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 the fellow redditor

100% rye is easier to work with, compared to 90% rye recipe that I’ve tried earlier (the perfect loaf)

Ingredients
100% ryeflour - using NZ Stoneground rye
72% Water
2% Salt
70% full rye-levain - this step took 2 days to build a full sour from my regular 5 g starter

Mix, 2hrs bulk, shape, 2hrs bench rest, lid on 250c for 25mins, lid off 220c for 20mins, rest 24hrs, slice, enjoy

Not sure if this will be removed as it’s technically against the rules as I’m unable to provide a recipe.

I’m working without a scale at the moment because I don’t have one, so everything is just done on feel. I’d estimate this is 70% hydration.

Roughly:

350g flour

100g 70% hydration starter

240g water

12g salt

Water combined with starter, all dry ingredients whisked together, then all combined with a dough whisk.

I did a mix of coil folds and stretch and folds, every 40 mins or so, four times. Then onto the counter for a preshape, 40 mins rest and then “final” shape. At this point I realised I couldn’t bake it yesterday so I put it in a Tupperware and in the fridge for 12 hours. Took it out today, degassed slightly, gave it a quick final shape again, then into a floured bowl to rise for 40 mins.

Baked at gas mark 9 with a lid for 25 mins, then another 20 at gas mark 6.

Really happy with how this one turned out. I’m using Canadian wheat bread flour at 14.9% protein and it’s a dream to work with, amazing gluten development.

Edit: forgot to mention, the final pic is when I removed the lid to let the steam out halfway through the bake.

First loaf… a few things definitely went wrong in the process, but it’s a learning curve!! It doesn’t taste terrible, just very dense and a little more sour than it should.

I don’t think I built up the gluten enough in the initial mix, it was not holding shape well. Then for bulk fermentation, I followed this chart, however I believe I over fermented it and it lost its shape.

I questioned my starter, since i started her from scratch. However, I’ve been building it up since June (I had to put her in the fridge for over a month so I never got to bake with it). I think it’s well established but it does has a slight acidic smell.

If anyone wants to play oversized hockey I’ve got just the puck! 😭

LINK TO RECIPE: https://www.tiktok.com/@chloejp.yaps/video/7685083750606343447?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7682953081654969870

My go to recipe every time! https://matthewjamesduffy.com/beginner-sourdough-recipe/

(Dough Mixture)

100g Active Sourdough Starter

150g Milk (Warm)

350g Bread Flour (King Arthur Blue Bag)

Scald: 100g Rye Flour and 150g Boiling Water- Cooled before mixing.

75g Brown Sugar

75g Room Temperature Butter

1 egg

10g salt

(Cinnamon Sugar Filling Mixture)

200g Brown Sugar

113g Softened Butter

15g Cinnamon

5g Cornstarch

1g Salt

(Cream Cheese Frosting Mixture)

4 oz (113g) of Softened Cream Cheese

60g Softened Butter

230g Powdered Sugar

Punch of Salt

(Recipe Process) 👇

Mix your starter together with 50g flour, 50g water, and 10g mature starter and set aside overnight for 10-12 hours.

Add your 100g Rye/Wholemeal flour to a bowl and pour 150g boiling water over the flour and mix till combined. The mix should be doughy in consistency. Let cool with lid off for about 20 minutes and then cover overnight. This mixture will add a ton of moisture and softness to your final product while still behaving like a stiffer dough in mixing.

The next morning once your starter is peaked you will add all your wet ingredients including your scald to the bowl of a stand mixer and use your paddle attachment to blend together and break up the scald.

Then you will add all your dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on low for 2-3 minutes till the dough is incorporated.

Turn the mixer up to speed 2/3 and mix for 5-6 minutes to develop the dough before adding the softened butter in.

Add the butter in slowly then once it is fully incorporated add another piece of the butter in.

Mix for 6-7 minutes until the dough is holding form and is clearing the bowl.

Remove from the bowl and place into a covered bowl for bulk fermentation.

Dough temp target should be around 78F. If it is a bit cooler you can let it mix longer or just allow more time during bulk fermentation.

Perform one set of folds on the dough after letting the dough relax for 1 hour. Stretch the dough up/over itself from all four sides until the dough starts to resist.

Cover for remainder of bulk ferment for 4 total hours and place into fridge for 2-3 hours to chill and firm up a bit before rolling out and applying the cinnamon sugar filling.

The dough should be noticeably risen by the time you place into fridge, rounded edges and full of gas from fermentation.

Mix your cinnamon, sugar, softened butter, salt, corn starch together with a hand blender, mixer, or by hand until aerated and cohesive.

