the knock down step at the 3 hr mark. Sourdough really only has one steady rise in it, unlike commercial yeast, so if you knock those bubbles down, they're going to stay down. Great looking crust and I bet it...
Why preshape? Do you preshape? Why not do another stretch prior to end of bulk fermentation and then just go straight to final shape?	I always preshape I always pre-shape after scaling, and after a period of rest, the final shaping is performed. Once divided the dough is in an irregular disorderly condition and the purpose of preshaping is to take the scaled-out dough piece and lightly bring it to roundness, from which state it will be much easier to...
Bottom burning What are some tricks you guys are using to prevent this?btw, baking in a dutch oven on parchment paper	I use... One or more of these:Burner flame diffuserLayers of aluminum foilWhite interior DOCookie sheet under DO for last half of bake time Full disclosure: my gas oven is bottom burner with no convection feature.
Troubleshooting starter - hooch and not rising Hi everyone, I need some help with my starter. I started it on the 29/04 so it's only a few days old. It is my first ever try, I didn't have distilled water and I'm not even sure if the flour I'm using is unbleached. I used the recommended mixture by Joshua Weissman on You...	Some observations First, if the water and flour are separating, reduce the amount of water. Aim for a soft paste consistency instead of a liquid consistency. Second, you haven’t said what “warm” or “room temperature” are. Your starter will grow best if the temperature is around 25C, give or take a couple of degrees.A...
Floured surface in pre/final shaping Lots of confusing information on this. Some recipes call to dump the dough on the counter with no flour, or clean up the surface from flour prior to final shaping. Some say wet your hands and scraper, some say flour them.Which technique do you use? I find the dough incredibly diffic...	It took me some time to learn It took me some time to learn this too (and I'm far from perfecting it), but it seems the key to no sticking is a tight gluten network, which you need to develop over multiple stretch & folds. Flour quality is also a factor, but I can get even some non-sticky dough with cheap flour if I ju...
Coil folding vs "traditional" stretch and folds Thoughts? Are they relatively interchangeable with equal results? Seems like the traditional method requires less technique for an amateur like myself.	Don’t sweat the small stuff Even though Kristen (@fullproofbaking) makes it look easy, I find picking up the middle of my dough mass to be tricky. Of course I rarely make small batches...have a 3 kg batch in flight right now, Just reaching across the dough mass and pulling toward me, then rotating, repeating, etc. seem...
Sourdough #3 - more troubleshooting Thanks again for all the help in my previous post about my 2nd sourdough loaf.Based on the advice in that thread, I made the same recipe again this weekend - the Perfect Loaf beginner sourdough.As before, I used 80% Giusto's artisan bread flour and 20% KA White Whole Wheat flour.I tw...	what are your goals in this? Actually, it all looks pretty good. Nice crust, nice oven spring, nice ears, and a good crumb. So what more are you looking for?If anything, you'll develop a more consistent crumb over time as you tweak hydration level, and get the folding procedure (that you do immediatley prior to shapin...
Milking it for all it's worth Has anyone replaced the water in a recipe with milk? Did you use whole, skim or fat free? What was the result? Did you use a 1:1 ratio of milk for water? And what about eggs? Have you added eggs to a recipe? Did you use just the yoke or did you use the whole egg? How many (I realize that m...	Whey I replace water with whey (1 to 1) all the time, works great.
Is this an ok, easy recipe for beginners? Hello everyone!I made some alterations to a recipe for a friend that only has 000 type flour. Will it work, is the preferment quantity ok? Thanks in advance!Preferment:20 gr sourdough starter90 gr white flour 00090 gr waterDough600 gr white flour 000350 gr water (+/- 20 gr) 14 ...	It looks OK The hydration here is 64%.
pinkish brown spots on day-old starter hello everyone,recently i was interested in making sourdough bread so i begin making my starter. a day after i start it, i noticed my starter is very bubbly and already has a sour smell.however, there are some brown-pink spots on top of it, and im not sure what that means. i don'...	that's what an hydrated that's what an hydrated starter should look, the colors vary, your's looks looks great. Go make me another.
