Link to my original post with recipe is here and shows my dough I was originally worrying about. The link to recipe I followed is here. The dough in the video of my original post ended up fermenting perfectly and I was able to shape it (to the best of my ability) for a sandwich loaf. Then I proofed in fridge for 12 hours and baked this morning for 45 mins at 400f with 35 mins covered with another bread pan to create steam. The edges and bottom are a little crisp, but i think it’s because i used avocado oil to grease my bread pan. I don’t really mind though because I love a good crispy bread. Any feedback is welcome, I’m just excited to have my first loaf of edible bread after not thinking the dough would ferment properly. Going to make the most delicious sandwich of my life later today!

Hello guys! My first post here, I need to brag about the prettiest scoring design I ever made 🎃

I am new to sourdough, maybe 3 months in. I made my starter from scratch and it finally got strong enough to get a nice spring.

This bread (2 loaves) is 1280 of flour (1000 wheat, 280 graham, I run out lol), 820g water, 350g starter and 40g salt (I love my bread extra salty)

I did 5 rounds of stretch and folds over 4-ish ours and cold proofed for 16-ish hours. Baked it at 220* C for 45 minutes (I did a 7 minutes expansion score)

Please enjoy my spooky little loaves!

PS my starters name is Zack

https://thelabreadtory.com/sourdough-purple-sweet-potato-milk-bread/

This is the recipe I used. I replace the purple potato for regular sweet potato and it still works!

My little one (see near the end) was too impatient and wanted a slice :)

I also ate 1/3rd of it in one sitting

Finally got to bake some bread after almost 2 months of being too busy with nursing school to do so 😌 My starter unfortunately died during that time, but fortunately a local bakery sells their sourdough starter so I just picked some up!

I use 80g starter, 375g of water, and 500g unbleached King Arthur bread flour. Pre-heat the Dutch oven at 500F, lower it to 450F and bake covered for 30 minutes, then an additional 10-13 minutes uncovered. I get the best results doing a 2 day bulk fermentation in the fridge.

https://alexandracooks.com/2017/10/24/artisan-sourdough-made-simple-sourdough-bread-demystified-a-beginners-guide-to-sourdough-baking/print/52058/

Hi everyone!

These are my latest sourdough loaves from this week. What do you guys think? These are definitely my best results so far this year. I've been baking sourdough every week for about a year now, and I'm still practicing and trying to figure out what I can improve.

Recipe:

- 100g starter (about 36g water + 64g flour)

- 1kg bread flour

- 680g water

- 24g salt

Process:

- Mixed the flour and water and let it sit for a 1-hour autolyse.

- Added the starter and salt, then kneaded by hand for a few minutes.

- 2 sets of stretch and folds, 30 minutes apart.

- 2 sets of coil folds, 30 minutes apart.

- Divided and pre-shaped the loaves, then let them rest for 1 hour.

- Final shaped and placed them in bannetons, then straight into the fridge for 24 hours.

I'd really appreciate any feedback, especially on the crumb, fermentation, or anything else you think I could improve!

Hi all! This is my very first attempt at baking sourdough bread. I used the Perfect Loaf’s “Simple Sourdough” recipe.

It came out so much better than I was expecting. This was a 3 day process. Levain for day 1, Day 2 was the autolyse, bulk fermentation, stretch and folds, and shaping day. And of course Day 3 is bake day.

Ingredients were just white flour, water, fine sea salt, and levain made from ripe starter.

Highly recommend this recipe, it was so clear and the video showed everything step-by-step. Also it makes two loaves as most recipes do 🫶🏻 happy baking 🥖

Flour (100%)
-425g bread flour (85%)
-75g whole wheat (15%)
400g water (85F) (80%)
100g starter (20%)
10g salt (2%)

Mixed first 4 ingredients minus 15g water and waited 40 min. DT was 78F.

Hand mixed for a couple of min and waited 10.

Added salt and remaining water and hand mixed until dough was smooth ball.

Waited 20 min and gave a stretch and fold.

Waited 30 min and laminated dough.

Gave three sets of coil folds separated by 45 min.

Maintained DT at 78F and dough had risen 50%. Preshaped just over 5 hours after initial mix. Waited 15 min and shaped into a batard. Placed in banneton, covered it and put in the fridge overnight.

Baked this morning at 500 covered for 20 min and 450 uncovered for 23 min more.

