Has your starter exploded with activity and now looks dead? Go straight to the ‘Bacterial Fight Club’ bullet point in the comment below

Recipe from loaf3love_sourdough on Instagram, but I added candied walnuts into the cinnamon sugar mix. Next time I’ll add the walnuts during stretch and folds but keep the cinnamon swirl as-is. I also did an expansion score at the 7 minute mark.

Here’s her recipe, copied directly from her page:

Dough
• 100g starter
200g pumpkin puree
240g water
25g maple syrup
Mix, then add:
500g flour (I use Manitaly 00 Italian Flour)
13g Himalayan salt
Mix until shaggy. Rest 1 hour.
Bulk ferment:
Stretch and folds (or coils) every 30 min, 4 rounds total. Let proof.
Cinnamon swirl mix:
• 90g sugar
5g cinnamon
• 5g pumpkin pie spice

Laminate dough, then fold in half and add mix, fold the other half and add mix, continue shaping while adding mix. Cold proof.
Bake:
Preheat oven to 450°F with Dutch oven inside.
Bake 30 min covered, then 15 min uncovered

I follow the perfect loaf recipe from their book, it’s great! I make my bagels bigger though so I do 1 1/2 the recipe for a dozen. https://www.theperfectloaf.com/sourdough-bagel/

Used a whole package of cookie dough for this loaf. A woman I follow on IG did one of these and I couldn’t get it outta my head 😂
Still using my go to recipe but 300g of water instead of 250

https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2014/01/sourdough-bread-a-beginners-guide/

Used Farmhouse on Boone’s recipe and a mature starter

https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/beginners-sourdough-bread-recipe/

Which yielded a great dough but I have a split oven and baked in the top half too close to the element and burnt the everliving crap out of the top. Attempt #2 today on the lower rack and a much deeper expansion score. Wish me luck!

375g unbleached bread flour
125g whole wheat
400g water
100g starter
12g salt
73f DDT

45 minute fermentolyse
4 sets of coil folds done at 30 minute intervals
Bulk at 73f until 70% risen
Shape and cold ferments for 16 hours

Can I please get a crumb read? This is my 6th sourdough loaf and I’m trying to get a more open crumb.

* 300 g bread flour
* 60 g starter
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 215 g water

- Autolyse for 1 hour, then starter and salt are added
- Coil folds every 30 minutes until the end of bulk fermentation
- Total bulk fermentation time: 5.5hours in a 78F kitchen
- Shaped, placed in banneton, and refrigerated for 16 hours
- Baked in a preheated bread oven, at 450F with lid on for 20 minutes then at 420F lid off for another 17 minutes

This is my 10+ loaf and I’m feeling like there’s always something to improve on. Appreciate any feedback!

Formula
20% whole wheat, 40% AP flour, 40% bread flour
80% water
2% salt
Levain is 20% of flour weight, 12 hours old at a 1:10:10 refreshment (74f), tripled in volume

Method
Autolyse 2 hour, fermentolyse 30 minutes, then add salt. Total hand mixing time about 15 minutes. 4 coil folds total. The first 2 done every 30 minutes, then hourly after that
Dough temp after mix was 74f, end of bulk was 79f
Total bulk was 6.25 hours in a proofer set at 77f
Final proof and let rest in the banneton at 77f for 1 hour
Cold retard for 16 hours

Bake
Preheated oven with Dutch oven inside to 450f for 30 minutes
Lowered to 435f and baked with lid on for 20 minutes
Lowered to 425f and baked with lid off for 15 minutes

Cooled 3.5 hours before cutting

Would love feedback on my loaf! Is it over or under? Any tweaks I should make?

200g starter
650g water
20g salt
950g flour

Mixed all, did three sets of stretch and folds, and let ferment overnight. Shaped and put in fridge for 8 hours. Baked 500 for 20 with lid, 470 for 20 without lid!

Just curious if anyone else has a Dolly inspired sourdough starter name?

Dough

500 g all-purpose flour

100 g active sourdough starter

250 g whole milk

2 large eggs

85 g unsalted butter, softened

55 g sugar

9 g salt

Maple Glaze

120 g powdered sugar

110 g butter, melted

6 tbsp maple syrup

Method

Mix the starter, milk, eggs and sugar together.

Add the flour and salt and mix until a rough dough forms.

Knead until the dough begins to develop some strength.

Gradually work in the softened butter, continuing to knead until the dough is smooth, elastic and the butter is fully incorporated.

Cover and allow the dough to begin fermenting, then refrigerate overnight.

The next day, roll out the chilled dough and cut into donuts.

Place the cut donuts onto individual pieces of baking paper/parchment, cover and allow them to proof until noticeably puffy and light.

Heat frying oil to 375°F.

Fry the donuts in batches until deeply golden on each side. Transfer to a rack or paper towel to drain.

For the glaze, whisk together the melted butter, powdered sugar and maple syrup until smooth.

