Split (1)

train · 60.1k rows

instruction stringlengths 2 23k	output stringlengths 3 23.1k ⌀
Help, is this Under proofed? Sourdough Hi there, my name is abe.I've been baking sourdough for a couple of week and i always endup with gummy and wet crumbs.Is this underproofed.My 4th breadAutolys for 40minSalt and rest of water.4 s&f every 30min Bulk fermentation 4hrs. (28-30°c) my room tempAnd 2hrs final proof230°C ...	gummy wet crumb In a wheat bread would indicate under cooked. You can test this with a needle point quick thermometer (if you have one) or just leave in in the oven for an additional 10 minutes and see if it gets better/goes away. ‘You might also not be waiting long enough for the bread to cool (the bread continues to ...
Dough not setting up Hi all, I found a recipe off the internet, probably just like a whole host of others, and have used it twice before with okay results. Today, it is not working...that said, I did change it up a bit, so thought I would do the early stages differently, and being a rookie, I probably made a rookie mi...	A 100% hydration dough is A 100% hydration dough is pretty unforgiving for rookies. A 24 hour autolyse may have lead to too much enzymatic activity in the flour alongside the "pre-ferment" (typically called a levain when referring to sourdough) and decreased dough stability. Or it could have simply been a more humid da...
bulk fermentation c2v6o9gtSdaVZt7vlfIasw.jpg hHi Can anyone tell me if bulk fermentation is complete? it has only been 6.5 hrs at about 22c.	It's now 7 hours since your post At the time you wrote, had I seen it then, I would have agreed that the dough was adequately bulk proofed. Here's hoping your bread turned out well. Paul
Question, how much actual starter Afternoon, I found this recipe and it looks great... https://honestcooking.com/peter-reinharts-new-york-style-bagels-wild-sourdough/ 500 g (4 cups) bread flour500 ml (2 cups) non-chlorinated wateryour ripe 100% hydration wheat sourdough starter Make the sponge: This is a great way to ...	I'd say 200-250 g. I'd say 200-250 g.
Optimal time to use starter I'm brand new to this site and sourdough baking and I'm wondering when is the best time to use my starter? Is it before/after feeding? Or when it has risen double or triple? Or is it when it begins to fall? Thanks…	The life cycle of your starter Feed it - yeasts eat, multiply, produce gas and starter bubbles up - starter peaks. When food runs out it begins to fall as the yeasts have run out of food.So when your starter has peaked and just starts to fall then the yeasts need more food. So you feed them again but this time by using...
First Batch of Wild Starter! Hey there! I was suddenly tempted while looking at the breads in a local bakery to make my own sourdough as opposed to their citric acid flavored ones. I found an old thread in this forum here that I followed, mostly. I've got wheat berries so I ground them into flour but by day 3 noth...	I had no idea the white stuff I had no idea the white stuff on blueberries was wild yeast! Very interesting. I would suggest giving your starter more than a weeks' worth of feedings before you start using it in loaves. You really want the starter to be very active and rise and fall in a predictable manner (this means t...
proof Hi there . if i feel i haven't bulk fermented long enough, can i extend my final proof? Thanks cc	Certainly! You may wind up Certainly! You may wind up with a bit more spread than normal, but not necessarily.
when to use starter Hello, I checked my starter at 11:45 am and it hadn't quite doubled. I fed it at 10:30pm last night pacific time after removing from fridge . i stirred it, did the float test, the larger blob floated but the little bits sank. i marked the jar, and it's been a couple of hours since, but it's still...	Ready to use starter Is this a newly established starter or one you have used for baking before? It sounds like it is peaking right about now since it has been 12 hours or so. It also sounds like it is ready to go! However, well-established starters usually peak a little sooner than that, but perhaps it was really c...
dangers of too-long bulk fermentation with a forkish recipe? Hello everyone, I am hoping to get some advice on a bulk fermentation issue. I am making the overnight country blonde from Forkish's FWSY. The recipe calls for 12 to 15 hours for bulk fermentation overnight. I mixed the dough around 4 p.m. without really thin...	In general, the "dangers" of In general, the "dangers" of overproofing are that your dough will lose strength. This manifests as either or both a very spread out, flat bread, as it loses the strength to hold itself upright, and very large "tunnels" of air throughout the loaf, as it loses the strength to hold bubbles ap...
Do you sift your flour? For sourdough, or any other bread recipe for that matter? And if so, why?	No, Ive never sifted my flour No, Ive never sifted my flour.As I understand it, one usually wants to sift flour if you are using it in more delicate pastry recipes to ensure there are no clumps in the batter or dough you are using.Most sourdough processes involve pretty vigorous mixing, and long amounts of time to get ...
forgot to add steam oops, forgot to add any steam this morning. Shame as it would have risen to a nice size :(As I dont use a dutch oven I usually just add a tray and fill it with boiling water but seen adding water to rolled up cotton towels makes much more steam.Anyone else use rolled up towels?	I think the towels are meant I think the towels are meant to be used in conjuction with a tray/skillet of boiling water. My oven is tiny so the last time I tried I was only able to fit in 1 rolled up towel and I don't think that small of an amount of steam made much difference. If you have a bigger oven, you might have...
is sourdough starter a waste of time, a critical thinking question This is a serious question. I know there's a whole bunch of science behind this such that the knowledgeable folk of TFL can shed immediate light on my internal debate.I'm a pretty hot and cold baker. I go through bouts. I'm torn between my love of Arti...	I just use starter from I just use starter from previous dough which has 3% oil also added to it, currently whole wheat with approx 90% hydration, what I see is that the starter gets mixed up earlier than oil(which I have observed helps with flavor), so in my case it's not extra effort.
Dilemm	Never Sour Enough Here is my dilemm
Quick sandwich or dinner rolls with discard? I am hoping someone can suggest a recipe (or just some guidelines even) for using some of my discard to make some quick sandwich or dinner rolls.I know there are recipes out there without yeast or sourdough that just rely on baking powder and/or soda for the rise. There mus...	No one?I could not find a No one?I could not find a single recipe on google that does what I want. Probably a bad sign for being able to do this successfully. But I'm going to try anyway. I figure it'll be educational at least.Here's my thoughts. I'm going to mix starter, water, and some amount of flour. I have so...