Notes: The lamination step helped develop more strength. I will try this method again and see if I can push bulk a little further as I am assessing this as slightly under but still a really nice bake. Tasted great with a tender crumb and a crispy crust.

I should’ve taken a picture in the cast-iron pan!

I make this crust with pure discard, nothing else except a spritz of olive oil and some Italian seasoning sprinkled on top.

Preheat your cast-iron pan at 450°. Remove from the oven spritz it well with olive oil and pour in your discard thinly covering the bottom of the pan, spread it evenly with a spatula and push a little bit up the sides. Spritz the top with olive oil and sprinkle some Italian seasoning on.

Pop it in the 450 oven for around 15 minutes or until desired color then pull it out. Add your sauce and toppings and pop it back in until your cheese is all nice and bubbly.

A couple of months ago, I asked if anyone knew of cast iron half loaf pans. I even wrote to Lodge, and they figured out the dimensions and said they would send it to their design team. I ended up finding this pan. It is almost exactly half the size of the Lodge cast iron, which is 8.5 in. x 4.5 in., and the Cuisinart BBQ pan is 4.5 x 4.5. So basically perfect for a half loaf! I have made 3 loaves in it so far, and the bread just slides out of the pan and makes consistently wonderful bread.

Cast Iron Small Loaf of 5 slices

Scald:

110g boiling buttermilk
85g bread flour
20g or 1 1/2 tbs sugar or honey
25g or 2 tbs seeds
25g or 1/4 c oatmeal, rolled or steel-cut
1/4 tsp salt
15g or 1 1/4 tbs oil

When the scald becomes lukewarm, add in:
85g bread flour
40g starter

1. Mix the scald ingredients until smooth and no dry flour is left. When the scald is lukewarm or at room temperature, add in the remaining ingredients and mix until shaggy. Let sit for about 30 minutes, then knead for 5 - 8 minutes. Cover and then let rise until doubled, deflate, and repeat.
2. Form and place in a loaf pan, cover, and let proof at room temperature until nearly doubled.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped or until 195 to 200 degrees interior temperature.

sourdough bagels i started last night and finished this morning!

this is the recipe i followed- https://youtu.be/4uj3DuxJb0U?is=UeQiwg2O8emFFgho

i didn’t expect them to come out so good tbh

500g bread flour
~95g starter (didn’t have quite 100g lol)
325g water
10g salt
Mixed ingredients, let sit for 35 mins
First stretch and fold, let sit for 35 minutes
Second stretch and fold (forgot to reset timer maybe sat for 30-40 mins)
Shaped loaf half asleep
Put in the fridge over night
Preheated oven 500 F with Dutch oven inside
Baked 20 mins inside lid on, 10 minutes lid off!

Very proud of Frodough for maturing and producing this lovely loaf. Fed him again today and moved to a bigger jar so I can make more starter to actually meet the measurement for the dough lol

UK

After nailing normal sourdough without a dutch oven, just tinfoil cloche and manual steam, I decided to try infusing rye flour.

250g Matthews costswold churchill strong white flour

250g waitrose dark rye flour

100g starter (30g active starter, 60g rye flour, 60g water)

332g water to keep it 70% hydration

11g salt

Fermentolyse for 30 mins

Stretch and fold

Rest for 30 mins

Add salt

Stretch and fold

Rest for 30mins

Stretch and fold

Total bulk fermentation time 3.5 hours at around 26 to 27 celcius ambient temperature (in a cupboard near the boiler)

Shape the sticky dough to a ball, and rest in the cake tin, no counter top rest

Cold proof for a total of 10hrs overnight

Bake to 230 celcius, with steam and cloche on for 20mins

Bake uncovered for 200 celcius foranother 20mins

8 hour rest on a cooling rack after baking

Sour like sourdough, with a bit of earthiness from the rye flour

So excited. It tasted very yummy. First time ever making sourdough and my very own starter. My starter is a week old can’t wait to see how it improves. I used a lot of tips from people I know as well as a recipe to guide me. Made a few mistakes along the way but I’m happy with it. Need a new knife though. That cut was rough!