2nd sourdough loaf - what went wrong? I made the Beginner Sourdough recipe from The Perfect Loaf and had some issues, as you can see.After 4 hours of bulk fermentation at 78-80 degrees, the dough had risen substantially and showed plenty of bubbles on the surface. However it does not show the signs of strength the reci...	I think your instincts are I think your instincts are right! You may be a beginner, but you're thinking about all the right things. I think you're fine to keep using the flour you have. It's great flour! You can absolutely make wonderful sourdough bread with it.I would try a combination of the things you suggested for ...
Correlation between feeding ratio and peak time What's the correlation between the feeding ratio and the starter peak time? For example, if I feed at 1:2:2 and it takes 6 hours to peak, would it take 12 hours if I feed at 1:4:4?Also, can I assume same max growth in both cases? So, for example, if at 1:2:2 the peak is 3...	Exponential growth No to 12hrs because growth is exponential.If 1:2:2 takes 6 hours then 1:4:4 should take about 8 hours or so.I have a calculator for this here... http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/54731/lab-calculatorIt is based on the exponential growth phase and doesn't take into account a number of factors but it se...
Concerned about the colour of my starter HI All,I am new to making starter having started my first attempt this week. My starter is two days old. It was created using 75g Flour and 75g of water and has so far had one feeding after 24hrs.For the first feeding I left 75g of starter and added 75g flour and 75g of water. T...	It looks alright to me. It looks alright to me.
Trouble with enriched sourdough bread I'm quite boggled right now because I can't explain what I've been doing wrong so I hope someone helps me. I wanted to do some cinnamon rolls about a week ago but I didn't have yeast; luckily, I had a sourdough starter so I researched some recipes and stumbled on this one. When I t...	Needs more time to develope Needs more time to develope gluten. Gluten development will take longer with an enriched bread due to the added fats.
Feedback appreciated please Been baking bread for about 3 weeks now. Have learned so much from people on this site. This is my 5th sourdough attempt from my own starter which is now into week 4 of life. Have tried various recipes and wasn't happy with the outputs each time although the bread didn't last long and tast...	Incredible results, even more Incredible results, even more incredible considering it's only your 5th sourdough. Great job!
New Videos from King Arthur Below is an excerpt from the King Arthur website. Many of us are staying home and these videos are an excellent investment of your baking time. What a rare opportunity to watch the Masters in a home-like environment. YouTube provides more control over viewing. You have the option to speed ...	Hammelman humor I saw the one the other day when Jeffrey said "The dough rises in the yeast and sets in the waist"
Wild yeast sourdough using Tartine Country Bread recipe This is my best attempt and I think it turned out well. It tastes great with that nice chew. Can you tell by the pics if there is something I need to work on?	I'm learning myself (I used I'm learning myself (I used to make this a lot but seem to have forgotten everything) but it looks pretty good to me!
Proofing Hello, I’m new to sourdough bread and I’m hoping to seek some help here. I would really appreciate all of the comments :)I think I might have some proofing issues. My bread has huge air tunnels on the top and looks a bit gummy and translucent. The whole bread feels dense and heavy. I’ve read from many people t...	Yes, this is still Yes, this is still underproofed. But this can have many reasons. Quality of flour and water, age and activeness of your starter (how old is it), a cold draft etc etc.
Flat boule--thoughts please. Hello all, I am new here and to sourdough. I know this is a common concern and Ive been reading the numerous posts regarding my topic. However, others thoughts about my issues would be welcomed. Thank you in advance.I am following James Morton's general sourdough guidelines and in the case ...	Under Fermented Without knowing much of the details you need to look at your starter, bulk ferment or both. You say you're new to this. How old is your starter? Have you had a good bake with it yet? When it was bulk fermenting did you wit until the dough was aerated and puffy? When you say nicely aerated that might mea...
What where when how? Hi,I’m a keen newcomer to the sourdough bread making world. I’ve cultured a very robust and predictable starter (started as white and now fully rye). I’ve made a few loaves with varying degrees of success. (Ok I’ll admit - they were terrible). But these failures have fortified me in my mission t...	Bake with Jack's overview: Bake with Jack's overview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwsTq4B5Aos--Actually time, temperature, and sequence are ingredients that are, in general, unique to each recipe, AND unique to your local situation. As Ken Forkish says: Temperature and time are ingredients.Time and temp are also interco...
