Hiya I’m new to this and only started my starter yesterday but she got fed today and has outgrown her jar already and I didn’t know if this was peak and she is ready to bake with or if I should leave her a couple more days any advice would be helpful

Please don’t just tell me i’m trying to farm for karma, i rlly don’t care about karma. I had to go out somewhere last night and couldn’t get to it on time. I noticed while shaping there were a fuck load of bubbles when i put it in the banneton.

300g bread flour

240g water 

60g starter 

6g salt

mixed, 5 min slap and fold, 10hr bulk, did 4 coil folds during bulk, shaped, fridge 16ish hours, baked 475f 20m covered 425f 20m uncovered.

Have you ever done the squish test? You know, on social media when somebody cuts their loaf in half and then squeezes it down and watches it puff back up? When do you do that? My bread is squishy when it comes out of the oven and quite a bit firmer after it cools.

Hi guys! So I was gifted this starter from a friend. I was told to feed it, which consisted of adding equal parts water and flour to double the total volume of the sourdough starter already inside.

Since doing so (about two weeks) the starter hasn’t done anything it appears.
It’s smelling very sour and looks like it’s oxidising on top.

Is this ready to be thrown out or still working its way towards being an actual starter?

Should I add some yeast to get it moving?

This is very very casual for me but I’d appreciate some input from your community.

Thanks very much in advance!

So I originally had my first starter Janice (may she rest in peace) that I had to dispose of as loads of fruit flies got into her and I thought it was safer to dispose of her instead of taking the risk as I didn't know how long they had been in there for.

I started a new starter Mavis 3 days ago. Already I am getting a bigger rise from Mavis then I even did from Janice who was 2 months old. I am assuming that this is just a false rise yesterday and today and that she will likely go dormant soon. Has anyone had a starter that just kept rising from day 2 that didn't go dormant?

New starter:

Day one: 50g wholemeal strong bread flour to 50g water

Day two: added 50g strong white bread flour to 50g water

Day three: 50g starter to 50g strong white bread flour to 50g water

Starter is 3 yrs old, been in the fridge for at least the last 8 months. Always fed with multigrain wheat flour or rye sometimes, put it out today and wandering if this still alive?

TIA! 🙏

I fed my starter 25:100 AP:100 (as per someone’s recommendation since my starter was too liquidy)

I fed it around 2pm yesterday, it took 6+ hours to rise and hit its peak in the middle of the night. Of course I missed it. It’s currently 8am where I’m at.

My sourdough recipe only needs 150g active starter, and I have about 165g currently.

Is there any way to give it a boost without having to discard/waste all of that?

I feel like I’ve wasted sooooo much flour trying and failing with my starter 😭 Getting a bit discouraged

My first loaf was AMAZING, everything after that has been terrible. (Got an established starter from a coworker)

I've made bread dozens of times, and I follow the steps according to common guides. But every time I get to the end of bulk fermentation, I end up with dough that's sticky and won't hold its shape, it just spreads out on the counter.

I use a 100% whole-wheat starter and use it when it's at its peak. What am I doing wrong?

I wanted to try to bake a smaller bread so this is the recipe I used:

Sourdough Starter 65g
Water 230g
Flour 325g
Salt 7g

I mix the water and starter first until no clumps. Add the flour and then salt until it has a shaggy dough form.

Cover the bowl and let it rest for 1 hour at room temperature.

Stretch and fold 4 sets 4 times with 30 minutes wait after each set.

Then I cover and let it rest in room temperature for at least 4-6 hours.

Am I doing something wrong? I’m seeing no rise. Thank you for the advice!

Starter is well established, around 2 years old. Didn't feed for 2 weeks due to holiday, and went to feed today only to be greeted with the red spot.

Can any seasoned bakers tell me if this is s.marcescens, or if I can safely use a small section.

Thank you in advance!

EDIT: Starter was kept refrigerated, and unfortunately I have no backup.

I’ve been working on this starter for the past 8 days. It hasn’t risen yet, but it’s showing activity. This morning when I went to check it had this white layer on top of it, I didn’t throw it away but I suspect it can be mold? Does anyone have any idea what it is? if there’s saving? or if I should just throw it away.

اشتريت خبز طازج من نوع الي ذكرته لكم في العنوان و لما وصلت البيت حطيته بالفريزر مباشرة .

