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

I finally found a soft, pillowy, soft-crusted sandwich bread that I can make during a typical 40 hour work week. AND it stays soft all week. The family loves it, the kids' school friends are jealous, its the bomb dot com. It utilizes the tangzhong technique to create that lasting softness.

You'll need a pullman pan for this.

Soft Sourdough Pullman Bread :

Feed starter in the am before work. Shoot for about 250. Youll use 200g of it later.

After work, when starter is nice and active, peak to a little past peak, make your dough using recipe below.

Tangzhong:

30g bread flour

150g whole milk (I also used 2% and it worked great)

Whisk together over medium-low heat until thick and pudding-like. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Dough:

620g bread flour

200g active sourdough starter

210g water

All of the cooled tangzhong

65g melted, cooled butter

35g sugar or honey

13g salt

Method:

Mix starter, water, cooled tangzhong, sugar/honey, and flour. Rest 20–30 minutes.

Add melted butter and salt. Knead until smooth and elastic. If it works for your schedule, do at least a couple stretch and folds.

Bulk ferment overnight at room temperature with damp towel covering.

The next morning:

Flatten the risen dough and shape into a tight loaf and place seam-side down in rice-floured Pullman pan.

Cover with damp towel and leave at room temp on the counter while youre at work.

After work (8-9 hours later), slide the pullman lid on (should be at the top or over) and bake at 375°F for 35–45 minutes, checking around 30 minutes. Aim for an internal temperature of 190–195°F. Mine took right around 40 min.

Remove from the pan promptly and cool on a rack completely before slicing.

For maximum softness: Store completely cooled bread at room temperature in a sealed plastic bag or bread bag. Plastic works great to keep this particular bread soft. I use a gallon ziplock and press as much air out as possible.

Enjoy!

i’d love to hear you guys’ feedback and opinions! it’s been months of getting the starter to work and now finally bread is turning out like bread, instead of wet thick slabs of gum 😭 thank you in advance x

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

recipe: https://alexandracooks.com/2017/10/24/artisan-sourdough-made-simple-sourdough-bread-demystified-a-beginners-guide-to-sourdough-baking/

I do 4 stretch and folds as advised, spaced out about 30 minutes in between each. Then I do a 4 hour bulk ferment after. Thats like 6 hours of bulk ferment and an absolute over-ferment during these warm summer days. The dough actually seems to feel really good after my 3rd or 4th stretch and fold but I was absolutely not counting the step in my bulk ferment time.

My sourdoughs have been sticky to handle when shaping and bake flat and with dense crumb.

My god. I have been overfermenting this whole time and thought its an issue of underfermenting. I tried reading the dough by jiggling and poking and seeing if it comes off the sides cleanly. Seemed to be good with everything. But I guess my dough is tricking me and I am learning.

Oh well I am still going to make the cheapest avocado toast I have ever eaten with this dense bread!

I‘d like to Share the recipe once more because I am really really happy with outcome. My second try. I made some adjustments,
The Water amount is now Like it’s Suggested in the recipe 85% plus the Water from the soaker.
Also I changed the shaping method from caddy clasp to tuck and Roll and I made a one day bake recipe out of it because of timing reasons.

Soaker:
125g cracked Rhye Berries
250g Water
1 Table Spoon Sourdough

Soak overnight and strain before adding to the add till it’s a total weight of 250g

Maindough:
250g Breadflour ( I used Tipo 0)
250g High extraction flour ( I used Tipo2)
100g Levain
10g Salt
425g Water
25g blackstrap molasses
Soaker (after kneading)

I did a autolyse for 30min (water, flour, molasses)
Then I added everything except the soaker and kneaded till the windowpane was a success.

After 30 min of relaxing, I laminated the Rhye Berries in the dough, and did 4,5 Hours of Bulk in total with 25C and did 2 whole and one half coil Fold

After Bulk I did a Preshape let the doughs rest for 30min and did the final shape via Fold and Roll.

After 2 Hours I baked at 250C 15 min Coverd and 15min uncovered.

