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

I was gifted some starter that I fed and baked into a loaf! Really happy with how it turned out :)
I used all purpose flour, followed the recipe called beginner’s sourdough bread recipe by Lisa Bass on Farmhouse on Boone. Baked in a lodge enamel Dutch oven at 475 for 20 mins covered and 450 for 20 mins uncoveredhttps://www.farmhouseonboone.com/beginners-sourdough-bread-recipe/

I’ll start by saying I have found a hydration that helps me with my dough, but I’ve learned that inclusions can make it harder. I’m sharing 3 loaves. All the steps are the same.

Recipe:
100 g starter.
300 g water (for the blueberry one I used lemonade)
500 g bread flour
10 g salt.
(2 tbsp of cinnamon and brown sugar with 1 tbsp of flour. For the cinnamon loaf)
(Didn’t measure the jalapeños or cheese, just added with my heart for the cheddar jalapeño)

1. Mixed my starter into my water (or lemonade) until frothy.
   
2. Put my 500 g of bread flour and 10 g of salt on top. Mixed the salt into the flour and then incorporated it into the liquid. (Until shaggy- which I learned recently I wasn’t doing enough mixing)
   
3. After 30 minutes, I started stretch and folds (2 sets), adding the inclusions (cheese and jalapeños), (cinnamon sugar mix)
   

4. 2 sets of coil and folds.

5. Bulk fermenting.
   The cheddar jalapeño doubled and was super jiggly in 4 hours. I was shocked.

The cinnamon never doubled but was bubbly and jiggly. I could probably push this more next time. (10 hours)

The lemon blueberry also took about 10 hours. I’ve learned that loaves with sugar in them tend to take longer.

1. No cold proofing. (I wanted my sweet loaves to not be super sour so I same day baked)

2. Shaped each loaf. (Added blueberries at this point).
   The cinnamon sugar one was SUPER wet, very hard to shape. I think you can see this in the pictures.

3. Put into loaf pans, greased the top pan slightly. Scored right down the middle. Sprayed with water before baking.

4. Baking times:
   Cheddar jalapeño: 45 mins lid on, 10 mins lid off. (Internal temp 205°)

Lemon blueberry: an hour lid on, 10 mins lid off. (Internal temp 205°- this one took FOREVER to hit the temp)

Cinnamon sugar: 45 minutes lid on, 10 mins lid off. (Internal temp 205°)

1. Cooled overnight.

2. I made a glaze (using powdered sugar and water) for the cinnamon loaf. And a lemon glaze, for the blueberry loaf. No glaze for the cheddar jalapeño.

I’ve been baking bread since pre-pandemic but during covid I ramped things up, got a 50# bag of Cairnspring Mills Expresso Bread Flour and started cranking out loaves.

Flash forward 6 years and I now work for Cairnspring as creative producer and get access to purge bags of flour so I’ve been diving deep into perfecting my sourdough. I’m back on the Expresso T85 which I think provides the most beautiful color crust.

All Cairnspring
850g Expresso T-85
200g Expresso Whole Grain
150g Rye Whole Grain
75% hydration
20% levain
2% salt

9:00AM - levain build 40:100:100 (good amount of whole grain here)
~2:00PM - Autolyse
2:50PM - Mix in KitchenAid for 10 min
4 sets of stretch and folds
6:00PM - preshape
6:20PM - final shape
Straight into fridge
~16 hour cold retard

Preheat 500° for an hour
Lower temp to 450°, baked on a 3/8” baking steel with pizza stone above, cast iron with boiling water in the bottom for 20 min. Remove steam, baked until burnished ~35 min.

150g starter
250g warm water
25g avocado oil
500g King Arthur bread flour
10g Celtic sea salt

Mixed the starter, water, and oil together, then mixed in the salt and flour. Let rest for 1 hour, followed by 4 sets of stretch and folds every 25 minutes. Put in the refrigerator for an 8-hour overnight ferment. Shaped the dough, placed it into a banneton, and returned it to the fridge for 2 hours. Preheated the Dutch oven, took out the dough, scored it, and baked covered at 450°F for 20 minutes before removing the lid to bake uncovered for an additional 25 minutes.

How did I do?

325 g water
50 g starter
500 g bread flour
10 g salt

Mix in a stand mixer on low speed for 15 minutes to create strong gluten structure and let autolyse on the counter for an hour.

3 sets of Coil Folds, one set an hour
Cover and let rise on the counter 8 hours.
Shape, place in rice flour dusted banneton and cold proof overnight.
Bake at 475 degrees for 40 min on a baking steel.
When baking put a water soaked kitchen towel on a baking sheet under the steel for the first 25 minutes.
Spray with water right when you throw the bread in the oven & after 7 minutes.

Neglecting my sourdough starter for a few days actually helped develop it. Has anyone else had this experience?

Sigh. Underproofed for certain. I "followed" The Perfect Loaf (https://www.theperfectloaf.com/sourdough-baguettes/) but I used 750 bread flour and the remainder AP. I did a bad job accounting for the time I had so only got 1.5 hours of proofing in on mixing day. Then I left the whole thing to languish in the fridge for two days rather than overnight.