Dough tension / elasticity Hi! I'm struggling with my dough tension. The crust just seems to burst in various areas. Last night's method of leaving to proof overnight in the fridge helped the tension and therefore the scoring process but there was still a lack of 'splitting' via the main score(S) and further bursting a...	Scoring Maybe try scoring deep (2cm) with one main slash across the entire bread and see how that works. Might help open the bread nicely. Otherwise there are so many more fermentation/shaping questions that could relate to helping you on this
An open crumb breakthrough Hello everyone,I just had a significant breakthrough in my quest for an open crumb, Tartine style of boule. I have been pursuing this for about two years now, and once in a while I get a nice open crumb, but usually not. And for the last year, it has been a tight crumb interspersed with big h...	Wow! Thank you for this info! Wow! Thank you for this info!
New Starter and New Lame Purely out of boredom, I started up a new starter about 2 weeks ago (my old one was, and is, doing just fine.....just CovidCabinFever!) I followed Maurizio's process on The Perfect Loaf, and it's been happily doing it's thing since about Day 6. Today was my first "weekly" bake using the new s...	Thanks Rich! I’m diggin’ home Thanks Rich! I’m diggin’ your home made lame! You’ve inspired a tweak that may be beneficial. Will post image if one os made.Do you see an improvement if the wood was cut at the yellow line? It seems like removing some of the wood would allow a better (lower) angle on the dough. What do yo...
Runny Hi I'm new to SD baking and I'm having some trouble. I've been trying to make a nice loaf for a few weeks now and I'm struggling. I'm using 420g unbleached bread flour, 80 whole wheat bread flour, 400 Mls water 75g leven and some salt. I'll fresh feed 30 g of starter with 100g flour and water. Wait till it's good...	Your hydration for mainly Your hydration for mainly white flour is very high. The amount of water flour absorb will vary from one type to a other. I would try to use less water. Start with 70% and work from there up or down.
What's the proper way to dry starter for safekeeping? I read that you can just put a thin layer on a baking sheet and it'll dry out in a couple days. I tried that but it has been a couple days and its still wet. I'm a little worried the yeast will lose its potency since it will have been out for a few days at least. I ...	Spread it thinner. Check it Spread it thinner. Check it periodically and you'll be able to see which places are drying faster. Spread the wetter areas out more. Once it's semi-dry you may find you are able to peel it off the baking sheet and flip it over, exposing the wetter underside to the air. Make sure it's in...
Sourdough Starter Gone Bad - Dough Became Soupy after Rising? My starter was pretty sour. I keep it on the counter and it's been in the upper 70's (F) here.I used the starter yesterday to make a loaf, 50 grams starter, 520 grams flour, 385 grams water, and 12 grams salt. The dough was pliable and looked normal. After t...	soupy dough Hi,From my experience I've only had dough go soupy from over-fermentation. 12 hours at 78 degrees sounds like a very long time to me. You didn't use that much starter, but I would still expect your bulk ferment to more likely be in the 6 hour range. It's also possible that there wasn't enough gluten develop...
suspicions regarding clingfilm and baguettes Hello everyone,I'm baking some decent baguettes but with one problem. The slashing never yields a great oven spring and ears.I'm suspicious that my practice of covering the baguettes with oiled clingfilm to stop them drying out is partly the cause.The baguettes always grow i...	I concur Good morning Benjamin. I to noticed that my plasticrap (or plastic bag) covered baguettes were very hard to sash. I switched to proofing the loaves only in canvas couches. It is said that the couch material is perfect to retain hydration while drying just enough to get a good slash. This definately helped me, ...
How long can I let my sourdough retard in the refrigerator? Made a boule a few days ago and forgot it was in the refrigerator. How long can I actually refrigerate it for? Thanks!	Assuming it was only Assuming it was only fermented in the fridge (at 37f), I.e. it went straight to the the fridge after mixing...at 10% inoculation: 6 daysat 15% inoculation: 5 days 6 hoursat 20% inoculation: 4 days 18 hoursThose are my calculations, which have always worked for me, with 2 different starters.
Underproofed? HiWas just after some opinions really on whether this loaf is looking slightly underproofed or if the uneven holes are likely to be more shaping-related. Its a 75% hydration loaf and i finish bulk ferment when it has gone from being placed into a marked container (below) and had risen to the 1L mark (ive ...	Hi, Bread-Bug This has the telltale look of an under-proofed loaf. It is a bit of an enigma, however. While the crust healing up somewhat, while still showing signs of just beginning to bust open would indicate a slightly under proofed loaf. The crumb looks to be grossly under-proofed. That being said, I would increase...
Starter frothy? I’ve been making great bread with my starter for about 3 weeks and today is the first day it got “frothy” on top. Why is that? Thats supposed to be a good thing, though, right? Only trouble is i've been making great bread without the froth. Thnks!	I've read that starters I've read that starters continue to mature and won't be fully stable for at least the first few weeks after they are active. That's not even counting however long it takes for them to reach the active phase. Looks like you've reached another level with your starter! I would guess this might m...
Skin of Sourdough Peeling Off Hi everyone!I've lurked on this site for quite a while poring through discussion after discussion and troubleshooting my own sourdough along the way. Last night, I've finally baked sourdough that tasted delicious! Now with that being said, I noticed something really interesting when my bou...	Relative room humidity? condensing on the cold dough? The skin sets up fast and the expansion cracks and flakes the kin. Somethin similar can happen when a dry crust on baked bread is moistened and tossed into a hot oven to crispen.So I'm betting it has to do with differences in humidity: dough to skin, wet skin to...