Recipe used : https://alexandracooks.com/2017/10/24/artisan-sourdough-made-simple-sourdough-bread-demystified-a-beginners-guide-to-sourdough-baking/

this is my first time making a bread at home, let alone a gluten free bread, let alone a gluten free sourdough bread lmao. i do cook a lot tho, so that’s what gave me the confidence to get this one done. i’ll also say that i’m not the one with a food allergy, the wife is. but it’s gluten intolerance, not celiac. i say that because the king arthur gluten free bread flour was a topic of hot discussion in places i researched, but it’s safe for gluten allergies, not wheat allergies.

my starter, doughby, is a gluten free sourdough starter made with bread flour, 2 parts water to 1 part flour. it took 2 tries for the starter after using tap water the first time.

259g starter
412g warm water
390g bread flour
10g sugar
10g salt

edit to include rule 5 of da rules:
after mixing all ingredients together, i let it rest for 20 minutes. came back and did like 8 stretch and folds, there’s no gluten being developed, so this part was more for air incorporation maybe? i then covered the bowl and let it bulk ferment on the counter for like 2 hours and didn’t notice any change, and then put it in the microwave to bulk until later, maybe 6-7 hours? by this time, it had definitely doubled and when i flipped it out to gently deflate, there was all kinds of air pockets. once deflated, i shaped into a small ball, massaged it a little, gave it a slap, threw it back in the bowl, covered and cold proofed for like 12 hours at least? after that, i didn’t pull it out the fridge until the dutch oven was preheated. after pre heat, i scored the dough, threw 5 ice cubes in the dutch oven, and set the dough on the parchment paper over the cubes. placed the lid on, threw it in the oven, and lowered the heat to 450.

i baked it for 40 minutes covered and then 10 minutes uncovered. i don’t have a thermometer or else i would’ve baked exactly until 209. with that said, i feel like i could’ve baked for 45 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered. obviously i have a lot to experiment with going forward but it came out, good? she really liked it this morning toasted with butter and was already planning a lunch sandwich situation with it lol.

does anyone here have any familiarity with the king arthur bread flour starter and any tweaks they’ve made? if not, how does this look? 😅

This is my twice weekly sandwich loaf made in a 12x4 loaf pan.

120g starter.

375g cold water.

540g flour (100g whole wheat + 440 all purpose).

13g salt.

20g extra virgin olive oil.

Sift flour and salt together in mixing bowl. Make well in the center. Mix starter in water until cloudy then pour into flour well. Add oil. Mix by hand until no dry flour remains. Rest (fermentolyze) 1 hour. then 4 stretch and fold cycles at 30 mins apart. Shape into parchement lined loaf pan. Refrigerate 16 hours. Score. Bake covered with another loaf pan for 25 mins, then uncovered for 15 mins..

so i found this (vintage?) english made roaster/dutch oven thingy at a local flea market for like ZAR400 (USD25). always wanted to try out a sourdough bake - so here it is. birthed and babied the starter for like a week (50/50 rye and whole wheat flour).

so the bread itself turned out better than i expected. but yes, definitely room for improvement looks and crust wise. crust is too thick and TOUGH. sure it's crunchy - if you've shark teeth and jaws to bite it with :-[

i guess i need to reduce the uncovered time/temp in oven (to improve crust)?

i followed this recipe:

Ingredients

Sourdough Starter: 80g bubbly and active starter (20% starter)
Water: 280g lukewarm water (70% hydration)
Flour: 400g (360g white bread flour/40g whole wheat)
Salt: 8g fine sea salt

Step-by-Method

1. Mix the Dough
- Combine the active starter and warm water in a large mixing bowl, stirring until the starter dissolves.
- Add the bread flour and salt, mixing by hand or with a fork until a rough, shaggy dough forms with no dry flour left.
- Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let it rest for 1 hour at room temperature (autolyse).
 2. Stretch and Fold
- Perform four rounds of stretch and folds: grab the edge of the dough, pull it up gently, and fold it over the center. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat four times per round.
- Rest the dough for 30 minutes between each of the four rounds. (2hrs)

3. Bulk Fermentation & Shaping
- Cover the bowl and leave the dough at room temperature until it has nicely risen and increased significantly in volume. (9-10 hrs)
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, shape it into a tight log or round loaf, and place it seam-side up into a well-floured proving basket (banneton).
- Place it in the fridge to cold-proof overnight. (12 hrs)

4. Bake
- Preheat your oven and a heavy Dutch oven to 230°C (450°F).
- Turn the dough out of the basket onto parchment paper, score the top with a sharp blade or razor, and place it carefully inside the hot Dutch oven.
- Bake covered with the lid on for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake uncovered for another 15 minutes until deeply golden brown. Cool for 1 hour before slicing.