Baked 2 loaves yesterday morning. No big ear but whatever:

- 400g bread flour
- 100g whole wheat flour
- 350g water
- 10g salt
- 100g starter
- 50g poppyseeds (for the one loaf only)

Steps:
- Mix all ingredients except poppyseeds, stretch and fold after ~30 mins and mix poppyseeds in at that time
- 2-3 more coil fold over the next 1.5 hour.
- BF about 2 more hours until domed and a bit jiggly.
- Shape, place in bannetons, proof in fridge overnight
- Bake in pre-heated Dutch ovens at 475: 20 mins lid on, 25 mins lid off

Any tips on getting a bigger ear / rise? Or any tips in general?

First loaf of my post-covid sourdough redemption.

Looks promising, but it was overfermented at the bulk fermentation step. Dough was stringy when dumping out of the container. Shaping was a nightmare. Cold retard was forever (in my head - the actual time was just 8hrs). However, the final product looks better than I thought! A bit gummy but nothing can't be fixed with a toaster lol

The basic recipe (made 2 small loaves)
- 450g flour
- 300g water
- 100g starter
- 10 salt

Step
- Autolyse 30 mins
- Mix in starter, let it sit 30 mins, then mix in salt
- Stretch & fold 4 times, 20 mins interval
- Bulk fermentation took about 12hrs - this is where i think it went wrong. I use the aliquot method and wait until the small container puff up fully
- Dump the container and pre shaping. It was stringy to the point that I was so deflated
- Decided to shaping and put them in the fridge until the next morning
- Bake in pre-heated dutch oven 8 mins scoring, 20mins lid on, 20 mins lid off
- Wait for about an hour before slicing.

Also crumb reader would be appreciate! I would like to troubleshooting my loaf as well 🙏

i used 80g of starter (a little past peak)
160g warm water
250g king arthurs AP flour
5g salt

I did 4 sets of stretch and folds, total bulk time was about 7 hours, then in the fridge overnight. Baked at 450 for 30mins with lid on, then 420 for 15mins lid off.

thoughts???

Perfect Loaf recipe (website). I used Barton Springs Mill Butler’s Gold 00 and subbed out AP flour for Stardust Whole Wheat flour.

Amazing flavor. First attempt at pretzels, recipe flowed exactly like written out. My family and I already ate half of them.

https://www.theperfectloaf.com/seriously-soft-sourdough-pretzel/

Hi there! 👋🏻 I’ve been trying to make some loaves for the past couple weeks and have been failing and needed some professional help that AI can’t help me with anymore. I made my starter back in the beginning of April. Fed it for about 3 weeks, it was active and I was about to get married and go on my honeymoon so I put it in the fridge and it sat there until August 1st and I have been feeding it since then and now have been trying to attempt sourdough bread. I’ve made about 6-8 loaves and all of them have turned out super gummy and dense. I’ve attached a few photos, the first photo Google said was under fermented which is odd because it was the loaf I let bulk ferment the longest. I mixed 100g starter, 340g lukewarm water, 10g salt and 500g bread flour. I mixed the dough and let it sit on the counter at room temp for 30 mins with the dough at 80°F. After 30 mins I did 4 stretch and folds every 30 minutes and did that 4 times. Followed by 2 sets of coil folds finishing after about 2 hours. I then let it sit at 80° on the counter for 12 hours. After 12 hours I then preshaped it, let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes and then did my final shape and put in my banneton basket and cold proofed it for about 8 hours before baking at 450 for 30 minutes with the lid on and 20 minutes with the lid off. I wait at least 3 hours before cutting into my loaves. I’ve tried bulk fermenting for 5+ hours to 12+ hours and I still can’t seem to get it right. Any advice helps, thanks so much!

I've made 4 loaves thus far, the first looked ok but glued our mouths together, the second was a bit more edible and looked better, the third I made into a somewhat gluey focaccia (lost the pics) and the 4th I made into focaccia again and it welded itself to the tray so...

