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Questions tagged [sourdough]

Questions regarding baking and working with wild yeasts and starters (also known as levains or chefs).

Sourdough is generally used to refer to baked goods made using a culture of wild yeasts and symbiotic bacteria (usually Saccharomyces and Lactobacillus, respectively). This culture may be referred to as a starter, chef, levain, or mother. These cultures are usually maintained by adding a mixture of carbohydrates (such as flour, starchy vegetable matter, and/or sugar) and water to the existing culture and allowing it to rest in a warm environment while the microorganisms reproduce. A portion of this culture is then added when making a dough to leaven it.

For questions regarding other biological leavening agents see , and for questions regarding chemical leavening see or .

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Do I need a specific pan for baking sourdough bread?

I have been following a recipe to make sourdough bread and a starter. The recipe said to cook the bread in a dutch oven or a cast iron casserole dish. Since I have neither, can I cook the bread in an ordinary loaf tin or some other utensil?
carol
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Sourdough getting too brown

I am baking loaves of sourdough using this recipe: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/beginners-sourdough-bread/ I cook my loaves in a staub cocette and after the allotted time, they're very, very brown, verging on blackened on all sides. Otherwise,…
rtyer
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U.S. Equivalent of French T80 for Sourdough Pain de Campagne

I'm a home sourdough baker in the U.S. and want to try a recipe that calls for the French T80 flour. Some questions: - I have read T80 described as half whole wheat/half bread flour, and also as all bread flour (i.e., white flour). Can it really be…
Arlo
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Unscored loaf is sealing up

I'd like to do an unscored loaf of bread where instead of scoring you let it burst along the seams. The examples I've seen say you proof it seam down. The problem is that I tried this and the seams closed up completely. I baked it anyway and got a…
user50726
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Make bread with flour different from the starter

I have been able to cultivate a strong sourdough starter with whole wheat flour and semolina flour. Now I want to make a bread with all purpose flour, show should I proceed ? Get this already active started and make my bread or feed it with flour…
André Roggeri Campos
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How to have a weekly baking sourdough starter plan

I want to start baking 2 loaves of sourdough bread every Sunday evening. I have to start from scratch. So I do not have any starter yet. Can someone please help me with a plan to do it? How and when should I start with the starter so that it…
Vicky
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Underside of dough in proofing basket pulls apart

When I form a loaf out of dough and put it upside-down into a proofing basket, the bottom of the loaf sometimes begins to pull apart from itself, as if the dough isn't sticking to itself as much as it should. I'm using a sourdough starter and white…
wolfson
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Vinegar Smell from Sourdough Starter

I am in the process of creating my sour-dough starter. I've been mixing in water and "strong bread flour" around a 1:1 ratio (100g of each, slightly more water to make the mixture wetter). The mixture sits on the side between feeds (approximately…
Puffafish
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What does sourdough starter REALLY need?

I have one of these fancy french baking books that says that the sourdough needs to be feed with a 2:1:3 ratio of water, starter and flour. But a lot of videos I see online basically just pour a little out, add equal parts of water and flour…
motleydev
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What type of flour is ideal for sourdough?

I have found a recipe for sourdough starter culture that calls for 50 grams of flour with 50 ml of water, but the recipe does not state what specific type of flour you should use. Can you use any type of flour for the sourdough starter or are there…
Neil Meyer
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When to add salt in sourdough bread mix?

I was reading around and seems that a lot of forums are saying to delay adding the salt in your sourdough mix. I dissolved the salt in water and then I poured the sourdough starter in the water and gave it a light stir and then I poured them in the…
Andrei CACIO
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My sourdough starter split in 2 on the 3rd day. What should I do?

I have fed it first after 24h and it grew nicely. And on the 2nd morning after I woke up I saw this: Should I keep the upper half? or simply start a new batch? I have used the following formula: 200ml water, 200 gr 550 flour, and kept it at about…
Andrei CACIO
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My sourdough starter stopped growing after day two

I've tried making my own sourdough starter. On the first day I added a cup of whole rye flour with 3/4 of cool filtered water. After 24 hours it already started smelling a little sour and had a few bubbles. I took 8 table spoon of the starter and…
Neta Friedman
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Scoring medium hydration dough after it's been in the oven

I've been using this setup for 60% hydration dough: 20 mins in cloche, covered, 500° 10 mins in cloche, covered, 450° 20+ mins uncovered, 450° For all intents and purposes, the cloche works like a Dutch oven, trapping moisture: (You can see in my…
brandonscript
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Sourdough Breadmaking: Adding Water to Dutch Oven to create more steam?

Is there any benefit to adding some boiling water to a preheated dutch oven (under some parchment paper) just before putting the lid back on? EDIT: Well I did it. It seems to improve oven spring. Took Some pics. And here is the crumb
Mr. Smee
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