Help in Culling my Starters Greetings to my new friends in knead,This, my first post, is not an introduction, but a query .Two starters, each about a year old, have birthed several offspring and are more than this Nanny can keep up with. Neglected in the back of the fridge, abandoned on a crowded counter, or repeatedly...	I've read a theory that if I've read a theory that if you take any number of different starters. Even if they are clearly different, not just in behavior but it's been established in a lab the dominant species are different. And then you feed all of those starters the same diet on the same schedule in the same enviro...
Should starter be fed the same type of flour as the dough? Hey!I have a starter that latey has been fed only whole wheat flour. I like that it seems to be more active and happy with it.However, I want to make a bread using mainly bread flour ( some whole wheat and rye too). Is the fact that the starter is on whole whea...	This is a good question that This is a good question that I am also interested in answering. Jeffrey Hammelman writes in the book Bread that it doesn't matter what flour we use. Still, I don't know why to use different starters. Maybe rye yeast will more easily absorb sugars from rye flour? Once upon a time my brother ...
Levain method of FWSY The levain method of FWSY states that the levain should have doubled by day 3, with alcohol smell, etc...While this may happen for some lucky ones, it seems that most of the time (?), this early burst of activity may be explained by the development of bacteria(s) we are not directly interested in ...	Totally agree. That is one of Totally agree. That is one of many problems with that book..
My young starter is rising quite fast, is it normal? Hi there!So I've been interested in sourdough starter for quite a while, but don't have the courage to make the starter by myself since I'm an amateur home cook with zero experience in bread making.But with this quarantine going on, I finally decided to give it a try...	Not a starter yet What you see now is a burst of activity by bacteria that produce a lot of gas and some bad odors. The yeast isn't active yet.In another day or two, the activity will stop as a different, non-gassy group of bacteria take over. Again, the yeast isn't active yet.After the quiet phase, you will begin to...
Starter is is doubling rather quickly after 4 days but no longer smells sour I'm new to sourdough bread baking and sourdough starters. Because flour has been hard to come by, I purchased some hard red wheat berries and whole rye and have been grinding them into flour. I started the starter with 100% rye flour but the...	Some of the odors you were Some of the odors you were getting during the first few days of a new starter were probably caused by other organisms that have now died off as the sourdough microbes take over and stabilize. Rye flour will also affect it differently than wheat. If you pay close attention to your starter (w...
Pineapple Juice Starter How much pineapple juice and flour do I use to start my sourdough starter?	Pineapple Juice Starter 89139CCA-418A-494F-BB9C-44F96E8C75F6.jpeg
What's the minimum time in the fridge for flavour? Hello everyone!a. A more general question, found a lot of posts about the maximum time in the fridge, I was wondering what was the minimum time in the fridge for a loaf to gain in flavour?b. A more concrete question, for example, a loaf that had 3h of bulk fermentation...	id say 12 hours to get a id say 12 hours to get a decent amount but it really depends on fridge temperature. a 3 hour bulk is not long enough unless its showing the signs its nearing its bulk fermentation end. You just wont get the flavour but more importantly it'll be under proofed and be gummy and have a lack of stru...
70% Rye Sourdough Starter ? Can any of the seasoned pros comment on this recipe? This is Patrick Ryan’s recipe, he's a professional baker at Firehouse bakery. Amount of sourdough seems very high with this particular recipe and it is 70%. Could this be a mistake or there is a reason where you might actually need that hi...	That looks extremely high to That looks extremely high to me, but I don't make 100% rye bread. (Which is basically bread by an entirely different definition of bread if you're comparing it to wheat bread. Completely different rules)Once thing I'll say though, just posting the formula doesn't constitute the recipe. To k...
New to Sourdough, trying to troubleshoot what went wrong Hello everyone,So I'm new to the sourdough world and been having some troubles with my first tries. I am using a homemade sourdough starter that is about 3 weeks old, with a morning and a night feeding the day before baking.This is my 4th try at making a loaf, wi...	Frankly, that looks pretty good! All the more so, considering that you have such a youthful starter.You don't mention the hydration of the starter itself. If it is, say, 100% hydration, that means it contributes another 10% to the overall final dough hydration, pushing it closer to 78-80% hydration. That isn't a prob...
Dough didn't rise, despite levain looking good. What to try changing next time? I followed txfarmer's sourdough sandwich bread recipe, using a levain built with KA bread flour and dabrownman's NMNF 100% whole rye starter and levain build instructions.Levain looked nice and active. Doubled after the second and third fee...	Alpaca, you wrote, “the dough Alpaca, you wrote, “the dough didn't seem to rise much at all during the 2 hr bulk ferment on the counter (~76 degF as measured with an accurate thermometer)”The transition from commercial yeast to sourdough takes some adjustments. The biggest adjustment is fermentation timing. Sourdough i...
Need help getting starter to double Hi there,I'm new to the world of sourdough. I ordered a dried starter online (mysourdoughstarters.blogspot.com) and have been working with it for a few weeks but have never managed to get anything more than a tiny rise and it has never come anywhere close to doubling. I feed it 1:1:1...	Experiment with different hydrations with AP flour, the mixture at 100% hydration is so thin the bubbles pop on the surface instead of being trapped in the flour/water mixture. Try 1:2:4 (more like a dough with half water weight) or try 1:2:3 (S:W:F) or (Starter:Water:Flour) which is 66% hydration instead of 1:1:1 ...
Advice to help my shorties grow! Hi all! I've been baking sourdough for about 5 months now. I absolutely love the flavor, but I just can't seem to get height from my boules no matter what I do. My tallest boule has only ever been about 3 inches, most are closer to 2inches. I would be so grateful for any advice... I'm g...	A simple prescription: double A simple prescription: double the innoculation and put it into the fridge 30 minutes earlier. It's what I would try. At 100% hydration, 40g of starter has 20g of flour in it. 20+80+60+260 = 420. 20/420 is less than 5% innoculation. It seems low, and maybe a bit hard to predict the outc...
