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?

Day4 starter pic, fed daily

The starter smeels like alcohol, it was in a super air tight Ikea jar for 3 days (now its normally closed without the rubber ring), i had to occasionally release the co2 buildup. Temperatures around are approx 30°C - 35°C/ 86°F - 95°F, i have been leaving it in the kitchen.

Also i had a question, how do you avoid old starter from sticking to the sides while mixing? I think that could be the reason for creating mould, if it is.

500g bread flour
350g water
100g starter
11g salt

I let my flour and water autolyse for an hour then mix in my starter and salt. I was mixing by hand in my last doughs but now I switch to a stand mixer for glutton development. I let it mix for about 8 mins with a pause in the middle to scrap sides.

Then did stretch and folds 3 times before bulk fermentation. I have it in my oven with the light on. All of my doughs no matter how long they bulk ferment for always come out sticky before turning out to shape and don’t have a good airy crumb to it.

What am I doing wrong?

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.

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.

If I’m baking a loaf with these ingredients:

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

What would be the best cooking temp for lid on and lid off? And is there a better standard recipe I should use? Or is that just fine with what I posted?

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 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

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!

This is my second boule, I was looking for a deep ear but it seems my loaf didn’t develop that, despite using my lame to cut deeper than I thought I should. What can I do to get bigger ears in the ‘cross’ scoring pattern (I posted my inspo as last pic)?

I used:
450g flour
250g warm water
150g active sourdough starter
10g salt

Made a shaggy dough, let rest for 30 min with 3x stretch and folds about half hour apart. Bulk fermented for 8 hours, pre-shaped, bench rest for 30 min, shape, then put in a linen lined colander in the fridge for 9 hours, then let it sit out for about an hour. Baked on baking sheet covered with a metal pot (my instant pot insert) and roasting pan with water on the lowest rack for 20 min and then uncovered for 27 min with water removed from roasting pan. It’s currently on the cooling rack for the next hour.

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 made this today and was wondering what yall think?

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

I mixed it all together and then let it rest for an hr. I 2 stretch and folds and 1 coil folds. I let it bulk ferment for 5 hrs and shaped it put it in a bowl and put it the fridge over night. I baked it 450f for 25 mins and took off the lid for another 25 mins.

Made my first two loaves using two different recipes! I am open to advice and suggestions!

A. Recipe https://youtu.be/McqmnU1vVe4?is=tYkQ-BqmpgDuF2KK
Ingredients:
310 g salt
120 g starter at its peak
500 grams bread flour
16g salt
1. Mix started with warm water
2. Add flour and salt and mix
3. Cover with a towel and let it sit on the counter for an hour
4. Stretch and fold every 30 mins 4-5 times
5. Shape into a ball and let it ferment for 12 hours on the counter
6. After shape into a ball again and put into a banneton, put in the fridge for 1 h 30 mins
7. Preheat oven and Dutch oven to 500 F
8. Bake covered for 20 mins, uncovered 25 more mins
9. Let it cool for 2-3 hours

I have made few changes compared to original recipe that I used, in the video it said to preheat oven to 500F and bake at 450 F, I just forgot to lower the temp after I put the bread in. And I did stretch and fold every 30 mins instead of 20 mins. Bread came out really wonderful! Great crust and ear, it had a good consistency all the way through!

B. Recipe https://youtu.be/4gEoh3sk2AE?is=BWxKzvW0W2nunzM_
Ingredients:
455 g of bread flour
10 g salt
345 g water
100 gram starter at its peak
1. Mix flour and salt, then add warm water and starter
2. Put it in a clean bowl, do stretch and fold every hour for 4 hours

1. Shape the dough into a ball
   
2. Let it rest for an hour and then shape again if needed
   
3. Cold fermentation in fridge for 12 hours
   
4. Preheat the oven and Dutch oven to 500 F
   Put the bread in and lower the temp to 450F.
   
5. Bake uncovered for 20 mins and uncovered for 20 mins
   
6. Let it cool for 2-3 hours
   I stayed true to the recipe mostly, unfortunately the bread came out under-fermented, there were few dense spots and crust was very irregular.

I’m a newbie to all the sourdough vocabulary, sorry if something doesn’t make sense.

Hi! I am new to sourdough baking and got Maurizio Leo’s book “The perfect loaf”. I have tried unsuccessfully two bread recipes and am trying to adjust my starter, temperature, humidity…
I want to keep trying but most recipes are made for two big loaves of about 900 grams each and I feel that is too much bread for me.
This might be a silly question, but do you think o can just make half of the recipe? If yes, do I just use half of the listed amount or is there a trick to it?
Thank you for your help!

I decided I wanted to try to mill my own flour, which is either going to be the best thing ever or a nightmare. I purchased some organic Palouse eikorn and hard white wheat berries. Has anybody else decided to take this endeavor? If so, please share your knowledge thanks so much!

