7 Sourdough Mistakes to Avoid by Reading Your Crumb

[@the_bread_code]

Please note - every homemade sourdough bread is a win! No matter how flat, underfermented or whatever your bread is. Don't give up! These are just some tips and recommendations that might help you to better understand what is happening to your bread. May the gluten be strong with all of you! Edit: I mixed up the stiff starter water percentage. Sorry. For 100g of flour use 50g water. Not sure how I missed this obvious mistake 🤣. Apologies.

[@beamoscrilla7691]

I left my career as a union sheet metal worker to enter into the world of sourdough with my wife. She started baking sourdough, then we started selling at farmers markets. We now have 8 farmers markets. While I was working, I would bake for the market on Sunday. I didn’t know why the bread would be flat, or dense, or stiff, etc etc. once I started doing it full time I’ve noticed when the dough is fluffy, or holds shape, etc. I have watched so many content creators about sour dough and so far you are my favorite. I am running an experiment today with a 1-1-1 starter and your advice on a 1-5-5 starter at 75% hydration with using 15%, 20%, and 25% starter for each. About to warm up my ovens to see what happens.

[@beamoscrilla7691]

All came out super flat :(

[@the_bread_code]

@@beamoscrilla7691 awesome that you are pursuing this career. I'd recommend to try making a stiff starter. It will help to have a better yeast fermentation 🤗

[@cherylmancini7642]

I am so glad I found your channel, I love the way you share your experience with new beginners like me. I have always made home made bread but never Sourdough, well that has changed it has not looked like your's yet but I'm working on it. Can you tell me where I can purchase the Brovn you use I am in the USA and can't find a place to purchase one. I told my brother he needs to move back to Germany so he can ship one to me, I want to watch my creation as it cooks. Thank you for all your tutorials.

[@MrDziuka]

It made me wonder, thanks for correcting this and I will definitely try it . Thanks!

[@stephentayles3229]

A masterclass that summarises 100 hours of research in just 10 minutes. Bravo and thank you.

[@dust_to_dust]

This guide rocks, man. When I get something wrong, I come here and find out what it likely was and how to fix it. We owe you. Seriously, and I'm gonna find a way to pay.

[@simplybeautifulsourdough8920]

I almost passed out when I saw my scores! 😂 Thank you for the mention. 😊 Aside from that, this was REALLY helpful. Thank you for taking massive amounts of time to make it. So. Much. Work! I know time is one of your most precious assets right now, with writing the book!

[@the_bread_code]

My pleasure. Thanks for the beautiful breads you are making. I wish I was so creative 🤗

[@ChocolateBoxCottage]

Nancy Anne, knew I recognized your scores! 😍

[@DougBrownVancouver]

Another über video. You mentioned a very important point about having unique flour and to not rely 100% on internet recipes. I'm in Vancouver and we have excellent flour in Canada from big, national brands like Robin Hood. I started buying Silver Star bread flour from Costco, milled in Armstrong, BC from Rogers Flour, which has higher protein and produces lovely dough. When I switched, the hydration tolerance of Silver Star seemed to be about 10% higher than all-purpose supermarket flour. My suggestion for bakers is to try three hydration levels (65%, 70% and 75%), follow the same bread process, and see what the final result is. Same goes for fermentation time overnight. I'm going to try a range of times from 9-10-11-12 hours to evaluate the final product. Based on your video I'm sure I'm over-fermenting. I already adopted your "control" method of watching a dough sample rise during bulk fermentation, but there's no visible alternative for the overnight rise and I think I have to just try different durations. Any comment on that? Also, I roll and fold my dough now during the stretching phase to build dough strength. If I do this more than what you show, will that improve or harm my dough strength? I can experiment but you've already done all this I assume! Thanks!

[@the_bread_code]

Great points. Thank you. Folding the dough like you mentioned should add additional dough strength. I recommend to just use way less starter provided that you want to make an overnight dough. Try 1-2% starter based on the flour.

[@northwoodfalls1403]

There are other videos on this subject, but none I have seen go into this depth. I have this saved to my sourdough list and I reference it often to help me fine tune my bread as I try new flours, new folding techniques, etc. Your videos have helped me immeasurably in my journey. I was so frustrated I had given up making sourdough for a good year or so and then decided to give it another go and found your channel. Maybe it’s the German in my DNA, but I REALLY appreciate the lengths you go to measure all the variables. Even though I have not gone so far as to purchase a ph measuring thingie, watching your experiments helped me understand the chemistry happening and it all just started to make sense to me. I feel I have all the information I need from start to finish to take full ownership of my own process and I now produce delicious loaves consistently. We haven’t purchased store bought bread in months now. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[@ivan889rdz]

This is by far, the best video of Sourdough Bread I‘ve ever seen

[@maryannjolly181]

I packed a tbs of my starter with rye flour and pressed it flat wrapped in cling wrap. I posted it to my sister inlaw bc She is just starting her love affair w sour dough and was struggling with her starter. It had to travel 2000km, took 5 days. It was so active when she fed it because, her first loaf was better than all mine to date. Lol.