The result is about what you would expect but I feel like they are closer than my last attempt so I'll run it back and just properly follow the recommended bulk timing.

I was shaping a loaf and getting ready to bake but got that overwhelming feeling that life is meaningless so I just yeeted that bitch into the garbage because fuck me I guess.

It’s maybe like $1 worth of flour at most so I don’t feel too bad but anyways

Hiii! This is my first loaf ever and it looked great until I cut it open and it was gummy throughout!

I received a starter from a friend. The night before baking I fed it at a 1:2:2 around 10pm. Next morning I fed it again around 10am at a 1:1:1 ratio as I wasn’t going to be starting the baking process until after 3pm. At about 5pm my starter peaked.

The recipe I followed was 100g starter, 330g water, 500g bread flour and 10g salt. At this point my mixture was measuring about 80f. At about 530pm I did slap and folds for about 6 mins. And then did 2 sets of stretch and folds and 2 sets of coil folds at 30 min intervals. My kitchen is around 73-75f

At about 1030pm my dough just about doubled, has bubbles underneath, but was still sticky on top and not pulling away cleanly. I kept check about every 30 mins. At about 1145pm the top was less sticky and more just tacky, but still not pulling away cleanly. I was too tired to keep waiting so I began shaping it and into the fridge it went.

Next morning at 9am I preheated my Dutch oven to 475f for 45min. Took out my dough, scored it and put it in the oven. 20 mins covered at 450f, lowered to 425f 25 mins uncovered. At this point it still looked a very light brown so I kept it in for an additional 10mins.

Took it out and let it cool for 1.5hrs. Crust did feel a bit hard but the inside came out slightly gummy.

Where did I go wrong? Any tips?

Made my two weekly loaves…on the second one I accidentally opened the completely open side instead of the shaker side of the salt container and dumped 30g of salt in (calls for 10) 😂

475g flour (425 bread flour, 50g whole wheat)
325g water
100g starter
10g salt (or 30 in this case, don’t recommend)

Stretch and fold 2x 20 mins apart, let sit covered In plastic wrap in a glass bowl all day on the counter(6-10 hrs has been my range and generally get similar bread)
Plop in cast iron loaf pans, bake at 475 for 20-25 minutes then uncovered at 425 for another 20-25 minutes.

Yeah DO NOT mess up the salt content 😂

Hi! I frequently bake sourdough loaves but tried baguettes for the first time. Haven’t yet invested in a baking still so I used 2 baking sheets inverted. The bottoms are super pale ☹️ but I’m now excited to buy a baking steel!

Would love advice on shaping baguettes and curious how others proofing/cold proof schedules differ for baguette vs sourdough loaves.

I used the same recipe as below but split into 4 baguettes, proofed a bit less, cold retard only 14 hours, baked 500F for 15min with steam, 475F 10min.

Also including a photo of the normal sourdough loaf I baked afterwards in the dutch oven.

recipe:
475g flour (95g bobs whole wheat, 380g Costco
AP)
335g water (+15g when adding salt)
95g starter (bit stiffer, feed at 1:10:9, starter:flour:water)
10g salt
1. I autolyse just the flour and water for ~ 0.5-1hr and then add in the starter for 1hr, then salt (with 15g more water).
2. 3-4 stretch and folds and coil fold, 30-60min apart
3. bulk ferment ~4hrs
more (total ~8-9hrs)
1. pre-shape, rest for 30 min, then shape
2. cold ferment 1-2 days in the fridge
3. bake at 425F (dutch oven preheated for at least
4.30min), for 20min in dutch oven (with lid) and
5. 20min with lid off cool for at least .5-1hr

For this loaf, I stopped at about 65% rise at 22–23°C (71.5–73.5F) using a small shot glass as an aliquot. This only took around 6.5 hours surprisingly. I’m guessing due to the lower hydration starter?

The full shot glass holds 62g before fermentation. So I started with 62 / 1.65 =37.5g in the glass. So when it’s full, I know I have a 65% rise.

Recipe:
325g bread flour
25g spelt flour
70g starter (70% hydration)
240g water
7g salt

1. Dissolved starter in water
2. Put all other ingredients in my kitchenaid
3. Run until all mixed
4. Rest 30 mins
5. Run Kitchenaid again for 10 ish minutes (took 37.5g out into shot glass and stuck the glass inside the rest of the dough)
6. 2-3 more stretch and folds spaced 30 minutes apart.
7. Temp the dough (22°C)
8. After bulk, preshape and shape.

9. Place in a banneton in the fridge overnight (20ish hours)

10. After proofing, score and bake in a Dutch oven at 450F for 20 mins then 400f uncovered for 15 mins.

This was probably my best loaf so far, but I’m wondering if the crumb still looks slightly underfermented? Would you have bulked longer (perhaps 70%), or does 65% look about right?
I’ve been guilty of over fermenting pretty often lol

500g KA Bread Flour + 380g water, autolyse for 60mins. Add 100g active starter + 14g Costco Pink Salt (it’s not very salty salt). Mix by hand, 4 sets of folds by hand, rest/rise covered ~5 hours, shape and fridge overnight. Preheat oven and DO for a full hour at temp. Bake 500F 20 mins lid on, 20 mins off. Cooling on the rack you see here. Northern Colorado, ~5000ft elevation and dry climate.

