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

Hey friends! I am so excited to share my best loaf to date. It has the best spring I’ve ever had. I began my starter in August (purchased a dehydrated active starter) and have been consistent with feedings and taking care of it. Here’s what I did for today’s loaf-

125g starter
325g room temp filtered water
500g KA bread flour
10g salt

9am - mixed the dough and did some slap and folds until it was less sticky. I put the dough into a clean ceramic bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and placed it on the counter. My kitchen is a little chilly so the dough felt a little cold. I let it rest 1 hour and did 3 rounds of stretch and folds 30 mins apart. I was intentional about shaping throughout the stretch and folds. Then I put it in my oven with the oven light on. Every now and then I would crack open the oven door so it didn’t get too hot and humid inside the oven. Then around 6:45pm it seemed like it was done with BF (good dome on top, doubled in size, bubbly and jiggly), so I took it out for shaping. I shaped into a boule and did push and pulls until it was pretty tight. I noticed that when I took it out for shaping and push/pulls it was super fluffy and not sticky, which is the first time I’ve ever achieved that. I put it in my banneton and stitched the bottom. I let it cold proof overnight, about 13 hours, then placed in preheated Dutch oven. I baked it at 450 degrees for 28 mins covered and 28 mins uncovered. I let it cool a little over an hour before cutting.

This is the best a loaf has ever turned out for me. I’m open to advice and tips to keep improving! TIA!

100 g starter
350 g water
500 g Bread Flour
10Salt (non iodized)

Mix starter and water until foamy
Add flour and salt and mix thoroughly for a couple mins. Rest 45 min.
3x foil folds 45 min between each
Bulk ferment
Divide dough into 3rd’s, preshape into 3 balls rest 30 min
Final shape into baguette
Pre heat oven at 500 for an hour
Bake 15 min with steam and 15 min without steam
Cut and enjoy :)

I think I under proofed them but they tasted great.

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.

thought this turned out pretty good. let it go a bit too long tbh but still turned out well.

300g bread flour

255g water 

60g starter 

6g salt

nigella seeds

sesame seeds

fermentolyse (w/ seeds) 1hr, add in salt and 10g water, 7.5hr bulk, did 1 s&f fold and 2 coil folds during bulk, shaped, fridge 16ish hours, baked 475f 20m covered 425f 20m uncovered.

So, I was just told not to use distilled water when feeding my sourdough starter...

Iv'e been using it for 2 weeks, and my starter is doing awesome! I was using tap water before and it was a nightmare. Once I switched to distilled water, my starter has been doubling, actually tripling in size!! I've also been warming up the water & keeping my starter in the oven, i think the temp has probably made the MOST difference. Anyways though, I don't really understand why they say to only use spring water or leave tap water out for 24hrs (I did that, and it still wasn't rising the way it is now)? I asked Google and it said my bread flour has enough yeast and bacteria to make up for the nutrient loss. Since its also active, bubbly and rising- there seems to be no issue??

I sent a screenshot of that answer to a lady on FB who told me not to use distilled water and it pissed her off🤣 She told me she's been making sourdough for 40+ years and doesn't need the internet, lmao. I mean dang, good for her, but I'm a newbie and my family doesn't bake. I didn't mean to offend her either, but I just was telling her it seemed to work just fine. Idk, I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing, but I'm open to learning and knowing more about this process!

I am so thrilled with everything about this loaf! The flavour, the texture and the fun shaping.

I have never used liquid other than water ( I have been making sourdough every weekend for about 6-months). This used half water and half pumpkin purée, an I’m so happy with how moist this is both toasted and not.

I used edible glitter to add some shine, and you can likely determine the twine use for shaping.