To refrigerate my starter, do I feed it and then immediately put it in the refrigerator? To refrigerate my starter, do I feed it and then immediately put it in the refrigerator? Or is there something else I should be doing? Thanks!	refrigeration and feeding The answer is... do what works for you and your schedule. I usually don't feed until 6 to 12 hours before I'm planning on using it. I feed and leave it on the counter. One thing that approach has done for me is that I have almost no discard because I'm using a Just In Time approach. If I need ...
Raisin yeast water challah - I am at my wits' end! Hi all,This is my first ever day on The Fresh Loaf and I'm excited to finally become part of the community. Thank you for all the expertise you've offered to this lurker.I am an experienced sourdough baker, having honed my technique by reading and adjusting according ...	Yeast water I have only used it a few times but we did a Community Bake featuring Hammelmans version on this site. Just do a search for Swiss Farmhouse bread. Look for posts by Trailrunner she is quite adept at using it for multiple types of bread. I learned that a warm spot for rising is critical for good results.
What leads to a nice open crumb with big holes? I have finally made sourdough a few times with my own starter and while the crumb is better than the breads i made with commercial yeast (imo), it's still not as nice as I'm seeing people here make (even people who post their first sourdoughs). What am I doing wrong that ...	Hi there! Ive been at this a Hi there! Ive been at this a few months and for what I can ascertain its down to the style of mix and knead. I make sandwich loaves and use a method of twisting my forming gluten strands together and folding it, several times. I get a uniformly structured tighter crumb, bouncy and fluffy.So...
First success! Hi All, I have tried starters and sourdough on on off for the last couple of years. With everyone home I have picked it back up again and discovered some really helpful tips along the way. I was so thrilled I had to share! Thanks so sourdough Tim from instagram, Tartine from Instagram and also a post las...	Great loaf. I start using Great loaf. I start using rice flour to dust the banneton a weeks ago. I always place some parchment paper over the banneton put the peel over and turn it around. Now with the rice flour I can lift the banneton directly from the dough.Amazing stuff.
Sourdough rising but not doubling Hi!I have a sourdough starter which rises quite substantially (like one third of the container) but not doubles. Also it takes long to rise and long to go down. I had tried the float test and it worked. Any suggestions on how to make it more active? Like rising and doubling in a shorte...	More details, please How exactly are you feeding the little varmit? What kind of flour and at what temps? Most important is how much starter, water and flour by weight?
Storing Starter Discard? With no luck I have been trying to find out if I can store a starter discard either at room temperature or in the refrigerator? I don't want to throw it out and I don't have time to bake during the week, any ideas? Thanks!	I keep mine in the fridge. I often end up using parts of the discard to start my builds for the next loaf but have made bread directly from it using the 1-2-3 recipe. You can find this on this site. Or you can use your discard, once you have enough, in a number of other things such as pancakes.
Starter with wheat germ? I am curious if anyone has some input on this ...I have a starter that has been going maybe 6-8 weeks but still doesn't have enough gusto to leaven my bread doughs!Of course my desire to start this endeavor happened right as everyone and their brother decided to hoard everything from the grocer...	use a mix of... 50% bleached AP, 25% whole wheat, 25% corn starch, to stretch out your WW, when feeding.The small amount of wheat germ in whole wheat is likely beneficial due to the vitamins it contains that may help the yeast cells. But as a separate ingredient, mmmmmmehhhhh, probably not, except in minuscule amounts...
Why has my bread done this? I baked my first sour dough loaf today. It was delicious! However, it turned out strangely:I had a bit of a disaster getting it into the oven, as I hadn’t floured the peel enough. By the time it went in, it resembled a pancake... it then rose relatively nicely, but obviously from the picture...	I'm just spit-balling here. I'm just spit-balling here. I'm sure someone with a little more experience can be of more help. I would guess too much starter. Along with what you describe as being difficult getting it in the oven. It was a perfect storm for circus bread.
Yet another newbie with starter issues I'm a complete beginner when it comes to sourdough and almost so when it comes to baking in general. I have read a ton on the internet, but as with most subjects, I'm finding the internet wisdom is often incomplete and/or contradictory.I started a starter 6 days ago. I had only ...	What is the room temperature What is the room temperature where the starter is kept?
