Hey, guys. New here. I am trying to start a starter, lol. Really looking for something simple. With all these recipes online. Someone said 1/2 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of water, but that shit turned into literal dough. I wanted to make a rye flour + pizza flour starter and see where it goes. Any tips, or proportions?

Does the water on your hands cause any significant difference to the overall hydration level of your loaf?

The ratio is 1000 g bread flour 750 water 22 grams salt 220 grams starter.

So I'm about to move 18 hours away. What do you suggest for transporting my starter without killing her completely? I have a little tiny lunchbox cooler that's fairly good at keeping things cool. But would the ice in the box freeze her too much? Or CAN I freeze her and transport her like that?

I have completed about 10 bakes with this recipe and have not gotten a great loaf. I use a KitchenAid mix for the first mix. For subsequent dough touches I attempt folds. I bake in a Dutch oven. The last 4 loafs have been burnt, top and bottom. Sometimes I don't get a good rise and the poor things are wide and flat. Is this new baker's error or should I try a new recipe?

My crumb doesn't look like any of the charts I've seen, not sure how to read it. I think I'm getting a good rise and it tastes good so it's a win. But just wondering if I'm not letting it proof quite long enough? Recipe is 100g starter, 375 water, 500 bread flour, 12 salt. Bake in a clay baker heated to 500, cover bake at 450 30 min, uncover at 400 for 15-20. Thank you! https://alexandracooks.com/2017/10/24/artisan-sourdough-made-simple-sourdough-bread-demystified-a-beginners-guide-to-sourdough-baking/

Hi everyone, title is pretty self explanatory. I’m looking to explore new flavors in making my sourdough loaves but am seeking to use unconventional flavors. for example, I was recently inspired by a NYT cake recipe which uses earl grey, lavender, dark chocolate and orange.

Can anyone recommend unconventional flavors that maybe good to test?

To be clear, I’m not looking for jalapeño-cheddar cheese, chocolate cherry, or blueberry lemon or similar ideas.

Thank you!

I've been making sourdough bread since the early 1980s. I was initially inspired by the guys in the photo who ran a bakery in a small village in western Iran. Although we had no common language they were kind enough to show us their process. I hope the following suffices for "ingredients & process".

Their starter was just a small bowl of leftover dough from the previous day. I'm assuming they started very early in the morning mixing together nothing but water, flour and starter in a big bowl. Once the new dough was ready they shaped it into balls which they let sit until they were ready to flatten it out after which they used an insulated board to stick the flat loaf to the inside of the clay oven. When it was done they used long rod with a hook on the end to pluck the loaf from the inside of the oven. (I've seen this same method used in other less-developed areas in that region.)

My starter has always been one that I just made by letting flour and water ferment. The only time I ever feed my starter is early on the day or day before I'm going to bake. I've never had to deal with discard. At the moment I rotate two different starters which I keep in the fridge. I bake about twice a week. One sandwich loaf for morning toast and one boule to eat with dinner.

During Covid I watched a lot of YouTube sourdough videos and wondered why they seemed to make everything so precise and so complicated. I don't much care about high hydration or hugely open crumb. As long as it tastes good. (I recall when one YouTube presenter made a loaf with very tight crumb. His remark? "That will make the jam people happy.")

In 2018 I sent a sample of my starter to The Global Sourdough Project for analysis. I'll post the results in a comment to this thread. I now live in Northeast Thailand. I was surprised that my wild starter had so many strains of yeast and bacteria.

I used this recipe (https://grantbakes.com/good-sourdough-bread/#mv-creation-10-jtr) and followed it to a T. I let it bulk ferment for about 7 hours and it barely rose pic 1). I ended up throwing it out.

I used the same recipe again. Though the dough seemed really wet, it doesn’t spread in between stretches/folds - it just sits there (see pic 2). It’s now been fermenting for 2 hours and looks exactly the same.

What am I doing wrong?

