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

Recipe:
550g flour
360g water
100g starter
12g salt

Let rest for 45 mins after initial mix, 2 sets of stretch and folds, 2 sets of coil and folds. Temp after final coil fold was about 74 degrees and total bulk was about 7 hrs

I finally feel like my loaves are as tall as I see everywhere even though sometimes my bulk feels short considering the dough temp. Any changes I should experiment with?

After a couple months of trial and error, strengthening my starter, and figuring out how to assess proofing, I’m starting to see consistent results. Looking for feedback and any tips you may wish to share!

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

1. Combine ingredients one at a time in list order
   
2. Rest 30 min in a covered bowl, stretch and fold, repeat x4
   
3. Proof covered on counter until increased 60% volume (8hr)
   
4. Drop onto floured surface, spread into rectangle and fold into thirds, roll up and tuck in ends, using a bench scraper, shape and tuck ends to build tension.
   
5. Place into rice floured banneton and cover, place into fridge 12hr.
   
6. Preheat oven and Dutch oven 260° C, then set to 230°
   
7. Score, bake covered for 20 min, uncovered 15min

Ignore the flair. Don't have to be kind. This is my first loaf and I think it looks good. I used the proof mill khorasan recipe and scalded the flour. Im not sure what its supposed to look like. Should it have more variation in holes or should I have left it in uncovered longer for more color?

Recipe : https://proofmill.com/blogs/recipes/khorasan-sourdough-bread

I did it! I tried my first loaf with my 6 week old starter, Frodough.

I followed Joshua Weissman’s recipe for the ultimate loaf: https://www.joshuaweissman.com/post/sourdough-bread.

I learned a lot, and am so happy with this first result! Will be making more immediately!

I’m making these in Pakistan

Ingredients

250g APF
150g BF
200g starter made with bread flour
275g water
10g salt
Hydration 75 percent

Mixed in dough mixer until structure is developed

4 foil folds 30 mins apart. Dough finished mixing at 12:15pm.
Final coil fold was around 2:30.
Bulk ferment completed at 5:30pm

temp of dough was 25 Celsius. Room temp was 27ish Celsius.
Final shape and rested for another 40 mins. Final shape and fold was the one where we gently just fold it like a book? I’m not sure of the name.

Overnight cold proof for 14 hours. Baked in a deck oven at 255 Celsius both top and bottom for 33 minutes with steam. Open Bake

Start to finish was roughly six hours for fermenting.

Made a big batch of starter to both bake sourdough and prep sourdough brown buttered cookies around 7:30p last night and this morning I woke up to this beautiful masterpiece ✨😅 I’m not crying because I intentionally made a little more than I needed! but overall this made me laugh 😂 lol

For context, this is a gluten free starter. I used King Arthur Gluten Free Bread flour. Days 1-6 once a day feeding, discard half. 6-9 twice a day feedings (35 g flour 46 g water). I ran out of flour so she’s gotten one feeding today, but I feel like it looks ready to bake with? Anyone have experience with gluten free loaves?

I tried a tea towel with a rubber band around it- it dries out spots on the top of the dough.
Right now im trying wax paper with a rubber band around it.

I don't want to use plastic. But also, I would like for whatever IT is to be able to work with rectangular and circular containers.

what do you use?

I started my sourdough journey at the begining of 2025. I've always been a casual baker. After my starter was established, I learned about the scraping method pretty early on. I would feed my starter just enough for my recipe and leaving the jar of scrapings in the fridge until I was ready to use it again. On average I probably bake a loaf every 3 weeks. If I didn't bake for even longer, I would at least feed my starter every 4 weeks minimum.

I grew accustomed to my attempts of dense and mediorcre loafs. Still yummy and perfect in my eyes. But for the first time ever my loaf came out so soft and airy...I didn't know my sourdough could be this good. To the point that inspired me to post for the first time ever haha

The first 2 photos are my most recent bakes. Photo 3 was from my last bake 1.5 months ago. The others are some of the ones I've made in the past.The last photo is my first bake from back in February 2025.

As a casual baker I couldn't tell you what I did differently this time around. If I had to guess, it did feel like my starter has been stronger. I'm sure many other factors contributed as well but the sourdough stars aligned in my favour this time.

I keep things easy for myself. I've always used anywhere between 70% - 75% hydration with the recipe staying relatively the same. I dump it all in a bowl and knead until well combined.

500g bread flour

100g starter

12g salt

3-5 stretch and folds every 30-60min

Bulk ferment for anywhere between 8-15 hours. My recent bake was on the shorter end so I think thats a sign that its stronger.

I do initial shaping, let it sit for 30 minutes. And then a classic envelope fold and roll for final shape. I place directly into a parchment lined bread pan, seam side down. I don't have a banneton...and its been working fine for me. In the fridge it goes overnight ready to bake whenever I have the chance next day! I bake at 450f for 25 min covered, and bring it down to 425f for another 20-25min.

Anyways for other beginners I just wanna say don't give up hope. As long as its still fun for you!! It took me almost 2 years to achieve a bread I am proud of. Regardless if my next bake sucks and doesn't turn out as good I'll keep at it (even though that would be upsetting lol). May the sourdough gods ever be in your favour.