[@L-36]

I have had good luck with my latest method. I take a small 50ml glass beaker and put 28mg of water in it and mark a line. I use a scale that can read to 0.1mg. Then after kneading the dough, I put exactly 25mg of dough in the container and press it down to remove all the air bubbles around the glass. I set the beaker close to where my dough will ferment. When the sample reaches the line my fermentation is done. I use this method rather than saying let it rise 30% because you can measure the starting and ending points accurately. Going for a percent depends on how well you press your starting dough down and how rounded the top is. When the dough gets to the 28ml line, it tends to be very flat and easy to read. Cheers.

[@antonybates]

At 1:35 I think you mean 1 part flour to 1/2 part water for a stiff starter?

[@the_bread_code]

Sorry and thank you. I am such an idiot. Even after watching this 5 times I sometimes don't find the most obvious mistake haha. Apologies. I added a marker in the video too.

[@gaborszabo9804]

@@the_bread_code haha, wrote the same comment, but the info marker is also wrong, it says 100g water + 50g flour, which is again 200% hydration :)

[@pepesmama7515]

I am always running into runny dough- I think sometimes over fermentation or not kneading enough. I’m so determined to be more consistent! Your advice is great!

[@nathanbohn4042]

After a string of successes, I baked two flat loaves using your multipurpose recipe. My round loaf had a super wide air pocket in the middle, confirming that I under-fermented it because I was rushed for time. Thanks for this extremely educational video!!

[@beccacamberos5706]

With overfermented dough, I like the cut the loaf in half horizontally after baking and make a pizza on both sides! It is so so yummy!

[@charlene.elovitzChannelYT]

I probably over-ferment my doughs as most common mistake....Big thanks, lots of detail in this one video!! :)😊

[@letsfish876]

Thamk you....finally got a crumb that isn't gummy! Cutting off a small piece made all the difference 💗

[@kirstenmartin2650]

I use a cast iron dutch oven and I often put 3-4 ice cubes under the parchment paper before I put the lid on. It creates great steam

[@ExperimentalistBrewing]

Especially in the summer, I tend to let my bread over ferment just a little bit. Your other videos have already helped me to learn to bake at a lower temperature and that made a big difference to get rid of those big pockets near the crust!

[@trijezdci4588]

It is advisable to reduce the amount of starter in your recipes during summer. As a general rule of thumb, use half the amount the recipe asks for.

[@markstinson4434]

Just starting out with sourdough, so thanks for those tips and they mostly mirror my own thinking after two attempts. Loaf #3 is still in the thinking stages, but a suggested 8th mistake would be giving up. It's just flour, water, and some trial and error (even the mistakes are edible).

[@thomasevans1728]

My 2nd loaf turned out flat now lve the answer why , thank you.

[@INXPhase]

Hey man, just wanted to say that these types of videos are worth GOLD for ppl like me trying to learn and trouble shoot. Godsent, love you! You doing good for the people, providing all this info for free, in english, and in such a concise and to the point matter, bravo. Only the very best wishes!!

[@the_bread_code]

Thank you 🤗

[@Lisa87DJ]

Thank you, this is very VRY helpful! I have made four boules so far, and each one of them has been over fermented and sticky. I feel like my entire life is spent watching my starter and watching the dough lol I’m going to try a stiffer starter for sure. And my starter is relatively new, about four months old.

[@SarahBear303]

Wow, so prior to my sourdough baking Obsession, most of the fancy sourdough I have bought has been Under-fermented!!

[@kateryna-a1]

a great Thanks! I've tried to find the answers on local channels, but nobody explains the reasons, mostly it's just a recipies, which I'm not able to reproduce with a such good result (only 3 tries at this moment 😅 so there are a lot of issues, with no understanding how to solve). You give me a bunch of points to look at, it's wonderful 🥰THANK YOY

[@evettc7887]

Until I get a different job I can't bake or have a starter so am currently learning everything I can. Thank you for this video.

