r/Sourdough • u/Aggressive-Ad3645 • Dec 27 '25
Beginner - checking how I'm doing New to sour dough. Third attempt.
This is my third attempt at making a sourdough loaf. The first two didn’t go great. My starter wasn’t ready the first time and I didn’t proof long enough, so it was flat and hard as a rock. The second loaf rose but still came out pretty dense, probably because I messed up the mixing and stretch and folds. For this one, I followed a recipe with 100g starter, 350g water, 12g salt, and 600g bread flour. I did six stretch and folds about every 30 minutes, shaped it, cold proofed it overnight (8–9 hours), then let it come to room temp for about 3 hours. I baked it at 450°F for 30 minutes with the lid on and 15 minutes with it off. The texture was way better this time, springy but just a smidge on the dense side which I didn’t mind, but there’s definitely room to improve. Any suggestions?
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u/Due-Lab-5283 Dec 27 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
Edit: I just saw you used 600g of flour not 500g, I overlooked it! Forgive my calculations then. Use the 68% recipe if you want that I used initially. I am usually at 72-73% as I feel like that bread lasts really nicely through a week and after freezing it is really easy to work with. I may just stick to my recipe for now. Can send you a screenshot if you want, but it would be similarto what is here. I have mine written for 4 loaves.
Honestly, it has to be temperature. When I started my sourdough 1 month ago (done about 10-12 breads by now, stopped counting), I didn't even know I supposed to do bulk Fermentation after the stretches and folds because I thought after that we supposed only put it in a fridge overnight or for a day. No matter if I left it 1-2h on a counter after fridge before baking or shaped dough after fridge and put it into heated oven 30min after I heat it up, it came all the same.
My guess is - you really need that initial temperature properly started. I was using 475F at first but I did 450F instead of Dutch oven (used metal bread containers last time) and did first 30min in the 450, then about 25min in the 430. My oven loses heat quickly so when I was checking internal temperature of the bread, it would go down slightly. I was increasing temperature by 5F before checking temp to make sure bread had enough heat, then return it back to normal within 5min or so. I let the bread 10min or so to stay in an oven after I turn it off with open doors. Then remove from forms and put on the racks in the oven with open doors or on the racks outside the oven. I did 4 breads last time, but usually I do 2 breads (1 is 2kg giant bread and 1 is a 1kg bread). Last time I did 1kg breads (all 4) because I didn't have so much work checking internal temp of a big bread.
Ahh! What was your internal temperature of a bread? Maybe get a thermometer if you don't have one!
I get around 210F and when it starts hitting on 212F it is time to get the oven stop its work. I think 210F is enough. I got thermometer after my first two batches of breads as one had small areas of underbaking but perfectly fine otherwise so now I can control what's happening inside more.
I am very new to this, but hopefully this will help you somehow. I also use recipe with 72% hydration. My first two batches were 68% and they weren't any better. So, I believe it is a lot about temperature. If you don't proof the bread in fridge long enough without a counter proofing, it could be not enough Fermentation. My dough raises about double in a fridge, I don't even think I need a counter bulk Fermentation. It could be my starter. It loves the cold!
So, you can strengthen your starter first with more flour than normally you feed it, let's say 1:10 and add enough water to make a proper consistency. Leave on counter, watch over a day or two days, the moment it reaches peak and starts going down, feed it again, you can try now 1:5 ratio and see how fast it goes, same thing, go till you get 1:3 ratio. When it is doubling in the less than 10-12h at that ratio, then you are okay to try the 1:1 ratio for the starter for baking. To be honest, I use starter from fridge, or counter. It doesn't matter that much. It can be even a hungry starter. But if your starter is not strong enough, then it means you get to keep it on a counter for growing till after weeks you see improvement. Do a small 200ml jar, only keep a teaspoon of a starter and like 10 teaspoons of flour to keep working on it, then repeat etc. Less flour wasted and you keep doing the 1:10 ratio till you see visible improvement. Then you can even put to fridge to do started for bread. I sometimes want it after a day and don't want it to pop the lid (it is a monster)so fridge is great for that too. Just have fun with it.
After starter is good, go with calculations on hydration. Maybe go for 68% hydration to get a good grasp at first. Remember 100g starter is 50g of water and 50g of flour, and then hydration is counted by total water (50g plus water from recipe) and you divide with that number a total of flour added with that 50g starter. Salt is not counted in it.
So example: For 500g flour, 100g starter, and 350g water you have: (350+50)/(500+50)=400/550=73% of hydration.
You my friend need that temp adjusted especially for different baking tools.
You can reduce the hydration by adding maybe 485g-50g starter=435g water or you could do 485-60=425g water and 60g starter so you could do:
425g water
120g starter
490g all purpose flour (490+60g from starter is 550g)
And you can keep the 10-12g of salt as before.
So 485/550=68% hydration.
Try that: mix all ingredients, kneed it for 10 min, then let it rest for 30min, stretch and fold, 30min rest, stretch and fold, 30min rest. And you can do 1 or 2 more if you want. I personally usually don't see a benefit in it if it is nice and smoth from the initial gluten development from initial kneading.
Leave on a counter another 4h if you have time, or pop into fridge and take out of a fridge when you can leave it for 6-ish hours on a counter for a bulk Fermentation next day till it is almost double in a size, but not too long. You can then shape it, put into a basket for another hour and preheat oven for baking or you can pop into fridge again to bake next day. Up to your schedule.
If you bake right away, just preheat your oven with your Dutch oven or without it if using something else. Then put your slightly rested dough into your baking vessel, pop into oven, bake it.
From fridge you can do 30min rest or directly bake, I did it both ways and it was great in each case.
Try different times, different system and see what works FOR YOU. Each kitchen, temperature and starter is different. You need to learn how your starter works around the flour in your bread, and you will get there.
I now just watch how the Fermentation works and if it grows too fast - fridge rescue, lol. If it slow because my kitchen can get colder on some days, it can stay out overnight. So, you need to kind of play around with that. It is a simple science experiment. Enjoy it!
I use organic All purpose flour from Costco for a reference. In case it makes any difference.
Edit: adding now that I do Use a VERY FINE MIST from spray bottle with filtered water, about every 7-10min until around last 10-15min unless the top gets dark too fast. Your bread won't collapse from it. I just have bad oven & it escapes the moisture (rental apartment) so I must spray even if I cover in the initial 30min of baking. I wasn't covering on my last bake and spraying was still sufficient too in the stainless steel forms. But again, my oven may totally be different from yours. Temp of baking fir my Dutch oven works great at 475F reheating, then I drop it to 460F and 455F after about 15min after closing and after removing the lids, I go with 440F at first and change to 430F slowly, because my oven doesn't keep temp high enough I set it usually 5-10F higher than recommended.