Also since I'm posting I may as well also ask about tips for maintaining a beautiful airy and soft crumb! Pls lmk ur expertise as I would be very sad if my next bake reverted to dense gunny bread 🙏

Actually my second loaf from this recipe in my brand new Pullman (aka pain de mie) pan. Thanks to Lisa Bass for the recipe at https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/sourdough-pain-de-mie-pullman-bread-recipe, this bread is now our go-to for white sourdough sandwich bread, not made with discard. I love my new Pullman pan for the consistent size and shape of the slices and that this recipe has a tight crumb that doesn't leak mustard while you're eating your sandwich! Not the most beautiful loaf, but great sourdough taste and very practical. Also makes great toast, including French toast. Note I got a weird angle on the crumb shot - the slices are not narrow at the top IRL.

I spontaneously decided to make these from my starter discard! Starter was fed at 1:3:3 ratio 5 days ago and stored in the fridge. I didn't feed it again for this bake.

Recipe is from the perfect loaf, although I decided to go for the classic knot shaping because it's so much cuter. https://www.theperfectloaf.com/cardamom-rolls/

I also had to make another batch of filling, because it just wasn't enough!

I made the pearl sugar myself and I honestly didn't expect it to be so difficult. I made a little sugar dough ball using half a cup of powder sugar and around two teaspoons of water. The tutorials I had seen for this were either casually grating the ball down a box grater, or rolling it flat and chopping it up in tiny cubes with the bench scraper. Neither worked for me. I ended up taking around 40 minutes to pinch little bits of sugar dough and kind of crumble them together to form tiny shards.

The knots tasted better than the bakery's! A little tangy from the sourdough (maybe the 5 day old starter made it more pronounced), which is exactly what I was going for. Not too sweet and very fragrant. The bottom is deeply caramelized and crispy, while the interior is tender and tears apart like cirrus clouds parting in the sky! I used all purpose flour at 12,6% protein and ground the cardamom myself.

I'd love to try more recipes like that! Do you guys have favorites?

I’ve been making sourdough almost 2 years now and I either like how the loaf looks on the outside or the crumb but never both! I think I am happy with this one but wondering if anyone can give me their thoughts on the crumb/how it looks.

Recipe:
150g starter(I usually do 100 but poured too much)
320g water
500g bread flour
10g salt(delayed)

Mixed starter flour and water together and kneaded until it came together in a smooth ish ball. Left for 30 min, add salt and performed first set of stretch and folds. Repeated those three more times every 30 minutes. It bulk fermented after for around 4 hours at around 76-78°. I shaped and only cold proof for 2.5 hours to help keep its shape while scoring. I did an open bake for 35 minutes at 425° with steam source, then 400° for 7 minutes without. Left on a cooling rack overnight and cut next day!

The crumb looks pretty tight to me but feels very soft! Thank you to anyone who can give me some feedback I really appreciate it!

So I have been baking bread for a while. Recently I found the sourdough journey bulk chart.
I am in Madrid, and it is still hot here. So I have been trying to control the fermentation using the chart as it is still so hot here, and when I turn around the dough turns into a sticky mess and impossible to shape.
So the most common recipe:
In grams
350 water
100 starter
500 bread flour
10 salt
Autolysis, s&f every 40 mins x4, pre shape, shape, fridge till next morning. 250c pregetead dutch oven with lid and ice for 30 mins- 15 mins uncovered 220c
I monitor the dough a couple of times and it was around 25c so I aimed 30% raise.
The dough didn’t get domed nor too jiggly. Some big bubbles on top.
So, I am getting blinder and can’t even differentiate if I am over under proofing.
It is driving me nuts. What should I do, I want to eat nice bread in hot wether too 🤪

I began my sourdough journey 8 weeks ago with a from scratch starter. I was able to start baking after 16 days. This is my first attempt at anything chocolate but it will definitely not be my last!

I used a recipe from @Thesourdoughlady on YouTube (https://youtu.be/775ToCiHk7Y?is=vp7bLhAJE7iHs9Fe.)

I did make a couple of changes though...

- I didn't have 150g of starter so I used 120g

- I made the coffee in my moka pot so it was probably a little stronger than a dark roast coffee

- I used a total of 200g of semi sweet chocolate chips instead of 170g each semi sweet and milk chocolate.

- I only let it cool for an hour because I just couldn't wait!!

Turkish Simit. Came out crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Now I am trying to keep my hands of it, so I don't end up eating them all at once.

I have lot's of sesame seeds which are coming near the expiration date, so I was looking for recipes that call for their use.

My sourdough starter seemed to be ready, so I decided to test it out. I left the dough sitting at room temp for half a day, popped it into fridge over night and took it out early in the morning. I shaped them around 10 and baked them at around noon.

Also, the recipe was a bit odd to follow for me, because I am not turkish and I am not familiar with their pastry.

I have to say, I wasn't expecting the flavor to be so rich, yet so mild. Hard to explain, but I really love how they taste.

