Have had mixed feelings about my starter and said screw it and made a loaf. I think it came out near perfect? My designs didn’t stay but the texture, taste, and bounce were what I’ve been told they should be. Possibly a small gummy crust line that I didn’t notice at first, so maybe under proofed?

- The recipe was 97g starter, 400g flour, 275g water, and 8g salt (my measurements were not perfect and a little over on everything)
- I mixed, let sit for 30 min, then I did 4 stretch and folds 30 min apart from each other
- Total time from mix to fridge was 7-8 hours
- Sat in fridge for about 22 hours
- Took loaf out and baked immediately from fridge
- Used a ceramic loaf pan and a metal one for covering
- Cooked at 465 for 30 min, and about 10~15 minutes uncovered at 430 (honestly don’t remember how long uncovered but temp tested before pulling out and it was 210 degrees roughly)
- Let cool on counter for about 20 hours

Edit: I keep my house at about 69 degrees

ITS SO GOOD FRESh WHY WOULD I WAIT 24 hours????????

I've been trying to get this to work for nearly a year now. I have wasted hundreds of dollars at this point trying to get edible bread that isn't either foccacia or wet sponge and have, to date, only made five loaves that are actually "good."

Please offer suggestions before I dump my starter and give away my bannetons. Recipe came from friend who has never had a failed loaf.

Recipe:

1000g KA

20g salt

700g water

50g EVOO

200g starter (1:2:2 WW/Rye, as was gifted to me, fed night before and used at peak)

Mix, knead 5-10 minutes.

Rest 15-30, s+f 6 times (15 min. x2, 30 min. x2, 1 hour x2).

Coil fold into bulk at ~4 hour mark. 4-5 hours bulk in 72°-75° kitchen.

Split, gentle reshape, rest 1 hour.

Shape, banneton, store, bake 500° for 20 min. w/lid, 450° for 30 w/o lid.

This, more often than not, is what I see after bench rest. I just want bread.

Additional pics of some end results.

Help?

I have baked a few loaves and made a few discard recipes now and I’m trying to put together my own recipes, with some help from Google, YouTube, etc. I have some experience with yeast breads, so I tried to change one of my favorites into a sourdough recipe that was soft with a tight crumb, a little sweet, but the nice tang of sourdough.
It tastes dead on and was nice and soft. Maybe a little too dense, not bad. I’m thinking of increasing the hydration to maybe 65-70 next time? Would that still give me a tight crumb like a sandwich loaf?

Recipe below. It has a lot of terminology and notes because I’m still learning it all 🙈

Experimental Soft Sweet & Tangy Sourdough Sandwich Loaf - Lactose Free (55% hydration)

Ingredients:

AP Flour 514g
Warm Lactose Free Whole Milk 300g (87% water, 261g water)
Local Honey 40g (18% water, 7g)
Green Valley Lightly Salted Lactose Free Butter 40g (18% water, 7g)
Fine Sea Salt 10g
Sourdough Starter (bubbly at peak) 100g (67% hydration, 60g flour, 40g water)

Overall dough 55% hydration

Instructions:

Autolyse / Fermentolyse:

Mix flour, milk, honey, and starter until incorporated. Let rest 30 minutes to let flour hydrate without salt or fat.

Add salt. Knead or use stand mixer with dough hook on medium-low speed 3-5 minutes until smooth and holds its shape

Add butter one tbsp at a time. This will get kind of slippery and squishy. Keep kneading (Rubaud Method)/mixing about 5-7 minutes. The dough will come together and get silky smooth.

Once butter is completely incorporated, continue kneading/mixing another 5-7 minutes until the dough clears from the sides of the bowl and sticks to the dough hook. The dough will feel silky smooth and stretchy enough to pass a window pane test.

Bulk Fermentation (1st rise):

Put dough in a greased bowl, cover, and put in a warm spot (78-80F).

If kneading, let rest for 30 minutes, then do a set of coils or stretch and folds every 30 minutes for 2 hours.
(No need if using a stand mixer)

Let rise 50% (about 3-4 hours)

Shape and 2nd Rise:

Take dough and press into a rectangle. Fold one side over and then the other like a letter for an envelope, then roll up and tuck ends under, pinching the seam. Put in a greased loaf pan seam side down.
Cover pan and place in a warm spot until dough rises to the top of the pan (about 2 hours)

Cold Proof:

Put covered loaf pan in fridge. The milk, honey, and butter slow down fermentation a bit. Keep 10-16 hours, the longer, the tangier.

