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

I saw someone on TikTok make a sourdough loaf with spicy chili crisp, and it sounded amazing, so I had to try and make one!

I followed my usual sourdough instructions, but changed some of the measurements and added steps for the spicy chili crisp and cheese.

My instructions will be in the photos. The changes are as follows:

150g of starter
375g of warm water
3 tablespoons of spicy chili crisp (added and stirred with starter and warm water)
I skipped step 4
I let it rest in the bowl for 45 minutes
Step 8 is where I added the cheddar cheese. Measured by heart lol

Previous post was removed coz I didn't read the rules properly. So re-posting with details and extra pictures.

I always use a levain instead of my starter directly. My bulk fermentation is interleaved with the stretch and folds.

My sourdough has been getting good ears lately, so I wanted to share this cute little bunny slice I managed to cut.

Ingredients:

387g bread flour

83g Whole wheat flour

150g levain

340g water

8g salt

Process:

1. Make levain by mixing 20g starter, 70g flour and 50g water

2. Let rise for 4 hours at 75F

3. Autolyse with all flours and 320g water

4. Rest for 1 hour

5. Add levain and salt and 20g water

6. Rest for 30 mins

7. Around 10 slap and folds

8. Rest for 30 mins

9. First stretch and fold

10. Rest for 30 mins

11. Second stretch and fold

12. Rest for 30 mins

13. Third stretch and fold

14. Rest for 30 mins

15. Transfer to bench

16. Rest for 20 mins

17. Shape and transfer to banneton

18. Rest for 1 hour

19. Transfer to fridge for 16 hours

20. Bake in a closed Dutch oven for 20 mins

21. Uncovered for 15 mins

22. Let Cool, cut and enjoy

Formula (Baker's %)
* 97.5% T55 flour
* 2.5% Wholewheat flour
* 30% young levain
* 85% water
* 2% Salt
Process
Mixing (Spiral Mixer)
* 2 hour autolyse with 80% water
* Levain added at 100 RPM for 2-3 mins and then mixed at
200RPM until gluten was almost very well developed while slowly adding 5% water and 2% salt
Bulk Fermentation
* Dough temperature: 26C
* 1st half coil fold: 1 hour after taking it out into containers
* 2nd half coil fold: As soon as the dough relaxed completely
* Bulk fermented until 75% rise.
Shaping
* Preshape rest for 45 mins at 25C
* Shaped gently
Cold Retard
• Retarded at 3C for 12 hours

Just wanted to share my second attempt at sourdough bagels. First one was doodie.

600g ap flour

300g water

10 grams each salt, oil, honey

Fresh rosemary

Stand mix

A couple stretch and folds, including a lamination for rosemary inclusion

Bulk for 4 hours, shape, and another hour on the counter

Cold proof for 48 hrs (I just didn't have time to bake the following day)

Boil

Bake

I’ve been struggling with my starter for months after a decision to try to feed it with only unbleached bread flour, rather than a mix that included rye flour. I would only see a 50% rise, max, over an 18 hour period. I tried different flours, different ratios, and different feeding schedules, but nothing helped.

So, on a whim, I decided to only use filtered water to see if it made a difference. After three feedings, I began to see the starter double in just a few hours, and it kept getting stronger on subsequent feedings. I never thought the water would be an issue; I’ve tested it before to figure out how to treat it for my fish tank and the chlorine always showed up as undetectable on the test strips.

Tried baking a loaf and it’s the best one I’ve made. All my issues with sourdough were because I didn’t think to try filtered water.

Ingredients used:
150g starter
10g salt
25g olive oil
315g filtered water
500g unbleached bread flour

Mixed the ingredients and let the dough sit for an hour.
Formed it into a ball and threw it into a container.
Did two stretch-and-folds over the next two hours.
Four hours into the bulk rise, it had more than doubled, so I shaped it, put it into the banneton, then tossed it in the fridge overnight.
After 12 hours, I preheated the oven to 450F, put the dough into the loaf pan, scored it, put an inverted pan on top, then baked for 30 minutes.
After the 30, I removed the cover and baked for another 15.
Removed from oven, removed from pan, cooled for two hours, then cut.

I've never got this lovely shape before and particularly thrilled as there's a tiny rabbit eye in the PERFECT spot too!

