Split (1)

train · 60.1k rows

instruction stringlengths 2 23k	output stringlengths 3 23.1k ⌀
Am I overheating my starter? I recently got a thermostat controller and a heating pad to use for starter maintenance and dough proofing. This helps a lot in cold Edinburgh winter, however as everything, there is a learning curve.My setup is very simple: heating pad on the bottom, then a piece of cardboard (optional) so...	Ilya, you could incorporate Ilya, you could incorporate an inexpensive digital controller in your setup.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NZZG3S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1Also if the heating pad doesn’t work well for you you could use a small appliance lamp bulb with the digital controller.
Starter suddenly not rising Help! My starter is about 6 months old. I bake with it weekly and have never had any issues with it rising. I baked with it successfully a week ago, then three days ago baked a few somewhat flat loaves (but not sure if this is related to the issue at hand or just overfermented). The NEXT day...	When you're in a hole 'Stop Digging'! They've been fed so there's nothing much more you can do now. Feeding them more won't help if they haven't activated yet. In fact it can do more harm, at this stage, than good. All you can do now is treat them like days 4 and 5 of a new starter. Keep warm, stir and don't feed again...
Starter Maths I’ve been seeing some success with my sourdough starter which I began about 8 days ago. I was however a little underwhelmed with the amount I had, so instead of discarding half, I left it and just fed my 200g starter with 50g flour + 50g water. Is this correct or should I have done 100g flour + 100g water...	I think 200g is too much If you were just fooling up with that feed then fine. However as maintenance that feed was very poor. Starter is just seed. You don't need to keep hundreds of grams. All you're doing at this stage is getting one going which you can use to build levains (off shoot starters) which are geared for ...
Softer or thinner crust on my Sourdough I have been baking sourdough since the start of lockdown and have got into a really good routine with a recipe that I'm really happy with.I fancy experimenting a bit however and the bread comes out with a good crumb, relatively thick send crunchy crust. It's not too thick, it's p...	While still warm (not hot, While still warm (not hot, warm) throw in a plastic bag. Moisture will migrate to the crust, remain there and soften it. Enjoy!
Retarded Dough Keeps Fermenting In ANOTHER POST Will is attempting to help another baker that is concerned about his dough continuing to rise in the refrigerator. It is commonly accepted on TFL that if the fridge is 39F or lower that the dough will not rise significantly or at all. BUT, is there another variable to be ...	. .
100% rye dough a disaster despite 'healthy' starter I am trying to make a loaf with 100% dark (wholemeal) rye flour. I have a healthy white flour starter and over the last week have been using that culture as a base to make a rye starter.This is the appearance of the starter. I would describe is as smelling and tasting...	No point in doing slap&folds No point in doing slap&folds or any other form of kneading with 100% rye dough. There is no gluten to speak of in rye, and the dough has no strength. Completely normal. Just mix it and ferment! Easy-peasy.
1:2:2 vs 1:3:4 feeding I am trying to figure out the differences/benefits of these feeding ratios. I see some people just say 'double it' / 1:2:2, while others say to go with a 1:3:4. I was told to do the latter, and thats how I'm feeding my little sourdough starter right now (2 tbs starter, 1/2 cup flour, a little les...	My normal feeding routine of My normal feeding routine of my mother starter is 1T starter, 1T water, and 2T flour. This gives me enough starter to build up a levain for breads, yet it doesn't use so much flour that I'm buying 5 pounds per week just to feed it. My building technique goes a bit more in depth, going by we...
Sourdough starter no longer "sour"...what should I do? I can't get my starter to get sour anymore. While I realize there are those who don't like the sour taste, I was born and raised in San Francisco and love sour sourdough.I've had my starter for 4 years. After waking up the starter over 2 days, I reserve about 60 ...	Sour There are several ways to achieve more sourness.. Try these first.1/ use less starter in the dough. Yes, less is more sour.2/ retard the dough for a day or two in the refrigerator during the first fermentation.I hope this produces the desired results.Ford
How to get back the sourness your starter lost. I have been trying for years to find what happens with the sourness of starters. I am referring to the problem of having a starter producing sour bread and after a few weeks or months you lose sourness although the bread rises as it used to. The fact that the bread rises ...	Didier Rosada commented on this topic.... In one of the SFBI newsletters, Didier Rosada commented on this. He feels that when a starter is not producing enough sour it is because of an imbalance between the yeast and bacteria. Aggressive feeding regimens tend to favor the yeast to the detriment of the bacteria. His s...
Starter Like Glue Hi Everyone....I don't bake that often, so store my starter in the fridge. This time it has been in there for over a month. Well, I took it out and fed it, and left it out overnight. It doubled and bubbled. After stirring it, it is very gooey and glue like, and not sure what to do now. It is very...	Take a little out, add flour Take a little out, add flour/water to get a wet dough like consistency, keep warm, stir a couple times a day till it returns to normal. Enjoy!
First bake with new starter...thoughts? Hello bakers!First time poster, long time lurker. I've gained so much from your wisdom here, so thank you. I am fairly new to sourdough baking. Oh, and I live above 5000ft, so bear that in mind.This is my first bake with a new starter. It was around 2 weeks old when I used it for...	Excellent Excellent first bake. Not many people get such a nice looking loaf on the first try. I think to further improve it you can be a bit more adventurous with the bulk ferment.
Overproofed bread I really need help. I posted the other day, and someone suggested my starter was too acidic and it was breaking down the gluten bonds too quickly, and this was a problem with the feeding schedule. Okay, so I spent about 4 days feeding my starter regularly every 12 hours, it became really nice and yeas...	It will probably help if you It will probably help if you would photograph and document a bake. The more information we get the better we can offer help. If you do post, be detailed. Your problem doesn’t sound typical.