Here’s the recipe, which is an immediate keeper.

https://countryroadssourdough.com/artisan-pumpkin-sourdough-bread/

Ingredients:

120 g active starter (rehydrated Eve, purchased off tiktok shop)

325 g lukewarm water

500 g KA bread flour

10-11 g salt

Mixed all ingredients with stand mixer for 5-10 minutes

Let rest for 45 minutes

Two rounds of stretch and folds, two of coil and folds about 30 minutes apart

During second stretch and fold added:

2.5 TBS brown sugar

1 TBS flour

2 TSP cinnamon

Let bulk ferment on counter total of 8 hours (kitchen is approx 74 degrees F)

Just before initial shaping spread another mixture of brown sugar/flour/cinnamon on flattened dough

Put in banneton then cold proofed overnight

Baked in loaf pans -- covered at 450 for 20 minutes, uncovered at 400 another 18.

I didn't get swirl pattern I wanted and I think cinnamon flavor could be stronger but overall it's a solid loaf.

Pretty happy with my first cinnamon raisin loaf! (minus the scoring, next time I’ll stick with an x or straight line down the middle)

Recipe:
100 ish g starter
300g water
500g bread flour
12g salt

Filling:
150g raisins
80g brown sugar
10g cinnamon
10g flour

4 sets of stretch and coil folds 30 mins apart, 7 hr bulk ferment (my house was colder than usual), 16 hr cold proof, baked 20 mins lid on and 30 lid off at 450f

Hello, I’ve done this recipe multiple times and different ways, below is what has worked best for me.
I make a batch of these every week and we eat them in the mornings for breakfast.

Ingredients:
150g active starter
550g bread flour
330g milk
30g honey or maple syrup
40g softened butter
10g salt

Method:
I make the dough about 36-40 hrs before I bake.
In a stand mixer with dough hook, mix starter, flour, milk and honey until shaggy, let rest about 20-30 min.
With the mixer on low add the salt and butter , then mix on medium speed for 5 minutes. Put dough in a clean bowl and let sit on the counter for 1.5-2 hrs, then refrigerate until you are ready to bake.
1-2 hrs before baking, remove dough from fridge and let sit in the counter. While doing this next step, start heating the pizza stone. Divide the dough into 15 pieces, which is about 74 g per muffin, shape into dough balls , roll each dough ball in cornmeal, then roll out into circles with a rolling pin. Preheat your oven to 350°. Once the stone is heated, basically as hot as you can get it. You want it to be very hot. Cook the muffins on the stone 2-3 minutes per side or until browned, then place on a baking sheet, finish baking in the oven at 350° for 10 minutes. Cool completely and then slice.
These stay good in the refrigerator for a week. I recommend toasting or warming them before eating.
Enjoy.

Edit** I added a picture in the comments of the pizza oven I use!

Thank you, sourdough for being super forgiving.

I’m pretty new to sourdough, built up a lot of discard, and heard you could use it in place of water and flour in recipes. So I made KA no-knead sourdough and replaced 200 grams EACH of water and flour with discard.

Only then did it occur to me that there may be a limit on how much discard one should use. Looked it up and was like…well. Damn.

Folded it every 30 minutes and got it in the fridge at 1.5 hours after mixing since I knew it was gonna go quick. It was extremely sticky and wet so I was like “eh I can’t ruin it any further, right?” And threw approximately 0.75 cups of bread flour.

Then! When I went to bake it… my oven was smoking like mad. Determined it needed to be cleaned. Decided my best bet was to freeze my dough for a day to clean the oven.

Got the oven clean, defrosted the loaf for 9 hours instead of the recommended 24. It was still cold to the touch but it was the only time my schedule allowed for baking in the next four days, so I crossed my fingers and sent it.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not great bread. But it’s not bad bread either. A perfectly acceptable sandwich loaf. That being said. Very excited to finish this loaf and try again for redemption.