Early process question Hello all, As I'm fairly new to sourdough, I've been doing a lot of reading, and watching of YouTube videos. I find that the vast majority of people whom I am reading or watching, insist that sourdough baking is a precise science. They state that you must have accurate digital scales to we...	their precision versus your precision. "Precise" means this:It does not mean precisely _their_ amounts and percentages.As you have discovered, you have to adjust to your conditions: your ambient temp, your starter, your flour, your water, your oven.However, to then replicate your success on subsequent bakes, you must ...
Today's Loaf Nothing spectacular but I was quite happy with it, even though my scoring was a little off lol. Just thought I'd share...80% KA organic unbleached AP20% KA organic whole wheat73% total hydration 20200512_105032.jpg 20200512_105052.jpg 20200512_105000.jpg	Very nice! A very pretty loaf, both crust and crumb. I hope it tastes as good as it looks!
Substitution of dry yeast for a starter Can someone help me with this. I read that you can make every bread that calls for dry yeast or fresh yeast with a starter. Just need to make some changes on the flour and water on the recipe. Is this correct? This is what I found, please advise if this is correct or I have wrong...	Seems about right If you have an active sourdough starter, you can use it at about 20% of the weight of your flour. So if you had 1000 grams of flour in your dough recipe you would use 200 grams of starter. If you had 600 grams of flour you would use 120 grams of starter.Yourdough may be a bit wetter from the water in ...
Bread too sour...yikes Hi all, new to forum. I'm using a wild caught starter and my latest whole wheat loaves came out way too sour. They've got a dense crumb so didn't get much oven spring. Starter is fed with w/w flour. Should I switch to AP?Thanks, Jeff	Recipe/Method plz Hi Jeff,People might be able to help if they knew more about your starter, how you're keeping it, how it behaves, and your bread, what are the ingredients, what is your method.Best wishes, Jess
Starter Explanation Please Hi Everyonei want to understadn a few thing about the starters. If I have a 2 weeks old starter, 100% hydration, whole wheat an water. I try keeping 15gms all the time after discarding. my question is if I feed it with 30gms water and 30gms flours now I have 75gms of starter? if a recipe call...	"if I feed it with 30gms "if I feed it with 30gms water and 30gms flours now I have 75gms of starter?"Once it matures, i.e. doubles in size and takes on the acidic aroma, yes"if a recipe calls for 50gms starter. I can take from the top of the jar 10gms and mix it with 20gms flour and 20gms water and wait until it doubl...
Using sourdough starter I'm studying Mr. Hammelman's Bread book witch is amazing and full of knowledge but I'm still confused about using sourdough starter in no-yeast recipies.Why I have to mix sourdought starter with flour and water, wait 12 - 16h and mix a dough? Isn't it just a feeding a starter? Can I just mix fin...	Most people don't keep 929g Most people don't keep 929g of starter on hand. I keep only 55g. Each time I feed it the discards go in a bin in the fridge, which I could let accumulate until I had 929g in it. But altho that discard works great in some recipes, it is not at its peak of activity and therefore not ideal f...
Tartine starter help Following Robertson's starter recipe for the country bread, I made the starter Wednesday morning. This morning (Friday) it had risen to about double. So when I came home for work this evening it is already falling. Did I miss the time frame to start feeding it? His recipe calls to discard 80% and f...	I'm unclear as to if you I'm unclear as to if you already have a working starter or not..?If you do, when to use or feed the starter can depend slightly on what flavor profile you're looking for.Knowing what Chad Robertson likes in bread, he would definitely err on the side of using a starter while it's still on it's "...
Bulk Fermentation Differences I have been testing with Foodgeek's Master Sourdough bread recipe. I follow it to the tee but in the past the BF to 25% has always led to my loaf being super underfermented. It comes out fine between 75-100% rise for me. Just wondering what the explanation could be here if all other parame...	Recipe for Context https://foodgeek.dk/en/artisan-sourdough-bread-recipe-an-easy-recipe-for-crispy-bread/
Bulk rise overproofing before it rises I’ve been baking sourdough for a couple of months now and I’m not sure what’s happening with my bulk rise – i’m using the Tartine method, mostly basic country bread but sometimes 50% ww flour. My other flour is a classic bread flour (type 60). I’ve always fed my starter 1:1 ww/ap ...	It looks to me that you're It looks to me that you're lacking gluten strength/development. Are you new to sourdough? It's a common mistake among beginners to stretch&fold very gingerly , barely tugging on the dough instead of getting a solid stretch--but I may be off base here!
How did I do? Does it look over-fermented to you?	Looks great to me. What Looks great to me. What flour are you using?
Autolysing sourdough is a huge pain and makes the process much less enjoyable for me. I almost always do king arthur's no knead sourdough bread recipe and this time I decided to add an autolyse. I held back about 30g of water to mix the salt into. My gosh, the whole thing looks like a gooey mess and it took forever to ...	Autolyse normally speeds up Autolyse normally speeds up gluten development by giving the flour time to hydrate, delaying the starter and salt will normally help as these both tend to draw moisture away from the flour while tightening the dough at the same time.What was the recipe you followed? check you haven't made a ...
Can you help troubleshoot this? Hey,This is my latest bread. The famous "puck" shaped issue. I've been baking with some pretty good consistency but this one took me by surprise.It's a 75% hydration bread ( 20% spelt, 10% whole whear) and I added 20% levain, 2% salt.Absolutely basic recipe: autolyse a few hours, add lev...	To my amateur eye it looks To my amateur eye it looks underproved and under baked.I have a method of "Pinching the crown" which is not stealing the crown jewels. To give a final lift right before baking. You take a finger pinch of dough from as low as you can and pull it up and wrap it over the centre. Holding the pull...
Just made the worst loaf of my life. Very confused what happened! As the title says, today was a very disheartening day. I was trying to follow this recipe:https://foodgeek.dk/en/sourdough-bread-recipe-for-beginners/I usually have some trouble following recipes since I live in a very humid and warm climate ~30C / ~90F ...	When you stretch you need to When you stretch you need to pull faster and harder and grab more of the dough.