[@M_M_ODonnell]

It's helpful to have all of this in one place. As a beginner, I keep looking at my dense bread and thinking I need to give it longer to rise...so I keep over-fermenting. (You're right, though, the bread is still tasty.)

[@trijezdci4588]

If the bread is dense, you likely need to add more water. And if you want longer fermentation times, you need to reduce the amount of starter or ferment the dough in the fridge. If your flour is weak and it can't absorb the water, you can employ one or more techniques to make it absorb more water without becoming runny. The simplest technique is to add a bit of (fine) rye flour, say 3-5%, and if that is still insufficient, add some (finely ground) bran powder, up to about 10-12%. Another technique is to pre-gelatinise a small fraction of the flour. Yet another is to add water absorbing fibres from other seeds for example fleawort, aka psyllium. Keep in mind though that the more fibre you add, the longer the dough needs to absorb the water and that means the dough needs more resting time, often several hours.

[@Squanchay]

Gluten tag!! Guess I've been under fermenting with these big pockets/fools crumb. Will give it another hour! Cheers mate

[@simplybeautifulsourdough8920]

Hey Hendrik! I've been traveling for several weeks and just now got a chance to watch this. What great info!! And thanks oodles for sharing pics of my scored bread. You kinda rock!! 😊

[@chiarag.1845]

Thank you!! Every single loaf I baked had a gigantic air pocket right on top of the loaf and I couldn't figure out why.. it must be the temperature (the recipe said 250-260 degree celsius)

[@markyounghouse2641]

Really one of the best videos on the topic. It is so helpful to really understand instead of just using recipe blindly. Great. Really

[@the_bread_code]

Thank you 🤗

[@katalincsiszar5770]

Great tips, thank you! I just started baking sourdough 2 weeks ago and had big succeses, but I struggle understanding optimal proofing time and temperature.

[@candywalker483]

One of your best videos! Have watched them all and although I have baked regularly x 52 years I am primarily baking sourdough bread now. Am learning how to use my new gas range/ oven with challenges. The range part I love, the gas oven doesn’t seem to leave the top of the boule as brown as I want. But experimenting. Thanks for your expertise and generosity to help us all! 🥰

[@the_bread_code]

Thank you 🤗

[@harrisvangeest5134]

Lately I’ve been thinking of buying cryptocurrency for retirement, I’ve set asides $350k to invest but along the line,I usually get cold feet, maybe because I have no idea what I’m doing, please I could really use some guidelines.

[@maryperry7909]

In situations like this,I always recommend to people on getting guidance at least from someone that understands price action and all that while you strive on improving yourself by watching videos and learning fundamental analysis.

[@mohammedabdulraheem2262]

Investment guidance sounds like a great idea,thought about it before but never knew how to go about it.

[@joachimmilberg2313]

@@harrisvangeest5134 I started investing in cryptocurrency a little while ago and I’ve come to realize nothing beats first hand experience..Investing with Juan Antonio Landa has been the best experience ever.

[@rebeccacanlas1328]

I’m new in sourdough field and your video is super informative! Thanks a lot for being super realistic! 😊

[@salimchowdury682]

This is probably the best video on KZbin. You are literally the MD/PhD of sourdough. Your website inspires me, a total moron, to make sourdough. Besides, you come across as a super nice person and not a pompous prick although it's obvious you have this dialed in. Thank you for helping us out. Good health and much success to you.

[@markyounghouse2641]

Your videos and start of your book are top notch. I appreciate the detail and science. Keep up the great work!

[@susansmith7415]

Have been baking sourdough for several years now and this summer, for whatever reason, have had some misses. I needed to go back to basics and this video was really helpful. As you have noted, every loaf of sourdough is still good to eat (unless its underbaked!) but some are better than others, so putting my learners cap back on and looking forward to not only better looking results but more consistently good loaves.

[@1misago]

This video is so helpful for those of us less experienced, explaining not only what can go wrong but the mechanism behind it. I love the mix of practical advice and technical explanation. One thing, regarding the advice to use a Dutch oven if you cannot turn the fan off, there is another workaround suggested by Foodgeek and Simpel Sourdough. Once you have loaded the bread into the preheated oven, turn it off. After 10 ~ 20 minutes of gently expanding in a hot steamy atmosphere, remove the water tray, then turn the oven on again to complete the bake.