A Holiday Bread Recipe Gift It's not sourdough, and it's not a technical (weighed ingredients) type of recipe. It is a family holiday tradition that I bake each year, for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and upon request for a special birthday, or homecoming. It's just thrown together, pretty much any old way, using ...	2,316 grams of dough 592035AA-FFD0-447E-8CDA-537801475994.jpeg
Sourdough starter - mouldy? Hello! I’ve had my starter for almost a year now and have recently started feeding it once a week and leaving in the fridge which has been fine. I last fed the starter about 8-9 days ago and when taking out of the fridge I noticed a white ‘noodly’ looking hard lump. Any thoughts on what this...	It ain't red mould And you've managed to remove it completely showing healthy starter underneath. I think it'll be fine whatever the case. Just give your starter some TLC. When refrigerating starter I find allowing it to double and start building up some acidity before refrigeration helps it keep longer. I'm no expert ...
New? The Struggle is Real. My message picks up from a challenge posed by a friend in another thread to the whole community here. I hope this message finds you and yours in fine health, peace, and prosperity.The original challenge was on how to manipulate your recipe to achieve either a tangy or mellow flavor in your lo...	Raising a Dough I mixed a dough at 10:30 last night with...450g flour315g water90g levain10g saltHere it is...The dough will have doubled at 10:30 this morning. I'll still be asleep because [my excuse here].The point, though, is that my starters and levains are predictable. They do what I tell them. Like a well-trained...
Weird mold or yeast? on starter Hi all,My sourdough starter grew this weird stuff on top after about two weeks of idleness (I fed it, then left it for two weeks) at room temperature. Does anyone know what it is? Thanks in advance!Carolyn	I think we've seen this before Seem to remember an older post from a few years ago talking about this. I'll have to find the specific one but from what I remember it's yeasts morphed (for want of a better word) into some kind of spore due to certain conditions. Is there a healthy looking part of the starter beneath the...
Stupid question regarding possibly using a very high hydration starter Hello, I have been baking with commercial yeast for almost a month now, but want to branch out with sourdough. I started a small starter using the same amount of water and flour by weight (40g) and have been feeding it with the "standard schedule" :...	Not stupid, JR. Brilliant Idea! Doc.Dough tells me he sometimes dilutes his starters with super high hydrations.Tell me more about your stir plate. Is it spinning magnets that turn a metal bar in the solutionCan you keep the solution warmer? 82-84FDanny
I'm Back...What'd I Miss? Good evening, It has been many months since I have been on the forum...or baked any bread, for that matter. I hate baking in my kitchen, during the heat of summer, and always take that time of year off. I do, however, really miss eating my fresh baked bread. I have spent the last few weeks...	Missed ya! The biggest event was the baguette community bake.https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/64622/community-bake-baguettes-alfansoIt went over 7 full pages of comment into the 8th page now.But Alfanso made a great PDF, with indices and all, of four bakers: Dan, Benito, Doc Dough, and MTLoaf/Don.http://www.thefreshl...
Baking 4 Loaves Hi All:I am baking 4 loaves of SD and trying to shorten the tone it takes to bake them all. I’ve been going 25 in Dutch oven, then finishing on the rack, while the next load is in the Dutch oven. The crust is coming out a little thick on the rack.Does the crust get thicker on the rack or inside the Du...	Steel I bake two at a time on steel, it works well. Add steam. It's better to rotate them during non-steam part of the bake, when I forget to do it often two opposite sides of the loafs don't get as nice crust as others.I bake on paper, and my bread bottom doesn't get scorched, but others have had that problem. You can...
How can I fix too-sour starter? The baker who runs “The Bread Code” YouTube channel suggested to taste your starter to see if it is sour. YIKES - mine is VERY sour and may account for ny recent failures. This starter is a “San Francisco” breed I bought last year and have been keeping it ever since. Currently I feed it...	Tasting starter And getting an idea of how your final loaf will turn out is like tasting just the salt to get an idea how a dish will turn out. I hope my bread tastes nothing like neat starter. Starter itself will always taste like sour sticks x 1000. How your final loaf turns out will depend not only on how you mainta...
Sourdough starter help!!! I started this starter on 12/22/20 with whole wheat flour and no chlorinated water (culligan). I fed it for the first time yesterday with AP Flour and water. It doubled in size within 8 hours of feeding. Last night I noticed red spots on top. I went to feed today and this is what I found. Any ...	Sorry to say This is a sign of a starter gone rogue. I'm all for trying to save starters when they don't look too healthy but red mould is a sure sign to dump and start again. I think better safe than sorry. When starting again make sure everything is sterilised. Be extra cautious not to contaminate the new batch by no...
Timing issue for Tartine sourdough I've been baking Tartine sourdoughs for some years now but I'm wondering how to adjust my timing. Right now I feed at 9 the night before and then at 9 the following morning. Then around 3-4 I start the process of developing the dough. It gets put away by 7 or 9 and then I bake the fol...	You could feed it in the You could feed it in the morning, again before you go to bed and it would be ready the following morning. What I sometimes do is give it a few hours after the second feeding and when I see it is getting a good bit of activity, I put it in the fridge until I’m ready to use it - take it out, let...
Individual Starters and their Unique Characteristics I wonder. Have we taken into consideration that starters are unique and produce individual results? I have read (and believe) that our starters have basic similarities. The type(s) of yeast and LAB(s) that are found in one starter will often be found in another. From...	If asked this before, but If asked this before, but still looking for clarity.Is it possible that one starter will produce more open crumb than another? Consider 2 scenarios. The starters are equally active. The second senario, there are not equally actvive. I don’t see how, but I’d like to hear from others.Dan
Starter - Relative Microbe Populations The world is filled with wrong thinking. No matter how strongly or confident one is about a perceived fact, if it is wrong, IT IS WRONG.Is it possible to maintain a starter in such a way as to greatly alter the ratio of yeast (fungi) to LAB (bacteria)? The question deals not with ...	"Isn't a levain just a big starter"? So too is the final dough!