Remove from fridge and score

Bake:

Preheat to 375F
Bake 35-45 minutes. Once it hits 30 minutes check often. The sugar + butter can burn easy. If getting too brown tent with aluminum foil

Remove when browned and sounds hollow when you knock on it. Turn out on a cooling rack immediately. Let sit until completely cool.

Eat and enjoy!

I just tried this recipe as it came highly recommended by a lot of people. I did my weekly feed for my fridge discard the night before and left it on the counter overnight before popping back in the fridge. A few hours later I decided to make these cheesy crackers. They are DELICIOUS! Mine ended up light and poofy. I’m guessing because my discard was active. I also didn’t put the little hole in the middle, so I don’t know if that made a difference. Regardless, they are yummy!!
The first pic is mine, the second is what it’s supposed to look like.

Recipe in case you don’t have it:

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
4 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
4 tbsp sourdough discard
1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tsp water cold
Sea salt for topping

INSTRUCTIONS

In a large bowl, add cheese, room-temperature butter, salt and garlic poweder. Mix with a hand mixer on medium speed for two minutes or until fully combined and fluffy.

Add sourdough starter to the cheese mixture and mix and high until combined.

Add flour to the cheese mixture and mix until fully combined, about one minute.

Add the cold water and mix for a few seconds, until you can press the dough between two fingers and it holds its form.

Press the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap, cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

After cooling, roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper until it is ⅛” thick.

Use the pasta cutter wheel to cut out square shapes in the dough. Finish by poking a hole in the middle of each cracker with a chopstick.

Sprinkle tops with sea salt

Transfer the crackers to a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350° F. for 15-18 minutes until golden brown around the edges.

Enjoy!

An ode to the 7lb+ cabbage head I harvested from my garden yesterday

My recipe for decorative scoring: 325g warm filtered water (my kitchen is usually 73 degrees so I heat the water to 90 degrees) 10g salt 110g starter 475g flour - mix, wait 30 mins, 1 round of stretch and folds, wait 30 mins, 3 rounds of coil folds over the next 1.5hrs, bulk ferment (I have a warm kitchen so usually 4 hours), lightly shape, bench rest 20 mins, shape and into the rice flour dusted basket, stitch after 10mins, covered and into the fridge overnight (12-15hrs), 1hr preheat at 500 degrees (Dutch Oven inside on Pizza Stone), 30mins into preheat pop the loaf in the freezer, when oven is ready, loaf onto dough sling, brush off loaf, spray and evenly wet loaf, rice flour sprinkle and rub, decorative score, into the oven for 6-7mins, expansion score, back in with lid on for 15mins, lid off temp down to 475 for 15-20mins

130g wholemeal rye flour

30g rye bran flakes

320g all purpose flour

150g started (1:4:5)

340g water

10g salt

I mixed everything in the evening, gave it a few stretch and folds, was too sleepy to wait for bulk fermentation to be done so covered the bowl with plastic wrap and placed in the fridge

In the morning took it out, let it ferment at room temp until the dough wasn't cold

Then i forgot about it and it fermented too much haha

But i shaped anyway and baked immediately for 45 minutes at 225° or so

Tastes good, soft inside and crunchy outside

I told a customer at my serving job that I love to bake and turns out he's a sourdough and pizza baker! He gifted me some of his established starter last week and I finally made my first loaf, so proud :'-)

I used this recipe but I baked it at 450f with the lid on for 20 mins, and then 425f with the lid off for 20 minutes, after which I made sure the internal temp was between 200-210f.

I have learned that I definitely need a lame and rice flour for my next attempt, but I'm so happy with the looks and flavor!

Hi friends!! I want to preface by saying that this is my very first starter and my first experience with bread making of any kind. I know the starter is going to expand, but I wanted to know: is this going to be enough space for the starter for me to keep it in this jar? I didn’t realize how big the recipe I followed was and now we’re here😓 any help is greatly appreciated !!

5 Loaf Bulk Fermentation

500g active starter
1750g water
2500g bread flour
50g salt

2 sets of stretch and folds spaced 30 mins apart, 2 sets of coil folds spaced 30 mins apart

temped at 76 after last set of coil folds

has been bulk fermenting on the counter for around 5 hours

To me, this dough is looking nearly ready for shaping. But I’m inclined to let it ride just a little longer, maybe 30 mins to 1 hr? I don’t want it to over proof but I do think it’s slightly underproofed at this point. What is the consensus?

