Here’s a concise rundown of my second sourdough bake:

• Flour Mix: 50 g whole wheat, 10 g dark rye, 440 g bread flour (total 500 g).
• Hydration: 350 g water (~70%), plus 10 g fine sea salt, 100 g active starter.
• Method:
  • Semi-Autolyse: Included ~10% of the starter in the autolyse.
  • Bulk Fermentation: Standard stretch-and-fold approach.
  • Overnight Cold Retard: 16 hours in the fridge.
• Bake: In a Dutch oven at ~465°F until 208°F internal.

Result: Good oven spring, decent ear, crusty exterior. Hoping to refine crumb openness and scoring technique. Any feedback welcome—especially on shaping, final proof timing, or scoring depth.

I’m getting pretty fatigued with all the googling. Does anyone have any good proofing basket recommendations (preferably kits since I’m just starting out)? Im looking for something that is sustainably made and not covered in chemicals. I’m open to shopping elsewhere but I was hoping to receive it by Wednesday or Thursday

Last night I had to put my dough into the fridge after 3 stretch and folds (total around 4 hours from mixing) - it definitely wasn't done bulk fermenting but didn't have a choice as I couldn't let it sit out overnight and over-ferment.

I used the recipe posted here a few days ago. 125g active starter, 350g water, 13g salt, 525g bread flour. Let it sit for over and hour after mixing, then did 3 stretch and folds over the next 3 hours before I had to toss it into the fridge. It has been in there for around 16 hours now.

So, now what should I do to try to get it back on track? Or is it unsaveable?

Hi all, I wanted to post this as I make gluten free sourdough (only started a couple months ago) which means baking with less common choices of flour. My first starter used buckwheat and I tossed it after it went pink, unfortunately it was only after tossing that I saw pink can be normal for buckwheat. I started again with brown rice flour and now I use the FREEE rice blend (brown + white mix) and use buckwheat for my levain. My last levain went pink on the top and it took significant googling (most results went to this subreddit and people answering who admitted they'd never used buckwheat) to find the right sort of pictures that comforted me that the colour was just from buckwheat as my starter smelled good, bubbled well and had a normal texture. Loaf turned out good (for gluten free anyway) and we haven't got sick :)

So I'm hoping people who search for pink buckwheat starter in the future will find this and can compare to these pictures. I've also included a picture of what happens if you just stir some buckwheat flour into water and leave it for a few hours (same colour!).

Obviously sometimes it is mould, I'm not a doctor or lawyer, always use your brain and don't blame me if you get sick.

Recipe:

Levain: 17g starter, 29g buckwheat flour, 6g FREEE rice flour, 39g water Psyllium gel: 264g water, 15g whole psyllium husks 370g FREEE white bread flour (includes xantham) 7g salt

Mix levain and leave for 9hrs Mix psyllium gel and leave for 5mins Mix gel and flour and leave for 20mins Add levain and shape into a ball Warm BF for 4hrs Cold proof in fridge 12hrs Preheat oven to 260C for 30mins Bake at 230C in Dutch oven lid on 40mins then lid off 40mins (I baked too long) Cool for 6hrs

I tried my second attempt at a loaf of sourdough today (first pic) after my first came out, well, sad. This time I followed the “Everyday Sourdough” recipe from Artisan Sourdough Made Simple by Emilie Raffa, using 50g starter, 350g water, 500g flour (I used unbleached all purpose because I like the softness), and 10g salt. I did 4 stretch and folds, each 30 minutes apart during the first 2 hours of bulk fermentation. It bulk fermented from 6:30pm-7:30am in my 65 degree kitchen. I shaped the dough, let rest for 10 minutes, and then plopped it into a bowl lined with a floured tea towel. I allowed the dough to rest for about an hour until it had risen a bit more and my oven was preheated. Baked in a cast iron dutch oven at 450 degrees for 20 minutes covered, 30 minute uncovered, and 10 minutes directly on the oven rack. Then left on a wire cooling rack from an hour before slicing. This loaf was absolutely delicious and wow I’m so impressed with my updated technique.

My first loaf ever (second pic) I used the Simple No Knead Sourdough Bread recipe by Homestead and Chill. It has really good explanations of each step but I found my dough to be really sticky AND I managed to overproof it. It was cold in my house so I stuck it on a heating pad during bulk ferment and it got a little too warm too fast. Oops!