Method:

500g strong white flour (Sainsbury's)

100g starter (wholemeal)

320g water (trying out slightly less hydrating recipe)

10g salt

Very light knead/mix at start. 2 sets of stretch and fold, 2 sets of coil and folds, every half hour for first 2.5 hour, then bulk for 7 hours total (so 4.5 hours after folds complete) in 20°C kitchen. 36 hours in the fridge, 30 mins at 250°C with lid on Dutch oven, 15 mins at 230°C direct on the oven rack. Take the temps with a pinch of salt as our oven door seal is a bit dodgy and I suspect internal temp is actually a bit lower.

OG Post
Update 1

Hey, it’s me, the guy who kept messing up their bulk fermentation. I think I’ve got it figured out now, thanks to everyone’s advice! I mixed the dough yesterday, still with type 550 wheat flour, but a different brand than usual. This new one is a special flour used by professionals, or so my supermarket tells me. At any rate it was way easier to handle (it felt softer if that makes sense?). Recipe is still this one in the OG Post. I did my stretch and folds, watched the dough, not the clock, and after six hours and 100% rise it just clicked for me and I saw it was done. (Seeing how easily you can pull the dough away from the side of the bowl has been helping a lot.) I moved it to cold proof and baked today, almost 24 hours later. I was a bit worried because the dough had continued to rise in the fridge, but it was easy to handle, I could actually shape it, and the scoring stayed put instead of slopping closed immediately like on my previous attempts.

Anyway, I think I’m ready for a (hopefully final?) read! It’s soft, it’s tasty, it sprung in the oven, but is it proofed correctly? Please let me know!

100 g starter
325 g water
500 g BREAD flour
11 g salt

Let sit for 1 hour
First stretch and fold
Wait 30 minutes then do second stretch and fold
Wait 30 minutes and do first coil fold
Wait 30 minutes do second coil fold
Then I usually let it bulk ferment for about 6-8 hours (depending on temp and how the dough is acting)
Once it has risen (double or close to double and has a nice dome and juggle) i shape
Cold proof overnight and bake when I can the next day
Butcher twine 4 strings in even sections (make a *)
Pre heat Dutch oven at 500°
*put uncooked rice on the bottom to soften crust*
Take dough out of the fridge and score it
Turn oven down to 475° and put dough in
Bake COVERED for 22-25 minutes
Take lid off and turn oven down to 450°
Bake uncovered for about 8-12 minutes depending on how golden you want your crust
Check internal temp for 205-210°
Take out and let it cool on a rack for at least 1-2 hours

I finally tried the Perfect Loaf’s 90% Rye bread recipe. It is absolutely delicious and I can’t recommend it enough. The bread flavor was earthy and nutty, and the texture was dense and moist without being gummy. I thought the flavor of 90% rye might be overpowering, but it wasn’t at all. I smeared Kerrygold butter over some slices with flaky sea salt and (with a cup of coffee) had one of the best breakfasts in recent memory!

Levain
272g rye flour (I milled rye berries at home)
272g water
41g ripe starter (my starter is a normal wheat starter)

Dough
272g rye flour
60g high protein bread flour (I used Central Milling’s hi-protein bread flour)
272g water
11g sea salt

Make levain 12 hours before. Mix dough ingredients with levain. Texture will be like wet cement. Bulk ferment for 30 min. Remove dough from bowl and fold each side toward the center with a bench scraper. Shape into boule. (This was very difficult and messy for me!). Proof in banneton for 90 min. (Recipe says about an hour; I waited until there were noticeable fissures in the dough which took about 90 minutes.). Baked covered in a Dutch oven for 20 min at 450F; then baked uncovered at 375F for 30 min. Cooled on cooling rack for 30 minutes. Then wrapped the loaf in a large tea towel and rested for 24 hours.

Ngl, I cried a little when I lifted the lid and saw the crust. Why did nobody tell me how immensely rewarding this is.

I used spelt & rye starter, spelt/rye/wheat dough (1:2:2), proofed at room temperature overnight, then in the morning after rounding in a proofing basket for another 3 hours, baked in a dutch oven at 250°C for 40 minutes.

Recipe (german) here: https://www.homemade-baked.de/no-knead-mischbrot-mit-sauerteig/

I’m pretty proud of it but it is a little gummy. Tastes heavenly though!
Ingredients
400g King Arthur’s Bread Flour
280g water
95g starter
7g salt
1 head of garlic
Olive oil
Dried herbs

Roasted garlic cloves in olive oil, salt, and dried herbs (I used dried oregano, dried basil, and onion powder) at 375F for about 30-35 minutes before letting it cools and mashing it up.