Hey there! Could any of you give me a few advices what I do wrong, how could I have a more consistent, nice oven spring?

I use 450g of AP flour (12g of protein though), 300g of water and 150g of starter. I let the starter double (last time took around 4 hours), mix in the water and then gradually add the flour (yes, I do not do autolyse anymore). Later upon kneading I add 11g salt and knead it into a nice smooth ball. Let it rest and perform 3 sets of coil folds (30 minutes between them). Following that I take a small amount of the dough in a jar as a sample.

Around 6 hours later this has doubled, although I still couldn't see the signs of a successful bulk fermentation on my dough, it was still a bit too sticky so I waited and extra 30 minutes. Then I preshaped, shaped, had some issues with the tension though and put it upside down in the kitchen towel and basket for 20 hours before baking it on 230 C for 30 and 200 C for 20 minutes in a pre-heated dutch oven (gas oven so even with a thermometer the temp control is a pain). And this is the underwhelming result.

I have made great loaves with this recipe before however, this lack of consistency annoys me (I recently moved and cannot get the same quality). I suspect that I mess something up around the bulk fermentation.

Hi I’m just wondering if anyone sees the pink or orange in here?!? I didn’t feed it for 3 days unfortunately so I think I kill it tbh
- I’ve been using bread flour and a 1:1:1 ratio
EDIT- the weird splotch in the middle is from the top hardening bc I made it too warm on accident 😓

I always have three small glass pots with silicone lids in the fridge as my backup starters and I rotate them out as I refresh weekly. All three have got a dried top that almost looks like filo pastry when you zoom in on the picture. I’ve made consistently good bread for about 12 months. ChatGPT says that it’s likely a yeast (Kahm) and I should discard, saying that the folds are typical of a certain kind of surface yeast (i uploaded a pic), Claude tells me that it’s probably just dry and I shouldn’t worry about it. It’s never look like this before, even though I have seen separation which is discoloured and I’ve just poured it off. This doesn’t feel right. Please help me reddit!

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

Hi y'all! I've been making sourdough for just over a year now. In the beginning I was swimming in discard but I recently got rid of a lot of it and now just keep enough in the fridge for my 2x weekly bakes.

I recently had these pumpkin discard muffins at a friends house and they were divine. I want to make them for my kids but I feel dumb making a bunch of starter just to have discard, hahah. She says in the recipe that her hunch is that using active starter would yield similar / the same results, but she hasn't tried it.

Is there an easy formula to use active starter in place of discard, e.g. 200g discard = 100g active starter? This is probably a silly question but coming to the experts for help!

Trying to make a sour dough starter. One month ago I tried with Bob’s Artisan bread flour 1:1:1- and I kept adding 30 gm water, 30 gm starter and 30 gm flour. Kept the jars in a warm place . Fed everyday so Once in 24 hrs. But even after 20 days the starter didnot rise, except on Day 3

I threw that starter away. Started a new batch. 30 gm starter, 30 gm water and 30 gm flour . The next day I took 22.5 gm starter, 15 gm Rye flour 15 gm bread flour and 34.5 gm water. ( I read the Perfect Loaf Book and just reduced the amount of the ratio in that book. I continued this feeding ratio everyday sometimes twice day

Starter rose twice , on 5 th day and then 8th day, but within few hours it decreased and now its the 14 day, it is still not rising. How is this so hard. 😭😭😭😩

I used an Instagram recipe I found:

- 500g wheat flour (Type 405)
- 360g water
- 10g salt
- 100g starter

2 stretch and folds and 2 coil folds with a total time of 4.5h bulk fermentation and 7ish hours cold retard.

Overall I’m pretty happy about how it turned out, however i feel like the crumb was a little rubbery(?) Any tips on how to get a nicer/drier crumb?

How can I improve!
I used a much lower proportion of starter than usual as I impulsively made two loaves but forgot I didn't prepare enough levain.

900g bread flour
100g whole wheat flour
750g water
60g starter
20g salt

1 set of stretch and folds every 30mins for the 1st 2hrs for a total of 4 sets
I bulk fermented 7-8hrs to get a 75% rise
Initial shape then bench rest for 20 mins
Final shape
Fridge for 12hrs
Baked at 450F for 30mins covered, then 15mins uncovered.

Hello! I am a Foods teacher, and am looking for an overnight sourdough bread recipe to do with my students. We have been feeding our starters (made from donated discard) , and I would like to find a recipe that can be split into 2-3 class periods (55minutes).

I need an overnight cold proofing recipe because we simply do not have time to wait an hour for proofing, spend 30 minutes shaping, proofing for another hour, then finally baking.

So I am looking for a dough recipe that can be made and proofed within 55ish minutes, then baked from fridge next day.

Thanks in advance!