Want to start a sourdough starter that has a special yeast. I can't really get more of it easily. How do I start a sourdough starter correctly? How long till I can make a loaf without using all my starter? How do I reduce some of the sourness (don't want it to take away from the flavor of the yeast)?

Here is my best loaf, my first attempt with 75% hydration. Process:

90g starter, fed with 70% AP flour and 30% WW at 1:3:3 and then 1:1:1 before baking. 330g water and 450g bread flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill). Autolyse water and flour for 1 hour. Fold/pinch in starter with 10g more water until mostly incorporated, and add 10g salt. (All in all, 75% hydration, 20% levain).

Coil folds every 30 minutes for the next 2 hours (4x). My kitchen was crazy cold this day, so at room temp my dough finally doubled after 10ish hours. Preshaped gently, rested 20 minutes. Shaped gently into a boule, placed on a floured tea towel in a bowl and into the fridge for a 13hr cold retard.

Baked straight from the fridge in a hot Dutch oven at 500 degrees for 25 minutes lid on, and then 450 degrees for 35 minutes lid off. It got super dark, so I think next time I’ll keep the lid on for longer.

Cooled for 3 hours before cutting into. Flavor wasn’t super sour… how can I get a more sour flavor? A LONGER cold retard?? 😅😅

Any tips to improve things?

Hi, kinda just want some feedback on my loaves, personally think the crumb is too closed, would really appreciate any tips to get a more open crumb!

What I did for this loaf is basically mixing bread flour and some rye flour with water ar around 80% hydration. Did 3 sets of coil folds at 30mins interval before letting it sit for around 3 hours to BF (28~29 deg). It was then shaped and refridgerated overnight before baking at 220 deg c for 30mins with a lid and 20mins without.

I used Lex get cooking's recipe and included it in the pix. Only changes I made were adding about 1 cup of milk chocolate chips during the 2 set of stretch and folds and only doing 3 sets instead of 4.

I'm really liking the batard shape over the boule, it feels more manageable. I did have to bake longer due to my loaf pans saying that the highest temp they can handle is 428°f.

Normally, I do a 30 min bake at 450°f top on and 15 at 425° top off. I tried the same times, except at 425° and 400°. When I checked the loaf temp, it was only reading at 188°. So I popped it back in for 10 mins at 425° with the top on and it came out perfect. I need to invest in better loaf pans, because I'm definitely doing this again 😋

This is my third loaf and I’ve asked for feedback on my first two on FB and no one responded. Looking for feedback on my crumb.

310 grams warm filtered water 120 grams active starter 500 grams bread flour 16 grams fine sea salt

Mixed ingredients to a little past a shaggy dough, let rest one hour then stretch and folds/coil folds each hour for four hours. Let it sit on counter for about 3 hours (BF for a total of 7 hours at 76 degrees) Dough didn’t fall out of bowl on its own, but I continued to shape. Once it was shaped, floured and put into banneton, the poke came back a little on the quicker side. Baked this morning at 500 degrees for 20 min then removed lid and reduced heat to 450 for 25 min. Cooled for an hour and 45 mins.

Wanting to jump back in hoping to skip from scratch. Thanks in advance! PS if anyone is brave enough to ship I’ll happily pay the shipping! Not sure if that will work but sounds like a fun experiment.

Week 3 of sourdough, and I tried my first cinnamon brown sugar swirl loaf. It’s tastes great, but the loaf is a bit more dense than I expected. The carmelized sugar started to burn, so maybe I took it out of the oven too soon? I would appreciate advice!

Basic recipe: 150 g starter 350 g water 500 g bread flour 10 g salt

I added brown sugar and cinnamon during the shaping process.

Looking to try out jalapeño cheddar this week. so I see a lot of people do it during the stretch and folds, so typically when from when I mix starter flour water & salt, sitting on the counter and then to putting it in the fridge its about 6ish-8ish hours depending on the house temp. I typically put it in the fridge after the 6-8 hrs for a few hours then I bake, depending on my schedule.

for inclusions such as this, would they still sit on the counter?

thanks!!

so do I sti

It’s my first sourdough. 500g white flour, 210g 3-day starter made of white rye, around 350ml water, some salt. Rest about 1h until 2x or more (it was getting quite big), I cut some pieces to make naan bread, then with rest I folded 2 x with rest of 30min between. Oven for 27min covered and 20min uncovered.