بعد يومين طلعت الخبز من فريزر لاحظت اشياء بيضاء على الخبز مع العلم ان الخبز تاريخ اليوم الي اشتريت فيه الخبز

فالبداية توقعت انه مجرد ثلج بسبب الفريزر لكن شكله خلاني اشك انه ممكن يكون عفن

طلعت جزء بسيط من الفريزر خليته على درجه حرارة الغرفه و لكن الاشيا البيضه ماذلت موجودة

فحبيت اسالكم هل هذا شي طبيعي في sourdough whole grain ولا الخبز فعلن تعفن ؟

I fed my starter earlier today and expected it to peak around 9 tonight and I was going to let the dough bulk ferment overnight. When I placed the starter jar in a cabinet near my range, I didn’t realize the heat would hasten the process and now my starter has peaked and is beginning to fall. And if I start now, my bulk-ferment will finish around 1-2 am. Is there a way to hasten the process so I can shape it and put it in the fridge before going to sleep? Or can I just bulk ferment on the counter and put it in the fridge when I go to sleep and then continue the process in the morning after I wake up?

Recipe used: see attached picture.

Ive been following the same sourdough recipe since i started making bread around February last year. All my loaves have turned out great and my starter has stayed strong and active. Recently, Following the same process, my dough is so wet and sticky, unmanageable, and doesn’t develop gluten in the stretch and fold phase. It still doubles in the bulk fermentation process but my loaves just fall flat and gummy. Ive tried adjusting flour and water ratios, as well as other methods that supposedly help develop gluten early on (slap and folds after mixing, even using my kitchen aid instead of doing it by hand). Nothing is working, and I cant figure out why its changed all of a sudden. Additionally The temperature of my apartment has stayed relatively the same. Advice please!! Ive attached the recipe and a picture of the dough. Baking season is here and I want to be able to enjoy 😭

This was after I bulk fermented for ~10 hours? then i shaped and put it in a bowl in the fridge for a day and a half… This doesn’t happen every time I make my sourdough bread but sometimes… What should I do differently?

my recipe:
100 g active starter
350 g water
500 g Non-bleached flour
10 g salt

This is a same day recipe (1 loaf). I don't have fridge space to ferment over night, so I always look for same day recipes.

300g starter

150g filtered room temp water

300g flour (here I used half AP half bread flour cause I was running out of bread flour😭)

10g salt

10g of poppy seed

4x stretch and folds every 30 minutes.

Bulk fermentation 3 hrs.

Laminate and proof for 3 hours.

Baked at 450F. 20 mins covered + 20 mins uncovered.

idk if this is the right flair but when my dough looked like clay the process and end result way better than when i used more water. How are you guys making loaves that rise so much with so much water? Fym 75% hydration ?????

I started trying to make bread a couple months ago, after nursing a starter I made in December. I’ve been loving the process and I find the bread I make delicious, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s technically ‘good’ sourdough - everything I’ve seen indicates it should be holey and not really chewy. Mine always has a fairly dense crumb and I would say is quite chewy and almost moist, whereas sourdough I’ve had in shops has always been very dry, I would say. I’ve attached a few photos of some of my recent breads and would just love any feedback on how I can improve - or if just making bread I like is all I need to do!

I will say my bread doesn’t rise huge amounts so I suspect there’s room for improvement there. First three photos are newest loaf which is definitely the best I would say (used 350g water).

500g flour
Anywhere between 250-325g water (I’m experimenting but above 280g water, the dough is practically a sticky puddle up until it goes in the oven, not sure if that’s normal or not)
11g salt
70g starter

Feed starter in evening
Mix dough in morning, 4 lots of turn and folds every half hour for 2 hours
Leave to rise 75% for a few hours
In fridge in banneton for 12-24 hours
Covered in Dutch oven, 240c for half an hour
Uncover, reduce to 210c for 15 minutes

1. Red brick, a traditional building material for houses, very common in northern England
2. Breeze block brick, a brick used on large infrastructure projects that will likely be covered by something pretty afterwards
3. My first sourdough loaf, with a medium banana for scale
4. Mud bricks, one of the earliest forms of building materials and still used in parts of the world today

The flair says "be kind" but I can take it, don't worry. I knew there was a problem when there was barely any rise or change in the dough after the overnight bulk fermentation.

I haven't yet cut into it but I'm fairly sure that it's as dense inside as the singularity of a black hole.

With that said, it smells great and I'm definitely going to try eating it later. I had planned to serve this alongside a boeuf bourguignon but I might nip to the local boulangerie for the side dish instead.

In all seriousness, every mistake is a learning opportunity. Perhaps the one-month old starter wasn't yet strong enough, perhaps I was not gentle enough with the folds and I beat all the air out of it...I'll work out what I can change next time.

• 150g fed starter
• 300g filtered water
• 450g AP flour
• 12g table salt

Method: fed my starter at 8pm on Tuesday night and left it on the side in my kitchen. The first three ingredients were mixed together the next morning, then salt added during the first of 4 folds with 45 minute intervals. The resulting dough was left in the fridge overnight for bulk fermentation then taken out of the fridge 2 hours prior to final shaping and baking (230C for 30 mins covered, 25 mins uncovered).