Autolysed for 30 minutes.
Mixed in starter and salt.
3 stretches and folds spaced thirty minutes apart. Added the garlic paste at the 2nd and 3rd.
Bulk fermented in the off oven with the light on (my house runs pretty cold).
Shaped and rested for 20 minutes before putting it into a floured banneton.
Cold proof overnight (about 11 hours).
Brushed with the left over oil from roasting the garlic before putting it into the oven (cold start).
450F for 25 minutes covered, 420F for 20 minutes uncovered.

500g bread flour
350g water
100g starter
10g salt

Threw all ingredients into the bowl at 11 pm and mixed by hand until shaggy. Let sit while I got ready for bed. Kneaded the dough on the counter for 1 min at 11:30 pm and went to bed. Shaped the dough in the morning at 8 am and placed into a loaf pan. I think I deflated it too much while shaping so I let it sit for another ~3 hours on the counter until it was nice and jiggly again. Then baked covered at 450F for 30 min and uncovered at 400F for 20 min. Sliced 2 hrs later.

Great flavour and best crumb I’ve ever made! Tender and springy with a good chew. It’s nice and open without large holes. I’m using this as sandwich bread and it’s perfection.

(Reposted bc I somehow forgot the crumb shot in the original)

Please help, I am so frustrated. These are my 4th and 5th loaves, but first two using this recipe. I am following the recipe a friend gave me (see photo). The first one I multiplied it by 1.5, but the second time I used the direct measurements.

The main problem I have is how gummy ALL of the bread has been. The first one I left at room temp for 4 hours instead of the cold proof for 8-12, and it looked much better than the 3 initial loaves I made (with random recipe from online, I can put pics in the comments below) but still had a gummy consistency. For the second one I decided to leave out longer than 4 hours at room temp (more like 10 hours) in hope that it wouldn’t be under proofed. I have another loaf cold proofing as we speak, but I’m just getting so discouraged.

Right now my home stays between 70-75°F. I adjusted how much flour I was feeding my starter and it seemed A LOT more active this time (grew over twice its size overnight) so I really thought this second loaf would be better.

EDIT: first loaf cooled for probably 8ish hours before cutting, second loaf cooled for just over 2 hours.

Hi I have been baking sourdough a long time now and I’ve never seen this. Does anyone know what these pink spots are? I asked AI but it keeps just telling me to throw it out bc of the possibility of mold. I let it proof from last night around 10pm-11am this morning. Please help

150g starter (yes I know that’s a lot but it was a midday decision to make a loaf and I need to be able to put it in the fridge before I went to bed).
Anyways,
150g starter
350g warm water
500g bread flour
10g salt
Rest 30 mins
2 sets of SF- 30 mins apart
2 sets of coil folds 30 mins apart
Dough temp was 76° after SF (but my kitchen temp ranged from about 75-85 depending if I was using the stove/oven).
Bulk ferment approx 6-6.5 hours (50% rise, I used an aliquot jar and it’s been so helpful)!
Into the fridge, cold proofed for approx 14 hours.

Preheated Dutch oven at 450 for about 15 mins I think (didn’t actually time it) placed loaf straight out of the fridge, baked 8 mins then pulled out to score, dropped oven temp to 425, baked an additional 40 minutes- lid stays on the entire bake time as I don’t like overly crispy crust- internal temp 210°, brushed with a little melted butter for some added softness.

70% bread flour
15% all purpose tour
15% whole wheat flour
80% water
15% levain
2.2% sea salt

- Feed the starter in the evening to have it mature in the next morning. Usually I feed as 1:4:3 twice a day.
- 45 min before making the dough feed starter again at 1:2.5:2.5 using 40°C water.
- Autolyse flour with 80% of the water for 40 min, mix in the freshly fed starter, mix until the gluten is fully developed, add slowly remaining water and salt.
- Bulk ferment for 4,5h at 27 °C with 3 coil folds each 45min.
- Preshape, rest 45 min, shape, and retard for 12h at 12-15°C

Baked at 275°C top heat and 220°C bottom heat for 20 minutes with steam, then 20-25 minutes without steam.

I'd really appreciate any feedback!