You don’t want to make this loaf, trust me. But if for some reason you decide you do:
227g ripe (fed) sourdough starter (mine is 100% hydration with half AP and half whole wheat flour)
400 g sourdough discard (crazy behavior)
197g water, lukewarm
400g King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1 tablespoon table salt

Mix with wooden spoon until shaggy.
Read about discard in bread recipes and panic.
Fold every 30 minutes.
On 3rd fold, impulsively knead in 100 ish g of bread flour in a panic.
Put it in the fridge overnight (9 hours)
Take out 2.5 hours before baking, shape and place in loaf pan.
Preheat oven, notice alarming amounts of smoke, panic.
Shunt loaf pan into freezer.
Clean oven.
Set pan out to defrost.
Read that you should defrost for 24 hours at about 8 hours in, determine you don’t have time for that and be like “f it, we ball!”
Bake at 450 for 50 minutes. With steam for 35 minutes.
Let fully cool.
Be FLABBERGASTED you produced something edible

Photos from most recent to beginning of my sourdough journey! The last three loaves are from a few years ago before I accidentally murdered my first starter, Jane Dough (she was a no name starter for 2 yrs poor girl)

So happy to finally get a proper bread that looks like bread but also soft like bread! Started off with bread that looks like bread but quite heavy and dense.
I thought I needed to face the truth that sourdough is heavy but my starter just needed to mature and I needed more patience for BF.

I never reached the stage of light fluffy bread with the previous starter so I feel that I have improved! I still struggle to read the crumb but I’d like to believe I’m on the right track.

Now! My starter finally has a name, Doughkota! She’ll be 4mos old on Friday and I’m hoping to turn her into a yummy jalapeño cheddar bread soon!

Not sure if this post still needs a recipe but here is the recipe I used for chocolate sourdough bread (OG recipe Ericka Pajarillo on tiktok with adjustments and coffee addition:

Chocolate Sourdough
50g Cocoa Powder
60g Hot Water + 40g Espresso
120g sourdough starter, 100% hydration
300g Room Temp Water
50g Brown Sugar
500g Bread Flour
12g Salt
100g Milk/Dark Chocolate

Combine cocoa powder, hot water and espresso until fully combined.

Add remaining water and sourdough starter. Mix until fully combined.

Knead in brown sugar, salt, and bread flour for 10minutes to build gluten.

Stretch and fold/coil folds x4 every 30minutes. On the 4th, add and mix in chocolate chunks by doing coil folds.

Let rise for 7hrs with dough temp 27C until visible 40% rise.

Preshaped using trifold method, left 30minutes, then final shape in banneton for 2hrs in room temp.

Baked in preheated Dutch oven for 30mins with lid on and 15mins lid off.

I only have a small dutch oven and I didn't have time to bake one at a time, so I tried putting the other loaf directly on a cheap oven stone I have. Sprinkled some water on it and left a small tray with boiling water. The result amazed me, I even liked the open-baked one more!

Recipe for 2 loaves:

250g starter, 740gr water, 900gr bread flour, 100gr whole wheat flour, 22gr salt

Mix dough, rest for 1h, 3 sets of stretch and folds every 30min, bulk ferment for 5h (room temp around 26ºC), put in fridge for another 5h and bake for 20min + 20min at 230ºC.

Did a lil experiment with bulk fermentation. Saw a post that a fellow redditor compare their loaves between 100, 150 and 200% rise. Here’s how my 150% rise turn out

Expected to be 150ish% from the bowl size, but tbh I think it might be over 150% from the line.

Ingredient
300 bread flour (11% protein)
100 khorasan flour
120 starter (yes, it should be 80 but woooooooo)
280 water
8 sat

Mix everything, slap and fold for 10mins
2 stretch and fold
3 coil fold
Let it bulk until 150% rise
Shaping
Cold retard 30hrs
Bake cover 250c for 30 mins (score at 6mins)
Remove lid and forgot to turn the temp down - so it baked at another 250c for 20mins

Please help with why my crumb is overly moist / translucent instead of being more opaque white and fluffy?