Soft, light bottom crust and denser bottom Hi everyone, all my sourdough loaves have light-coloured bottom crusts and a denser crumb at the bottom. I’m wondering if this is because I’m not baking on a surface that is hot enough. I‘m baking directly on a baking tray left in the oven as it preheats for about half an hour...	I would just move the loaf I would just move the loaf more toward the bottom of the oven to get more heat on the bottom of the loaf. Other that that you've got a nice looking loaf there.
Sourdough discard becomes very active when removed from started but starter is not very active So this is my first starter ever. I started it on 4/30. I’m doing 25g starter 50g whole wheat flour and 50g unbleached all purpose and 100g room temp water every 12h. My starter has never passed the float test and does not re...	sourdough discard Are the jars the same? I know that when I reused a clean jar formally used for pickles, the started wasn't happy.
FWSY : Overnight country blonde & starter peak time On average (and depending on temperature, inoculation ratio, etc...), the starter should reach its peak 8h to 12h after its feeding.In the "overnight country blonde" recipe, the starter is fed the morning using a 10% inoculation ratio. 7h to 9h after that (so probably...	Anything in the instructions Anything in the instructions about a cold ferment? And while I'm here - timings for a dough are really general. Ie - a little change in temps can change timings drastically. Look at the starter - 8-12 hrs to double - that's a wide range. But, as has been said here many times (not so much re...
Gummy spots Hi thereAny help would be appreciated. I'm new at bread making. My SD loaves always have gummy spots. not the whole loaf is gummy. just spots here and there. my loaf temp is good 205. i've tried to not overproof or underproof. could oven temp be the issue?	Most likely it's underbaked. Most likely it's underbaked.
Hybrid starter in long term I commonly see people mixing their SD starter with CY and I am wondering if it is possible to make sustainable hybrid starter. I was making a loaf today and while preparing the levain I took one spoon from my CY poolish, one spoon from SD starter, then fed the mixture. What happens if I keep...	I hesitate to overstate this I hesitate to overstate this but ummm No. CY should never be used in wild starters. You will not get a hybrid starter.
Solid Crumb But Looking to Get Better Hi!I've been doing sourdough pretty regularly for the past year and have hit a plateau. I'm happy with taste but I wish there was a little more airy (instagrammable) crumb. Any suggestions? I've been using the beginner's sourdough from perfect loaf.450g Central Milling ABC+15% Wh...	From my point of view, that From my point of view, that is a far better loaf than something with big open caverns. 😁Very even crumb that looks perfectly fermented. If you want some bigger fermentation bubbles, degas it less during preshaping. Handle it gently. You can also increase the hydration a bit. What is th...
Ultimate French Puzzle: Sourdough with French Flours (Help please) Long time lurker of The Fresh Loaf and excited to finally make a post. I've been searching for months on this forum trying different recipes and techniques and I just can't get a good result so hoping someone kind here can help.I am trying to make sourd...	Interesting question! Welcome and congrats on making your first post :)Your question reminds me of when I first started making sourdough, after many years of making yeasted bread that I was really proud of... BOY what a comedown it was, when my first attempts spread all over the oven like paving slabs...My go-to soluti...
new to starter - need help! - update with pic Hi - I am new to making my starter from scratch - first attempt was the Forkish method, but with the scarcity of flour, I have tried again using the pineapple method. My first 2 loaves were okay, but I know my levain was not really ready to bake with, wasn't rising, so the ...	Ratios It doesn't matter if you discard or not to the starter as long as you use the right ratio of starter:flour:water when you feed. If you don't discard you must use more flour and water in your feed and you will end up with more starter. Then you will need to either discard more or feed yet more again.Discard can b...
Air bubble under top crust Many of my loaves have an odd "air bubble" gap just under the top crust. We peel off the top crust and give it to the dog (he loves it when we hide the bits around the house and has to "hunt" for the treats). I suspect this is because I am not slashing? Also, the loaves seem to split just ...	Could be a number of things Take a closer look at your big bubbles. Does it look like they follow any pattern or tend to be between dough layers as you shape the loaf? Then shaping could be the problem. If you use lots of flour when deflating and shaping, the dough separates easier. The mention of "peeling off" the...
Change flour types in mother? I have been using all white bread flour in my starter for its entire month-long life. It seems to be thriving and healthy. That said, my bakes and levain builds are now including a higher concentration of whole wheat flour (typically 20%). Is there a problem or any reason not to change my ...	That’s absolutely no problem. That’s absolutely no problem. It wil get a little bit stiffer but with only 20% WW not very much.
Advice on why my sourdough lacks holes and stringy texture Hi everyone, I am new to sourdough making and am having trouble getting a good texture to my loaf. My loaf seems to come out a little more like "normal" bread than sourdough. The crumb doesn't have nice big holes in it, and is a little crumbly rather than havin...	I think I am qualified to answer I think I am onto something because I am well read and quite experienced, although not in the specific ways some others on this site are.A few things stick out to me as contributing factors. No. 1 is the gentle reshape in the morning. Don’t do it. This is a degassing of the dough.Second...
Lost my spring.....overproofed? Hey, folks. Haven't posted much lately, but, of course, still baking away. Over the last few weeks, though, I seem to have lost my oven spring. I used to get really nice lift in the oven, great bloom, and wonderful ears on my bread. Now, using the same formula, ingredients, process, e...	What it used to look like Here's what my typical loaf has been pretty consistently until the last few weeks:
starter Hi thereI created a starter and it's been over a month since i started. it makes great bagels but my sd loaves have been gummy in spots especially towards the middle. i suspect my starter is weak. Any tips on how to make it stronger and more active? I've tried 1:1:1 feeds , then tried 1:2:2, and 1:2:1 feeds...	I thought the same of my own I thought the same of my own as in the past my starters have been strong enough to directly use half cup or a few spoons.The one I have now likes to be separated and fed in a different container with a pinch of some kind of sugar, covered with clingfilm and left somewhere warm. As well as d...