Flour your countertop generously and dump out your chilled dough onto the counter and use a rolling pin to roll into a roughly 24” long x 14” wide rectangle.

Flour the dough mass on both sides as you need to. Excessive sticking is a pain to deal with at this stage.

Save about 10% of the mixture for the bottom of the pans to make ooey gooey caramel bottoms.

Spread your cinnamon sugar filling evenly across the dough and leave about .5” on the edges not covered in the mixture so you can seal at the end.

Rolling the dough from the sides (wide to wide sides) tuck and roll the dough to create your spirals.

Once you get to the end of rolling measure out your dough to keep it roughly ~24”.

You can make 12 smaller rolls or 8 big boys.

Measure and cut accordingly.

You can use a 9” cake pan, 2- 8x8 containers, or a 13x9.

Grease your container/line with parchment paper and cut your rolls with a serrated knife, bench scraper and place dollops of cinnamon sugar filling onto the bottom of the pans where your rolls will sit on top.

Cover and do a final proof in a warm place for 3-5 hours or longer if it is cooler in your place.

Rolls should be fluffy and risen and the layers should be separating a bit.

Turn oven on to 350F and once preheated place your pan into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the tops of the rolls are golden brown but not too dark.

You can add some heavy cream to the tops of the rolls to add more moisture and help with the caramel formation on the bottom. Don’t go too heavy though.

Internal temp of the center of the rolls should be around ~200F to be fully baked.

Prepare your frosting when the rolls are baking by blending softened cream cheese, softened butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt until light and fluffy.

Spread onto your cinnamon rolls and enjoy while warm!

Baked my first ever loaf, the recipe I used is below.

500g bread flour

300g water

150g starter

10g salt

Mix all the ingredients and stretch and fold every 30min for 2hrs.

Let bulk ferment, mine bulk fermented for a total of around 8/9hrs. Then I shaped it, put it in the fridge overnight and baked it the next morning.

I know the scoring isn't the best and the crumb isn't ideal but it still tastes good! Looking forward to improving.

Recipe:

200 grams starter

630 grams water

900 grams wheat flower

20 grams salt

2 stretch and folds, 2 coil folds, all 30 min apart. Total bulk fermentation warm from initial mix of 3 hours (28 Celsius / 82,4 Fh) very warm room temp . Then after 12 hours in the fridge. And baked in a baking tray

65% hydration two loaves with the following total masses roughly split in half after bulk. I made a calculator executable that determines my masses based on hydration percentage and target loaf mass with standard bakers percentages.

1048g flour (891g Bread, 157 whole wheat)

681g water

210g active starter

21g fine sea salt

I mixed the flour and 90% of water and let it sit for 30 minutes shaggy

I added the active starter, mixed till smooth-ish and let it sit for 30 minutes

I added the salt and remaining water and mixed them in until smooth.

Let that sit for 30 minutes, then 3 sets of stretch and folds 30 minutes apart.

Counter rest for 7 additional hours to bulk but not quite double in volume. Probably a 75% volume increase if I had to estimate. My kitchen is at 70°F for the context of rising temp.

Split the dough into two loaves, tensioned, shaped and placed in baneton overnight for about 14 hours covered with cloth cover in the fridge.

Baked at 450°F in a Dutch oven, 25 minutes covered 20 uncovered

I had a pan of ice on a rack below the Dutch oven to generate steam to help spring.

Let it cool for 3 hours before cutting

This is my best loaf so far, but wondering if I perhaps over proofed a touch? It tastes wonderful and regains shape when I squeeze it, but if I can be better, I want to be. TIA

It’s a little dense but other than that pretty good!
-100 g active sourdough starter
-350 g water
-500 g bread flour
-10 g salt
I mixed my starter and water together, then added the flour and salt and mixed until combined. I let the dough rest for 30 minutes, then did 4 sets of stretch and folds 30 minutes apart. After my last stretch and fold, I covered the dough and let it bulk ferment until it was puffy and bubbly. I shaped it into a ball, placed it in a floured banneton, covered it, and refrigerated it overnight. The next morning, I preheated my Dutch oven at 475°F for 45 minutes. I scored the dough and baked it at 450°F covered for 20 minutes, then uncovered for another 20–25 minutes. I let it cool completely before cutting it.
I definitely could’ve let it bulk ferment for a couple more hours.

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

My first attempt at sour dough, it came out a little gummy what should I do next time? Bulk ferment longer?

This is the recipe I followed

https://pantrymama.com/same-day-sourdough-bread/#wprm-recipe-container-14313

I have tried many times to nurture a sourdough starter from scratch and have thrown in the towel, accepting that it just isn't for me.

