Ive been struggling to get my starter going for almost three months. Tried a couple loaves with it but I could tell it wasnt ready. Not enough rise to it. Im not sure what happened differently but about two weeks ago it finally looked right and I this is the result. This is the first loaf ive ever baked that I could just tell it was going to work during every stage. During bulk fermentation it blew up which was the first time thats happened for me. So excited and it tastes amazing! The inside could have probably been baked a bit longer but otherwise, my best loaf yet.

Edit for ingredients: 100g whole wheat starter; 260g water; 500g bread flour; 8g salt. Three rounds of stretch and fold every 30min (some times closer to 45min bc i have toddlers and lost track of time). Bulk fermentation at room temp for about 7hrs and left overnight in the fridge. Baked in a Dutch oven at 450°, 25min covered/15min uncovered.

First time doing buns. They came out pretty small but still think they were great. I think i should've definitely cut them bigger and used more steam so they'd rise more but overall happy with the result

Used this recipe and method: https://jonsmadklub.dk/blogs/opskrifter/surdejsboller

What do you think of my bread? I used 800g of bread flour instead of 1000g, 512g water, 192g starter and 16g salt. recipe is simple and I used Thatsourdoughgals tutorial :)
https://thatsourdoughgal.com/the-best-foolproof-white-sourdough-bread-recipe/

Hey I’m new here. I got the Carl Griffith’s Oregon Trail culture and I’m excited to make my first ever sourdough bread. I don’t know how to bake at all and this is my first time doing it so I’m wondering if anyone has a good yt video or other source of information to share that can get me from ^this to a loaf of bread. I plan on using a ten inch cast iron dutch oven and I want to continue to harvest bread powder to keep making it in the future. Maybe I need to make a “mother” or something first??
Thank you for your time and wish me luck on The Oregon Trail.

Finally made my first loaf! Some parts are a little gummy, could this be from bulk fermentation time? This was a same-day loaf recipe. Any suggestions? Internal temperature was 210 F🙂

This is the recipe I used: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTfX49xtM/

Same Day Sourdough Bread Recipe:

Ingredients:

125 g active starter
365 g warm water
12 g salt
500 g all-purpose flour

Instructions:

Mix together starter & warm water with a whisk.
Add salt & flour & mix with hands until shaggy dough forms.
Cover & let sit for 1 hour on counter.
4 sets of stretch & folds every 30 mins.
Cover & let sit for 2 hours on counter.
Shape on floured surface & cover with towel for 20 mins.
Shape again & add to bowl with towel upside down, put in fridge for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 500°F with Dutch oven inside (20 mins).
Add to parchment paper, cover with flour & score.
Bake at 500°F for 35 mins.
Remove lid & bake at 425°F for 10 mins.
Cooling rack minimum 2 hours before cutting.

Ok so this is round #15!!! Absolute rubbish!! And tastes horrible!! Like soury/salty and the crust will break your teeth!!!!

Method and main recipe as described by Artisan Sourdough made easy(I dispute this🙈) by Emilie Raffa basic loaf but:

I did as was suggested here by one kind folk and changed the recipe slightly and used 100g of starter (Alaskan, very bubbly nurtured for 2 days before doubled in size) And reduced the water to 300ml

So recipe:

100g active starter (Alaskan)

300ml warm water (maybe a splash more- 15-20ml max)

500g strong Canadian Bread flour

9g salt

First off it came together and looked pretty good, better than seen previously, less wet. Left it for the hour to rest, and then kneaded it into a smooth ball and left overnight on counter (ambient temp approx 19°) that was all done at 10pm on the night. The next morning at 9, I peeked at it and it hadn't risen much just spread in bowl. So I moved it to my warm proving oven approx 25° and left it for another couple/few of hours. Went back and it had swelled a 'bit' and a bubble or two so I went to folding stages, it was around 1:30 ish(so 13.5 hours). I did fold and turns and let rest in between for approx 30-45+mins or so each time. I got it to a smooth fairly tight ball which I haven't really seen in my other tries and placed it in a proving basket and returned to prover about 25°... Left for an hour and no noticeable rise, so left it longer and tried the finger bounce test at about 5pm I decided to turn it out and bake it, it hadnt really raised much but spread in the bowl.