Newbie question about moving/disturbing starter Hello! I am brand new to sourdough baking and am working on establishing a starter. I feel like I have a general understanding of some of the basics, but I do have three questions that I would appreciate some help with. Thank you in advance! :)1. I feel very silly asking ...	1.) Moving your starter is 1.) Moving your starter is totally fine. Like you said, if you're rough with it it may de-gas it a bit, but it will be de-gassed when you work it into your dough anyway--gas in the starter is only a visual indicator of its activity, it isn't actually required for anything.2.) As above, gas is...
Good proofing but flat sourdough Could someone offer me advice on why my final,baked sourdough loaf is looking more like a frisbee than a nice loaf?im always getting a very good rise on both my first and second proofing, but the loaf deflates as soon as I score it and place it in the oven. Advice please?Olivia9801	One of this three things 1 overprooft2 to wet dough3 not enough strenght developed white final shaping.
Starter feeding ratio question I have been using a starter that was made from a cookbook and works great and is very active. I am interested in using and adapting it for other sourdough recipes. The recommended feeding regimen is 150 g starter fed with 250 g water and 250 g flour. The book states it’s ok to change ...	Alright, I'll try to answer Alright, I'll try to answer this the best I can.. (others here may know much more!)Let me draw a distinction that may clarify things for you:The hydration % of the starter is (just like baker's math for the dough) is the weight of water/weight of flour(s). You're correct in your thinking tha...
Wild Yeast Bread Wild Yeast from grapes. No need to make a yeast water. Very ciabatta like and looks delicious. https://youtu.be/RCe30pPVFmk	I've already made jelly from my wild grapes But there is a tree at the end of my street covered in crab apples for which I've been dying to find a use. This is the perfect excuse to grab a small bucket full and use the juice to make bread. I'm guessing that just about any acidic fruit known to have yeast on the skin wo...
No matter what I do, when I form a ball with my dough, the bottom of it opens up. Why? I honestly can't figure it out. When I form a ball to put it in the banneton, the seam just opens up and splays out. My breads still come out pretty good but I think this could lead to some improvement. It has led to some lopsided br...	What is the hydration. Sounds What is the hydration. Sounds a dry dough to me.
Still getting uneven big holes with dense crumb in between Sourdough #4 is probably the best so far, but I'm still getting large, uneven holes with fairly dense crumb in between.Here's the finished loaf - as you can see, the crust is great and the scores opened quite well, but the crumb is still uneven and dense and th...	proof Hard to know for certain, but something tells me the problem lies with your proof. When you scored the loaves, did they collapse a little? Are you familiar with how to check for level of proof with a floured finger?
6 hour ferment causing slack dough https://www.youtube.com/embed/RjSEPfOi80sI made a dough recently and ended up with a super slack dough, one that looks like aligot!Needless to say, I couldn't fix it short of adding more flour / gluten.Here's some details about the process:Dough was 20% whole wheat / 80% unbleached br...	too much levain and not enough salt. You over-fermented. Especially at 31 C.To end up with 500 g flour in your total dough, try:454 g flour, 92 g of 100% hydration levain. (454 + 46 = 500).Try 1.8% salt, to slow fermentation.Do not use any WW in your starter/levain, as that will speed things up.If you develop window...
Tartine Country Loaf - Sticky, flat and dense. Hi All,I've attempted the Tartine Country Loaf recipe a few times and my loafs have turned out ok. Not as much oven spring as I had hoped for and the crumb was a bit dense. I have modified the recipe a bit to try and remedy these problems, and it hasn't been going well. I'...	It has been my experience It has been my experience that the float test may be used inaccurately.I have observed many yeasts and starters sinking in water and return to the surface a few minutes later. At this point it has just started producing air enough to float itself. If it floats straight away I believe it is alr...
A lot of questions regarding the pan loaf sourdough bread ( tartine style) Hey everyone,I have a few questions that sprung from trying to make a pan loaf sourdough bread inspired by Tartine. Specifically, from the Tartine tester "DAVE" in the original book. (If you do not remember, there is a hilarious tester named Dav...	Two changes at one time? My suggestion? Change only one thing at a time or it may take longer to sort it out. My thoughts...use an even younger levain may get you more sour eventually. Less is more in that respect.First change? Raise the amount of levain. Then watch the dough.
spelt starter with strong white bread flour hi all,having issues with my sourdough and hopefully someone might be able to help.the dough loses its shape prior to baking and spreading out - I know how to tension the dough so dont think its technique as my normal yeasted loaves turn out very well.The crumb is also really...	spelt ferments fast for some reason the starch in spelt breaks down to sugar quickly. So in my view, it is a "sugary" flour. That may not be technically true, but that appears to be the effect.So what appears to be happening, is that the fermentation in the dough in running too quickly, getting out of hand.With all wh...
Long Bulk Fermentation in Fridge Has anyone done an extended bulk fermentation in their fridge? Is so did you stretch and fold before putting it in? After? If you did an extended bulk fermentation, did you still proof after dividing and shaping? Was your proof at room temp or back in the fridge? I know these are a bunc...	I’ve done it. I started with I’ve done it. I started with the techniques in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes per day, or whatever the name of that book is. I got into sourdough and figured out that fermentation goes on for several days in the fridge. Stretch and folds aren’t necessary for higher hydration doughs that are...
Using Peter Reinhart's formulas in Whole Grain Breads without dry instant yeast Hi! I have been using the recipes in Whole Grain Breads by Peter Reinhart and love the bread. The idea is that he makes a soaker and either a biga or a wild yeast starter for each loaf and then combines them with more flour and a lot of dr...	Use Active dry... " Anyway, I am having trouble getting instant yeast now so I was wondering how I should modify my procedure with his formulas?"I think Active Dry Yeast can be used if you first hydrate it well, and make sure it is well dispersed in the water, and in the dough.Fresh cake yeast can also be used, but I ...