Question about JMonkey's WWSD sandwich bread Hi Question about the recipe http://www.thefreshloaf.com/handbook/whole-wheat-sourdough-sandwich-breadIt says that it's supposed to be 75% hydrationBut when I calculate it, it turns out to be about %.Am I doing calculations wrong? Should I add more water?From website:Whole w...	Ah, JMonkey Now that is a name I have not heard in quite some time.Hello, Ms. Sweet. I hope you are well. It would seem that Mr. Monkey, neglected to add in the 150G (wet starter) flour to his hydration calculation. The funny thing is he did remember to add in the starter water. That being said, have a look at this fo...
Finally a decent ear just baked my first loaf using my new Emile Henry bread baker and rather happy with the result.previously used to bake on a baking steel and an enamel cloche to cover the bread but never had as much spring or defined ear before.i was looking at buying the challenger but didn't like the price compar...	That is a good looking loaf. That is a good looking loaf. Do you mean this Emile Henry https://www.everythingkitchens.com/emile-henry-ceramic-potato-cooker-burgundy-345500.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cse&utm_term=345500&gclid=Cj0KCQiAlZH_BRCgARIsAAZHSBkcSSWzTTOzMyPHKqdBbDgy9DmVYUysNAUfUTBHtRZ8sPe7jXgSF5caAorUEA...
Gummy inside of sourdough bread Hello everyone,i am making sourdough bread for a while, and it's getting much better each time, but i still have some issues with little gummy inside of the bread.My recipe goes like this:in the evening i mix 500g of bread and whole wheat flour, 50g of rye sourdough starter (fully active...	Difficult to tell with mixed units... If you could use grams for all ingredients then it would be much clearer to see where the problem was
Why is Yeast Water NOT Acidic Why is a Yeast Water (YW) not acidic (no sour taste)? I am under the assumption that YW have LAB and yeast, just like a typical SD starter.Is it because the typical sourdough starter is feed with flour and the YW derives it’s sugars from fruit and/or other sources of sugar(s)?	Q The water itself (in taste) or the bread made from it, is your question?
123 SD in 12 Hr. Windows Hmph. Second attempt at 123 Sourdough No Knead - Do Nothing Bread. Getting better but still lousy.I have to come to grips with my limiting factor: Timing.I just don't have an "all day long" window for sourdough. No problem. I can handle that with some experimentation and tweaking.My question is...	Start early, let rise to 2x - Start early, let rise to 2x - about that night maybe. Fridge. Take it out next morning, shape, proof to 2x. Bake - sometime that night. You'll have to play with amounts but that would be the general idea.In 12 hrs, same idea sans fridge. In 6 hrs, see above. Enjoy!
How much starter should I use Now my starter is active and happily leavening bread I would like to use an existing yeasted recipe. How much starter should I use i.e what percentage is the starter in the overall formula?	Share your formula Share your formula and desired time table/ taste profile and someone should be able to help. But in short 10-20% Pre Fermented Flour is a common range Josh
Mould on New Starter? I began a starter 3 days ago, and am finding that the top drys out despite having it partially covered, and a white mould on the surface. The mould doesn’t penetrate the entire starter so I’ve just been discarding the surface when feeding. Do I need to be worried/start again? It’s not the pink or ...	Why Why are you partially covering it?
Help! No Rise During Bulk Fermentation Hi TFL-ers. I'm new here and was finally moved to post after a series of failures with my Tartine loaves. I successfully baked Tartine loaves for years, then took a break after my son was born. Now I'm back at it, but all of my loaves have been flat as pancakes.My new starter ...	Try this Weigh and Mix up a few tablespoons of the ready to use culture with enough flour to thicken into a medium dough ball stiff enough to hold its shape. Weigh again. Roll in flour, cover with a glass bowl and watch it. Record everything on the hour. What happens?
Gray/blue spots on bottom of baked loaf I just joined here and this seems like a fun place! I am a sourdough bread-making newbie. I've made three loaves, and the last two loaves have had these bluish/grayish spots on the bottom that look like mold, right when I take it out of the oven. The bread tastes great (we ate it...	Spots Is it just on the bottom and not inside the loaf? What surface are you baking it on?
How does hard vs soft water effect my sourdough? I collected my hard red wheat start with hard water, no softening at all. I recently moved, and knowing that I'd be out of town for a month, I dehydrated the last bit of it. I tried re-hydrating it this last week, but it doesn't seem to be alive and active. I'e killed st...	Procedure? What was your procedure for rehydrating your starter?
Tip - Starter vs Levain During the Covid-19 pandemic The Fresh Loaf has rec’d many new bakers. It may be that some of the bakers are not aware of the difference between a starter and a levain.The starter is the “seed culture” whereas the Levain is enlarged from the starter so that the amount needed for a particular bre...	Small starter to start? Thanks for the tip! You mention keeping a small amount of starter. What about at the beginning of a starter? I’ve read many places about maintaining after it’s developed but can I start with a small amount? Mine is not fully developed yet and it seems like a waste to use so much flour that will ...
Waste Reduction? HiI've a sourdough on the go for a couple of weeks now and it's looking promising. My current recipe uses 140g of starter each bake. I'll be doing 2 bakes a week.I'm trying to work out the feeding strategy that will give me the least waste as possible. Such a pity to be throwing quality flour away e...	Don't tell the baking police but Don't tell the baking police but my discard isn't discarded. It goes into the loaf I'm baking. This act of abject parsimony seems to be working just fine. I mill my own flour and my starter is built with rye. It spends most of it's time in the fridge only emerging from the cold and dark...