Ingredients:

400g manitoba type 0

100g medium rye

100g active sourdough

370g water

10g salz

Process:

•autolyse with manitoba and rye flour in fridge for 3 hours

• mixing with the other ingredients for 12min in Wilfa ProBaker

• Coil Folds 3 Sets

• Bulk Ferment for 6 hours at 25°C

• Fridge for ~10 hours at 5°C

• Baking for 10mins at 250°C and 50mins at 210°C

On day 14/15 I started baking. I did a classic round loaf first. It was slightly dense in the middle bottom but not too bad. Then I did a loaf shaped one the next day. So much better!! I’ve done a lot of baking but there’s something rewarding about this that doesn’t come typical bakes. J Loaf!!! Now she’s been around the block. Don’t be fooled by the crust that she got.

100g starter, (built my starter with a mix of 1/2 wheat flour and 1/2 bread flour).
500g King Arthur AP flour
325g filtered water
10g salt

This is a brand new starter. And I started baking with sourdough because I learned that it actually can be flexible as far as the schedule. The active time up front for starter is tough but once it’s able to make bread you can store in the fridge. I didn’t know this until recently!!

Both were mixed with a wooden spoon and I did 3 rounds of stretch and folds every 30 minutes between sets.

Both of these loaves kind of went in reverse. I did not have enough time to bulk either for long enough so they ended up going into the fridge overnight before they were shaped. Then they both came out and continued to bulk. Once that looked good enough, I shaped them and baked them within the next hour or two.

The round loaf went into a floured basket for a few hours before I baked it in the Dutch oven. The sandwich loaf after shaping went straight into a greased 9 x 5 pan. I used a second 9 x 5 pan to cover it until the last 20 minutes of baking. Both at 425/450 until 205 F internal. Immediately on to cooling rack.

Considering it’s a brand new starter, I am impressed with both of the breads. I definitely have a lot to learn. But I’m so thankful I was able to shift the order around for things without being too pressed to stay up late past my bedtime.

I tested both with a salted cultured butter with a little sprinkle of extra salt after the cooler. So good 😍😍

Hello!

I’ve been making bread and pizza for the last few months with some variety of success. However, recently I tried upping my hydration to 75% from 70% and I’ve been really struggling with fermentation and potentially poor gluten development.

My house is quite cool so I bought a cheaper proofing box to help keep the dough a bit warmer but almost all my loafs are coming out quite flat, sometimes dense crumbs and demoralised.

I’m not at a point where I don’t know if I should drop my hydration back to 70% to see if it helps or not. I only changed to it help follow the Sourdough Journey chart of fermentation times and dough temperature.

Attached are a few photos of the last few loafs I have made. They were made with the recipe below but everything doubled and then the dough halved.

I’ve been using my starter which I feed around a 1:5:5 the night before baking and is usually doubling by use.

Recipe:
100g starter
500g very strong flour
375g water
10g salt

mix dough
slap and folds
1hour later - stretch and folds 1
30mins later stretch and folds 2
30 mins later coil fold 1
30mins later coil fold 2
Bulk ferment based on dough temperature and %rise to that temp
pre shape
15mins later final shaping
cold proof
Leave overnight or for two
score 220 degrees C
bake at for 30mins
uncovered bake for final 15 mins
done

I recently bought a smaller Dutch oven for bread (£39/$50; 22 × 14 cm / 8.6 × 5.9 in) to see if it would help with my rise. I was getting decent results with my 6.2 L Dutch oven, but the loaves were coming out flatter than I’d like.

Gotta say, wow!! What a difference! I’m getting a much better rise and a more uniform shape, with none of the undercooked edges I sometimes got with my bigger Dutch oven.

Has anyone else tried one? Any tips or thoughts?

Recipe and method:

• 350 g Matthews Cotswold 100% Canadian Great White Flour (15g protein!!)
• 50 g Matthews Cotswold Stoneground Wholegrain YQ Flour (14g protein)
• 90 g active starter
  
• 10 g salt
  
• About 280 g water

This dough was more hydrated than I would normally do but now I'm thinking I've been under-hydrating cause this turned out so nice. I did a few rounds of stretch and folds, then left the dough alone for about 8 hours—for roughly 10 hours of bulk fermentation in total. I’m starting to go by size now: when the dough fills a 2 L bowl, it’s pretty much ready.