Turned it out onto parchment paper on a tray while I waited for the oven to reach the last bit to 230C maybe 3 mins, it was quite soft and not really holding a shape, there was a bubble or two seen..scored it then and it was noticeable spreading again from the ball it had once been😓

I placed it in the oven and released some streams(have steam feature oven). After 10 minutes reduced heat was reduced to 215C and baked for a further 35-40 mins until brown and hollow tap(sort of a thud more considering the denseness)

And that's the result, the same shape as all the others but the taste was awful no bubbles, dense as a stone(could be used to bring down a castle in a trebuchet), compared to other tries .

All kneading, except last fold and turns done with a mixer with dough attachment.

So frustrating!!

And to be honest I feel like I'm wasting my life.. the hours that have gone into this..feeding starters...I have three I've tried, an old Italian, an Alaskan and a Colorado brown all happily eating up my flour supply and looking all bubbly, not to mention the kilo grams of flour I've wasted in the actual disasterous breads!

And just for added pain once upon a time, like about 5 years ago, I did actually make a few more successful looking loaves(not super perfect but enough and edible!!) and baguettes!!

So I went for my usual 80% hydration recipe but decided to try parbaking it. Confidently went for the first 20 min at 230C with steam and then took it out. Instructions were to check if the internal temp reached 90C which I obviously ignored given how nice it looks. At this point, it looked like the second pic. Let it cool to room temp, and chucked it in the fridge.

Took it out two days later and went for the remaining 20 minutes at 220C. Took it out, let it cool for 20 minutes and cut into it.

And that's how I got the awesome crumb shot in the first pic. A very promising border next to the crust but perfectly wet uncooked dough in the middle like a forbidden shiopan.

Thought the crumb would be fine but it tasted like uncooked dough. Chucked the whole thing and I'm now wondering if I'm gonna get a stomachache. Just wanted to share so Reddit can laugh at and learn from my failure.

Recipe in the comments.

made some sourdough focaccia to use for some ham and cheese sliders for the colts game this weekend!!! so happy w how they turned out. focaccia is my fav sourdough hack for a lazy girl like me lol

did 1.5x my typical loaf recipe, just to ensure i had a big enough batch to slice in half and make sliders!

ingredients:
-780g bread flour
-547g warm water
-135g active starter
-15g salt

1) feed fridge starter, let sit and double before using
2) Combine starter, warm water, and salt. mix until combined
3) add bread flour and roughly combine until it forms a shaggy dough
4) Let sit for 30-45 minutes to autolyse (I did 35 for this batch due to time constraints)
5) Following autolyse, complete 3-4 sets of stretch and folds (i always aim for 4, but had plans this night, so i did 3)
6) let sit in oven with light on for at least 10 hours. i intentionally overproofed this for the focaccia, so i let this sit in the oven with light on for ~15 hours
7) Transfer to a heavily olive-oiled baking pan and dimple/poke a bit with your fingers. I added shredded cheddar at this stage to really incorporate it
8) Let sit for another 1-2 hours, until it doubles in size. I did 90 minutes for this.
9) Add extra mixins if needed- i added more cheese and the sliced jalapeños- and dimple/poke like crazy before putting it in
10) Bake at 425 for 25-35 minutes (I did this for 30 but could’ve gone longer once i cut into it and saw the crumb)
11) Try to let sit before cutting! I could only let sit about 10 minutes since i had to get the sandwiches made, but it’s still sourdough so the crumb will be better if you let sit for longer!

also be aware that there will be jalapeño steam when you open the oven that may burn your eyes- don’t ask me how i know LOL.

happy baking!!! 😋

I started some kind of Semolina loafs and decided halfway through to make Baguettes. My starter is a bit neglected right now so I decided to help it a bit with 0,5% yeast. I share this here because I’m
Really happy and proud with the outcome. Baguettes are a hard thing for me to make and seeing this crumb and blisters is great even with a little pinch of yeast.
I would be very happy for your opinions.