TFL Bulk Fermentation Question / First Time Poster Hi. Longtime lurker, first time poster here. Been making sourdough since March. I can get good flavor but not a reliably good rise. A few times I've gotten lucky and the bread has turned out beautifully (uh, I have a quantitative background so of course I measure the h...	Loaf Height I would say that a loaf height of 3.5" is probably average or slightly better than average and 4" is good.Lance
Do you sieve your store bought flour? On my last two bakes I sieved the flour at the autolyse stage. I'm not entirely sure, but my impression is that the bread came out fluffier than without sieving the flour. Since there may be other variables involved in my bakes with and without sieving the flour that I may have ove...	I never checked if there is a I never checked if there is a difference, but can't be bothered to sieve, although I often did when I started baking. Also curious if there is a real difference!
Big Oops!!!! I would really appreciate some advice as I have accidentally feed my sourdough starter with self rising gluten free flour! yikes!!!!! still managed to produce a loaf but it turned out more like a cake then bread! - then the penny dropped as to what went wrong. Is there any hope? can I recover this starter?...	Sure, Eve. Just continue Sure, Eve. Just continue feeding it your regular flour and I suspect things will return to normal right away.
Creating levain just for one recipe? (Flour Water Salt Yeast) Hello, I'm new to the whole world of starters. In fact, I don't even have one yet, nor have I ever cultivated one. I think I'm now ready to enter this exciting world.I want to try out Ken Forkish's "Overnight Country Brown" from his Flour Water Salt Yeast bo...	If you find a local sourdough If you find a local sourdough baker and borrow a teaspoonful of their starter, you can grow just as much as you need, with no waste at all. I'm sure there's another Loafer in LA!
Mistaking Lactobacillus activity for Yeast? Does Lactobacillus produce enough off-gas with their metabolism to make a starter rise and appear like it's yeast?My starter is at least doubling every 12 hours. in most cases, it's peaking in about 8-9 hours. When I do my 12-hour feeding, it's starting to flatten or has fl...	the pineapple solution Does Lactobacillus produce enough off-gas with their metabolism to make a starter rise and appear like it's yeast?There is a well known issue with leuconostoc bacteria dominating some starters in the beginning, which can mimic an active starter. There are probably loads of other issues you can r...
Uneven oven rise and soft bottom Hi There,I just baked my first loaf of sourdough and I had a couple questions for this group! The dough rose lopsided in the oven and I'm wondering if anyone knows why this would happen? Also, the bottom crust stayed pretty soft, which I thought was unusual? I attached a photoI baked th...	dramatic looking loaf in a good way. I think. I see slices, got a crumb shot for us too?Did you cool the hot loaf on a rack? Looks good from this side of the world. Could be lopsided if rushed into the oven a little early,Not bad for a first loaf! :)
One small step for a sourdough baker... ...one giant leap for aspiring bakers!I am a novice sourdough baker. I’ve been baking sourdough for about 35 years but was doing it all wrong. Thanks to TFL experts I have been making progress and come into the light. Or at least into the penumbra. To distill it down to a vital e...	Beautiful bread, Dave! Beautiful bread, Dave!
Have I stumbled across the secret to... Crispy crusts? I think the more sugar released from the flour which is caramelised with a bold bake results in a lovely crispy crust. A long ferment using a little starter, high-ish hydration and baked till a dark crust resulted in my latest loaf having the crispiest crust i've e...	Nice! Hey Abe, I’ve been tinkering with something very similar getting pretty nice results! It’s inspired by Shiao-Ping & Dmsnyder’s investigations of Gérard Rubaud Pain au Levain crossed with Trevor J. Wilsons Pioneer Bread and Bwraith’s post Comparing Sourdough Fermentation Strategies and discussion with SourdoughS...
How do I fix an uneven crumb? After struggling with pancake loafs I made some adjustments and I think I improved on my flatness problem, but I still have an uneven crumb. As you can see, very uneven, mostly big air pockets near the top and small ones everywhere else. I loosely followed Kristen's method.500g bread flour...	If your starter is vigorous 7 hours seems like a very long time at 74 F. Looks like overproofing.
whole grain starter wake up time my rye and ww starters take a couple days to wake.I'm feeding 1:1:1 with water at 85ishº.Is there anything I can do to get them to wake faster, or is that just the nature of the beast?	wake from what? Welcome back. LTNS.Wake from what state or condition? fridge? frozen? dehydrated? How long since last fed? What hydration was it at?How frequently are you feeding it during this couple days waking process?
What can I do with... 356 grams of stiff sourdough discard? ( Pasta Madre) It is so soft and supple.	A sourdough pasta recipe https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/homemade-pasta-with-sourdough-starter This recipe calls for 113g sourdough starter. I would think they're talking about 113g @ 100% hydration. You can scale it to how much water and flour is in your pasta madre and adjust the recipe till all the ingredient...
Retard levain in the fridge? If my levain is starting to fall, but I'm not ready to mix it in, can I put the levain in the refrigerator to retard the development for a couple hours? Sometimes I forget to start the autolyse when I should, so this could come in handy, rather than waiting too long, when the levain isn't a...	Absolutely! Absolutely!
123 Sourdough No Knead - Do Nothing Bread 123 Sourdough, No Knead - Do Nothing Bread Originated by Flo Makanai and submitted by dabrownman A simple recipe with simple procedures. Did you know that you don’t have to knead dough to get great bread. And you don’t need a mixer or really any other tools. But an inexpe...	The purpose of this topic I posted this recipe so that we would have a link to a basic, straightforward recipe to assist new SD bakers and those struggling to succeed. The instructions have been reduced to a simplistic form in the hopes that new bakers can experience early success before moving on to other breads.This ...
