r/Sourdough

300ml water 300g ka bread flour 100g ka whole wheat 8g salt 40g starter

mixed and s&f 4 times every half hour, 6 hours bulk, shaped, 1 hour proof, then overnight in the fridge

baked covered at 450 20 min uncovered 20 min

BACON EGG & CHEESE LOAF

100g Starter
325g Room Temp Water
500g Bread Flour
10g salt

I live in Puerto Rico, so fermentation times are considerably lower. I mix everything at once and mix until it sticks more to the dough than your fingers.

Wait an hour. Do two sets of stretch and fold every 30 minutes. Do two sets of coil and folds every 30 minutes.

Bulk ferment for 3 hours. Shape, add inclusions and cold proof for 12-24 hours. I did 12.

Pre heat oven to 450 degrees with Dutch oven inside. Bake loaf for 35 minutes. Lower heat to 425 degrees uncovered for 10-15 minutes until desired golden.

How did I do?

I've been cultivating a new starter for about 2 weeks now. After 12 days, I was getting consistent doubling 4-5 hours after feeding on a 1:1:1 ratio, so I decided to take a crack at my first sourdough bread. I mostly followed Claire Saffitz's recipe from the NYT: https://cooking.nytimes.com/article/sourdough-bread.

700 g bread flour

300 g rye flour

750 g water

200 g starter

20 g salt

(makes two loaves)

Day 1

• Early morning, mixed 20 g of starter with 100 g of water and 100 g of 70:30 bread flour, rye flour mix
• Evening, (at this point starter almost tripled in volume) discarded all but 20g and repeated the above.

Day 2

• Autolyze for ~1 hour
• Mixed in starter by hand, add salt and rest for 10 minutes
• Did stretch and folds for about 15 minutes quite vigorously. Stopped when dough passed window pane test. Let dough rest on counter.
• After an hour of rest, I did 4 stretch and folds, this time much gentler and let the dough rest for another hour.
• I repeated the above three more times. However, I had to run an errand before the last set and the dough sat undisturbed for about 2.5 hours.
• Total bulk ferment time up to this point was about 6.5 hours in a 72-75 degree kitchen.
• At this point, the dough almost doubled, was jiggly and had bubbles throughout. So, I moved on to the preshaping step.
• I dumped the dough onto a floured surface and cut into two. I stretched each dough into a rough square and folded from the corners, flipped it over, and used a bench scraper to form a ball as best I could. This step was tricky since the dough was still a bit tacky---I had to apply several sprinklings of flour to get things moving.
• After 20 minutes of rest, I did the final shaping---dough was noticeably easier to handle---transferred to bannetons and let rest for 1 hour.
• After 1 hour, when I poked the dough, the indentation slowly pushed back out. I then transferred to my fridge for overnight ferment.

Day 3

• 10 hours later, I pre-heated my oven at 500 F for 1 hour with a dutch oven inside.
• I took one loaf out, flipped it onto parchment paper and did a score.
• I transferred to the dutch oven and baked with lid on for 20 minutes.
• I then took the lid off, reduced temp to 450 F and baked for an additional 30 minutes and transferred to wire rack for cooling

It was a bit of a journey. I didn't really appreciate how challenging it would be to handle such a hydrated dough, but it all worked out. The inside was a tad moist but that's probably because I got impatient and cut into it 3 hours after cooling. The bread tasted great and family devoured it in no time.

I will bake the second loaf tomorrow and make sure it gets to cool over night.

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/no-knead-sourdough-bread-recipe

500g bread flour

100g starter

11g salt

325g water

Roughly homogenize water and starter, add salt then flour, mix with fork into a shaggy dough. Let sit for about an hour. Do 2 sets of stretch and folds 30 minutes apart, then 2 sets of coil folds 30 minutes apart.

Bulk ferment was about 4 hours in a 76ish degree kitchen under the surface light. Pre shaped (for the first time!), let sit for about 20 minutes, then final shaped (better than I had before, and tried stitching) and put into banneton. Cold proof for about a day and a half. This is from my own starter that’s 5 months old, and she needs the extra cold proof time to develop the sourness I like.