Pics 1 & 2 are my first loaf. Pics 3,4,5 are my second loaf. Was provided some starter from a family member! This is my first loaf EVER. Followed an online recipe

1 cup (227g) ripe (fed) sourdough starter

1 3/4 cups (397g) water, lukewarm

5 cups (600g)

1 tablespoon (18g) table salt

Mixed starter with water, once combined mixed in the flour, once combined mixed in the salt. Combined/kneaded for ~2 minutes. Covered for one hour, picked it up out of the bowl and let it fold on it self a few times, (repeated last step twice). Fridge 6 hours. Removed from fridge, shaped dough while cold, covered and rest for 1 hour. Oven on 450°F with dutch oven inside, once at temp removed dutch oven. Dusted dough with flour, Placed strip of parchment in the dutch, slapped the dough down into the dutch, scored the dough ball, covered and in oven for 40 mins, top off and finished uncovered for 12 minutes. Cooled on rack for 1-2 hours.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS PLEASE!!

Pics one and two are my first loaf. Pics 3/4/5 are my second loaf.

Began my sourdough journey in April, this is my 10th loaf or so and I think I’ve finally gotten a good procedure down, but would appreciate any feedback to improve!

Ingredients:
400g unbleached AP
100g whole wheat
370g water
150g starter
12g salt

Process:
Slightly warm filtered water in microwave. Mix starter, flours, and 360g water. Rest 1 hour.

Incorporate salt and additional 10g water. Perform first stretch and folds, with 3 additional stretch and folds/coil folds spaced 30 minutes apart.

Bulk ferment for ~3.5 more hours (6 hours from initial mix) at 25C. Cold proof in fridge 11 hours.

Preheat Dutch oven at 500F. Bake at 450F for 25 minutes covered, 25 uncovered.

Cooled 1.5 hours on a wire rack before cutting.

TIA!

PLEASE! I need critiques!! Be harsh! this is my third loaf (second that’s actually come out as a loaf haha)

https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/beginners-sourdough-bread-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-40698

ingredients:

• 475 grams bread flour
• 100 grams starter
• 325 grams water
• 10 grams salt

my process:

fed starter 1:8:8 out of fridge and let double overnight

mixed starter and water then added salt and let rest 30 min

did 4 sets of stretch and folds 30 minutes apart

bulk fermented 8am-1:50pm

proofed overnight in fridge from 2pm to 9am

baked at 500 in preheated Dutch oven with lid 20min and then 475 with lid removed 20 min

I’ve been trying some new flour combinations with my classic loaves, but just couldn’t get the hydration right. I’m happy with this one. Turns out, higher protein content doesn’t necessarily mean we must seek a higher hydration.

In baker’s percentages:

Total flour = 100%
- 10% einkorn flour
- 10% pizza flour (16% protein)
- 80% strong white bread flour (14% protein)

Hydration excluding starter:
- 63% autolyse, based on the flour’s weight (so [weight x 0.63])
- 5% maple syrup (to tend siblings and their kids’ palates)
- 2% neutral oil (I use algae oil, for conservation purposes)

Starter
- 40% of the flour weight (it’s a lot but I’m a busy bee)
- Added after 3h autolyse

Process after adding starter
- Slap and folds
- 3 rounds of coil folds
- Rest until dough no longer sticks and pulls away from the bowl
- Pre-shape and final shape

I don’t always refrigerate, I sometimes just go for a bench rest until I have a satisfying slow come-back poke test. This one went into the fridge for 4 hours.

Baked in a bread cloche at 230°C after preheating at 250°C. Removed after 36 minutes. I don’t uncover my loaves, nor do I add water.

I do feel like since adding the pizza flour I get less of an ear, but honestly it doesn’t really matter.