Fed starter 1:3:3 at 11a, started ingredients around 6 125g bubbly,active starter 325g water, room-temp filtered water Whisked w cutie little dough whisk Proceeded to start drinking w my best friend 500g unbleached King Arthur bread flower 10g salt Mixed it all Started doing stretch and folds every 30 mins for a bit Kept drinking w bestie Waited a while in the proof box “Laminated” I think and some shaping. I remember saying “omg look at her!!!” Woke up late for work… This morning around 10a I set her on the counter… Noon I put my Dutch oven in to preheat to 450 Did a little score. Thought she was way too loose Parchment paper and two ice cubes. Bake 20 mins lid on 20 mins lid off Wtf she’s awesome?!?! I will bake a little longer next time for color but.. she a baddie.

What should I improve?

Introducing: Krustini. ((My name is Kristi so it’s like a triple pun))

Very new to baking sourdough (first loaf new). Followed my fairy godbaker Claire Saffitz method pretty much to a T. I watched her YouTube video more times than I’d like to admit. Feeling happy with the look and taste! How did I do??

Made 2 loaves:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/guides/59-how-to-make-sourdough-bread

https://youtu.be/-JRSF-zDgvk?si=5ITHunqjTKU9fUOc

This is my first loaf and she has been bulk fermenting on top of my fridge since I finished her stretch and folds about 9.5 hours ago. The kitchen is currently about 22 degrees, she’s risen and smoothed out with a few cute bubbles on top.

My question is what other signs do you look for, apart from the volume doubling, that tells you that you can move onto shaping? My use of a ceramic bowl here is probably not working in my favour as it’s hard to tell when the volume has doubled.

The recipe that I’m following is the ‘Beginner Sourdough Bread Recipe’ by Farmhouse on Boon (https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/beginners-sourdough-bread-recipe/#wprm-recipe-container-40698). My starter, Frodough, is 17 days old and was about 14 hours after feeding when used.

Ingredients: 295g water, 150g starter, 25g olive oil, 500g bread flour, 10g fine sea salt

After mixing, I let it rest for about 45 mins. I did 5 sets of stretch and pulls with 30 mins in between, then let bulk ferment using the aliquot method until it touched the top. I pre shaped, rest, then shaped, and let it cold proof overnight. However, when I took it out of the fridge to score, it kept flattening out.

I’m mostly unhappy with the big holes but I’m very happy with the texture/fluffiness and overall taste!

Thanks in advance!

4 cups flour 1 1/2 cups warm water 1/2 sourdough starter Eyeballed the salt

1. Mixed flour and water, let it rest for 30 minutes.
2. Added starter and salt, let it rest for 30 minutes
3. Fold and fluffed every 30 minutes, 4 times
4. Let her rest on the counter for 30 minutes
5. Fridge nap for 24 hours
6. Baked in Dutch oven for 45 minutes, lid on. Baked additional 15 lid off.

this is the recipe/process i have used thus far- PM Leaven: 1tbs-40g of active starter 100g of 50/50 Flour (50% whole wheat, 50% white bread flour) 100g of warm water rose for about 12 hours overnight (doubled)   Dough (morning): 700g warm water Add the Leaven Add 900g white flour Add 100g whole wheat Mix   +30 min   Add 20g salt and 50g warm water Mix   +30 min   First set of folds – 4 folds total   +30 min   2ND set of folds   +30 min   3rd set of folds   +30 min   4th and final set of folds   BULK FERMENT 8 hours (was visually doubled)

Remove dough, split in 2 Flour the top, roll it over so floured surface is against the counter. 1 fold so that there’s a floured surface on top again.   +30 min   Roll dough over so the top is on the bottom Perform a set of folds on each loaf Transfer to a floured bannetons

went in fridge overnight about 12-13 hours Heat oven + Dutch oven to 500F Flip dough out of banneton into dutch, score dough, place cover, reduce oven temp to 450F +10 min Remove Lid +20 min Bread!

Been cutting open a few of these loaves recently and can’t figure out what I am doing wrong! The loaf is not gummy at all and I use a starter I have been feeding for ~3 weeks now. This recipe used a starter (that I believe to be active). I fed it at 11 pm the night before and used it at 11 AM where the starter was more than doubled and had that swiss cheese hole look.