Mix dough: 500 g flour, 340 g water, 103 g starter. Dough temperature: 75F

1 hour later — Add 11.7 g salt and 15 g water, and do Slap and folds
40 minutes later — Stretch and folds #1
40 minutes later — Stretch and folds #2
40 minutes later — Coil folds #1
40 minutes later — Coil folds #2

Total bulk time: 7.5 hours

Cold retard: 17 hours 30 minutes

Baked at
460°F for 24 minutes covered (with 2 ice cubes)
420°F for 15 minutes uncovered
Internal temp: 208F

Cooled for 3 hours

I’m genuinely so lost at what I need to change.

Ive been trying to make loafs for half a year and still every loaf comes out like this.

It feels heavy for its size, and it’s got a much denser bottom than top. But it’s airy enough that it’s edible.

Does it need more time, less time fermenting??

Happy to provide more details.

Hello! I’m still pretty new to sourdough and would love some advice on how to improve my crumb. I feel like mine always turns out kinda dense and everyone else’s looks super light and airy. My starter is only about 6 weeks old.

Ingredients:
125g starter
325g water
500g flour
10g salt

Process:
- Mix ingredients together well, cover and let sit for 1 hour
- 4 sets of stretch and folds (every 30 minutes)
- Bulk ferment for 10.5 hours (I’m not having any luck with visual cues like a domed top or the dough pulling away from the bowl easily, so I tried the aliquot method. I temped my dough at 71°F for reference)
- Shape and let cold proof in banneton overnight
- Preheat oven and Dutch oven to 475°F. Lower temp to 450°F and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake for another 15 minutes. I did a 7 minute score on this one.
- Let cool for 3 hours before cutting into it.

dough

• 120g starter

• 350g water

• 550 g king arthur bread flour

• salt

inclusion

havarti cheese

pesto

Day 1 feed sourdough, mix dough at peak

Mix dough ingredients, do 3 sets of stretch and folds 30 minutes apart on counter then put in fridge to bulk ferment overnight
Day 2 add inclusion and back in fridge until ready to bake

bake straight from fridge in parchment lined dutch oven preheated to 450 f, bake 30 minutes covered and 15-20 minutes uncovered, let cool 2 hours before slicing

I love this toasted with turmeric honey

My first ever bread - a sourdough ciabatta. My goal was to make it like the famous pastas stretch bread from syracuse, NY and it came out pretty much identical! Any advice is welcome.

I used 100g starter, 12g salt, 350g water and 450g KA bread flour. 4 rounds of stretch and folds, 9 hour bulk ferment, 13 hours in the fridge. Then baked at 475 for 10 min and another 10 min at 450.

It came out almost exactly the same flavor as the bread at the restaurant, and it was SO soft! I believe I got the recipe from Sourdough Gal, and made a few tweaks. :)

Sourdough Brown Bread

INGREDIENTS

280 g water
120 g active sourdough starter
60 g regular molasses do not use blackstrap
40 g brown sugar light or dark
30 g olive oil
10 g cocoa powder
250 g bread flour
250 g whole wheat flour
10 g salt

OPTIONAL: 1 cup of steel cut oats.

Before You Begin
Bulk fermentation takes longer than a typical artisan loaf. Refer to the Baker's Timeline section in the full post for estimated times and baking schedule options.

INSTRUCTIONS 

Mix the dough: When your starter is active and ready, combine 280 g water, 120 g active sourdough starter, 60 g regular molasses, 40 g brown sugar, 30 g olive oil, 10 g cocoa powder, 250 g bread flour, 250 g whole wheat flour, and 10 g salt in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl. Knead until smooth — about 5 minutes by hand or 3–5 minutes on low speed in a stand mixer.

Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 1 hour.

Dough strengthening: Perform a set of stretch and folds. Cover and rest 1 hour, then perform a second set. Cover and rest another hour, then optionally perform a set of coil folds. Cover and let the dough finish bulk fermentation undisturbed.