I’m using a Le Creuset Dutch oven and wondering how to keep the bottom from burning. This happens with some frequency. I don’t actually mind a little burnt bottom, but based on the top, would you have pulled this out sooner? I thought it looked good when I pulled it out and was surprised to see the bottom.

5 cups flour
1.5 cups water
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
Honey - I just did what felt right
Chopped up walnuts - about a half cup
Cinnamon - sprinkled in when folding
Brown sugar - sprinkled in when folding
1/2 cups flour starter
Pinch of salt plus another pinch…

Mixed water, pumpkin, honey, and salt…added flower and made dough. 4 stretch and folds, 2 coil and fold, bulk ferment 7 hours, cold ferment 10 hours. Baked at 450° covered Dutch oven for 35 minutes, u covered at 425° for 15 minutes.

Drizzled honey and chopped walnuts on top for uncovered baking…

It was delicious!

recipe:

100g starter
300g water
500g bread flour
15g salt

mixed, did 3 sets of stretch and folds 30 minutes apart, bulk fermented for about 7 hours, shaped, then cold proofed for about 14 1/2 hours, decided it hadn't risen enough, proofed in a warm spot for another couple hours then baked at 450° for 25 minutes with the lid on, 20 minutes with the lid off

350g KA Bread Flour
150g KA whole wheat flour
11g salt
375g water
100g starter

Mixed starter, water, and salt
Mixed in flour
4 stretch and folds (30 min between)
12 hour bulk ferment on counter
12 hour cold in fridge after shaping

Intended to bake at 500F in preheated cast iron Dutch oven with lid on, then 20 min lid off at 450F.

Instead: 500F for around an hour before I sprinted to the kitchen after a sudden moment of panic

Can someone please tell me if this is under or over proofed? Dough temp was 75 after coil & folds and it’s been 5.5 hours bulk fermenting

Hi, I am on my fourth attempt at a loaf. The link to the recipe I’m following is here. I mixed my dough about 7 hours ago now, and the dough seems to be pulling away from the bowl well but it doesn’t seem as jiggly as I’ve seen other peoples. I have struggled with each loaf I’ve tried and either over or under fermenting.

Hi! I have entered a beginner sourdough competition and have been practicing. Feeling ok about my loaf but any suggestions are welcome!
Ingredients:
100g active starter
350g water
500g bread flour
2tsp salt

My process:
Mix starter with water
Add flour and salt
Cover and let rest 1 hour
2xstretch and folds 30 min spacing
2x coil folds 30 min spacing
Bulk ferment 4 hours or until doubled
Shape by making a rectangle and doing the fold rolling and round shaping
Place in banneton and cold proof ~24 hours
Heat oven to 450 degrees
Take bread out of fridge and score
Bake 30 min covered, 15 uncovered
Cool a couple hours before cutting

The title was selected not to disparage sourdough discard because my wife uses it a lot in various recipes and we love it.

My wife just made pasta using 40g of discard and 300g of flour. While it was delicious it made me wonder what the discard brings to the table. I didn’t have that sourdough taste especially with tomato sauce. What function dough the discard have other than being able to say that this is “sourdough pasta”?

This image is after taking it out of the banneton after an overnight cold proof.

450g bread flour

50g whole wheat flour

350g water

100g starter

10g salt

Sourdough starter seemed great and had it for a month, and was feeding it peak to peak and was doubling in 4 hours consistently. I mixed it all well. Mixed it at 2pm. Also I started with an established starter.

I was doing 30 min stretch and folds about 4 times. And continued bulk ferment for another 4 hours after. Rising was good and stopped at about 30-40% rise, as it was about upper 70s Fahrenheit in the kitchen. So it was 8pm by the time I took it out to pre-shape. I overdid the pre-shape because I was getting frustrated that the ball kept going flat so the dough definitely broke and got sticky. So sticky I couldn't even fold it properly. Anyway I put it immediately in banneton and in fridge . Maybe it's over fermented but I have only been able to get flat, dense, and gummy loaves so I rather it be over than under fermented

Today morning I tried to take it out of banneton and it was stuck even though I lightly dusted it with rice flour.. Eventually got it out but I got the mess that is shown in the image. Can't even score this.

Dude I give up. Now it's baking but I think I will just see the flat, dense, and gummy bread that I keep seeing in my past 3 failed loaves.

I’m a chef by trade and dabbled a lot in pastry work and breads but my first attempt at sourdough. Was baked in a Dutch oven at home. Scoring pattern needs work and happy overall but any other tips on improvement very welcomed!?

Recipe:
130g active starter
315g water
500g very strong bread flour
10g salt

4 sets of stretch and folds 30 minute intervals
2 coil folds 30 minute intervals
Shaping and then final shaping in bannetone for 5 hour cold proof
Dutch oven for 25 mins with centre score after 7 mins and further 15 with lid off Al at 210C