[@jacquelinemcdowall5369]

This is really useful info for me. Its a fan oven i have and i can’t switch the fan off. I do have 2 dutch ovens but if i have 3 or 4 loafs i can only do 2 at a time . Will try it with 1 loaf soon to see if works. Thanks for the tip. 😊

[@1misago]

@@jacquelinemcdowall5369 With a home oven, I think the "oven off" method probably works best with a heat store such as a baking steel/stone or dutch oven (which you have) present. This prevents the oven cooling too much after turning off. Bread Code may have covered it somewhere but I saw it in these KZbin videos "Rustic Round SOURDOUGH Bread" by Simpel Sourdough, kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJWqd4puZduGZ7s and "Better oven spring by using this crazy trick?" by Foodgeek, kzbin.info/www/bejne/laStYXueprNpi68.

[@classicrockonly]

I’m definitely overfermenting. Going to stiff starter and feeding it more for the next time. Thank you for the tips

[@mrgreenbudz37]

Such a fascinating and informative video. I feel I learned a lot watching it. Thank you so much. I love your videos. One, I have been under fermenting and need to work on getting more tension in my dough so that when I dump it out of its bowl to bake it retains its shape.

[@vinaymieux]

Hey. Great info as always. I think you made a mistake at 1:35 when talking about stiff starter that it's 1 part of water and half part of flour. Also, which part of Germany are you from? One of my close friends is traveling to Hamburg today. She has never had a good sourdough bread in her life ☹️. Maybe you can hook her up with one 😋

[@the_bread_code]

Yes. You are right. Sorry. My mistake 🤗. I'd recommend to try back Geschwister in Hamburg. I'm not in the city currently 😅

[@benoitdelvaux7447]

Danke! Habe grad angefangen, dein Video hat mir schon sehr geholfen meine ersten Versuche zu entziffern

[@barrychambers4047]

I very often push the envelope on overfermentation as my wife and I love that extra sour taste!

[@kirstenmartin2650]

You are doing a wonderful job!

[@growabundant]

I’m committed to baking only 100% organic whole grain sourdough bread. The flour I buy has been finely milled so there is not an issue with big razor blades of bran in the dough. But I’ve had my share of over fermentation, to the point of tears when it sticks to the banaton cover. Because my kitchen can be chilly, I use a fermentation chamber (picnic cooler with a heat mat), so an easily controlLed environment. But I ferment my starter on the counter overnight before baking and it’s easy to let it overferment if we happen to get a warm night. Thanks for the excellent videos!

[@ift1991]

The content of this video is very interesting and useful, because these mistakes are often common when we experiment: thank you very much for this valuable information

[@isabelab6851]

Great to see you! This is very helpful. I am finally getting settled in Northern California. And so has my bread making. Will need to see what happens as it gets warmer…cannot wait to read your book.

[@carolchristiegardner397]

I'm enjoying the sourdough bread baking journey. Thank you for all your advice 'bread-code'

[@richards2072]

Very interesting video. Don't really care for open crumb loaves. I and at least some others prefer closed crumb as we use bread primarily for toast and open crumb loaves let all the butter and jam drip out on the plate so I would go for the closed crumb photo you showed.

[@scoobtoober2975]

Thanks for the stiff starter. My flour is definitely not super high protein. 11 or so. Always had flatter loafs. Always more floppy and saggy.

[@clearblueskies1145]

Thanks for sharing….my dough is always wet-tish despite reducing the water by 10-20g. It takes few folds before it smooths out yet it’s still sticky. I work in air conditioned room of around 23-24C but the weather outside is often hot & humid

[@thepeacefulenemy4026]

Super helpful, just like all your videos. I had the issue where my crust formed and browned too soon (probably not enough steam), so it was dark and crusty already by the time it hit that internal temp of 197f (actually I overshot and it was just over 200f) but I still had a tiny bit of gummy dough at the bottom. Thoughts? Either way, it was still a pretty damn good loaf of bread for only my second ever attempt-for which I give full credit to you. I really appreciate what you do.

[@maithilidipali8002]

Thank you for this video it’s helpful for me as a beginner I live in mumbai my breads are flat may be because of hot baking I bake at 250 C and I never get beautiful oven spring

[@berenicegonzalez2134]

Hola ! Todo lo explicas de una forma sencilla y con ciencia, vere todos tus videos para aprender

[@JeanetteSanderson-b1v]

Only just discovered your videos and I love them. When you give the temperature, is that for a conventional or a fan assisted oven? I use a Dutch oven in my fan assisted oven - bread has been tasty but quality very mixed.

[@nazirnaame8432]

Thank you for your valuable lesson, the best for me as flour is Italian 00 , with gluten 13%.

[@plumbummanx]

Wow, so much information. I'll have to watch this a few times to absorb it all.