Preheat Dutch oven while oven heats to 450. Score bread dough and place 2 small ice cubes between Dutch oven wall and silicone mat/parchment. Bake 30 minutes at 450 with lid on, and about 18 minutes at 400 with lid off. Put on cooking rack immediately.

I think this is my best loaf yet!!! I got an EAR, y’all!!!!

surprised it actually turned into bread, it seemed like it barely rose and i let the bulk go kinda long

400g flour

360g water

8g salt

118g starter

1 hr autolyse, 3 mins slap and fold, 4 sets of coil folds as needed, 7 hr bf, fridge 15 hr, bake 475f covered 400f uncovered 25 mins each

How did I do?? 😊

Recipe is in the photos!!

I got a super strong starter from a neighbor and have been feeding it for a few weeks now (i have named her Olga). Today I finally took the leap and baked a loaf! I followed the beginner recipe on The Clever Carrot website

150g starter
300g water
500g flour
25g olive oil
10g salt

Mixed dough at 6:45am
Rest for ~1 hour
Started stretch and folds x2 and then 2 coil folds
Dough temp stayed at about 73-75 F
Bulk ferment took about 6.5hrs from dough mix (my house was 78 degrees)
Shaped and placed in banneton for 1hr
Preheated DO at 450
Cooked with lid for 20min at 400
Lid off for 40min
Internal temp was 207 at end of bake
Cooled for four hours before cutting

Taste is wonderful- not chewy or dense! Overall i’m happy and consider it a success, but appreciate any tips or feedback!

I was a bit clumsy adding the water into my bottom rack for steam and I think that affected my oven spring resulting in the lack of burst at the score site. Also I baked on my pizza stone and realized the reason my pizzas and now this loaf’s bottom are so pale is that you’re supposed to bake your stone by itself for 30-60 min to heat it up 😅 so those were my learning moments.

The win however was that the crust was SO nice and crispy and much less thick compared to my Dutch oven crusts! My husband said the bread itself feels softer too. Definitely will be attempting again soon! I think I prefer this outcome to my usual DO bakes despite the kinks that need to be worked out!

My process:
500g bread flour 71% water 20% starter 2% salt

Autolyse flour and all but 20g water for 30 min, mix in starter, add salt plus the leftover 20g water. Temp dough and set my timer according to the sourdough journey’s temp chart (it’s just my approximate time, I usually go over by 30-60 min, reading my dough instead of the chart) Slap and folds until cohesive. 4 sets of coil folds at 30-45 min intervals. Shaped and into a banneton when dough felt right (bubbles on top and throughout, jiggly, not sticky to the touch, etc.) Cold ferment for approx 20 hours. Preheated oven to 250°C with pizza stone in (just the oven’s preheat, which was my problem with the bottom). Dumped dough onto a piece of cooking paper, scored and used my pizza peel to get the bread onto the pizza stone. On bottom rack poured boiling water into cookie sheet but my oven is small and I put the bread first and closed the door to maintain heat while I grabbed my boiled kettle. Will be reworking that procedure next time 😅 Baked for 20 min with the water cookie sheet, removed the cookie sheet and baked 20 more min. Flipped the bread around for an extra 4 min to even out the color of the crust a bit. Cooled for a smidge less than two hours before cutting for dinner!

Edit: typo

I was doing my 3rd coil fold when my dough suddenly… did this.

At first I laughed because, well… it looks like a butt. But I have no idea what actually happened.
It didn’t rip or lose strength; it still passes the windowpane test and the “crack” is smooth, not torn. It almost looks like the dough just opened itself from the inside.

Did I build too much surface tension? Too many coil folds? Or did the trapped gas just decide it had enough?

Should I just continue bulk as usual, or is this my dough politely telling me to stop touching it? 🍑

Recipe (required by mods): 400g flour, 300g water, 90g starter, 5g honey, 8g salt. 1h autolyse → mix → 3× coil folds (30 min apart) → BF 4–6h → cold proof 12h → bake at 270°C: 20 min covered + 20 min uncovered.

