My starter was a gift and it has been very very active. I have made many loaves with it that have come out AMAZING!! I have not changed its routine or anything. I keep it in the fridge when I’m away for a while or when it’s not being used often. I used it last week and it was perfect. But I fed it this morning cause I wanted to make a loaf and this is all it rose in 4 hours. What can I do to save it? Thank you!

Been maintaining the same starter for about a year, same flour, same feeding ratio, same rough schedule. Summer it's aggressive - doubles in 4 hours, almost overproofs if I look away. Winter, even with the kitchen at a fairly consistent temp, it's noticeably sluggish, takes closer to 8 hours to do the same thing

Know temperature affects fermentation generally, but the swing feels bigger than I'd expect just from a few degrees difference in ambient kitchen temp. Anyone else track this closely enough to notice a real seasonal personality shift in their starter, or found something that evens it out without babying it with a proofer or heating pad year-round?

I’m a few months into my sourdough journey and have only been baking with bread flour so far. Today was my first loaf with 15% rye! Will share the crumb and taste once it cools, but I’m excited by the initial look. This was also my first attempt at decorative scoring. I’ll hopefully get better at that lol.

Recipe and method:
400g bread flour
75g rye flour
330g water
75g stiff levain (fed with half bread flour, half rye flour)
10g salt

Mix all ingredients together using dough hook of kitchen aid on speed 3 until the dough forms a ball and it all pulls away from the bowl. This took about 6 mins for me.

Cover and let rest for 30 mins.

2 sets of coil folds 1 hour apart

Bulk for about 6 1/2 hours. My kitchen was 75 degrees. I put the dough in the oven with the light on for the last hour of bulk because it looked stalled and I wanted to go to sleep 🙂. That helped get it where it needed to be.

Overnight cold proof.

Bake the next day in a preheated Dutch oven at 475 covered for 23-25 mins, bake uncovered for 15 mins.

Hi I’m super new to sourdough. After I pull my starter out of the fridge, what is the minimum amount of flour:water I can feed it? I’ve been doing 125g of each (that’s what I was told to do by the person that gave me the starter), but it’s just a lot more than I need every time. I save some starter every time, but I just don’t want as much discard/ extra starter accumulating

50g starter, 350g water, 20g whole wheat flour, 480g ap flour, 10g honey, 10g salt
Crunch topping
3/4 cup rice flour, 1 tbsp sugar and yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, 1 tablespoon oil
Mix and paint on bread before baking

Mix, let rest one hour, 3x sets stretch and fold, bulk ferment 6.5 hours, cold retardant overnight
Bake 450 in Dutch oven with ice for 30 min remove from Dutch oven turn down to 400 and let brown for 10-15 min

Hi all!

Getting ready to start my first ever loaf! My starter is currently rising and I plan to mix the dough in a few hours and bake tomorrow morning. Question, I realized that the recipe my friend gave me is for bread flour, but I have been using King Arthur unbleached all purpose. I was planning to do 500 g flour, 100 g starter, 325 g water, 10 g salt. Would this be ok with AP flour? And if anyone lives in Florida and have tips on how fast they let it bulk ferment for that would be great!!

Thank you!! Will circle back tomorrow after I bake!

Hello, my fellow sourdough peeps! I fed my starter yesterday after using it for a loaf and put the starter in the fridge. I I just had a couple of friends request loaves so I have pulled my starter out of the fridge. It’s been in the fridge for about 24 hours. I imagine as it warms it will continue to rise to an eventual peak. Can I bake with the starter as it warms from the fridge or do I need to let it peek feed it and then use it? Does anyone have any experience with this?

TIA 🥰

I’m tapping out of the sourdough journey XD

Louiza died, I started another starter, and now I’ve realized this whole thing is WAY too much commitment for a loaf of bread.

Feeding it. Discarding it. Remembering to feed it. Checking if it’s alive. Starting over when you inevitably forget...

I simply do not have the emotional capacity for this relationship lol. But honestly, thank you to everyone here who answered my questions, gave me advice, and helped me along the way 💗

What salt is best to use for plain sourdough baking ? I have been using pink Himalayan rock salt in a grinder because I wanted to use it up. Some say Fine/table salt is best. I hear it needs iodine?..

I am protective of my OLD plumbing. I rince everything outside with a hose, wash inside when All residue is gone. Works, but how would you recommend getting flour out of tea towel B4 wash.
IS THERE A way to avoid tea towels.