Are sourdough starters hardy? You gotta’ luv this guy, Tom Cucuzza!This video below runs long, but it is informative and hilarious. I run it at 1.75 speed to save time, but it was time well spent.For best viewing use THIS LINK. Here is another of Tom’s video, just incase you haven’t laughed enough.It’s great being reti...	Spoiler I knew they were hardy, but surviving bleach, wow, that I did note expect! I guess over time it evaporates and after a day the concentration is sufficiently low for the few surviving cells to grow.Good idea about speeding up the video, I normally dislike doing that, but he speaks a little slowly and the videos ...
Tip - Maurizio discusses Evaluating the Bulk Fermentation This was posted as a reply in another post. It is so important it seems good to place it in a dedicated topic.”I'm a bit late to this thread, but I thought I'd drop my two cents. Some incredibly insightful thoughts here on this topic -- a topic I consider to be ...	Float Test? Thanks Danny; I would add that the float test can also be a useful indicator on the progress of a bulk ferment.Lance
Salt rising bread question So, back in the day (1975 or so), I used to make salt rising bread several times a year. At the time it was just my father and myself living in this little cabin in the woods -- pretty rustic and, being a couple of bachelors, not exactly fastidiously clean. But the bread always came out gr...	Lots of old posts-might help Enter "salt rising" in the search box-there have been a lot of posts on this in the past. Below are just 2 of the bunch. Ford had some pretty good experience with it. I know there had been some youtubes with 2 gals that have a salt rising bakery in the US. I would search there,also. They ha...
Buying vs making a starter I was wondering if there's a reason to purchase a commercial starter versus making your own. In theory the former gives you a head start on a healthy starter, but is it more often a waste of money?	Unless you have seen the Unless you have seen the active starter (like a baker or friend showed it to you), I wouldn't spend money on it...I also think it's much more satisfying to build one from scratch, it's not that difficult.
Why S. Cervisiae in your starter is not the same as bakers yeast An interesting article which explains why the yeast within your starter differs from bakers yeast even though it's common to find the same species of yeast. https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/humans-domesticated-yeast-through-bread-making-study-68...	Nice article Abe, thanks for Nice article Abe, thanks for sharing it with us.Benny
New Starter Feed Schedule and Timings for Bake Query Hi all - I recently started a new sour dough starter via the clever carrot web article. Mine was a 100% hydration white flour starter, I am on day 10 I think and have made one average loaf and also made some earlier mistakes with feeding.I am struggling with working ...	Started another test - Started another test - discarded all but 25g of the starter and mixed with 75g (25c temp) water and 75g flour.After 4.5 hours in an area around 24c its doubled in size but the float test is failing. So I guess despite the double size my starter isn't ready to bake. Will test again in an hour or d...
NMNF sourdough calculator Since dabrownman's no-muss-no-fuss technique is very popular among TFLers, I thought I design a spreadsheet to automatically calculate the water and flour quantities used to build the NMNF starter and levain. The spreadsheet can also calculate the final dough ingredients based on the percentag...	Wow that is nice.! You put a lot of work into this. Thanks andHappy baking
Adjusting Sourdough Starter for other breads Hi Everyone. I was wondering what some of you do to adjust your starter for use in things like sandwich bread. As well as any recipe conversions you use and/or how to estimate how long it will take for the dough to do a double rise.	Only change needed is the Only change needed is the shape of the dough ie bake in a bread pan. How long to double - however long it takes, which would be real easy to judge in a bread pan. Enjoy!
Wholewheat pita recipe I'm looking for a sourdough whole wheat pita recipe. I've tried this recipe, but I'm not used to working with volume and I think it's WAY too dry - there is definately something wrong with it. So I think, while I'm waiting to see what happens with it, I thought I'd look for a another recipe - h...	3 whole wheat sourdough pitas I make this recipe with home ground white whole wheat. I make these about every third day. I am diabetic and the sourdough and whole grain don't raise my sugar levels as much. Any I don't use I cut into wedges, spray with olive oil, lightly, and sprinkle with a little garlic salt and ba...
Need help from some experienced bakers! Hello! I am new to bread baking and started with the Tartine bread procedure. My loaves have all been turning out similarly to the attached picture, and I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions to achieve a more open crumb and more oven spring. My loaves have been flatter and...	Initial Mixing You do not mention the initial mixing in your list, and that is an often overlooked (and important) step. If you are not creating enough gluten structure, then your dough will not be able to expand and trap all of the gas that you are wanting for large holes. Watch a couple of videos of Trevor J. Wilso...
Weck Jars I have to say that I'm really loving my new Weck jars for feeding my starters with. Once fed, I can mark the jar with a Listo Marking Pencil (grease pencil) or a White Board dry marker where it sits in the jar along with the time. Either pencil marks are easily erasable with a damp cloth. I find that marking ...	They're pretty perfect for starters but I go through streaks where I seem to break a lot of them... two this week! butter fingers :(
Help with flat loaf! Hi all! I'm a long-time lurker and first-time poster! Normally I don't have many issues with producing happy, tall sourdough loaves at room temp, but my first time with a cold final proof resulted in a pretty flat loaf with big holes at the top. I used an 80% hydration dough with a 2 hour autolyse,...	I like the shape of your I like the shape of your boule... Not the height but the undulations in the roundness of it. Is that intentional and how do you achieve that shape?Also, I have very little experience cold proofing, so I can't really advise on how to fix your problem, but my understanding is that big bubbles at ...
Bread Books So what's the ones you like? I just read Hamelman's book. It was good but a bit much into microbiology (I did like that since I'm an engineer) but not enough simplistic hands on thoughts . I got more from members here on this forum about steam then that book provided. I'm sure his recipes are good but maybe...	See the Books link in the menu bar? Click on that and you'll get a bunch of input. From a technical perspective, Hamelman's Bread is my favorite. For some really good European breads, Leader's Local Breads can't be beat (if you can identify the errata before charging into a formula). A sentimental favorite, The Comp...