I’ve made 3 sourdough loaves now and I’m hoping for some advice because I feel like I’m improving, but I’m still not getting the shape or dough strength I’m looking for. Honestly my first crumb was the best but it felt so hard and sticky to shape and work with.

Current recipe
500g bread flour
325g water (65% hydration)
100g active starter
10g salt

Process
Mix everything together and let rest about 30 minutes.
Do 4 sets of stretch and folds every 30 minutes.
Bulk ferment until the dough has visibly risen (usually around 5–6 hours total after mixing at ~72°F).
Preshape and bench rest.
Final shape and place into a banneton.
Cold proof overnight.
Bake straight from the fridge in a preheated Dutch oven:
450°F with the lid on for 30 minutes
400°F with the lid off for 15–20 minutes

My issue
The dough always seems softer and flatter than I expect. It doesn’t hold a nice tight boule shape like many videos I watch. Even after shaping, it spreads more than I’d like and never seems to have that tall, tight ball. The baked loaves taste good, but I’m chasing more oven spring and better structure.

Does this sound like:
Underdeveloped gluten?
Overproofing?
Hydration still being too high?
Shaping technique?
Something else?

I’d really appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

I posted earlier with my sticky dough after BF that doesn’t stay shaped. Here’s the crumb. Please help! Original post copied below:

Fairly new to sour dough. After my bulk ferment, the dough is quite sticky and won’t hold its shape after I shape it and soon become flat. Why is this? Picture attached. This time the BF resulted in basically doubled dough, left it overnight (6 hours) . I don’t usually leave it overnight but even when I don’t leave it so long, it’s always sticky and won’t hold shape. What am I doing wrong?

Only after going in baneton and being in the fridge for 3+ hours does it holds its shape

Recipe: 250g starter 725 g warm water Mix 25 g non iodized salt 1000 g AP best for bread flour

Process: mix well Cover and sit for 1 hour 4 rounds of stretch and folds every 30 minutes (first round has 10 folds the rest have 4), coveted in between. Cover and sit on counter until 50-75% rise. Shape, leave on counter for 20 mins, shape again Fridge for 3 hours+ Bake in pre heated Dutch oven covered at 500 for 35 then lid off at 425 for 10-15 min

Fairly new to sour dough. After my bulk ferment, the dough is quite sticky and won’t hold its shape after I shape it and soon become flat. Why is this? Picture attached. This time the BF resulted in basically doubled dough, left it overnight (6 hours) . I don’t usually leave it overnight but even when I don’t leave it so long, it’s always sticky and won’t hold shape. What am I doing wrong?

Only after going in baneton and being in the fridge for 3+ hours does it holds its shape

I haven’t baked this batch yet but typically the bread itself still turns out ok. I’ll update commenters with a pic of the loaf later today

Pleas help.

Recipe: 250g starter 725 g warm water Mix 25 g non iodized salt 1000 g flour

Process: mix well Cover and sit for 1 hour 4 rounds of stretch and folds every 30 minutes (first round has 10 folds the rest have 4), coveted in between. Cover and sit on counter until 50-75% rise. Shape, leave on counter for 20 mins, shape again Fridge for 3 hours+ Bake covered at 500 for 35 then lid off at 425 for 10-15 min

Hello all! I decided to dive into the world of sourdough a few months ago. I bought a starter from King Arthur, and my first two loaves were the King Arthur Rustic Sourdough Bread recipes, and they turned out well. Then I received a Dutch oven and all the sourdough baking accessories for my birthday, so I decided to try it out. My first loaf a couple of weeks ago wasn't a success. It was super hard to cut and it was way too chewy. I followed the below recipe this weekend and this is my result! The only change I made was taking the lid off and baking for another 20 minutes instead of 25 minutes. I'm pretty happy with it overall. Big thanks to u/ahjummacore!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sourdough/comments/1udrf7c/update_my_stand_mixer_loafs_crumb_has_improved/

Long-time lurker here: I also decided to follow and bake u/ahjummacore’s Stand Mixer Sourdough, and got great results too! I probably could’ve left it in the oven longer for a stronger bake, but we always toast our bread and I wasn’t too worried.

Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Sourdough/s/TndTZ53C5q

Still trying to geht a decent honeycomb Crumb, a very difficult and technical Challange.
I would say that’s a huge success this time, I Like this crumb Even more then the last time: https://www.reddit.com/r/Sourdough/s/qoHdTHdJUi

I changed the hydration now at 86% from 77%
And did the last Coil Fold 1,5h before end of Bulk
The dough was Crazy proofy and nearly it felt as it would resiste against the shaping because I maybe build to much structure (is that possible?)
I would honestly love some feedback 🙂 I would try to get it a bit more open and a bit more regular.

300g Breadflour
300g Weizenruchmehl (dark strong breadflour)
15g Salt
120g starter
510g water

I mixed in the Machine, and transferred to a container after the windowpane test was a success.
Then I did regular coil folds (see screenshot of timer app) total bulk time was about 5.5h at 26C

Then I preshaped and divided the dough and let it relax for 20 min because it was so stubborn, after that I shaped and put it in the fridge and let it rest for 8h

I’m gonna do my best on the recipe because unfortunately all I have are hand scribbled notes from watching my mom do this. I just made my own (she gave me some of her starter — she said it was “fed” which sounded important) for the very first time yesterday/today, I am so thrilled with the result!!

Recipe:
400g bread flour
100g whole wheat flour
100g starter
350g water
10g salt
10g malt

Yesterday I combined these with a whisk then let it sit in the bowl for half an hour. I did four rounds of stretch and folds at 30 minute intervals, then I moved it to a clear container with a rubber band marking its level.
I know you’re not “supposed” to let it double in size while proofing, especially considering it was hot today (75 F in my kitchen), but my mom INSISTED I needed to let it double in size. Well then I wandered away a little too long and after four hours it was at like 110% volume, oops!! I was sure it would be overproofed but idk I just went with it and I think it was okay.
At that point I transferred it to the counter and let it sit another 15 minutes before preshaping. I let it sit another 15 or so minutes before putting it into its little nest (my mom got me some of those batard basket things for my birthday so I used that). After like five more minutes I put it in the fridge with a little towel over it before bed, I guess around 8:30-8:45 PM
Today around 3:30 PM I started preheating the oven with a cast iron pot and lid inside at 500F. Even after coming to temp I left it for 30 minutes (well more like 45 minutes because I was cooking & eating other food at the time lol) to keep the cast iron heating up. I scored my loaf but as you can see from my photos, I don’t think I went deep enough on the decorative scoring.
Then I popped my loaf into the super hot cast iron and baked it with the lid on for 8 minutes, and when I took the lid off I did another little score with a scalpel to ensure a good ear (sorry if that’s cheating I don’t know anything other than what my mom taught me lol). Put it back in to bake uncovered for 15 minutes, checked the temp with a thermometer, and pulled it out and let it cool on a wire rack for a few hours.
I think that’s everything!!! My mom said her first several loaves were disasters compared to this, and I’ll admit it’s probably a combination of beginner’s luck and also just having been taught recently enough by my mom to just sorta steal her info, LOL. Just curious what you guys think of this, what I did right vs wrong, and maybe if I might have picked up any bad habits from my mom 😆
(Final note, I like how when I cut it it looks like a bunny!!! 🐰)
ETA: Corrected the recipe somewhat, also when I let it proof for four hours I realized I actually put it in the oven (off) with the light on (maybe 85F in there), I think that’s how I got to 110% after only four hours.

300g bread flour
100g whole wheat flour
200g light Ruchmehl
450g water
12g salt
4g malt
120g Lievito Madre
Poppy seeds

40min of autolyse, add everything else and knead until successful window test. 2 stretch+folds followed by 2 coil folds 30min apart. BF for 3h40min, preshape, 30min rest, shape and cold ferment for 12h. bake at 230C for 35min and 210C for 15min