Dough has holes My sourdough has these holes after overnight proofing. I think they are the result of low gluten development but I'm not sure.I've used this recipe: https://www.sourdoughandolives.com/recipe/easy-sourdough-rye-bread-recipe/The first couple of times I tried it I used white rye and strong white bread and ...	Rye has weak gluten, if any Rye has weak gluten, if any at all, as you already noticed yourself. Plus it contains something called pentosans, which form a gel when hydrated and are responsible for the stickiness of rye doughs.So these holes are certainly a result of the high rye percentage and they show there is certai...
ways to save money Hey there.I've made sourdough a couple times and love everything about it. But I've had to give up on my starter because it's too expensive for me to manage at the moment. I've got it at room temperature and feed it every day (I'm following Joshua Weissman's recipe), but the four different flours I b...	How much starter do you keep How much starter do you keep between bakes? I don't use mine all that often and keep only about a quarter of a cup (refrigerated). Doing that greatly reduces the amount of flour used for feeding. The only downside is that it takes a day or so longer to build the starter back up when you wis...
Panettone gluten breakdown For the first time in a looonnng time I got the dreaded cake batter during the second mix when adding the butter.was making a 6 batch after a very successful 3 batch last week using same process, no idea what may have caused this, the first dough was lovely and second was going good until ad...	Looks like a starter issue - Looks like a starter issue - if using one. Enjoy!
Sour Dough starter Hello everyoneSo Ive been trying to start a sour-dough starter and its going bad.It doubles in size in less then 24 hours. Smells funky, not like a normal starter should smell. Ive tried useing different brands of flour and still it did the same, all three times. Ive read that is might be bad bacteri...	you can start here https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/71293/many-different-ways-types-sourdough
No Bubbles in my Starter When I see the many queries in this forum on starter quality there is often an emphasis on judging a "ready to bake" starter by its by bubble-activity.The starter that I use is about two years old, and is refrigerated most of the time. Each week, I mix 60g of "old" starter" with 60g of water a...	If your starter has risen to If your starter has risen to more than double, it has bubbles in it. The bubbles are what cause the rise. Since you are using 50% WW flour, your starter might be thick enough that the bubbles can't rise to the surface quickly. So maybe you just aren't seeing them? Is your starter in a c...
Maintaining and fine tuning a starter So I've finally got my starter up and going. I've made a couple of recipes (no bread yet) and things are mostly great. I want to keep him at room temperature for at least 2 weeks until I'm sure he's truly stable before I try putting him in the fridge.Originally I expected to main...	Hey there, I had a ton of Hey there, I had a ton of trouble on my first time through trying to get a starter going. But have a great routine now with my white and WW starters. It sounds like your starter is very healthy (doubling in size). At this point I would think you can pivot to a mode that lines up with your...
Weird hole distribution in an arch Hello everyone, I made this loaf using a recipe I adapted from Codruta (codrudepaine.ro) which she adapted from Hamelman's Four Grain Levain.Don't understand why it rose this way, bellow is the recipes and steps. I baked it in a wood oven, maybe not the best even heat distribution. Ma...	20 gr sunflower seeds20 gr toasted ground walnuts Autolyse 30 minutesBulk fermentation 2hFinal proof: 3h
Tartine Basic Bread Hi there, I've been trying to make the Basic Country Loaf from the Tartine book. Before I moved I was coming pretty close to nailing it. Since the move, I'm having all kinds of trouble. Things seem to be fine until I try to score my bread, it often is sticky and so the scores don't really take. Then...	The only solution I can come The only solution I can come up with is kneading the dough more, or giving it more strength (more stretch & folds). If your dough is still sticky when it's time to score, that is a good sign the gluten network isn't tight enough.
Sourdough Bagels Hi there!Does anyone have a recipe for all sourdough bagels? I have no yeast at home. but I do have my sourdough starter! The couple ones that I've looked at online require a little bit of yeast... Thanks!Chloe	You can use only starter. The You can use only starter. The yeast in those recipes is most likely just a backup in case your starter is not that active and to give additional support. But I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work with only starter.
What factors lead to an open crumb? No matter how hard I try, I cant seem to get an open crumb. It's not terrible, and it is all uniform, but it's not super open like I see in a lot of pictures. I'm not even sure I'd like it as it seems like the holes would be horrible for spreading honey and butter, but I want to try ...	What kind of bread are you What kind of bread are you making? It'll be easier to discuss a particular recipe.
Help with the holes on between the crust and crumb New sourdough bread baker . 4 loafs down.My first one was flat , the second one was a hockey puck , the third one was decent and the fourth one has been the best of the lot .For the 3rd and 4th bake i used the fullproofbaking basic sourdough baking (https://www.youtu...	The crumb is pretty good for The crumb is pretty good for WW, you are not going to get a white bread-type open crumb. Bubbles comes from insufficient degassing and (may be) heavy-handed shaping.
Sourdough split not working I have been making sourdough for a few months now and am starting to get similar results and I am pleased with my crumb! Only thing is my loaves seem to spread from the score and heal rather than split - is this an issue? How can I fix it? One thing I suspect is I may be overpriofing the dou...	Possible Reason Could be many reasons (proofing, poor shaping, etc) but you would probably see the effects of this in other characteristics of your bake.If it's only the (poor?) split you are seeing it's probably because of your scoring technique. When this happens to me it is generally because I have the blade of my s...
STUNTED STARTER: Day 10, all is well....then it wasn't! Hi folks, my first time with a sourdough starter but my grandmother had one and I know the beauty of these little gems!First, there are as many opinions and formulas for sourdough starters as there are humans on this planet, so I started with one that seemed to be...	I had a similar experience to I had a similar experience to yours, where my starter had taken off, looked great for 2 days of 2x/day 1:5:5 feedings, then everything nearly stopped again. I was terrified I'd somehow undone all my hard work getting it going, but it bounced back relatively quickly. I think in my case it...