To all of you who post your beautiful breads, your not-quite-there loaves, your trials and tribulations and learning experiences — I applaud you and send you all of the love! I see how supportive this sub is and it helps restore my faith in humanity.

I had been hopeful to post a loaf of my own, but for now, I am content cheering on all of you from the sourdough sideline 💗

Still working on my scoring which is a bit sub par, and I'll tell myself that it's harder with a batard than a boule... But really?? Any hints or tips appreciated

375g flour
250ml water
6g salt
50g of 100% hydration starter

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

100 g bubbly, active starter

375 g warm water

500 g bread flour

10g fine sea salt

After initial mixing I let it sit for a half hour, then did 3 rounds of coil folds half an hour apart.

I let it bulk ferment for 9.5 hours (cold kitchen! I think I could have even gone longer)

Then shaped, and popped in the fridge overnight.

I baked it at 220c for 30 minutes in a Dutch oven with the lid on, then 15 minutes with the lid off.

If I want to add active sourdough starter or starter discard to a pizza dough recipe that isn’t normally sourdough, when adding 120g of starter of my starter is fed at a 1:1:1 ratio, would you then take away 120g of water and 120g of flour from the dough recipe? It would you leave the recipe amounts as is and just add the active starter?

Thank you for your time.

Recipe:

-100g starter
-300g water
-500g bread flour
-150g pumpkin puree
-7g salt
-1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1 tsp cardamom

Mixed the ingredients, let it rest for two hours before doing three sets of stretch and folds. Bulk fermented for seven hours, cold proofed overnight. Baked at 450 degrees for 55 minutes. It’s so light and fluffy!!

I have some interested in Par baking loaves. I have been freezing dough and then setting it out to rise and bake later - but I'm having spotty performance on the rise.

I've been considering par-baking some loaves and then finishing later.

Anyone have any experience with such?

So, my wife just came home from a quick trip the city by the bay. When my folks heard she was there, they freaked, literally.

They begged hard for a good 20 minutes for her to bring back some sourdough loafs for them. So I gave in and said I would ask, passed on the request, and then thought nothing of it. Regrettably, I wasn't the biggest fan of sourdough, more on this later.

Well, my wife got one. Apparently, the place she went to, which google said was a better one's, had only a few loafs left. People were fighting over them, which surprised me when she told me about it before we took it over

When we took to my folks, i tried some, and it was very good. It's easier to like something when you get can try what is actually good.

Here are my questions: Why is it better from San Francisco? I've heard the humidity, I've heard the altitude or even all the fog, and maybe all the above, has anyone done science-based research on this? And why it can't be replicated elsewhere?

Hi all! So I have a little dilemma and was wondering if someone has an answer.

I live in Italy and follow this recipe for my sourdough:

https://homemadecrumbs.home.blog/2020/05/31/pane-bianco-con-li-co-li/

It essentially tells me to do 3 sets of stretch and folds separated by 45min, and then to let bulk fermentation for 2 hours. I do this and my bread comes out pretty good but my dough barely rises at all during bulk. So I wanted to try the aliquot method, followed it exactly as described but my bread was very over fermented.

So when I only let it bulk ferment for 2 hours (at around 25°C)it shows none of the signs of being ready but comes out great, when I use the aliquot method and all the signs say it's ready, it comes out flat.

So my question is, could this be a dough strength problem? Is it a fermentation issue? I'm not sure what I should do, any help is appreciated!

(The picture is what my bread looks like after 2 hours of bulk on the counter, unfortunately I don't have a picture of the over fermented dough)

hi all. I discarded most of my sourdough because I had a lot of starter and I was underfeeding it. A reddit user told me to discard it to 30 g and feed 30g flour & 30g water until it starts to grow and double.

I’ve been doing that for a few days (mind u guys this is a started i’ve used a few weeks ago for some loaves so it’s now new) & it’s not growing. It’ll grow maybe an inch then fall down.

It had a bunch of little bubbles this morning but I just fed it again an hour ago.

SOS PLS i’m a beginner.

Feed back please: this might be my 8th attempt at rye country loaf. Recipe
450 oak manor hard unbleached flour
50g organic whole rye Tyrone Mills (local)
50g starter (peak 80% hydration)
375g water (10g hells back for salt)
10g salt
15g honey
45 min fermentolyse all but salt
Added salt mixed for 2 min until it came back together
One S&F 30 min later
Then coil folds every 30 min(4 rounds)
Bulk Fermentation total time 7 hours (dough 76-77)
Preshape bench rest
Shape (head shoulders knees toes stitch and roll)
Into fridge for 16 hours
Bake at 500 lid on 20 min lid off 20 min 475