Hello All! My first time posting on this sub and I had to post this one! So proud of it
Ingredients :
500g AP flour (12% protein)
50g starter (my starter is 65% hydration)
425g water
11g salt
Around 60-70g evoo (for later)
Process : (I roughly followed this recipe and tweaked it, here’s the link : https://saltnsprinkles.com/sourdough-focaccia-recipe/?mcp )

First I mixed about 375g of water with 500g flour and rested it for 15-20 minutes. After resting, mixed 50g starter (I used a lower amount because it's very hot and humid where I live) with 50g water and added to the mix. Roughly mixed together and covered again to rest for 30 mins.
After resting, I added the salt mixed in a bit of water while doing the first set of stretch and folds.
After the first set, I did 4 sets of coil folds and they were 10-15 minutes apart.
My goal was to not let it over ferment, so I rested it after the folds for around 30-45 minutes only. It looked bubbly on top, uniform surface and jiggly. Transferred to an oiled container to cold ferment for 24 hours! in the last photo, I posted the comparison picture of day 1 vs day 2 cold ferment.
Transfer to a well oiled pan from the fridge and cover it until it spreads till the edges itself. Mine took about 2 hours. The difference between day 1 & day 2 was very clear - the dough was puffier, had a lot more air in it and small bubbles at the bottom. Taste wise the tang was very well balanced and mellow. I only added sea salt on top, nothing else.

Amateur here! Would love some feedback.
Is this a good crumb or still under proofed?
My starter is only about 3 months old.

Dough spec
65% Bread flour
20% All purpose flour
15% Dark Rye
78% Hydration
18% Levain (100% hydration)
2% Salt
Soaked raisin and toasted walnuts

Autolyse 2 hrs
Stretch and fold x 3, 30 mins interval
Coil fold x 2, 30 mins interval
Bulk fermentation 5 hours
Cold retard 14 hours
Bake at 450 F for 45 minutes

Why has my loaf collapsed on one side? It seems like it’s spread out more than I expected too, hasn’t got that massive oven spring. Any help is muchly appreciated 😃

120g starter (fed yesterday)
340g water (30 degrees)
500g flour (Bogasari blue bag, probably close to plain flour)
10g salt

-mixed starter & water
-added flour & salt, mixed to a shaggy dough
-3x stretch and folds over 2.5hours
-bulk fermentation was ~ 6 hours, dough temp was 28 degrees
-shaped, bench rest 15 minutes, final shape and into banneton, fridge for 12 hours
-into hot (ish) oven, ~220c (oven won’t get any hotter) in a lidded stock pot (don’t have a cast iron Dutch oven)
-35 minutes lid on, 20 minutes lid off
-sliced 30 minutes after coming out because my son wanted fresh bread and I wanted to see the crumb to post this.

I used to feel like I didnt know what I was doing but I'm actually starting to make some consistently tasty loaves..

Does this crumb look well proofed? I tried something new and did 5 hours bulk ferment and let it rise again in the bannoton for 2 hours before placing it in the fridge overnight.

I dont know if letting it rise in the bannoton again did anything but it seems larger and tastes amazing 😋

500g bread flour

100g starter

330g water

20g avocado oil

12g salt

1. 1 hr fermentolyse – 1 hour rest

2. Slap and fold in salt and oil for 10 mins – 30 min rest

3. 1x stretch and fold – 30 min rest

4. 2x coil fold - 30 min rest in between

5. 7 hour bulk ferment in total (started at 80°F, cooled to 74/75°)

6. Shaped and placed in bannoton. I let it proof for 2 hours until it filled the bannoton and then put it in the fridge, was trying something new!

7. Preheat dutch oven with oven 450°F for 1 hour. (sheet pan under dutch oven which prevents burnt bottom!)

8. Bake for 30 min lid on with an ice cube, 15 mins lid off.

2 hr cool prior to cut.

First cinnamon loaf

450 g unbleached all purpose flour (Canadian)
50 g whole wheat flour (Canadian )
100g starter
10g salt
350g water

Mixed flour and water let autolyse for an hour
Pinched and folded in starter and salt then mixed by the rubaud technique for about 8 mins , let rest for 30 mins
Then did slap and folds on the counter , dough was not sticky and really had good gluten strength already , rested for 30 mins
Did one stretch and fold, rest 30 mins
Did 2 coil folds , rested 30 mins apart
Transferred to my glass 16 oz measuring cup
And let bulk until it rised 40 %, house is cool so I had it in the oven with the light on, dough was at 80 degrees when I did my final temp check
Once bulk was almost done , I plumped up the raisins in hot water, melted the butter and added in the cinnamon and brown sugar, let them cool, and patted the raisins so they weren’t soggy, then i
Pre shaped by using my bench scraper to shape into a tight ball, let rest for 20 mins ,
Then I shaped dough by laminating in a rectanglle, placed filling on the middle 1/3 then pressed raisins in, folded the left side over top of the middle added more filling and raisins, folded the right side over , added more filling and raisins, then rolled that into a giant log, pitched the outer seems,
Placed in rice floured banneton shaped rest for 15 mins, then popped on a shower cap and placed in the fridge,
Total bulk was 7 hours from the time I mixed starter to putting into fridge,
Cold proofed for 10 hours,
Scored using the plus cut
Popped in a preheated combo cooker for 25 mins lid on, at 450 degrees, then 20 mins lid off, let cool for 2 hours !
I think next time I will fold the raisins into the dough and just do the filling paste the way I did above, raisins fall out when eating lolol