WHEN does starter go into pre-ferment been baking for a few years and still having trouble knowing the exact time to use starter to create pre-ferment. My sourdough starter is 50g existing starter + 50g rye four + 50 room temp water. It takes about 5 hours to peak. My question is ... am i mixing my pre-ferment at peak...	Levain / Pre-ferment / Starter In reality, these terms mean the same thing. The final build that has created the amount of starter for your baking that day is commonly called the levain. It's just that the starter has been developed over two or three "builds" to create the required quantity. You should always use a ful...
Overhydrating I was mixing up some dough earlier and misread the recipe and added 3 cups of water instead of the cup and a half it calls for. I mixed it up anyway and will use it but I think I might have to add more flour than the recipe calls for. It's got three of five cups in now with two to be added tomorrow. But I...	Just make sure You add the correct amount of salt to the additional flour you add. Now because you have played around with the recipe and corrected the hydration mistake then it's likely (I haven't seen the full recipe) that the starter/yeast is now off. So simply bulk ferment till ready and don't watch the clock. How ...
Sour Dough Bread Not Sour :-( Hello All -I am trying to bake my way through Nancy Silverton's Breads from the La Brea Bakery: Recipes for the Connoisseur this winter and started this weekend with the first recipe. I did not use Nancy's recipe for starter, I used King Arthur's starter that I purchased last winter. I ...	SD not S Hi, Alex. If you are using your starter just 2 hours after feeding it, this is too soon. You need to let it fully ripen. It should at least double in volume. To really develop flavor, you need a long fermentation. The amount of starter you use will also have an impact. (Hint: More is not necessarily better.) I...
Does my Starter need a Life Preserver? Hello Fresh Loafers,Newbie quarantine baker here. I have a small nameless starter that is almost a month old. I feed it twice/day - 1:1:1. It gets 10g APF and 10g Whole Wheat. My kitchen runs from 62-70 degrees and I give it filtered water that has been sitting out for days that...	Lets get you started Lets see if you can use your starter to make bread.Weigh your starter. Then put it in a straight-sided jar or glass or something.Put in the same weight of water, and the same weight of flour (That's what you meant by 1:1:1, right? Not a volume measurement but a weight measurement?)Mix it all up wit...
Discard recipes with more starter, less flour Now that I've finally got my starter all bubbly and happy, and I'm feeding it twice a day, I'm starting to accumulate a bit of discard, which I'm storing in the fridge. I know there are numerous recipes that will help me use this up, and I'm really not concerned about that...	I've made these about 5 times I've made these about 5 times, always a hit! I ordered muffin rings off of ebay, they makes the crumpets taller and less stuck-together. https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-crumpets-recipe
Can a dough proofer lower the temperature? I'm trying to decide if it's worth investing in one of these things. I live in Southern California where it's typically pretty warm year around...if anything, I'd need a device that can bring down the temperature. Can a dough proofer even do that?	Consider a wine cooler, if Consider a wine cooler, if you're trying to lower the temperature. A cheap one can do the job. For very fine control of the temperature, from room temperature down to the coldest the cooler can manage (45-50f), consider also getting an Inkbird temperature controller. The two together will ...
Tartine Baguettes - Tough Skin, too big! Hello!I've been baking the basic country loaf from Tartine every 3 days for nearly 2 months now. It's perfect every time, and I found that I prefer it a teeny bit less hydrated to get a taller loaf.Today, I tried their baguette for the second time (a month ago I used it to make...	Funny you mention this, I Funny you mention this, I just did the same more or less.in my case I took half the recipe and made three baguettes and they were still too big. I researched some more on this site afterwards and it looks like ~300g dough weight is the consensus I found for “Demi baguettes” around 16-17” long.
2nd rising We feed the potato flake sourdough starter, leave it out overnight. Then the next day we make our bread and let it rise in the oven, with the oven light on, overnight. It rises just fine, however, when we let put it in the pans for the 2nd rising, it does nothing and just lays there. When we cook it, it's...	Flat second proof Without more recipe details, it sounds to me like you are leaving your dough out at room temp for way too long. I am not familiar with a potato flake starter...sounds interesting! That being said, I would utilize the refrigerator for a large portion of your proof. The bulk ferment (first stage) at ...
Hydration level of potato flake starter? I've had a potato flake starter for over 10 years; the lady who gave it to me said it had been going since 1976. It makes a terrific nice sandwich-style loaf and pizza crust. Among other things I'd like to do with it, I'd like to branch out and make some crustier breads. But I n...	Hydration is usually Hydration is usually expressed as a ratio of weight, not volume. If you are feeding by volume your hydration is going to be a rough guess at best. But I see plenty of people who say they just feed by eye or by feel cuz they've been doing it so long they know what their starter should look/feel li...
Ken Forkish why so much levain? any suggestions for leftovers? Hey guys I just made my first Pain de Campagne, I went ahead and follow the recipe. I know have an enormous amount of leftover levain! Why did he ask us to make so much levain:100g levain + 400 g white flour + 100 grams whole wheat + 400 grams of water! = 1...	You shuld see his video. He take a small bit of the massive levain he made to make the bread and tosses the huge part in the trash calling it sent fuel. So he makes his bread with a small bit of spent fuel:-)People just ignore his crazy ideas about levain builds and build the exact amount they need instead. The othe...
1st ever loaf disaster!! Hi all, I'm new to baking and really want to bake good sourdough long term, so I just made my 1st would-be sourdough wholemeal loaf but when I do the poke test my finger just leaves a hole and doesn't bounce back at all.I think my starter was ok, it bubbled a bit but I put it somewhere warmer a...	Can you please give us the Can you please give us the ratios and process, so we know what could have been the issue?
Very stringy dough at first stretch & fold Attempting a "simple" sourdough bake. 5th ever try!Recipe:450 gr flour as: 354 gr AP flour 96 gr WW flour (ran out of AP - so made up the dif with WW310 gr water100 gr starter (50 gr water - 50 gr ap - has been used and fed a number of times)10 gr saltMixed flour & water;...	I believe this is normal, but I believe this is normal, but don't listen to me. I haven't baked my first loaf yet. I'm replying because I'm curious if it improved as you got further in the process as I expect is supposed to happen.

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

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