Suggestions for improving shape? Still early days of experimenting here. Today's loaf was Levain (100 g wet rye starter, 100 rye, 100 water), left for 4 hours in prewarmed then shut off 30C oven to get it going, which it kindly did, then mixed with ((200 water 300 strong bread autoylsed for an hour) plus 100 cornmeal/...	where from? Where did you get this recipe? Or what recipe did you base this on?--Thoughts:100% rye levains are super powerful. The enzymes in rye break down starch to sugar quickly, leading to over-fermentation. Must use a smaller amount of such levain if you want a decent crumb.Rye also contributes little/poor gluten...
Using Granite for Steam I have been using a dutch oven for making my sourdough bread...one loaf at a time!! I have a double oven and would love to be able to make upwards of 2-3 loaves in each and I'd rather not have to invest in that many DO. I have seen several articles about using lava rocks to help with the steam....	Yes to granite I don't use DOs, but have a custom cut 3/4 inch thick granite slab that lives in the lower box of my double oven for years now. I went to a kitchen counter fabricator and gave them the dimensions, picked out the stone from their yard and it was ready a day later. Maybe I got lucky as they charged me on...
When to Make Levain Hey guys. Just starting out in the SD world and was hoping for some help with a simple question (I apologise if this has been asked before, but I've looked around and didn't quite find the answer).I'm trying to make the San Juaquin baguettes on this site, and make the levain from a mature starter th...	What I do I use some starter from the fridge (I refresh it about twice a week).I build the levain with that and when the levain is almost done put it in the fridge or let it finish and use it direct. It can kept in the fridge for about three days with no problem. But I do need to mention a do my bulk rise on a relatief...
Seeded Sourdough Focaccia Does anyone think the crumb on this foccacia can be improved in anyway?	Oh and best of all , no Oh and best of all , no scoring! Not to mention, no dutch oven needed and I can bake it in my toaster oven!
Looking for some 26 hour country loaf recipe ideas! Due to time and volume constraints, I am looking for a sourdough country loaf recipe that meets the following criteri	- Everything, including the starter, can be mixed in a planetary mixer (a big stand mixer) at once (I'm guessing this means a short autolyse at best, but maybe even no autolyse?) in the morning at around 7 AM.- The dough can be placed in the fridge no later than mid afternoon for retarding and then put in the oven the ...
Not convinced that my starter needs to peak So I will try to explain why I think you don't need the exact moment the starter needs to peak and you can use it at almost any time as long as it is really active.Let's for example take a starter that is really active and you've been feeding it every day.It's a 1:1:1 of 20g ...	Consistency is paramount to repeatability. I've realized that everyone has their own custom-built "system" of how they do things. IMO, the key to consistently good baking is to be consistent in all the things that could vary. Since "strength" of a starter/levain has an impact, I think it more important, that whatever ...
How long can you retard a sourdough during bulk ferment? I always retard my breads during bulk fermentation. For my breads made with instant yeast, I've kept them in the fridge for up to 5 days with no ill effects. For sourdoughs, I have not yet tried anything longer than overnight retard in the fridge. Has any of you ...	Retarding sourdough Hmmmmm, interesting question. If you retard your yeast breads for that long with no ill effects then obviously your fridge is cold enough to stop yest activity (fermentation), so that's okay. I have left my sourdough in the fridge for up to 18 hours with no problem (bulk ferment, not proofing; I alw...
How to build a levain Is there a formula for building a levain? I want a 115g levain. I'm maintaining a 60 gram 100% hydration dark rye starter at 20g:20g;20g starter:flour:water on a once-a-day feeding schedule. I'm going to make a bread flour loaf on bake day and want the most active, healthy, and powerful levain I ...	You need to decide what ratio You need to decide what ratio you want to use for your levain. That is determined by how much time you want to give it to peak. Depending on your starter, temperature, and flour you use, you have to make an educated guess. But generally if you want build it overnight, you can try 1:5:5, fo...
Starter struggles Hey, everyone - As the name would suggest, I'm a rookie. My very first starter ever was born on November 10th; 100g water + 50g WW + 50g Rye. And, based on all that I have read here, it has been pretty predictable; bubbles after a few days, some good gas bubbles throughout the starter, rising a li...	For both, and any starter, For both, and any starter, get a wet dough like consistency and maintain that consistency - whatever it takes - till you get good growth. Enjoy!
Joining the sourdough experience After learning to bake bread a couple of months ago, I thought I would explore the world of sourdoughs and have been converted by the wonderful taste, texture and experience.I've baked about a dozen loaves now and feel like I'm starting to understand the process a little better and am d...	Most excellent... for only 12 loaves into the sourdough experience.Welcome to TFL.
Help with my pancake loafs Well I need some help. I mill my own flour (currently by hand). I am having trouble getting a good rise and oven spring out of my sourdough. Here is my bakers percentages.100% flour80% hydration23% starter3% salt I am relatively new to sourdough baking and gave never gotten that big open crum...	Is that picture your "pancake Is that picture your "pancake loaf"? That's not a pancake, that's beautiful! Are you only using your own freshly milled whole wheat flour? I think the results are great then. For open crumb you need a lot of white bread flour, not whole wheat flour.
why does my crusty turn rubbery?!?! Hey there folks! I need some help. I've been making this beautiful bread, the taste is delicious, not gummy, has a nice open crumb. But a day after baking, the crust turns into this rubbery chewy crust that kind of ruins the whole eating fresh bread thing. Here is the recipe I use: h...	It's day old bread, to coin a phrase Bread is best when cooled to room temperature, and eaten. I bake 900g flour weight loaves, let cool, cut into quarters, freeze three quarters and store one quarter in a ziplock. I cut slices off the quarter for breakfast and lunch. This method gives me a continuous supply of goo...