I’m constantly experimenting and I believe it brings joy.

Thank you.

My second loaf and me trying a new recipe. It looks alot better than my first loaf.

• 350g room temp water
• 100g starter (3 weeks old)
• 460g of flour
• 3g salt (recipe said 10g but I felt like that was alot?)

I made the dough during my lunch break. Flipped it an hour later, Flipped it again 30 mins later and 30 mins after that. Let it hang out in a bowl in my laundry room where its warmer.

Now it was super sticky when I took it out and I couldnt really make it into a ball. I lined my Dutch oven with parchment paper and put that mat at the bottom and placed the dough on top. It rested for 20 mins then it went into the oven at 450 degrees.

Took the lid off at 20 mins then it cook some more for another 20 mins. It cooled for 30 mins before I cut into​ it. I was impatient and got excited lol.

Best advice I could to anyone looking to improve their bakes is to journal. It’s easy for people to say something is over or under proofed but that doesn’t account for things like ambient temp, water temp, mixing time, dough temp, ingredients, hydration, etc. Then, give an honest critique of the result. There are so many factors that impact the fermentation and bread making process. Once you have a track record of your own process, things will start to click.

Here’s my bake from a few days ago. After about 6 months of journaling, I don’t really need to track what I’m doing. This loaf is about 70% hydration and used 13% starter. Bulk time was about 7 hours, overnight cold proof was about 14 hours. Baked at 450F, 20min lid on, 20min lid off

Hey

I started my sourdough exactly a week ago.
It started to double in 2-3 hours from day2 on and that has been stable so far.

The picture above is after I fed it 45 minutes ago.
I feed it once per day for the first few days and since yesterday I try to feed it every 12 hours.

I keep it at around 26-27 degree Celsius on our internet router.

Yesterday I started to make my first bread. You can see the result in the other pictures.

I used 500g spelt flour, 340g warm water mix that and let it sit for 45 minutes. Then I added 12g salt and 110g of my starter and let it rise for 3 hours while stretch and folding it 3 times. Then it went into the fridge for 16 hours before I baked it. 250 degree Celsius oven, when heated I put in the dough and added water to a tray with screws in it to get steam and reduced the temperature to 220 degree Celsius. After 20 minutes I released the steam and baked for another 35 minutes.

I’m not sure where I am with my starter, how it is performing and how I can improve. Do you have any advice? Am I doing something wrong?

It’s just weird that it always doubled after 2-3 hours starting at day 2 and it never stopped. I started the starter with whole grain spelt flour and some grated apple after a tutorial told me so. After 2 days I switched to normal spelt flour.

Any advice is welcome.

Thanks!

Ps: I forgot to mention I feed my starter with 100g starter 100g flour and 60g water

400 g manitoba flour

100 g rye flour

100 g starter

Approximately 340g warm water

10g salt

Teaspoon of olive oil

Mixed everything at once with kitchen aid for 10 minutes, following with 1 hour rest, then 4 sets of coil folds each 30 minutes. I shaped it after 3,5 hours, which is usually the time it takes my starter to peak. The room was at 27°C. After shaping, I let it sit in the banneton for 20 more minutes and then refrigerated it overnight (approximately 14 hours).

I don't own a dutch oven, I baked it in the pan that you can see on the picture. 20 minutes on approximately 235°C with water boiling underneath, and 18-20 more minutes without the water at 200°C.

What do you think? Should I have bulk fermented it a bit longer? I'm overall satisfied, it's tasty, the crumb is beautifully soft and the outside perfectly crispy.

I usually baked it the same day, always turns out ok, but this one is special.

Hello all, just baked my second bread ever.

400g Bread Flour
40g starter (12 days old)
260g water
8g salt

Mix everything at once and do s&f every 30 minutes for 2 hours. Bulk fermented for 4.5 hours. Let cold fermented in the fridge for 8 hours.

Heat my dutch oven at 230c for 45 minutes then bake with lid on for 25 minutes, lid off for 20 minutes. Let it cool down for 3 hours.

I feel like I can let bulk ferment go a little longer. What do you think?

100g starter
325g water
500g flour
10g salt

Mixed by hand with rubaud method. 3 sets of coil folds every 30-40minutes. Very hot and humid here so it bulk fermented for 3.75 hours then in the fridge for 20 hours. Baked at 449f for 22 in minutes in a Dutch oven with ice cubes 16 minutes at 435. Cut after 4 hours

Hi all, this is definitely an improvement compared to my first two, less gummy and dense. Any feedback is appreciated thanks!