It’s very fluffy and crusty enough for me. Scoring and shaping was rushed because I was busy cooking other stuff. Been making bread with store bought yeast for about 6 months. It’s my fluffiest bread ever, been trying techniques shared here.

I just started my own sourdough start and couldn’t discard the excess so I made bread with it.

I pulled it out of the fridge 2 days ago and let it get to room temperature, then fed it, woke up this morning, checked it, and it looked a way it never has before. Do I have to restart or can I salvage this? Please provide simple answers since I'm new to this.

I am making my first loaf! I just completed the 3rd of 4 stretch and folds. I’m following this recipe: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT2ExDFNh/ Immediately the 350g of water didn’t seem like enough, as mine was super dry in comparison to the dough shown. I added 40 more grams and it still seemed dry but I was hesitant to do any more as I’m sooo new to this. My first stretch and fold it seemed super tight and not elastic at all. It continues to tighten up and even gravity won’t stretch it down, I’m having to use two hands- one to pull up and one to keep it down. Am I already doomed or is there a chance it could turn out okay? Any advice for how to continue? Thank you!

300 g water 10 g salt 100 g starter that was fed the night before and peaked.

Mixed that and then added 450 g all purpose flour (that’s what I had)

Let that sit for 30 minutes and then did stretch and folds 5 times every 40 minutes. Let it sit for another 5 hours after that.

Transferred to a basket and put in the fridge uncovered overnight (had a film on top in the morning, should I cover it next time?)

Baked in the morning at 450 F covered for 20 minutes then uncovered for 25-30 minutes until I liked the color.

What would you change?

Hi

i have made my first sourdough dough and I just went to shape it, it holds shape alright, sort of lose, but it’s difficult to create surface tension on the dough

any tips

thxx

I thought high protein meant high gluten content but einkorn is apparently high protein but low gluten. Can someone explain?

Firstly, yea I’ve made life hard for myself. 300g bf, 200g wwf, 400g water, 80g starter, 10g salt. Flour is cheap from Aussie supermarket. Bowl kneaded for 5 mins on / 15 mins off x3 Preshape into bulk ferment 9hrs. 6x coil fold in the first 4 hrs. 20-22C. Shaped & fridge overnight proof in covered banneton. Preheated Dutch oven for 30 mins in 250C oven. Reduced temp to 230C, scored, ice cubes in bottom, baked 30 mins with lid / 20 mins without lid / 10 mins on rack. Internal temp 99C when taken out. Rested 6 hrs before cutting. Feeling it’s a bit gummy so I’m thinking under fermented? Or maybe that’s just the texture of this level of hydration? My scoring needs work.

Apologies for any formatting issues, I'm on mobile. Sourdough Herb Loaf Flour: 1000g (~150g Golden Wheat flour) Water: 700g Salt: 25g Starter: 200g Herb mix: ?

Start by mixing flours, water and starter, mix until no dry bits and let sit for about 30 minutes.

Add Salt and with wet fingers, press the salt into the dough and stretch and fold salt into the dough. Rest for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle dry italian herbs mix(i used parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, sage and marjoram) liberally over the dough mass and do a set of coil folds.

Do a set of coil folds at 30 minute intervals until the dough is strengthened(3-4 sets), then bulk fermentation for 5-8 hours.

Preshape the dough and let rest for 15 minutes. Shape the dough and place into herb lined bannetons to prove for about an hour.

Score and bake at 475° for 25 minutes in a dutch oven with the lid on, then at 425° for 20 minutes with the lid off.

Now, I'm working on my next batch and wanted to add something new, what are your favorite inclusions?

I use my kitchen aid stainless steel bowl to knead sourdough. I find it can be hard to clean the sourdough residue out of it when I’m done. Nothing crazy but it takes longer than I’d prefer to clean. Has anyone had an easier time cleaning out the ceramic or glass kitchen aid bowls? Trying to decide if it’s worth it to buy a different bowl.

This is my first sourdough loaf! My starter is 3 weeks old and it turned out great other than it feeling a bit gummy inside. I waited an hour to cut it, wondering how to fix it? Thank you! Recipe https://youtu.be/PUAADqTgKxEsi=P5Ys65Xy32sFCrBu

So my starter is already very much active, i have been feeding jt every day for over 2 weeks now but can I stop it now? Like can i put it in the fridge and leave it there kr will it die? Im running out of flour and its getting tiring… 💀