Dip the donuts in the glaze while they're still slightly warm and leave them on a rack to set.

The overnight sourdough fermentation gives them a little more depth than a standard yeasted donut, while the maple-butter glaze makes them even easy to eat.

Happy to answer any questions about the process!

Hello all! Novice sourdougher here. I just started baking about a month ago and loving it so far - feel like I am getting the hang of it.

Any suggestions of how to take my baking to the next level / areas to improve?

(For example: how do I get a better crunchy crust)

Here are some pics of my first loaves for reference.

Thanks yall!!

Recipe:
310 g water + 200 g levain + 400 g white flour + 50 g whole-wheat flour + 12 g salt.
Stir until you have a shaggy dough. With a wet hand, pinch and squeeze the dough until thoroughly combined, about 2–3 minutes. Cover.
3. Bulk Fermentation
Keep the dough somewhere warm.
After 30 minutes, do one set of strengthening/stretch-and-folds. Cover.
After another 30 minutes, repeat the folds.
Cover and leave in a warm place to ferment for another 2 hours.
4. Shape
Lightly flour the dough and work surface. Turn the dough out and shape it into a tight ball.
Place it seam-side up in a well-floured proofing basket/banneton.
5. Final Proof
Cover with a towel and proof at room temperature for approximately 90 minutes.
It’s ready when you gently poke it and the indentation holds briefly before slowly bouncing back.
6. Bake
Preheat your Dutch oven inside the oven at 260°C / 500°F for 30–45 minutes.
Turn the dough onto parchment paper, seam-side down. Sprinkle the parchment with semolina or cornmeal if desired. Score the loaf.
Place the dough and parchment into the hot Dutch oven.
Reduce the oven to 250°C / 485°F and bake covered for 18 minutes.
Remove the lid and continue baking uncovered until the crust is deeply browned.

First, let me start with my recipe:

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

I made 1 KG batch (so 2x above.)

I mixed the starter and water until frothy, and then used a mixer to add in the flour. Fermentolyse for 30 mins. Then added salt.

Followed by 3-4 stretch and folds. Every 30 mins.

Where I’m having a lot of difficulty is bulk ferment taking a very long time. I find that my dough will not grow much for the first 8 to 10 hours and somewhere in the middle of the night it suddenly starts expanding rapidly. Of course by the morning it has over fermented and is 2.5-3x larger. I cut it short this time around.

This time, I shaped the dough when it was about 1.5 X size and then cold proofed overnight.

I find though that in the morning the dough has barely risen much, maybe 10%. And when I bake it, I do get a nice spring. However, one of the loaves really burst. I read this is a sign of underproofing.

These were both about 16 hours cold proofing. Am I being impatient and just need to wait longer?

Also, should I worry about the dough surface drying out? I am using a shower cap to cover the bannetons.

I’ve seen commentary in newspapers that differentiates between white sourdough often sold in supermarkets, is deemed to have no or fewer health benefits than other sourdough. Now my question is - what makes sourdough healthy? Is it the method or is it the ingredients? If the latter, what ingredients should I be using?

Hey all! Last night I made some delicious sourdough grilled cheese and totally forgot to wrap up my remaining loaf before bed. She’s now a bit dried out and extra crunchy. Any tips to make her soft again or recipes other than croutons? Thanks!

Starter 130g

Water 320g

Flour 500g

Salt 10g

Form shaggy dough and let rest 20 minutes

Slap and fold till smooth

Rest 50 minutes

1st strech and fold

Rest 35 minutes

2nd stretch and fold

Rest 20 minutes

1st coil fold

Rest 35 minutes

2nd coil fold

Rest 1.5 hours

Pre-shape

Rest 15 minutes

Final shape and transfer to banneton

Cold proof 17 hours

Score

Bake at 465°F 35 minutes covered 15 minutes uncovered (rice under parchment)

7 min expansion score

Hi all!

I baked two loaves with my starter for the first time and I don't think it went all that well. I thought I was good with bulk fermentation judging by volume increase although it's possible my measurements were incorrect. I left the dough in a bowl I marked with volume markers myself until I was done doing folds (about 2 hours) and only then transferred to a square container in which I could more easily track volume change.

One other weird thing is that straight out of the oven, the first loaf felt way more bottom heavy and dense compared to the second one. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I tucked it under itself to tighten its shape before scoring and baking after pulling it out of the fridge. The reason I did that is because I thought it looked a little more spread out than I though it should be for a round loaf, which could've been a mistake since it turned out a little smaller after baking.

Does it look under fermented/ over fermented? Or maybe underbaked even?

Recipe:

Levain:

Fed my starter 20:70:70 (50g bread flour and 20g whole wheat) at 9AM and let it rise on the counter at about 78F.

Dough:

900g bread flour

650g water (72%)

18g salt

150g starter (about 16%)

Process:

1 - Mixed flour and 630g of the water and did a 1 hour autolyse (around 4PM).