Recipe: https://cafefernando.com/sourdough-simit/

Instead of dipping the dough in the mix and seeds, I brushed it with the molases mix (made half of what was called for and there was still too much left, next time I'd go for 10g molasses, 30 grams water mix, cause I hate to waste food) and sprinkled the toasted sesame seeds on top. I used bio sugar cane molasses, it was the only one I could find in my area.

I’m on day 6 of my starter, started on a 1:1:1 ratio, and it’s been doubling for the past 3/4 days. I moved up to a 1:2:2 ratio - still doubling so hopefully good sign!
The only thing I want to check was around smell… it’s a bit cheesy! And when I go to feed in the mornings, there is a liquid at the bottom of the starter. Photos are just before feeding approx 24 hours from previous feed.

First time sourdough baker so any help appreciated!

My recipe was
100g starter
330g water
500g bread flour
10g salt
Did initial mix in stand mixer with dough hook, everything mixed together well combined did a few SF, let rest for 1-hour then did 4 sets of SF, but every time it was like the dough was just so loose, I typically use 350g water and don’t have this issue, i don’t get it.

Anyways. After 12 hours it still has not risen at all.

Now, I feel it’s important to note I used the same exact starter (from the same feeding) to make sourdough pretzel bites and bagels, those rose normal and were great, so I’m confused what went wrong with the regular dough for a loaf.

I’m curious what would happen if I used 150g of sourdough starter instead of 100g (30% instead of 20%).
Would it affect the texture, flavor, and final loaf?

Has anyone tried this and noticed a difference?

A smaller loaf of 550 g / 1 lb 3½ oz

I lost track of this being distracted by life, messed up my measurements and had to add quite a bit of additional flour when it was mixed. Working backwards I think it was somewhere in the region of 360 g flour and 250 g water for 70% hydration (accounting for the starter) but can't be sure. 8 g of salt completes the ingredients line up.

Mix everything and stood for over an hour, more distraction. Stretch and fold, another hour resting, stretch and folds, another hour then shaped to the banneton and into the fridge overnight, 14 hours at 4°C / 40°F. Baked at 250°C / 475°F 20 minutes with steam and a further 20 minutes without.

For me the disadvantage of a small loaf is that I'd be baking every other day instead of every third or fourth day. But also I find that small loaves never have as much oven spring and while they're fine in the eating they're a bit off in the aesthetics department, or at least cute rather than dramatic.

I can't tell anymore if I'm under or over proofing.

75g starter, just past peak

200g water

300g bf

6g salt

Combine, s&f every 30 min for a total of 4

12hr bf in 68° kitchen. It had doubled and was giggly and bubbly

18hrs in the fridge

Bake covered at 450 for 30 min, uncovered for 10

First one was in a Dutch oven, second was in a loaf pan

Hi, I am very new to sourdough and recently got diagnosed with celiac disease. So, I have to make my sourdough completely gluten-free. That being said, I am so confused about my starter! It could be impatience but I'm so worried I messed something up! I started the starter 6 days ago, the first 3 days were very active. However, the last 3 days it has been so incredibly quiet. Is this normal? I will provide a picture. It does have bubbles and I'm still feeding and discarding every 12 hours. But it's just not rising anymore. Any tips?? Has anyone else made gluten-free sourdough?? I've also provided a picture of all of the stuff I used to make the starter as well as pictures of the starter from today.

Sourdough Baguettes with King Arthur organic bread flour. I wanted to experiment with a higher hydration dough and it paid off! The bread was airy and soft inside.

High-Hydration Sourdough Baguettes
Ingredients

1,335 g King Arthur Organic Bread Flour
1,040 g water, divided
320 g active, high-hydration sourdough starter
29 g fine sea salt
Makes about 8 large baguettes (around 340 g each).
I mixed the flour with about 1,000 g of the water until no dry flour was left, then let it sit for 30 minutes. I added the active starter, salt, and remaining water and mixed by hand until combined. It will feel very wet at first, but it gets stronger as you fold it.
I did 3 coil folds, 30 minutes apart. For each one, use wet hands, lift the middle of the dough up, let the ends tuck underneath, rotate the bowl, and repeat. After the last fold, let it bulk ferment until it is puffy, jiggly, bubbly, and about 50–75% bigger. Mine went overnight and was a little more than doubled before I refrigerated it.
The next morning, lightly flour your counter and gently turn out the dough without pressing out the air. Divide into 8 pieces, about 340 g each. Gently preshape, rest 20–25 minutes, then shape into baguettes. Place into baguette pans seam-side down. If they are already very puffy from the fridge, don’t give them a long final proof—just let them sit while the oven heats.
Preheat the oven to 500°F with a metal pan/lava rocks inside for steam. Score each baguette with 3–5 shallow overlapping diagonal cuts and lightly mist with water.
Bake at 475°F with steam for 10 minutes. Remove the steam pan or vent the oven, lower to 450°F, and bake another 14 minutes, until deeply golden and about 205°F internally. Cool on a rack at least 45 minutes before cutting.