Sourdough no oven spring or “ear” Hi everyone, I have been baking sourdough now for about 3 months - one good thing to come from all these lockdowns! I live in the tropics so very humid. I tried a few sourdough recipes and have found the one that works for me in this environment - easy to work with, great tasting, love...	Welcome to TFL! Welcome to TFL! Have you read this post and watched the linked videos?http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/61181/tip-have-faith-oven-spring
How to Deal With Lumps When the goodly DanAyo, writing up the 123 Sourdough No Knead - Do Nothing Bread, says, "...making sure there is no dry flour..."Does he mean "-ish?" Like, "close enough.'Or... like, every lump anywhere must be eliminated? I have lumps. About the size of a half of a BB pellet or lentil bean. Mayb...	Ask the originator of the Ask the originator of the method - you can message them. I can say, I've done no knead for a long time (or petty close to it), and never had lumps. Enjoy!
Cranberry Walnut sourdough, Still can't get that elusive ear IMG_0402 (1).jpeg	I hear that ears are I hear that ears are overrated. LOL
Starter gets weaker over time We read that as a starter that is well maintained and as it matures, that the raising power of that starter will increase. It should rise higher in the vessel as it reaches maturity.That has not been my experience. After making many many sourdough starters, including Lievito Madre, the ris...	I’ve seen this happen with my I’ve seen this happen with my starter as well and I never quite understood it. My starter is currently in one of those phases of not being very active. I have been told that feeding my starter a diet of only whole wheat in this case whole red fife might make it more prone to this, althou...
Ide	Massive Starter Plus Little Flour Has anyone ever tried adding their warm water, starter (1:1 by weight), and only a portion of their flour, so that the total ratio of water: flour is still only 1:1 (same as starter) and once it becomes very active, add in the rest of their flour + salt?It's basically making a huge sta...
Rookie question Good morning TFL!I am brand new to the forum and this is my first post. And, as the screen name suggests, I'm a rookie. I could really use your advice/direction on my new starters.I have two starters; one with WW and one with APF. The WW start is 20 days old today. Although it is a very thick consi...	Rising - white flour tends to Rising - white flour tends to not rise as much or as high as other flours.Falling - too thick won't fallNeither are an issue, they do what they do which may not be the same.Nail polish - that's an issue. Usually caused by improper feeding - as in to long without sufficient food. Enjoy!
Keep going or start over First time trying to make a starter from scratch. Used all King Arthurs Whole Wheat for the first 24 hours. Did a 1:1:1 refeed after 24 hours with a 50:50 mix of King Arthurs Whole Wheat and Gold Medal Bread Flour. For the first night, I left it in my kitchen which is on the cool side. So, ...	Keep going Now that it's slowed down slow down your feeds to match. Also move it back to the warm place. The first bubbling up sounds like the Leuconostoc stage. These are the quick off the mark bacteria. Sometimes bad hence the smell. But it's a necessary stage. The more it matures the more acidic the starter becomes ...
Sourdough sandwich bread troubleshooting Hi all,This is my first post here, although I have been looking through the forum for some time. I have been trying to make this one recipe here: Simple Sourdough Toasting or Sandwich Bread \| Alexandra's Kitchen (alexandracooks.com)It is a sourdough sandwich bread, and it has go...	Never like to hear "after 30 Never like to hear "after 30 mins of autolyse. And it overproofed so bad it was like soup"The problem may not be so much going over as starter problem. If it gets too acidic, gluten won't form, and you do get a bowl of soup. That can happen over time if the feed routine isn't quite right. J...
Holidays Hi Group,what would be your recommendation to maintain a sourdough during an abscence of 2 - 3 weeks ?What to do before leaving and what would be the best way to resuscitate the sourdough....Thank you in advance for your kind support. Philippe	Make it lower hydration Give it a healthy feed. Allow it to double then refrigerate. For an AP or bread flour starter you can go as low as 50% hydration. At this hydration the starter can double, building up a healthy population of yeasts and bacteria, with still plenty more food to keep it happy. It can last in the fr...
I can't achieve an open crumb and I can't understand why. I've made dozens of sourdough boules in my Dutch Oven but have never once gotten an open crumb. What can I be doing wrong? I just can't figure it out. I've tried high hydration, low hydration, wheat, white, low/high gluten, shaping the dough carefully, less/more...	So many factors to consider, So many factors to consider, so little info to even begin to consider any of them. In other words - more info needed - and the more the better. Enjoy!
Slap & Fold Help - dough falls apart Hello!Looking for some direction from anyone on here!After autolyse, adding the yeast/salt and mixing, sometimes I opt for the slap & fold technique. What i face is bit by bit i can feel the dough strengthening (let's say 1 minute in) but if i continue, the dough completely falls ap...	It is normal For the dough to become stronger at first but then start to go backwards and break apart . Carry on and it'll gain in strength again.
Doves Farm organic wholemeal rye my starter is made from rye flour. I was using Shipton Mill wholegrain rye.It was so predictable, Id add 50g of water and 50g rye to the scrapings and then 5 hours later it would be doubled and ready to use. Id use this method all the time without fail.Id even use spelt a few times with...	No issue with Dove Farm's rye here I use it often and it's never given me any trouble. Rye is rye at the end of the day. Perhaps it could be something else. But whatever the case may be the golden rule is to just stop! Don't try and encourage it by over feeding as it'll have the opposite effect. It's had a good feed an...
Cold Bulk Ferment Schedule Hi there! I'm new to bread baking and have been experimenting with sourdough for the last six months or so. The method I've been using, with fairly good success rate for a newbie, is the one laid out for beginners by Maurizio on The Perfect Loaf. https://www.theperfectloaf.com/beginners-sourd...	I have the same question! Hello klesueur,I thank you for your posting! I've got the same questions!I've been using The Perfect Loaf recipe (beginners, country sourdough with less levain, a return to the basics)since last month and got good results.Last week the room temperature rose about 27-28C/80-82F and the taste of...