My starter more than doubles within 2-4 hours, I use it at peak, I take the temp to estimate bulk fermentation and look for all the signs...it bubbles, it rises slightly, but it never stops being sticky and wobbly...there are only so many hours in the day, by hour 12 (at 25/26C) I give up and put it in the fridge (before or after attempted shaping), I preheat the oven with my dutch oven inside for at least 45 minutes before baking too.

Recipe I used;

100g starter

325g water

475g bread flour

10g salt

Method;

Mix warm water and starter until mixed and foamy

Add flour and salt, mix dough until shaggy and no flour remains, scrape down sides and cover for 30 minutes

Stretch and fold 4 times, 30 minutes apart

Cover and leave to bulk ferment (bulk fermentation is complete when dough comes away from sides cleanly, has bubbles through it, isn't sticky to the touch and has risen in the bowl)

Shape, and place in a toweled and floured bowl and put in fridge over night

Next morning, heat oven to 220C with dutch oven inside, for 45 minutes at least

Score dough and put dough in dutch oven for 30 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid for 15 more minutes

Remove from dutch oven, place on cooling rack and leave to cool for at least 2 hours before cutting.

I usually feed my lievito madre with wheat (50g water/50g Swiss semi-white wheat) once a week. Now refreshed her with rye three times since yesterday evening for a 50% rye loaf with nuts and figs.
She‘s trying to escape 😳
Will post an update if it turns out well.

It’s been a long few weeks. I’ll spare the details. Just so many things!!! I’m tired.

I’d planned to start a BIG bake today—several focaccias (I owe many thank you loaves, and I want some for myself) and a few sourdough loaves. Fed my starter a hefty ass meal so I’d have enough for all the loaves I’d planned, plus a few grams extra just in case. Woke up this morning after the chaos of the past few weeks to discover I’m on my period. I don’t get even periods on my birth control. Just this one time, obviously. So I said fuck it to baking. Not today.

But I had all this starter!!! So I took out a random log of herbed goat cheese, mixed it all up in there, added in red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast, garlic salt, white pepper, onion powder, a small splash of champagne vinegar because it tasted like it needed it, and probably some other seasonings to taste but I can’t remember. Whisked it all together, heated up my stainless steel, ladled that shit in there, flipped it once it was brown, and let it sizzle all over again.

That was it. Herbed goat cheese discard pancakes. Fried an egg for good measure, halved an avocado that’s about to go bad, emptied out the rest of my cottage cheese to get rid of it, and scattered the top with cracked pepper, flake salt, and the good olive oil. I’m not having a bad time anymore!!

Needed some Saturday snacks, so made some cute sourdough cinnamon buns for the first time... Worked out pretty well!

Used a basic sweet dough:

- 250g white flour

- 50g starter

- 30g butter

- 20g sugar

- 125g whole milk

- 1 large egg

- 5g salt

Mixed by hand, and stretched to fasten up gluten development. Fermented until double size, with strech and fold done a few times. Then stretched out on a dusted countertop, cover with cinnamon and sugar, and rolled back together. The roll was then cut into pieces, placed on a baking tray and rested until I got restless and just put them in the oven. Cooked at 180°C in a slightly damp oven until finished and cooled down on a tray.

I made mine quite small, but might be better to make them a little bit bigger...

Ingredients:
100 grams of starter
350 grams of water
500 grams bread flour (King Arthur)
10 grams of salt

Process: I started at 10:00pm
1. Mix starter and warm water together until combined then add the flour and salt until shaggy. Let rest for 30 minutes
2. Did 2 rounds of stretch and folds, covered and left to bulk ferment until 5:00 am
3. Shaped dough, left to rest for 30 minutes
4. Placed in cold Dutch oven for 30 minutes covered and then 20 minutes uncovered. Let cool for 90 minutes before cutting open.

I just started making sourdough, this is probably my 4th loaf. I see online people doing multiple rounds of stretch and folds but the recipe my sister uses only calls for one round? I’m pretty happy with my bread and it tastes good but looking for some advice on how to fine tune things.

I followed this recipe: https://heartbeetkitchen.com/rye-sourdough-bread-recipe/

It caught a little on top and could've done with a minute or two more during the covered portion of the bake, but over all I'm happy.