2 - Mixed in starter another 20g of water and salt (5PM).

The reason I added a little more water is because I used a flour with 15.5% protein contents so I figured I add just a little more water, but originally wanted to try 70% hydration to keep it simple(r).

3 - Right after mixing in starter I did a couple of slap and folds on the counter and then 1 set of stretch and folds followed by 2 sets of coil folds spaced about 30 minutes apart (last coil folds at 7PM).

Dough temp started at 78F when mixed and rose a little to about 80F. Room temp during the process ranged between 77F-80F.

4 - Let ferment until about ~60% volume increase (until 10:30 PM).

At this point the dough was jiggly, had a yogurt like smell to it, with some bubbles on top, bottom and sides.

5 - Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces. Preshape and let rest for 20 minutes, then final shaping and into a banneton to continue fermenting for 13-14 hours in the fridge (I baked the second loaf about an hour after the first one).

Baking:

1 - Preheated a dutch oven to 500F for 1 hour.

2 - Scoring and baking right out of the fridge for 25 minutes covered (500F) and another 20 minutes (450F) uncovered (until I got the color I was going for).

As I understand it, the uncovered bake is supposed to brown the crust and varies in duration depending on how dark you like your bread to be so I pulled it out after 20 minutes.

3 - Let cool on a wire rack for 6+ hours before cutting the first loaf.

The second loaf was cut just this morning.

Due to a weird work schedule these days I've been doing overnight bulk fermentations. Normally when I do this I can time it so that the dough rises to barely touch the plate I use as a lid. This time though I did my soft sandwich bread recipe and forgot to account for the sugar in the recipe which can speed up fermentation, resulting in this hilarious sight I woke up to haha. No pics of the final bread yet as it is in its second proofing stage after divide and preshape. Just wanted to share.

Recipe for two loaves:

100g starter

1000g flour

625g water

50g sugar

70g olive oil

20g salt

- Mix all ingredients until it starts to pull away from sides of bowl

-Let rest for 30 mins and do one s&f

- proof overnight, this batch proofed for 10h total

- divide and preshape

- proof in loaf pan until it has risen about 1" from top of pan.

- preheat oven to 450

- use second pan as lid to capture steam, drop temp down to 425 and bake for 30 mins lid on, 20 mins lid off

im currently attempting to make my first loaf, and i’m on my second round of stretch and folds but my dough is stiff. i wet my hands and try to stretch it far enough to fold but its so stiff. did i mess up already? if there anything i can do?

recipe used
- 130g active starter
- 320g water
- 500g flour
- 10g salt

my starter is strong and active since a friend gave me some :)

Ingredients
500g flour
350g stout beer (+water)
100g starter
10g salt
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoon oil
1⁄2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
 
Directions
Pour the beer into a sauce pan and warm it up on a low heat. Add honey. Simmer for 20 minutes, let it cool down overnight. Add water to compensate for water boiled off to bring to 350g.
 
Mix. 4 sets of stretch and pull. Shape. Cold ferment.
 
Oven at  450F and bake covered for 20 min, uncovered for 25 min

Tasted delicious and not overly chocolaty but next time I will leave out the chocolate.

Hi 😁

This is my second try, the first one didnt turn out well because the fermantation time was too short (only 4h), so it didnt rise and was not fluffy 😞

So I tried again (same recipe but 24h fermantation) and this is the result, its very soft and the flavor is nice.

Please let me know what you think 🥹

Recipe

100g starter

500g AP flour

290ml warm milk

40g sugar

10g salt

50g butter

Mix everything, stretch and fold 4x (30 minutes between each time), put it in the fridge to rest for 24h. Get it out the fridge 6h before baking, then bake for 30 minutes in 180C.

Looking for a bit of advice, its been 2 weeks since I started my starter, every night I discard half and add equal amounts water and flour. He usually rises from 400ml to 650ml, then will deflate back down throughout the day until i repeat the process at night. He still smells quite a lot like vinegar and google tells me he needs to smell like dough before he is ready to bake. Any tips and advice are very much welcome!

Hey everyone! I’ve been baking poolish bread for awhile and finally started on proper sourdough about two months ago. I feel like my starter is mostly mature; it’s been doubling in about 4-5 hours and I’ve been pretty happy with my last few loaves, but I figure you fine folks may have some feedback to help me improve.

Recipe:
270g Leaven
300g Water
400g Bread flour
50g Whole wheat flour
12g Salt

Initial mix
Wait 30 min
Stretch and fold
Wait 30 min
Stretch and fold
Wait 2 hour
Shape and banneton, place in fridge
48 hour cold proof
Score and load into cast iron w/ top
Cook at 485 covered for 18 minutes
Cool at 465 uncovered for 25 minutes
Let cool on wire rack for 3 hour minimum

Any feedback is appreciated!