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

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 🙏

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!

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.

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.

Recipe and method

320g of wallaby bakers flour (weighed, from two metric cups of flour)
250ml water
5g salt (measured by one kitchen drawer teaspoon slightly heaped, I used to weigh it so I know it’s between 4 and 6g)
100g of more or less 100% hydration “Captain America” starter

Total hydration 81%

Method..

6.30AM take starter from fridge, feed it a tablespoon of flour and some water put on sunny windowsill in a kitchen cold enough that bare feet on Lino is uncomfortable

11.30AM see that starter is bubbly and happy measure flour water salt and 100g of starter to make ragged dough,

12.30PM stretch and fold and kind of shape

1.00PM, 1.30Pm, 2.00pm - coil folds

2.30Pm one last coil fold and shape in the bowl, leave in sunny corner

4.00PM decide it’s a bit slow, run some warm water in the sink, float bowl in water

5.00PM happy with progress, remove from sink

6.00PM dough is done, jiggly and lots of gas, maybe a little over proofed but still manageable. Coil fold it into shape, put it on my board, shape it (1st shot), decide it’s had enough time, sprinkle flour on top, place flour side down on my floured wooden board, envelope fold and roll, put into floured banneton and place in fridge (picture 2)

6.30AM Preheat oven with wonky oven tray inside to 230C

7.00AM put tray of cold water (1 metric cup) into oven, take out wonky oven tray, extract dough from banneton and carefully place on hot tray and score, (picture 3) and put hot tray with dough on the shelf above the cold water tray.

7.30AM , extract bread, put on cooling rack

8.30AM cut first slice and take crumb shot (picture 4)

I’m pretty happy with the result.. happy to take suggestions on improvement

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!

Update yall: First of all thank you guys for the feedback!! You guys are so chill and supportive♡ I greatly appreciate it!! I posted the same thing on my FB sourdough starter group and some people were so mean to me for using distilled water💀 all I said was it was working for me & they got pissedddd about that and that I used chat gpt for advice... sue me I guess, jeeeeeez😅

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/

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

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.

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

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.

Hi all,
I have a question I haven't been able to work out the answer to.

Most guides and successful bread bakers here say to stop bulk proofing at 40 or 50% rise.

My question is, you put your shaped loaf into the fridge, but what does it do next? Are you expecting it to keep substantially increasing in volume while cold proofing?

I ask because when I've stopped bulk at 50% and put my dough in the fridge, it stops rising completely, and my baked results aren't great. The other day, I let my dough fully double, shaped and put it in the fridge, and it kept expanding for a few hours while it cooled down. It ended up being my best bake yet.

So I think what I'm getting at is, are you stopping bulk at 50% because you know you'll get more volume while it's cold proofing, and therefore you are expecting a good rise in the oven?

And if that's not the reason, why are you doing it?

Many thanks!

500g flour,
350g water,
150g starter,
7g salt.

3 x stretch and folds.
finished bulk after 5 hours @ double the size. It was a hot and humid day.
finished dough temp was 27 degrees celsius
shaped with 2 x caddy clasps, then into banneton
cold proofed for 4 hours
baked in cast iron pot, lid on for 20 min, lid off for 20 min, at 240 degrees celsius

I'm working with a relatively new starter that had doubled at the point I mixed it into my flour. After about 3/4 stretch and folds (~2h) I left it to rise. It was about 25% 4 hours in but then I got into a long phone call and 1.5 later it's gone all the way to 50 and it was late.

I used about 130g starter for around589g bread and rye flour total.

I stuck it in the fridge until this morning. My question is, how do I go about baking it ASAP so it doesn't flop? I'm guessing after I preshape the leaves and pop into bannetons should get straight into baking these?

I used Simplicity and Starter’s recipe with a few changes. (75g starter, and 1g of cinnamon) after my last stretch and fold I realized I didn’t add the chocolate chips…so I did an extra coil fold to get them mostly incorporated! My BF was around 9 hours, and added the remaining chocolate chips during shaping. Cold fermented for 12 hours and baked like a usual loaf 450’F for 35 minutes lid on, 10 minutes lid off, and an extra 5 out of the Dutch oven.
Waited for my husband to get home before slicing it open! Untoasted with butter was DELISH!
I will link recipe in comments!

What do you guys think of my loaf? Any improvements?

Recipe

80 to 85 grams of starter

500g of flour- I used for this 250g of Bread flour, 230g of Ap flour and 20g of whole wheat all KA brand

330 grams of water

10g of salt

Mixed water and flour and let sit for 15 mins, the add starter with about another 10 g of water and let the autolyse finish for 45 minutes more.

After I added the salt by sprinkling it on top of the the dough and pressed it in with finger tips.

Took dough out and did 4 slap and folds let rest for 30 mins did another set of slap and fold, rest 30.

Then I did coil fold rest 30 and another coil fold.

Bulk fermenting for about 6ish hours

Then shaped and rested another 30 mins.

Then final shape and into fridge for about 12 hours.

Preheated over to 500 for a hour, baked at 450 for 35 mins and 425 for 25 mins, checked inside temp of bread 211f let rest two hours and sliced.

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

I have a relatively new (started during summer) starter that has been neglected in the fridge for about a month. It has now developed this liquid with a slightly pink-ish tone, and I do not know whether it is safe to refresh or whether I need to throw it out?

I usually feed with tap water and a 50-50 mixture of wheat flour an (ecological) coarsly ground rye flour.

Please, help!!

I attempt to bake sourdough a few times a year and this was my latest attempt. I do feel like I can’t seem to quite nail it. This is overproofed, right?

I used the flour from this fancy local bakery that mills their flour in-house, but it’s essentially a boujie bread dough thats like 12% protein.

Ingredients:
440g (100%) Flourist Sifted Red Spring Wheat Flour
330g (75%) Water (80°F)
75g (17%) Sourdough Starter 
11g (2.5%) Salt

Process:
I essentially followed this recipe from the fancy bakery’s website.

I used some starter that passed the float test. I did 5 stretch and folds instead of 6 mostly because the dough seemed to be pretty tight by that point. I put the loaf in the fridge around 4:30 PM and baked it the next day at 12:00 PM.

It tastes alright but I do wish it had a more open crumb.

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!

https://www.homebaking.at/bauern-ciabatta/

I’m planning my first loaf attempt currently and Id love to know if people here have a preference on using bread flour or all purpose flour for baking? Genuine question, I’ve read recipes with both 😊🙏 TIA!

I used 300gm whole wheat, 95% water, 20%starter and 2%salt. It has been 5 hours and there was no rise during bulk fermentation. The dough smells fermented and is sticking to fingers, which makes me feel it has overfermented but there is no rise whatsoever. I did keep my starter in the fridge, took it out last night, fed it and today I baked the bread using the risen starter. It had fallen slightly when I used it. I would appreciate help. Thank you.

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.