my starter is about 4 weeks old, and it seems to only double exactly, is it supposed to be rising more than this? i tried to make a loaf about a week ago and determined that my starter was not strong enough yet because my loaf looked underproofed even after the dough fermented for 12+ hours. does this starter look strong enough for a loaf? i feed a 1:2:2 ratio of unbleached AP flour and use filtered water. the temperature in my house is usually around 73-75 degrees. the first two photos are after feeding it and the last two are about 24 hours after being fed. it seems to take a very long time for it to rise, but i normally don’t catch it at peak because i feed it in the evenings. i feel like it should be rising more than this, please help!!!

As the title suggests, this was my very first time ever making sourdough!

I waited so long for my starter to become active... but honestly, the wait was completely worth it.

One thing i was IMPATIENT on was the cooling process, I cut the bread open after barely 30 minutes on the cooling rack. The difference was noticeable since the crumb hadn’t had enough time to fully set and develop its final texture.

Despite that, it was still absolutely delicious. I loved it! For a first attempt, I’m really satisfied and genuinely happy with the result. I can’t wait to keep improving and get even better at this!

Anyway, here are the ingredients and the process I followed.

INGREDIENTS

• 100g active sourdough starter
• 360g water
• 530g flour (type 00)
• 15g salt

PROCESS

• Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until there is no dry flour left. I used my hands.
• Cover the bowl with a cloth and let it rest for 1 hour.
• Do the first set of Stretch & Folds: 4 folds, rotating the bowl each time.
• Cover the bowl again and let it rest for 30 minutes.
• At this point, you would normally do 3 more sets of folds, waiting 30 minutes between each one. However, I ended up doing around 6 or 7 sets because my dough wasn’t developing enough strength and smoothness. I also used Coil Folds. So, if your dough still doesn’t seem to have enough structure, feel free to do additional sets of Stretch & Folds or Coil Folds. Just be careful not to overwork or stress the dough.
• Once you’re done with the folds, cover the bowl and let it bulk ferment for 4–8 hours, or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.
• Sprinkle some flour on your work surface and gently flatten the dough into a rectangular shape. Fold one of the longer sides toward the center, then fold the opposite side over it. You should now have a smaller rectangle. Take the shorter side (the base) and roll the dough upward into a ball shape. Try to create a smooth and tight surface.
• Transfer the dough onto parchment paper, cover it with a bowl, and let it rest for around 2 hours. (I did not do a cold proof.)
• Sprinkle some flour on top, spread it, score the bread.
• Preheat your Dutch oven inside the oven at 250°C for 45 minutes.
• Transfer the dough into the Dutch oven and bake:
  • 25 minutes with the lid on
  • 25 minutes with the lid off

And there you go!

I hope the method I used was a good one. I still have a lot to learn, but I’m really happy with how my first sourdough turned out. Can’t wait to make more!

would love feedback on how to get a more open crumb. i think I'm probably stretch and fold, and stitching too aggressively.

recipe:
475g flour (95g bobs whole wheat, 380g Costco AP)
335g water
95g starter (bit stiffer, feed at 1:10:9, starter:flour:water)
10g salt

1. I autolyse just the flour and water for ~0.5-1hr and then add in the starter and salt.
2. 3-4 stretch and folds and coil fold, 30-60min apart
3. bulk ferment ~4hrs
4. pre-shape, rest for 30 min, then shape
5. cold ferment 1-2 days in the fridge
6. bake at 450F (dutch oven preheated for at least 30min), for 20min in dutch oven (with lid) and 20min with lid off cool for at least .5-1hr

I’ve also been experimenting with miso sesame (first 3 pics)! 50g white miso mixed in with water at autolyse, adjust to 5g salt instead of 10g, add 65g sesame at first stretch and fold