Getting ear on the wrong side (short side, instead of on top) Hi everyone,I have a question about a problem I can't seem to troubleshoot. Recently, my breads are developing their ear on the wrong side. Instead of bursting at the long side (and creating an ear on top) it bursts on the short side.I generally score my bre...	They look great! I don't see what you see. Bursting on short ends? Where?
Convert fully proofed dough into madre lievito/ stable starter? How can I transform a gift of fully proofed, natural starter pizza dough into a stable starter, perhaps in madre lievito form?I was very fortunate to receive 300 gms of unbaked, fully proofed, wonderful pizza dough made by a 5th generation Neapolitan pizza...	Why not take your off a small Why not take your off a small piece and convert it to ~50% hydration.5g starter + 10g water + 20g flour (1:2:4)knead it a little by hand.
Flat sourdough bread Hello all,It's second time i'm baking bread from my rye sourdough starter. Im doing something like this:day 1:* take out sourdough starter from fridge* feed it after about hour in warm place* after about 8-10 hours when it's mature take 30 g of starter and prepare levain for next day (130g wheat br...	Suggestion for flat bread I’ve been exploring sourdough throughout the last couple weeks and was told several times I didn’t need to pre-heat my Dutch oven. What I got was tasted but flat loaves. As soon as I pre-heated the Dutch oven at 550 I got spring!
Help please Day 3 and a bit and the activity has stopped except a few little bubbles and a slightly sharp smell should I feed it or leave it?	Stirr it a bit and wait until Stirr it a bit and wait until tomorrow.
Hops Yeast Starter Has anyone ever made starter with hops? I have many old cookbooks with recipes. Not sure if you can keep it for a long time, like a sourdough starter.	What? I've got problems with that line... "Not sure if you can keep it for a long time, like a sourdough starter." Why not a starter from hops? And a sourdough starter can be kept for years, if not centuries. I was chatting with my Aunt, she's hitting 80 soon, and she told me she and her Mother kept a starter for as...
White dots on my starter after 1 week in the fridge Hello,I left my starter of one-month-old in the fridge for a week, and these white dots appeared in the surface: I know that the liquid is not a problem (should be because of sedimentation) but the white dots look like fungi to me. I've seen other posts of white dots ...	Very hard to see but the spots look like flour trails formed from gas bubbles rising up from the bottom of the starter dragging wet flour up with them. Could this be?Add a little more flour (no water) and thicken up the starter a bit to see if it rises. It looks very watery.
Feeding my Starter Hello, I was given some starter from a local bakery. The instructions for feeding state to “pour all but a tablespoon of starter out and either make a second starter, bake or give to a friend, etc- anyway- it states “in your starter jar, mix the remaining tablespoon of starter with equal parts water ...	First a equal amount in First a equal amount in weight not in volume. So say take 10 gram of starter and at anything between 20 to 50 gram of water and flour.
Is there such thing as a quick sourdough bread? All the recipes I've seen (and made) so far have taken a super long time, and while I like the taste and results, sometimes I want something a bit faster. Is there such a recipe or is that not in the nature of sourdough? Thanks!	I bake every day and am done I bake every day and am done from start to finish in about 90 minutes. Is that what you had in mind?
Any reason NOT to use parchment paper? I've seen many folks with the combo cookers just drop their loafs directly onto the surface, or even some brave enough to place it into their DO (I am super clumsy and 99% likely to burn myself if I try this). I feel like the parchment paper doesn't actually add much overhead and ...	I drop my formed loaf right I drop my formed loaf right into the dutch oven. I've tried using paper but it tends to get all bunched up at the edges and deforms my loaf. The only way I've found around that is to cut it to the exact right size and 1, I find that terribly annoying and 2, it doesn't really provide any bene...
Bubbling but no rise? So i have two starters, affectionately referred to as "The twins" by my girlfriend and I. Both live in 1L pickle jars (thoroughly cleaned), the lids of which i have punched holes in and then covered said holes loosely with cheesecloth. Im following a method from a book called "Rocky Mountain Cooki...	Have you tried changing the feeding ratio? I was having the same issue with my starter. After a lot of research I found out the following:Discarding and feeding too much means that you keep diluting the starter. I was originally feeding my starter 1:2:2 which produced bubbling but no rise for weeks. I started feeding i...