Lactose Free Whole Milk My wife mistakenly bought Lactose Free Whole Milk. Will this be OK in bread making?	I think milk is often added For it's fat content and texture it lends to the final loaf. Lactose Free Whole Milk just has the enzyme lactase added to it. Those who are lactose intolerant lack the lactase enzyme to digest milk so it's added to the milk. Otherwise it is no different. You'll still get the added benefit th...
Degassing Bagels Hi everyone, My bagels are turning out airy and fluffy, even though my dough hydration is 50 percent and I only rest for ten minutes after shaping. Could this be because I struggle degassing the dough enough	I’ve struggled with this. Any I’ve struggled with this. Any rise before shaping resulted in big voids in the bagels. The best solution I’ve found so far is to mix using cold water from the refrigerator so as to minimize the rise that takes place prior to shaping (and storing the dough in the fridge while shaping larger...
Do you have any experience with Walmart's Great Value Bread Flour? Guys, question for any of you who tired baking bread with Walmart's Great Value Bread Flour..... what are your findings and how does it compare to well known brands like Robin Hood bread Flour? Should I stick to All Purpose Flour from well known brand o...	I use Great Value and other I use Great Value and other store brands of all-purpose flour all the time, and they work fine. I never spend the extra dollars for fancier flours, though, so I really have nothing to compare them to. I do find I often need to use slightly less water in my dough than recipes call for, but th...
long kneading by hand Good Evening: I bought a bread book named "The Laurel's kitchen Bread book which mostly a bread book which used Whole grain bread making. In this book, everything was done by hand and the kneading is very long/ 20 min. I would like to try some of the recipe but to knead it by hand for 20 min. sto...	Absolutely yes! I also have Laurel’s book. The basic “loaf for learning” is a good one. Please realize that these loaves will be more dense than others because of the use of 100% whole wheat. Her bread is extremely nutritious.What type of stand mixer are you using? The whole wheat will put more stress on your mixer th...
little holes and lots of air bubble Good days folks I have been trying to make a regular white bread for the past year that would not have those millions little little air bubbles and tiny holes inside the bread.Can someone please assist in how to eliminate or drastically reduce the air bubbles and little hole inside t...	Er, what you're describing is Er, what you're describing is the interior of every loaf of bread everywhere. If you don't have air bubbles, you don't have bread.If what you want is a tighter crumb, you might consider using a pullman pan. Some recipes call for using a rolling pin to thoroughly deflate the dough.
yeast hi,i m looking everywhere to find if a fresh yeast activity is the same as an instant one ?at 24°c and 5°c ? thank you	Explain Not quite sure I understand.Fresh yeast and instant yeast should work the same way however one would need to use 3x the amount of fresh yeast by weight when using in a recipe for dried yeast.
Help: Getting the height of store-bought sandwich loaves Hi all!Two weeks ago I started my foray into bread making with the intent of understanding the basic mechanisms in-detail of bread. I wanted to understand each ingredient and why it does what it does. I wanted to know what a healthy dough looked like, and how I...	I think so far you're doing great The crust and crumb of your bread appears to approximate store-bought quite well. There are a couple things I noticed about your recipe that stuck out in my mind:24g seems like a lot of yeast. As a comparison, one of the little packets that come in strips of 3 each weighs 1/4 ounce, ...
Accidental swap I have made this ( http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/41194/grahams-brown-bread ) loaf a couple of times and my husband loves it. The last time I made it it was a bit of a disaster as it didn't hold together very well at all. However the bit my husband had he said it was the best bread he'd ever tasted....	Could you use it as an Could you use it as an additional ingredient and not eliminate anything? Maybe mix the powder with your water or mix it in with the flour.Wouldn’t that work?Dan
How to get this shape I love the shape of this loaf. I always get ears on the side of mine and wondered would I get this result from a taller tin or is it down to shaping?This is not my pic	Where are you based? If in the UK check out bakerybits.co.uk they have some taller ''farmhouse' pans which will help you achieve this shape.
Paska (Pagac) Problem Being as it almost Easter, I decided to try and recreate a memory from years past, my mother in laws paska bread.Followed the recipe exactly, 1 stick butter, 1cup whole milk, 1 fresh goose egg, and 4 c flour. Came soft and supple, a little sticky but not bad. Rise with no issue and oven spring v...	Use baking parchment. Nothing sticks to baking parchment. Bonus, no grease on the bottom of your cake.
Scoring a Batarde I hope Sam won't mind me linking This, but it looks to me like the perfect example of how to score a batarde!Lance	Scoring a batarde What tool is he using? A lame with a handle?
Bread crumb sourdough Recently on the verge of discarding a small piece of soon-to-be stale bread leavings, I was constrained to recycle rather than discard. Strange decision for one with Norvicensian rather than Scottish ancestry! With this in mind, I Googled a few combinations of relevant words and came across “Bre...	That crumb shot shows the That crumb shot shows the loaf standing very tall. I followed your link but didn’t see it? Could you check that out help me find the recipe?was the loaf from the crumb shot free formed or in a cloche or something? Great job!Dan
No-knead dough is way too wet to handle I'm trying the NY times Bittman recipe and it basically just turns into the wettest, stickiest dough ever. No matter how much flour I add I cant form it into a ball. It's so frustrating! It calls for 1-5/8 cups water but I think probably 1-1/2 would be better. Thanks for any tips...	Although type of flour and Although type of flour and not measuring weight of flour can have a noticeable effect on dough stickiness, the problem is not the recipe. It is you. You must practice. Do not think I am wrong. I have seen it many times. The problem is you being a novice. I am not being mean, nor trying ...

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

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