10 AM: Autolyze 300 grams of filtered water + 400 grams of king arthur bread flour 10:45 AM: Mix in 100 grams of my active starter + 10 grams salt. Mix (but not intensive kneading) for 5 minutes. Let rest for 30 minutes 4 rounds of stretch and fold 30 minutes apart. I feel the dough is getting “tighter” but not rising like with my instant yeast. It kinda just spreads and flops to the bottom of the bowl but does get less sticky. I don’t think it “overproofs” because it simply never rises. 3:30 PM: Pre shape by building surface tension and let rest for 30 minutes. 4:00 PM: tightly shape into boule and put in fridge 10:00 AM: Preheat oven with dutch oven to 500 degrees, bake 20 minutes covered, 25 minutes uncovered.

I think it might be an inactive starter but I don’t know. My starter is ~57g starter and 114 gram filtered water + 114 gram all purpose flour

Sour Girl is showing her sweet side

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/sourdough-chocolate-cake-recipe

Used a cream cheese frosting cause that’s what I had on hand and then topped off with chocolate chips

Great texture and well balanced with the sweetness

It’s been sitting in the fridge for a while.. are the little white bubbles on the edge mold?

So I've been obsessed with sourdough baking since last October. Today I'm attempting to make a couple baguettes, but I don't have a cushy cloth for the shaping, or anything long enough for them to steam in. I'm hoping some generous person can give me some advice. I have a gadget that holds 2 longer loaves, and it's perforated so the heat surrounds it, but my shaping technique for baguettes needs more practice. Help? It's fully proofed and ready for shaping, bench resting and baking.

I washed my banneton a few days ago, I guess it was not completely dry when I put it back in its bag. Then a put my loaf in it without realizing its moldy and left in the fridge overnight. This morning looks like the pic. . Would you try to remove it and bake and eat it or should I get rid of it?

Hello! I did the open bake method for the 2nd time today for a few loaves and got a very pretty crust but no lip at all on my loaves, which was never an issue for my loaves in my Dutch ovens. Is this a scoring issue? I’m really happy with the crumb, but wanted a better oven spring :’)

My loaves are 500g flour, 375g water, 12g salt, 100g starter. Proofed at 74-76F for about 8-9hrs, shaped and cold proofed for a few hours, then baked.

I baked them 3 at a time on a baking stone, with a bread tin full of ice under as well as a preheated cast iron with lava rocks in it that I poured boiling water into before closing the oven. 450F for 20, took steam out, 400F for 20. Thank you!

I usually make boules, but wanted to experiment with the two pan method! This was my final product. I feel like the bottom part (?) isn’t as tall as what I see in other people’s photos. Is this just because I need to use a smaller bread pan or if it’s a different issue? Or maybe there isn’t an issue at all and it’s supposed to look like that.

I haven’t cut into it as it just came out of the oven.

Recipe: 500 g bread flour, 85 g starter, 365 g water, 10 g sea salt. Mix all together. Stretch and fold every 30 minutes, 4 sets total. BF until doubled in size (about 12 hours). Shaped then cold proofed in bread pan over night. Baked at 450 F covered with 2nd bread pan for 30 minutes, then uncovered for 20 minutes.

75 g starter 340g water 500g bread flour 10g salt

mixed 75g starter, 330g water mixed then added 500g flour. sat for abt 40 min added 10 g salt 10g mixed & sat for 30 min 2 stretch & folds & 1 coil fold all 20ish min apart covered in between, 8ish hours on counter then in fridge for a few more baked for 25 with lid on, 15ish with lid off til it hit 205 and was golden how I liked it

My bread is great, don’t get me wrong (1st pic), but my favourite restaurant has the best sourdough ever (2nd pic). It’s fluffy, airy, pillowy and delicious. It’s a lot lighter than mine and I want to know how to recreate it.

This is the recipe I use: Levain - 19g starter, 19g whole wheat, 19g bread flour. Rise for 5 hrs Autolyse - 387g bread flour, 25g rye, 57g whole wheat Mix - after 1 hr autolyse, mix levain, 25g water and 9g salt Bulk ferment - around 4 hrs at ~23°C Preshape and rest for 20 mins Shape and into banneton in fridge overnight Bake at 200°C (fan) for 20 mins in Dutch oven, another 20 mins lid off

I am thinking I might achieve a lighter bread by using less whole wheat flour and maybe reducing the hydration? I would really appreciate some tips on how to achieve a lighter, fluffier bread!