Starter not rising Im very green w baking. So im trying tomake Tartine Country bread. Following Robertson’s recipe, I began the starter Tuesday morning. It rose a good bit Thursday afternoon and by Friday morning it smelled like cheese. Pretty funky. So I began feeding it Friday am after I threw out 80% and fed the 20%...	Keep working on it. This is Keep working on it. This is what always happens. People being their starters, they get the Day 2 explosion of activity and then it dies out. And then they think their starter is dead. It is not. It is just very young. Keep it up!
Amount of starter when feeding Does the amount of starter matter when you feed if you're feeding with the same ratio? I'm feeding 1:1:1 with 38g of starter but the starter seems a lot more sluggish and is less bubbly than when I fed with 60g of starter. The 60g of starter would peak in around 4 hours but the 38g hasn't...	thermal mass? larger mass will change temperature more slowly?
My starter is bubbling and passed the float test but not rising My starter is nearly 4 weeks old and after 3 weeks of feeding without any activities, I decided to boost it with some pineapple juice for 3 days and it finally doubled in size. Yesterday evening I backed to spring water and after 12 hours, it has risen jus...	How high is the hydration? I How high is the hydration? I can imagine the bleached flour is also a factor...
First loaf opinions This is my first sourdough loaf I baked today! I didn’t use a Dutch oven as mine only came today and needs seasoning. I put a tray of water in the bottom of the oven. Loaf is bit dense but I suppose that could be improved using the Dutch oven.	Seasoning dutch oven I just got a dutch oven as well. Since I don't plan to use it for anything but a "steam trap" for baking bread - I wonder if it needs any further seasoning. Nothing will be cooked in it so there is no worry of anything sticking. I suppose the bread could stick... but wouldn't a little flour or p...
Help! Starter growing too fast Hi, everyone!I'm a begginer at this bread art, and last week I started growing my sourdough. Today is the 10th day, as I took the jar the starter was smelling like vinegar... So I discarted half and fed it at proportion 1:2:2 about one hour ago, but it is rising too fast, it has already d...	Salt will slow it down I have read that in warm weather a little salt can be added to slow down the growth of the levain before using it in bread. If it is just your starter I would discard more of it and feed it with more flour and water. It takes very little to get it going again. Just a few grams is all that is need...
My Starter isn't Growing! As of 4/30, my starter is 5 days old. On the second day, I fed it 100g of whole wheat flour and it quadrupled the size in 12 hours. On the second feeding of that day, I fed it with 50g of starter and fed it 50g of bread flour and 50g of whole wheat flour and 100g of water. So basically a 1:2:2...	What is the temperature where What is the temperature where you keep it?
Name one book :) Hey folks,Baked my 4th loaf recently and I'm hooked :)Would like to continue expanding my horizons and learn more. If you had to recommend one book, what would it be? Obviously I'd still consider myself a beginner, so I need one that won't make too many assumptions on pre-existing knowledge and doesn't...	Hammelman BREAD. You can’t go wrong with Jeff Hammelman.
Effects of Feeding a starter twice a day vs less often? I used to feed my starter twice a day. I'd bake one and waste one. I got tired of the waste and started just only doing the bake dump. This seems to produce good bread. The difference I've noticed is the crumb is tighter on the less fed starter. It's more like reg...	I feed mine every 12 hours I feed mine every 12 hours when it on the counter and at least two cycles before i use it or place it back in the fridge. I keep my starter at 100% hydration.This seems to produce the best results and keeps my starter healthy.I also feed 1:1:1
Jim Lahey Sullivan Streetv Bakery simple starter HI!This is a specific post for anyone who has bought Jim Lahey's baking books and has experience in his simple starter method? I bought his Sullivan Street Bakery Cook Book and cannot seem to get past his simple starter recipe. I've tried so many times and wasted so mu...	What water are you using? What flour? Which country are you in? And what is the temperature?