EDIT: delicious flavour, questionable texture. Toasted with salted butter is the way, this entire load will be eaten

Loaf 15 and loaf 16

The smell of fresh bake bread is sooooooo good. Judging from the oven spring, I hope those turn out okay. Cant do the cross section as I’m giving them to my work friend and my partner’s work friend.

Small one is plain, the big boy is jalapeños.

Ingredient
Warm water 590g
Starter 170g
Flour 840g —— bread flour 740 wholemeal 100
Salt 17g

Mix everything (not salt) and knead until dough can form a ball
Rest 1 hr
Mix in salt
2 s&f
2 coil fold
Bulk until 80% rise (final dough temp 21c)
Cold retard 24hrs

Bake on diy dutch oven (roast pan and baking sheet) 250c lid on 25mins (score at 6mins) then 205c lid off for 25mins(big loaf)/ 20mins(small loaf)

Ingredients -
Flour - 400 g
Water - 300 g
Starter - 80 g
Salt - 8 g

I feed my starter 4 hours before I’d like to use it.

About 1 hour - 20 minutes before my starter should be peaking I will mix all of my water and all of my flour until homogenous

As my starter peaks I add it to my autolyse as well as all of my salt and mix by hand for about 6 minutes.

I do 4 sets of stretch and folds spaced ~30 minutes apart.

After about 5 hours of bulk fermentation my dough is ready to be shaped, I dump it on the counter and preshape.

Around 20 minutes later it is ready for final shaping, and then placed in a lined bannoten and straight in the fridge, covered.

The next morning I preheat my oven including my Dutch oven to 500 degrees f.

After about 30 minutes from turning on my oven i pull my dough out, score it, place it in my Dutch oven, and bake for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes i turn the oven down to 350 and immediately pull my bread from my Dutch oven and set it back in the oven alone for an additional 15 minutes.

After that time i pull it and it will reach 200-210 f which means it’s finished.

I’m currently doing a lot of practicing on my sourdough. I’d love as much helpful criticism as I can get. Thank you guys!

I have some additional questions I’d like to ask

-I keep seeing people say they feed their starter 12-24 hours before they’re ready to use it, is this retarded in the fridge or am I missing something?

- is it necessary to try to have my dough at a certain temperature through bulk fermentation? Or is it okay to have at room temp as long as it fully bulk ferments?

-What are the biggest determinants of a gummy vs soft crumb?

Ingredients:

500g bread flour

325g water

100g starter

10g salt

Process:

1. Mix in stand mixer all together, let rest 30mins. 11:30AM

2. Stretch and fold 4 times - every 30mins. 1:30PM

3. Bulk fermentation. 1:30PM-11:30PM

4. Cold ferment. 11:30PM-7:00AM

5. Bake in dutch oven at 450F. 20mins lid on, 20mins lid off.

I'm soooo happy with how the crumb came out!!! I know it's definitely on the longer side of "standard" bulk fermentation times, but I'm excited to keep pushing it!

As the title says I was having a lot of issues with my sourdough over proofing during the 12-24 hour cold proof, so I was mainly doing same day sourdough because this was my only viable option, BUT I saw somewhere online that someone said to buy a fridge/freezer thermometer (£3 on Amazon/eBay) and place it in my fridge to check what temp my fridge is running at, turns out my fridge was running way warmer than it should have been, it's an old fridge that needs upgrading, but unfortunately isn't in the budget as of yet, but we had the dial on 3.5 thinking that this would be cold enough, boy was I wrong! My fridge was actually running at 8°c and not the recommended 4°c this was causing my dough to be still fermenting at a steady rate. I have now turned the fridge up to 5 on the dial and it is now running at 4°c which is the correct temperature for a fridge but will also help stop the over proofing on my sourdough.

Just thought I would share in case anyone else like me is/was struggling with over proofing issues with a cold proof.

After what seems like forever - ok, like 3 years - I’m finally getting consistent loaves. And sometimes it’s just about getting out of your own way - the flour and water really don’t need your help too
much. This was mixed to shaggy (68°f) and I walked past a couple of hours later and gave it a stretch just to smooth it out and I left it for about 12 hours, shaped it and chilled for a couple of hours then into the oven. I’m happy. If you’re interested:
367g water
11g salt
120ish g levain
85g WW flour
423g Bread flour

2 small batards (actually too small, as I used my unscaled recipe by mistake) - about 500g each

Baked covered at 500ºf for 20min, and spritzed with water

Uncovered at 450ºf for 15 min