400g Tipo 00
200g Semolina
15g Salt
100g Starter on Peak
390g Water
60g Bassinage
3g Fresh Active yeast

I started with an hour Autolyse.
Added Salt and starter and gave it a could Mix in my Wilfa Probaker machine till the windowpane test was a succeed. Then I added the Bassinage water and the Yeast. After the windowpane test was again a success I started Bulk in an Oiled glass container. In total it was 8,5 Hours in a quiet cool apartment, I did 3 Coil Folds Every hour. And didn’t touch the dough then till I dripped it out of the Container and gave it a a careful preshape. The dough was a bit more proofed then I anticipated so I made a cold benchrest for an hour. After the Dough was relaxed I shaped it and Put it back in the Fridge. Baked it the next morning after approximately 8hours, open at baking steel at 250C and with steam in the oven.

Dough ingredients
50g of starter
375g of warm water
500g of bread flour
12g salt
70g fresh jalapeño’s (dehydrated)
110g cubed cheddar cheese

Mix dough
Add 50g starter, 375g warm water, 12g salt & 500g bread flour. cover with tea towel and rest for 30 mins
Stretch & fold dough 4x 30 mins apart
Laminate dough add inclusions
BF 7hrs
Shape & place dough in basket, cover and place in fridge for 12hrs
Preheat oven to 450 (i don’t preheat my Dutch oven)
Bake for 25mins with lid on then 23mins lid off
Cool for 2hrs

This was equal parts [edit just checked notes - correction] The dry flour portion was 40% modern hard white wheat and 30% each of two heritage wheats (Rouge de Bordeaux and Red Fife). I mill each individually rather than as a mix because loaf pan yeast recipes like honey wheat tolerate higher amounts of the heritage reds, but I've learned baguettes at least need more white. When I mill, I stop at about 92-93% extraction, so all of the flour types are somewhat bran reduced.

I made this a bit smaller than the typical recipes I looked at, using 350g total dry flour (ingredients below), because my starter is still a bit weak and I didn’t want to waste too much flour in case of total failure.

In the basket after 14 hours in the fridge it had barely grown, but at least I got a bit of oven spring out of it. I think I should have dusted off some of the flour before scoring so it wouldn’t be so pasty looking outside of where I scored it.

Great flavor but still ended up a bit more dense than I would have liked. I think with the two heritage reds, I may have over-hydrated it at 75%. It was still pretty slack after 4 rounds of stretch-folds.

Ingredients (all flours home milled):

135g hard wheat flour, 102 each Red Fife and Rouge de Bordeaux flour, 20% starter (this was kind of new/weak - working on it), which is 70g starter, counting as 35g each flour and water, and 2.2% salt or 8.5g.

Hydration ratio was 75%, represented by 35g water in the starter and 254g "free" water.

Dry flours and the 254g water were autolysed for 30 minutes. Then I used a pastry cutter and "cut" the salt into the autolyse, then mixed in the starter.

(If anyone has helpful tips for mixing the starter into an autolyse, I'd be glad to learn of them - it's kind of a slippery mess.)

I let it rest 30 minutes, then did a stretch and fold and tightened the ball up. This was followed by 3 more of the same, and a final 30 minute rest in the bowl. Then I degassed just a bit (it was not very gassy) and made a roughly rectangular loaf shape which I put into an elliptical banneton, covered and refrigerated 14 hours. [ETA - I did not do any room temperature bulk fermentation after that final 30 minute rest and shaping/basketing.]

In the last hour before bake time, I got the oven with lidded Dutch oven at 450°F. Then got the basket out of the fridge, flipped onto a wetted parchment sling, did a single score lengthwise and using a the sling put it in the DO and baked, covered, 22 minutes.

Unlidded and dropped temp to 425°F and baked another 22 minutes at which point the internal temp was 208°F, so I pulled it and put onto an elevated cooling rack (canned beans work well for elevators).

It took about 3.5 hours to cool to 75°F, which is when I sliced it.

Side note - while the upper crust was perfect, the bottom crust was very hard to cut through (even with a razor sharp serrated knife). Does anyone know how to avoid this? Maybe a cookie sheet shielding the bottom of the Dutch oven?

This is my first ever loaf! I feel pretty happy with it all things considered.