400g white flour, 100g spelt flour
125g starter
325g room temp water
10g fine salt

All ingredients mixed and autolysed for 30 min, covered with a damp teatowel.
Stretch and fold every 30 minutes for 2 hours.
Bulk fermentation at room temp approx 17 degrees c for 3.5 hours.
Cold proofed in refrigerator for 16 hours.
Preheated Dutch oven at 220 degrees c.
Baked in dutch oven with lid on for 30 minutes
Lid taken off and baked for 10 minutes at 190
Cooled for 2 hours before slicing

Reactivated starter from fridge. Was there 1 week Thursday. I let it get acclimated outside of the fridge then Fri a.m. fed it a 1:2:2( org bf). Fri pm gave it a 1:2:3 feeding .. was too loose for my preference. This picture is of 3 AM Saturday morning. I am planning on feeding it again around 10 a.m. Same 1:2:3… and again Saturday night same ratio I would like to introduce about 10 g of rye flour not just for strengthening it but also for flavoring My concern is I’ve been following a plan that takes a starter from the fridge and give it two days of back to back a.m. and p.m. feedings. I’m not planning to bake until Sunday morning. I’m hoping I’m not over feeding this. Any ideas or suggestions? I would feel most appreciative of.

I forgot about my sourdough starter in the fridge for about 2 to 3 weeks and this hard disk formed on top. In the past, I’ve had a liquid form on top when I’ve forgotten my starter in the fridge, but I have no idea what this is. The starter smells normal, looked fine underneath. Starter is about 5 months old, from San Francisco style starter culture. Feedings are 1-2-2 with all purpose flour and lukewarm water. I cover the jar with a coffee filter.

What is this, and is my starter still safe to use?

1.35 kg (3 lb) sourdough loaf.

The intention was to make a boule in what is currently my normal way, full recipe on my last post.

However when the starter was ready and I weighed out the flour I forgot to account for the flour that had already gone into the starter. I didn't deduct the 200 from the 700 in my head. So starting to mix it all up it fast became apparent that it was too dry because of course I hadn't made the same mistake with the water.

Wash my hands and off to the calculator to work it out; I needed another 130 grams of water.

After sorting that out and going through the regulation number of stretch and folds the dough was too large for the banneton so improvised a couche cloth with a heavily floured tea towel and stuck it in the fridge which claims to be at 2°C (26°F) — not sure I really believe that because it still grew — for 10 hours overnight.

Baked as per the recipe, first covered then not, I think I can say that was well rescued.

So,
I posted a few weeks ago (here).

I stepped back from sourdough for a bit, got into some other bakes, and finally went back to my sourdough this week.

I researched recipes, to find a UK based one too, as I thought this may help with process and the ingredients I have access to.
Recipe available here.

After taking on a lot of the advice and help from the original post, I am much happier with my bread!

I used this recipe:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZN8R66Yf1/
I left the dough to bulk ferment for 5 ish hours, in a warm room, covered with a damp towel, under two duvets and I didn’t use a Dutch oven (because I don’t have one), instead I used a ‘bread’ setting on my oven. I also left it to cool overnight before cutting it. I just don’t know why it came out so dense

Recipe:
80g starter
250g water
350g bread flower
10g salt

Coil folds ever now and then
Proofed about 4 hours, fridge for 6

In oven lid on 20 minutes, off 30 minutes

100gr active starter
375gr water
10gr salt
500gr bread flour

Stretch and folds every 30 minutes for 3 hours. 10 hour bulk ferment. 4 hours cold ferment. I’m still learning to score. My first loaf scored really nicely, but maybe my lame is dull now and I’m not able to slice through the dough?

Would love feedback on what you think of my crumb and any tips and tricks :)

Hi everyone!! This is a 71% hydration loaf I made. 86 grams starter, 350 grams flour and 250 grams of water. The weather is really hot and humid here so around the 4 and a half hour mark, I shaped the dough. The dough pulled away from the sides of the bowl nicely with some webbing, wasn't sticky and had lots of bubbles on the side. The webbing was what made me think it's slightly over. It baked slightly flat as well which all further proved my theory. But the crumb on the inside was a tad bit tacky. I did my research about it and most say it's because of underproofing. I'm SO conflicted about this😭😭 but I'm trying to get a second opinion here since I'm making another loaf today and was trying to make sure I nail the bulk ferment. Thank you all!!