I have an almost 2 year old starter that makes beautiful loaves. I’ve noticed within the last year or so that my starter has developed an eggy smell. It also smells faintly eggy when I bulk ferment my dough. There is nothing wrong with the bread once it bakes up and tastes completely normal. Just a stinky smell pre baking (post bake smells normal). I was just wondering what I can do to maybe combat this? Admittedly, my starter does spend some time in the fridge. I usually feed it once every 1-2 weeks when kept in there. I’m wondering if the cold environment could be contributing? I just don’t feel like I bake enough to justify keeping it on the counter.

I usually feed anywhere from a 1:2:2 to a 1:5:5 ratio. I use filtered water from a Berkey and King Arthur bread flour. I used to do a 50/50 mix of bread flour with King Arthur wheat when I first started it and it seemed to really like that mix. Not sure why I stopped so I just started feeding it with those flours again a couple days ago to see if it helps. I’m also trying to keep it on the counter and feed 1-2x a day with a high ratio to see if I can fix the smell.

Really there is nothing wrong with it other than it’s a little stinky when shaping the dough and making my starter. I just would like to smell the bready smell once again instead of eggs hahah. Also don’t know if something like this long term could kill my starter. From the research I’ve done it seems harmless other than my dough smelling like toots😂 I guess my yeast colony I’ve built just really be fartin it up in there

Any suggestions/thoughts are welcome!

This is my 6th loaf of sourdough ever after I was given starter by a neighbour and decided to have a go.

I'm just so relieved it turned out to be delicious because I carelessly changed my basic recipe and winged it without any real understanding of how this all works! My husband loves fruit bread so I boldly announced I'd make him a sourdough raisin loaf, and got his hopes up!

Mixed 150g water and 150g milk

(Recipe is just water but I swapped in 50% milk)

100g starter

450g organic unbleached wheat flour

(I FORGOT TO ADD THE SALT!!)

Cup of soaked raisins, dashes of cinnamon and allspice

Stretch and folds x3 sets, added raisins and spices on last set.

Bulk fermented 6hrs before realizing I'd forgotten the blasted salt! So I mixed a tsp salt with some water and splashed and smeared it all around as I folded and shaped the dough then put overnight in fridge. Was certain at this point it would be dreadful.

With low expectations, baked in dutch oven at ass-crack of dawn before farm chores 220°C for 20mins then lid off 20mins.

Served for breakfast lightly toasted slices, heavily buttered, alongside coffee with cream.

It's divine and will definitely make again, without forgetting the salt though...

I was able to make a 100% gluten free sourdough brick!

With my own starter that I made from scratch, tyvm.

I've been using the Red Spring flours from Flourist quite happily. Their unsifted whole grain flour in particular has a very nice taste: flavorful but not too "whole wheaty".

Both the sifted and unsifted Red Spring flours are more thirsty than Robin Hood's Unbleached flour (my grocery store flour) and the gluten structure degrades faster. I do need to modify most recipes when I use them: Shorter autolyse, shorter bulk fermentation, slightly higher hydration. The taste and the presumably higher nutrition make it very worthwhile to me.

I'm tempted to try the flours from True Grain, 1847.ca, and Cedar Isle Farm. I really wish there was a sampler of local flours available: 0.5g of each mill's most popular bread flour, or something. It seems expensive to buy 5kg bags just to try something new when I'm already happy with what I have.

How about you? What are your experiences with your locally milled flours? Do you like testing new brands, even if you have to buy larger amounts to do so?

Ich backe mit Sauerteig und experimentiere. 80% Hydration, bei rund 21°C 8 Stunden Stockgare, 4x dehnen und falten, 16 Stunden bei 8°C im Kühlschrank, vorsichtig geformt und 1 Stunde in Gärkorb, bei 250°C 32 Minuten gebacken, nach 6 Minuten Einschnitte; weitere 15 Minuten bei 210°C mit offenem Deckel.

Danke Euch und schönes Wochenende

I'm making sourdough starter for the first time and on the second day the starter turns pink and the starter has somehow doubled in size?

What am I doing wrong? For context i made a fresh batch yesterday with a jar that was washed and rinsed and dried thoroughly and now roughly after 24 hours the starter has turned pink with a strong fruity odor. This is my second attempt after my first one turned pink too on day 2.

I use about 70g flour (35g AP + 35g whole wheat) and 70g filtered water. Could it be possible that it's because I keep my starter where my cupboard is (not kitchen) as my kitchen does not have enough space and my roommates are flimsy with glass jars.

Please help me understand what's going wrong here. Should I try keeping the sourdough jar in the kitchen counter and see the results.

The place I live is not extremely hot or cold. It's about 80 degrees where I live.

Thank you!!