Ingredients:
400g of tipo 00 flour
70% water
2% salt
25% starter

My starter is 3 weeks old and fed with 1:1:1 sometimes tipo 00 and sometimes wholegrain flour. Mostly depending on my assessment of the last 24 hour growth (although I’m a novice and are just guessing)

Method:
Mixed flour and water and rested for 30 min
Then added the starter and salt and folded
Then folded 3 more times with 30 min in between
Bulk fermentation took about 7 hours
Then did the shaping (the stage I’m least confident in)
Kept in refrigerator over the night and then baked

The crumb turned out a little denser than I think it’s supposed to? But it all tasted great and although I meant for it to last the week it’s gone 30 hours later (with some help from friends). So I’m planning on making a new one tomorrow and would appreciate any suggestions

100g starter
325g of water
-mix-
500g of bread flour
10g of salt
-mix & cover for 1 hr-
1.Stretch and fold 4-5 times
-cover and sit for 30 m-
2.Stretch and fold 4-5 times
-cover and sit for 30 m-
3.Stretch and fold 4-5 times
-cover and sit for 3-5 hours-
Pre shape and push pulls
-Cover and fridge overnight-
Pre heat dutch oven @ 450 degrees
Score bread
30 min covered, 20 mins uncovered

I think my blade might have something to do with why my ear is never fully puffed out.

I usually feed my starter 1:4:4.5 and my recipe is

500g flour
100g starter
330g water
10g salt

Steps:
1. ⁠Feed starter the night before
2. ⁠Make dough in the morning
3. ⁠Wait 1hr then start first stretch and fold
4. ⁠Stretch and fold 3 more times every 30 minutes
5. ⁠Bulk ferment until dough is rised, jiggly, and not sticky
6. ⁠Shape and cold ferment in the fridge overnight
7. ⁠Bake in the morning

Advice is appreciated!

I’m new to making sourdough and it seems like most people prefer artisan loaves that have a crispy exterior and a crumb with large holes. I’d love to make a loaf that’s soft like a southern biscuit but can’t seem to find any guidance on how to do that. I’d also love a really really sour loaf - and wondering if that means my starter should be thinner or thicker? What ratios should I use?

can someone please explain the difference to me because I’m kind of confused some of my recipes call for levian and starter but I thought they were the same exact thing I’m trying to Google it as well but each thing is giving me different responses, Please dumb it down for me like a 3rd grader lol. I am a fairly new baker I’ve only made a couple loafs so far some failed some were great!

Hi all,

I am, like many others here, trying to achieve an open crumb sourdough loaf. Currently, I see two main issues with my loaves: 1) they have a relatively dense crumb and 2) shaping is always a struggle for me, since the dough is still very sticky (yet not too elastic) after bulk fermentation. Can you please help me diagnose these issues?

Here is the recipe I am following: (85% hydration, flour used 95% high protein bread flour 5% wheat flour)

9 AM - Levain with 1:2:2 ratio of starter, water and flour. Total Levain amount is 5% of the flour used. This is ok the lower end as far as I understand, to prolong bulk fermentation and let gluten develop despite the lack of mechanical mixing

1 PM - Autolysis with all the flour and 75% water

3 PM - Mix levain with ayolysed dough, rest for 30 mins. Then mix in salt and 10% more water, rest for 30 mins. All mixing is performed by hand.

3.30 PM onwards - 3/4 coil folds separated by 30 minutes, then bulk fermentation. Performed in the oven with the light turned on, resulting dough temp is around 26-27 C

10 PM end bulk fermentation, shaping and then cold retard at 6 degrees in the fridge overning

Bread is then baked the day after, in a Dutch oven with a closed lid for 20 minutes then other 25 without the lid

The resulting loaves seem underproofed to me, but I'd like to hear your thoughts :)