Is it possible to bake sourdough bread at a low temperature? I am about making my first ever sourdough loaf today. However, my oldy oven cannot even reach to 400F for 30 minutes. What is the effect of baking at a really high temperature? Is it possible to bake sourdough bread at a low temperature and if it is, what cha...	Enriched doughs High temperatures are usually beneficial for hearth breads because the rapid expansion caused by a super hot oven will result in an open crumb and very thin crust. However, enriched doughs will usually get too dark and burn at high temperatures so there baked at more typically 350-400 degree range. So i...
Craggy bottom HELP :( Hi guys! I’ve recently gotten into baking sourdough breads. I wanted to try an 81% loaf. This is the recipe I used https://www.theperfectloaf.com/higher-hydration-sourdough-bread/ . Everything seemed fine until I saw the bottom of my loaf. It looks weird! Is this normal or am I doing something wro...	eat it Then go bake another
Proteolytic sourdough starter I have just found out that my starter is not healthy since it made my first loaf turn out like pancake batter. Can I save proteolytic sourdough starter and if yes, how do I do that?	Some useful information Read through the posts that follow Debra Wink's Pineapple Juice Solution,Part 1. Another Fresh Loafian was faced with the same problem you have and the conversation between he and Debra is quite informative. Paul
Weak starter in warm climate Hi,I have a 50 day old starter that I have been maintaining at 1:2:2 every 12 hours:25g starter25g rye flour (Bob's red mill organic dark rye)25g all purpose flour (normal unbleached)50g water (boiled) I live in a warm climate (29-32°C by day and 27-29°C by night, tropical weather with no s...	Have you tried reducing the amount of starter being fed? You can go as low as 5g of starter and feed 25g each flour and water, 1:5:5 ratios. This should reduce the initial acid in the fed starter and boost yeast. Reduce and feed again as soon as it peaks an starts to indent to level out. You can also reduce the water...
Stirring instead of feeding starter? Hello friends. I'm new to this and so is my starter. Question. This morning I fed my 100% hydration starter and it doubled in size in about 8 hours. Not wanting to dump it out to refeed, I just stirred it vigorously and within half the time it has tripled in size! Can anyone please ...	I just give mine a stir I just give mine a stir sometimes but instead of feeding. You dont want it working too fast and eating itself to destruction.You will need to use it and build it up again to relieve it of its dead mass and stop bad bacteria accumulating.Working up the activity is good if you use it every day.
Tartine basic country loaf: sometimes just too runny Hi there,Newbie quarantine baker here. I’ve now baked the Tartine recipe about four or five times. The first, the dough was pretty wet, hard to round and shape, and didn’t rise much. It also glued itself to the kitchen towels in my bowls during the later rise. The se...	If nothing else changed.... If none of your ingredients, measurements, or procedures changed, then what likely changed was.... the starter/levain.If this last was your fourth/fifth loaf, then your starter is probably just now settling down into the mature phase.It can take 10 days or more (up to 2 to 3 weeks), from the...
Spanish flour? weak, floppy dough Hi all: I'm one of the thousands of new sourdough bakers in this coronavirus isolation period. I've been baking two or three times a week for four weeks now and am confident that my starter is lively and strong. But, my dough doesn't at any stage seem to resemble the elastic, smoo...	Good evening. Could you Good evening. Could you possibly share some additional specifics on the flour you use? Could it be Harina de Fuerza from Mercadona? Both their regular (blue) and bread (red) flours are beyond useless. I'm afraid you'd be wasting your time if you're going down that alley: there's simply no way t...
Rancid flour as starter food? So I have around 8 cups of KA WW flour that I suspect has gone rancid. I know you’re supposed to refrigerate whole wheat after opening it but our fridge is perpetually short on space and I always forget to make room for it so it usually stays out at room temp. I took a good whiff of the fl...	Stinky flour makes stinky food Yes, the starter organisms will consume the rancid flour but then the starter will taste like the rancid flour. Although I don’t like to waste food, in this situation I think you are better off pitching the flour than using it in something. Paul
Starter not doubling and smells of acetone Hello,I wonder if anyone can help? This is my first attempt at a starter and I think I have failed miserably ?I followed the Paul Hollywood instructions which were: 250 bread flour, 250 tepid water and 5 organic grapes, leave for 2 days to establish activity then dump half and...	Not good, I think I think acetone is bad :(You shouldn't need any more yeast. To tell you the truth, I tried this fermented grape juice method once, and it actually back-fired at me, it seemed like there were yeast in the grape juice and they raised the dough, but them eventually they died and new colony started to gro...