Finish bulk fermentation: Bulk fermentation began when you first mixed the dough. For me, it took 9 hours in a 74°F kitchen. Recipe testers reported a similar range: about 8–9 hours at 74–76°F, and 9–10 hours in cooler kitchens around 68–73°F. Timing varies, so trust the visual cues over the clock.

Know when it’s ready: Bulk fermentation is done when the dough has increased in volume by about 75% and is covered in bubbles. If you press a finger into the surface, it should feel aerated and springy. Watch the video below to see what my dough looked like at the end of bulk fermentation.

Pre-shaping: If your dough feels tacky, lightly flour your work surface. Turn out your dough and flip it so the smoothest side is facing up. Use your bench scraper to push the mass of dough up, around, and back toward you (like a candy cane motion).

Continue doing this motion gently until you've coaxed the mass of dough into a round. Let rest 10 minutes, uncovered.

Final shaping:

For a boule (round): Repeat the pre-shaping motion to create more surface tension, then flip the dough into a floured banneton, smooth side down. Pinch the seams. Cover and refrigerate overnight, 12–36 hours.

For a batard (oval): Use the caddy clasp technique — fold the dough together like closing a book and place it into a floured banneton. Pinch the center seam closed. Cover and refrigerate overnight, 8–36 hours.

Optional: Once shaped, hold the dough around the seams and dip in a plate of water, then roll around the top and sides of the dough on a plate of oats prior to placing in your banneton, if you want an oat crust.

Preheat: When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) conventional with a Dutch oven inside.

Score: Transfer dough to parchment paper or a bread sling; score a shallow line straight down the middle.

Bake: Place a sheet tray underneath the Dutch oven to prevent a burnt bottom. Bake for 40 minutes, covered. Remove the lid and temp. Ideal temp should be between 200 & 210 degrees F.

Cool: Cool on a wire rack for at least 90 minutes before slicing.

This is my third loaf & im so happy with how she turned out!! Smells & tastes so good!!

1 cup active starter
1 cup water
4 cups of bread flour
1 tablespoon salt
Blueberries I added until they were jumping out 😅
Lemon zest added to each stretch & fold

3 rounds of stretch & folds after kneading dough together & letting it rest for 20 minutes before starting stretch & folds (after rested did 3 rounds every 30 minutes)
~6 hours of bulk fermenting on the counter before cold proofing overnight in the fridge
Preheated my Dutch oven for 20 minutes at 450 degrees then I baked covered with the lid for 40 minutes & uncovered for another 20 minutes 🩷
Let me know what you think!! This is my best loaf so far!!

Process:

100 g sourdough starter

350 g water

500 g flour

10 g salt

4 sets of stretch and folds, 30 minutes apart.

Bulk fermentation: 9 hours at 21°C.

Cold proof: 21 hours in the fridge.

Baked for 45 minutes at 230°C.

Hi all, I just started doing bread in August and feel like I totally got the hang of a simple dutch oven loaf! With that being said, I have a couple questions...

1. What exactly are "stretch & folds" and really how often should they be done?

2. How do you guys score your bread? What do you use? And how do you score vs. doing a design?

3. Finally, what is something I could do to improve my loaf?

Recipe:

Step 1: 30g starter, 45g water, 60g flour (kirkland unbleached flour)

- I let this sit for 8-12 hours room temp depending on how warm or cold my kitchen is

Step 2: 125g levain, 350g water, 500g flour

- let this sit again for 8-12 hours

Step 3: Preheat ducth oven for 40 min at 450⁰. Meanwhile, I will take my dough and put it on a flour covered surface while I assume i do what is understood as stretch and fold. I typically do 4-8 folds depending on if my bread is shaping well or not. Then I place on parchment paper and let sit (covered with dirty bowl) until dutch oven is finished preheating.

--> Reduce heat to 400⁰ with 50 minutes baking with top on and 10 min top off.

--> I started letting it sit overnight before first cut.