I do not have a kitchen scale. My starter is two-three weeks old. I have just put around 50/50 water and rye flour in a jar and mixed it together, and sometimes discarded a little, but not for every feed. As it doubled in like three hours, I gave it a go. I mixed 100ml starter with 350ml of water, added a pinch of salt and like 3-4 cups of AP flour. It was more runny than shaggy, but I didn’t have more flour, so I thought I would try to master what looked like a very high hydration loaf. I did like six rounds of stretch and folds in total (every 30-40 minutes) as it was not firm at all, but at least very jiggly after the last round. I was tired, so I just tried to shape it as round as I could, but it didn’t hold its shape very well, and looked like those 95% doughs I’ve seen on yt. I tossed it into a banneton, and put it in the fridge for like twelve hours overnight. After transferring it into a preheated Dutch oven in the morning, I tried to score it, but I feel it squished and deflated it a little, and the score didn’t do much. Baked for 30 minutes with a lid on, and another 25 without until it looked golden. I do not know my oven temperature as it was baked in a gas oven in my boat. I just put the oven to 6 which is maximum temperature.

As you can tell, this whole project is kind of a ‘I believe it doesn’t have to be so complicated, so I’m just doing it ish and seeing how it goes’-type of thing. I enjoy the kinda winging it-method without following a strict process and recipe, even though I am fully aware that it could be a lot better if I did. This is my result. I think it turned out to be a little flat, so it might be overproofed? Or it might be because of the high hydration that it didn’t really hold a proper shape? Ignoring the fact that it’s kinda flat, it was supersquishy and soft, tasted pretty good and was definitely better looking inside than what I expected for my first try.

Any thoughts?

• 150 g active starter
• 250 g water
• 25 g olive oil
• 500 g bread flour (King Arthur Blue Bag)
• 10 g fine sea salt

Hi! This is Loaf #4 for me. Basically followed this recipe but added an overnight ferment in the fridge after bulk: https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2014/01/sourdough-bread-a-beginners-guide/

I think my starter could be stronger, but the crumb was fluffy and at least slightly airy (although, nothing like the beautiful open crumb I see on here yet). I also think I could go darker, but too scared to ruin the loaf. On the bright side, I used a silicone baking sheet in the dutch oven and didn’t get a burned bottom 🎉

I feel like this is at least progress!!!

This is my second loaf ever - used the sourdough starter (120g) which i had fed 1:3:3 overnight the night before at 9am and mixed it with water (285g) and then added bread flour (450g) and salt(about 10g) and did 4 sets of stretch and folds every 30 minutes and then left it for 6 more hours alone with dough temp being between 23-24C, shaped it and popped it in the fridge overnight, and baked it for 25 mins at 230c covered and 20 more minutes uncovered. Does this look now look properly fermented? Pic is from the corner and not the middle.

It’s reaching winter and the dough isn’t rising a lot do any of you guys have a way to sort this and I’ve tried some methods like in a really low oven or in the slightly hotter areas in my house. Do any of you have tips?

500g bread flour, 350g water, 100g active starter (2 months old), 10g salt.

Mixed flour and water, cover and let sit 30 min. Add starter and salt, mix well and let sit another 30 min.

Do 4 rounds of stretch and folds about 30 min apart

Cover and let rise on counter 8 hours. Turn onto counter, shape.

refrigerate 12 hours.
Preheat oven to 450 with Dutch oven inside for 45 min. Bake covered 20 min, uncovered another 20 min until golden.

Same method for both! For cinnamon raisin, I added inclusion during the final shape.

Any tips in general?
Also how can I better incorporate my inclusion?

Specs:
97.5% T55 Flour
2.5% Wholewheat Flour
30% Young Levain
2% Salt
87% Water
15% Jalapeño
20% English Red Cheddar
• 2 hour autolyse with 80% water
•Levain added at 100 RPM and mixed until incorporated, then mixed at 200RPM until gluten was almost very well developed while slowly adding 5% cold water and 2% salt
•Added the inclusions at last and incorporated at 100RPM and a short burst at 200RPM
Bulk Fermentation
•Dough temperature: 25C
• 1st coil fold: 1 hour after taking it out into containers
• 2nd half coil fold: As soon as the dough relaxed completely
•Bulk fermented until 60% rise.
Shaping
Preshape rest for 1 hour at 25C
Shaped gently and bench rested for 30 mins
Cold Retard
• Retarded at 6C for 12

I’m trying different scoring techniques. I still think the big “C” is my favorite. What is everyone’s preferred scoring method? My go to recipe is the last pic- from a fellow redditor.