4 weeks feeding, ratio questions for beginner Sorry if this has been addressed before but after searching and reading countless posts, I’m still confused. Can someone please answer in most simple terms for a beginner:I have a starter that is 1:1:1 (113g starter, 113g flour and 113h water). I have been feeding every 12...	Jen, a healthy starter will Jen, a healthy starter will over-ferment in 12 hr @ warm temps. I think this is your problem. A healthy starter will double or more in ~4-6 hr at 80F.The most probable reason your starter is not more active is because it has been allowed to over mature. Because of this is has become too acid...
Extremely loose and sticky starter/dough So I've started a number of sourdough starters since this quarantine, and I've made successful and very strong starters in the past as well as some pretty tasty loaves of sourdough bread. But it's been a few years and my original starter finally kicked the bucket so I'm starting...	Suggested reading WhileThe Pineapple Juice Solution is rightfully touted as a nearly bulletproof means for launching a starter, there's also a fascinating exchange between Debra Wink and another Fresh Loafian who was struggling with starter problems like you describe. Read through the posts that follow Debra's article...
Gummy/ tacky looking holes Hello, I tried my hand at my first sourdough this week using Ken Forkish's overnight blonde recipe. For my first attempt I followed the recipe exactly and figured that I had at least three hours of proofing time so I went for what was supposed to be a quick grocery outing. I got back and the...	More Pictures 20200429_135751.jpg
Self-quarantine and sourdough My daughter called to ask if I had active sourdough starter to share with another resident in my town. Evidently, many people are looking for new and interesting things to do at home, and she saw a request for sourdough starter on Facebook.I agreed to share mine, and mentioned that it was ...	leaving aside... Leaving aside the question of whether sharing non-pre-packaged food from home breaks your local quarantine rules ...Feeding 1 : 1.5 : 1.5 (1+1.5+1.5=4) quadruples. So, two feedings gives 4x4 = 16. So, however long it takes to feed twice.Or one feeding of 1 : 6.5 : 6.5, but it would take longer to p...
Fantastic Oven spring but horrid, underbaked and gummy crumb Hi,People on the forum, request your help here. I am at my wits end. I recently baked a Batard and I got fantastic Oven spring and great caramelisation of the crust. But when I sliced the bread open after 2 hours (by which it had sufficiently cooled), I was e...	Try reducing the water by 5% and see what that does. It could just be too wet or not baked long enough. Crumb looks too wet to me and internal temp of 200°F for I'm guessing, a lean bread (recipe?) would be too low, aim for 210°F with wheat. If that burns the outside of the loaf, the temps are too high for the bak...
How stiff is too stiff - rye starter The rye starter I’ve been growing is dark brown and the consistency of peanut butter. I’ve only been feeding it - now on the third day. It is in a wide container. I’m not seeing much rise, but do get pretty good bubble-pockets after maybe 6-8 hours at 78 degrees. I’ve seen vids of ...	If it can be stirred - its If it can be stirred - its thick enough - if its not too old. Enjoy!
Recommendation... You don't see much of this bake here but Forkish's Walnut Levain bread is absolutely delicious! Burnt the Walnuts so substituted them with Pumpkin Seeds which I also highly recommend. Think it'd be a good idea if you have a liquid bread flour starter to turn some of it into an 80% hydration starter wi...	Walnuts I have made this bread a few times. Agree, it's a keeper. One time I threw some dates in with the walnuts....now that was an amazing one. My local Persian nut roaster told me that the real answer to walnuts is black raisins. Apparently if you buy (or sell) one you must have the other, as they are a normal sn...
Air holes at top of sourdough loaf Hi fellow bakers,I recently tried my second sourdough loaf with a new starter I made but it has come out with large air holes at the top of the loaf. The difference to my first loaf that was more dense but less air holes is my kneading technique, I tried folding 3 times in a bulk prov...	RE: Air Holes I'm not much more than a raggedy home bread baker but I'd hazard a guess that you may want to check out your loaf shaping techniques as a place to start.