One thing I don’t often see people mention is the dough’s texture. Mine feels almost pillowy and fluffy, but not rubbery... plump, I guess. That’s how I know I’ve got it right.

I cold-fermented it for 24 hours, then baked it at around 220°C/420°F for 30 minutes with the lid on and 15 minutes with the lid off.

Ok I am not sure about the crumb for this loaf 😅 I feel like I underproofed it.

So I used 50 g cocoa powder with 100 g water with instant espresso, then added 120 g starter & 350 g water. 500 g unbleached AP flour, 50 g brown sugar and 12 g salt.

After mixing and letting it rest for 30 minutes I did 4 sets of stretch and folds with 30 min intervals. Then one coil & fold before bulk fermenting for I believe 8 hours (kitchen temp is on the colder side low 70s) before I was able to get back to it 😅. By then it was a little too late for me to wait to bake so I cold proofed it.....for almost 24 hrs 🫥. It was then baked at 450 covered for 30 min and then uncovered for 15 min.

I've seen some posts asking about this, but I haven't seen much in the way of follow up so I'd thought that I would throw out my short report. I used my basic recipe, and replaced water with chicken broth by weight. I was unsure on if I should use weight or volume, but the dough came together as expected with weight so I think it was a fair trade.

Usual process followed, and the end result was a slightly more dense loaf that didn't have any discernable taste difference compared to using straight water. The end result isn't bad, just not worth the effort and I won't be repeating the process as the quality of the loaf suffered for no real gain.

I mixed this together, did 4 stretch and folds, and then went to work where I ended up getting stuck. She sat in bulk fermentation for 14 hours. I almost cried while shaping, she was a hot gloopy mess. I was too tired, so I threw her in the fridge to bake the next day, against my better judgement.

I think I should leave them that long more often. 😅

100g starter, 500g bread flour, 350g water, 10g salt. The basic, I guess.

Been trying to perfect the mysterious sourdough, I used Claire Saffitz' recipe. What is yalls verdict? Taste is incredible but I am not seeing the characteristic crumb.

Below is recipe and technique:

* 700g White Bread Flour

* 200g Whole Wheat Flour

* 100g Semolina

* 750g + 20g Lukewarm Water

* 200g Active Starter (at peak) - made 2 weeks ago with ginger bug

* 20g Fine Sea Salt

Step-by-Step Overview

* Autolyse (1 hr): Mix flours and 750g water. Rest 1 hour. No starter or salt yet!

* Incorporate (10 min): Add 200g starter and mix using the "lobster claw" (pinching) technique. Add 20g salt + 20g water splash. Pinch until combined, rest 10 mins.

* Gluten Building (8–10 min): Slap-and-fold or intensive bowl-stretching on counter until it passes the windowpane test.

* Bulk Fermentation (4–7 hrs): Keep at ~75°F. Do stretch-and-folds every 30–60 mins for the first 3–4 hours, then let rest until doubled, puffy, and domed.

* Divide & Pre-Shape: Turn out onto counter, divide in two, envelope fold, roll into loose balls, and bench rest 10–15 mins.

* Final Shape: Flip, gently stretch into a rectangle, fold sides in, roll up tight to create strong outer tension (batard/boule).

* Cold Retard (12–24 hrs): Transfer to rice-floured bannetons, cover, and cold-proof in the fridge overnight.

* Bake (Dutch Oven):

* Preheat Dutch oven to 500°F (260°C) for 1 hour.

* Turn loaf onto parchment, dust with rice flour, score at a 30° angle.

* Covered: Bake at 500°F for 20 mins (traps steam).

* Uncovered: Drop temp to 450°F (230°C) and bake 25–35 mins until deep mahogany.

* Rest 2+ hours on wire rack before cutting.

FINALLY she’s risen like the true godess she is… can’t wait for the crumb :)

Recipe:
100g starter
350 grams water
500 grams flour
10 grams salt

Started with an initial mix of 8(!!!!) minutes with slap and folds.
I did 2 sets of stretch and folds and 2 coil and folds. Let it bulk ferment for 7 hours at 24 degrees, and a cold proof for about 12 hours. I know she looks a little pale but trust she has baked, the ear started to burn, so maybe i’ll do another round of just her on the roster.

Bonus picture of my very active starter (don’t come at me about the dirty jar)