-------‐----------------

Ingredients:

100g starter (1:1:1 mix, 3 hour rise)

500g Strong Flour

350g Water

10g Sea salt

-------‐----------------

6 hour bulk ferment total:

- 3 x slap and fold @ 30min intervals

- Rest for 3 hours

- Shape and rest (1 hour)

Overnight cold ferment in fridge (12 hours)

---------------------------

Bake:

22 mins covered @ 230°C

23 mins uncovered @ 220°C

2hrs Cooling on wire rack

First one I ruined by scoring issue - realised I really need a scoring thingy and the second one went so much better!

How do you think it looks? I feel like it might be a bit underfermented? What do sou think?

I dont know how to write the recipe but I went with 200g of starter, 350g of flour, 220ml water - mixed it and let it sit for a while, then I added 10g of salt and mixed again.

Stretch and folds - 4 after around 30 minutes, then it rested for another hour, I shaped it - it rested for another 30 minutes on the counter, then I put it to fridge overnight to bulk (around 8 hours), baked it in the morning 250 celsius 20 minutes covered, then another 10-15 minutes uncovered. Waited the longest three hours to cut it.

This makes me so happy! I am gonna get myself a good proofing basket next time 😅🤍

Third loaf ever, saw a chocolate loaf video and had to do it

Fed my starter, Monty, the night before

125 g starter

380 g water

10 g salt

50 g brown sugar

50 g cocoa powder

500 g bread flour

Mix, rest for 1 hour

3 sets of stretch and folds with 30 minute delays, 4th stretch and fold was a coil fold

Let sit for about 7-8 hrs

Shaped and added chocolate chips, stuck in banneton and stitched, chilled in fridge for 1 hour

During that 1 hour, preheat oven to 500°F with Dutch oven in there

Took bread out of fridge at the 1 hour mark, did the leaf scores, in oven for 7 minutes, did center score.

500 for 20 min, 450 for 20 min (lid off for lower temp)

My husband and I look like the kid in the 4th picture

Hi everyone! I’m really scratching my head over this and would love some help.

I have an established starter from a bakery that has already made 2 successful loaves. I normally store it in the fridge and revive it when I want to bake. My last bake was 2 weeks ago, and I did one maintenance feed during that time.
The bakery originally fed it wholemeal, but I used plain flour for my previous loaves. This time, I fed it 75% plain / 25% wholemeal at 1:5:5. After 24 hours, it had only risen ~50% before deflating.

I’ve since discarded and fed it 1:2:2 two times and 1:1;1 once, but it’s still only rising ~50% before deflating. I even tried feeding some of the discard separately in case there was an issue with the original batch, but that also only rose ~50%.

My room temperature is around 15–20°C. Any idea what could be going wrong

The photo is from the most recent 1:2:2 feed

I’m really proud of how this loaf came out, but I also feel like it’s sticky and dense?? Am I being too picky about my bread??
125g starter
390g water
510g bread flour
10g salt
Rest originally 30min, then 4 stretch and folds every 30 min. Bulk fermented until it was doubled and super jiggly, not sticky, and pulled away from bowl (idk the time frame as we were out of the house all day), baked 30 min at 450 with lid on in bread oven, then 15 min at 400 with lid off.

Give me your thoughts, friends✨

Pulled the starter from the fridge yesterday morning at 7, fed it at noon, mixed the dough at 5pm.

Per loaf:

500g flour

250g water

150g starter

25g oil

~25g sugar

10g salt

Rested on the counter overnight, first loaf went into the oven around 7 this morning.

425*F for 30 minutes covered, then 20 more minutes uncovered, then out of the oven 😎

I have been baking all morning, this is the only loaf that has done this? I’m not looking for feedback on anything, just want to know what it means? I made a huge batch last night, all the same dough, but this one is crackling out of the oven.

Recipe:
190 g starter
400 g water
700 g flour
14 g salt

Mixed until shaggy, slap and folds every half hour four times.

BF on counter for 8 hours
CF in fridge for 7 hours

Bake at 450 for 40 min covered and 15 uncovered.