Bakes well but falls flat after proving Hi there, I am pretty new to loaves of bread, I started my sourdough journey about 3 months ago. So far I've had a varying amount of success. lately, I started to use my pizza oven to bake the doughs with a combination of steamy towels and hot water tray. I manage to achieve a re...	Is there a bulk rise? and rough times between steps? Temperature?
Why did the crust of my first sourdough turn out this way? Hi all! With your tutelage I was able to make a surprisingly great sourdough! I did the King Arthur No Knead sourdough but forgot to put it in the fridge. I always do no knead breads with commercial yeast and never put them in the fridge so maybe thats why I fo...	The crust and crumb look look The crust and crumb look look amazing for your first sourdough!However, you forgot one crucial step: Scoring the dough when you put it into the oven creates a strategic valve to release gases in a controlled way. You have a more even rise, no disfiguring outbursts and get an even better cr...
Wonky sourdough made some sourdough this morning. Three things I don’t like about this are below. Any other comments/suggestions/critics?1) obviously the shape, I assume it’s because of poor/inconsistent scoring2) I don’t like the color, I very lightly spritzed with water, might try using more next time.3) the bottom...	Picture of bottom 5D200A1E-E3CB-4DF8-BEEE-289DB276853A.jpeg
Which way are these these ratios read? I am getting confused by the feeding ratios everyone talks about. 1:1:1 obviously can be read any which way and you get the same results. 1:2:2 is also not confusing because I don't think I've ever seen anything to make me think anything other than starter goes first.But what do...	It is confusing Hi, and I’m sorry if I contributed to your confusion. I personally use starter:water:flour (and state it to be clear) because that is the way I mix them. I add water to starter, then add flour. This is a personal preference, and I don’t know if there is a “correct” way to do it. As long as you are consi...
same starter for different recipes? I have a starter that I've been using so far for this one recipe and it wasn't a starter recipe for the recipe i've been using. My question is can i use the same starter for all kinds of recipes using different flours? Does it matter?	Depends ...on how ‘authentic’ you want to be. If you tend to follow recipes closely and judge your success on how well your product resembles that suggested by or pictured in the recipe, then you’ll probably want to migrate your starter over closer to that specified in a particular recipe. Otoh, if you take more of a “...
What is growing in my starter! I was given a starter this past weekend (Saturday) and fed it the following day (Sunday). I accidentally neglected it and it is now Wednesday... oops! I went to feed my starter and there was a bit of liquid on the top, hooch I presume although it wasn't dark, and some type of clear membra...	Just stir it in in, it is Just stir it in in, it is just water. If you use white flour and 100% hydration it is thinner then when you use whole with or dark rye.
Help - Corn flour added to established starter by mistake Hi everyone, a comedy of errors (entirely my fault) led to my partner adding cornflour to their starter this morning. Is it ruined now or can it be salvaged? Many thanks in advance	Just wait and see how it Just wait and see how it reacts I think.
Starter help for the newbie!! Sourdough newbie here, looking for some help! Recently decided to try my hand at this whole sourdough thing and need some guidance. I'll try to provide as much info/details as I can to make it easier to assist, so I apologise in advance if this gets long-winded! I've got 2 starters going. ...	Just keep going. Do note Just keep going. Do note however that Bart will be slower than Homer due to the flour difference - I'd imaging it'll be a week or 2 behind. Enjoy!
Flour and hydration in the UK Hi all,Have any UK-based bakers out there found it possible to work successfully with the high hydration levels found in many North American recipes? I’ve been finding that with hydration above 70% (and roughly 9:1 white:wholewheat), my dough seems much, much slacker than videos that I see...	hi Mike.generally youll find hi Mike.generally youll find that US hydration levels are higher than UK ones so not sure whats going on. Id say its technique. Generally American wheat has higher hydration levels so a 70% there is more like a 66 - 67% here. Higher protein levels tend to mean higher gluten and more hydrati...
Estonian Rye Sourdough Bread [Non] Recipe https://youtu.be/TkVdO-9HLVU Three interesting ideas in this recipe... 1: A large preferment with one rise.2: Even though it will never behave like a wheat dough it still benefits from a longer mixing time. 3: The holes poked into the dough to tell when the rising is done. It a...	That's a lovely video, thank That's a lovely video, thank you for sharing!

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