[@mvl6827]

That's because the information here is not viewer-friendly presented. More the opposite. For example there is no option to read, instead must watch (him! ) again and again. A vain person no doubt. Not my idea of spending time. . I go elsewhere.

[@alig85144]

Wow 😵 what a F11 debugging !!! Bravo chef !

[@TheName7293]

thank you thank you thank youuu! :D you are the bread master. I love the sciency side of bread making & your videos are the best for this. I'm going to read your book now, cheers!

[@scp234]

Thank you. 3 out of 7, no wonder my first loaf was a disaster.

[@Foodgeek]

Great information, my friend and I love the new look and editing

[@the_bread_code]

Thank you 🤗

[@amylevine4204]

Thank you so much! Your vid gave me some more clarity. The loaf i just made @ first i thought it was a little sticky crumb, but i have smaller cavities distributed evenly. Then i saw what you mentioned about the water! Also a ? I finally during BF after S & F waited till it doubled in volume. Pre-shaped & did the final shape into my banniton & overnight in frig & baked in am. Is that a good estimation. Tks so much 😅

[@kseth6992]

I have learnt a lot from your channel , been making sourdough breads and pizzas . Ambient temperature variations for me are from 0 deg Celsius to 46 degrees Celsius ( one home in the plains ,one in the mountains ) and now after 3 years have realised that the time variable is utterly useless , most imp is watch the dough - how it feels n looks , watch the increase in size , and control the amount of starter being added to compensate for such huge temp variations . Thanks .

[@jiberri]

Wouldn't a stiff starter have 1 part flour and one-half part water? You said 1 part water and one-half part flour. Thanks in advance for clarification.

[@pieeetr]

Yes, you are right.

[@danjohnson6292]

Hendrik, this is a great video. Wish it was around when I started baking sour dough 2-3 years ago.

[@markashworth983]

I really enjoy your Channel, which I recently discovered. Which brand of banneton would you recommend to me? Thank you!

[@jessu.9166]

Hi Hendrik! Thank you for all your help on my sourdough journey. I love watching your experiments. I've been maintaining a very active starter for the last year and a half, but recently (last two months) I've noticed more bacteria development (sourness, hooch, etc) and this has been leaving me with sticky dough. I followed your instructions to create a stiff starter over the last 3 days. My question is-How can I maintain my stiff starter as a home baker who bakes bread once a week? Should I continue with a weekly feeding schedule using more flour than water? I am curious to see how the flavour of my converted starter holds up to my regular starter! Wishing you well, Jess

[@shekharpatel]

Thanks. Great video. Would you please elaborate on protein content of the wheat flour, 11% average (relatively cheap) to insane 13% (artisanal and as expensive as a Rembrandt original).

[@the_bread_code]

You need better wheat for a higher protein content. This is like with expensive grapes, the more sun, the more sugar. For wheat more sun means more gluten.

[@Michael201078]

Thanks for great video. Each your video makes my bakery experience better.

[@paulychannel7914]

If your flour is not very " strong ' .... you can add gluten flour ( vital wheat gluten ) to strengthen it..... some bakers " frown upon it " for no apparent reason.... but believe me it works very well !

[@uweschroeder]

Congrats on the book! That takes me back, I haven't seen anyone use TeX is a very long time. It produces such superior output.

[@Freakazoid23]

awesome video as always!! i have a stupid question.. i cant find any video about it. but how do you guys cut this open crumb breads without squeezing it together after baking since there are that many air pockets? is there any trick ?

[@nathangerdts1803]

I've seen so many sourdough tip videos but this is by far the most helpful. Great bread diagnostics approach. Thank you!

[@benstern2079]

Great info in the video. I could identify my mistakes in your explanations. One day I’ll get it perfect. Many thanks.

[@wendylim1915]

Thanks for your enlightening video. I've encountered most if not all the problems you have highlighted in your video. This is really helpful. But how do I know what exactly is the right fermentation time? I live in the tropics with temperatures 27⁰C - 32⁰C. Humidity is above 90% most days. Please help me solve my fermentation problem.

[@the_bread_code]

Thank you! In your case I would go as low as 1% starter. Try to use a stiff starter. Aim for a 50% size increase during bulk fermentation. Shape your dough and then put it directly into the fridge. Bake it directly out of the fridge the next day.

[@macs-13]

Try making fermented version of Indian flatbread (Roti)

[@ryanspear6340]

I make my sourdough and let it ferment for 40-45 min. Then flatten it out, fold it over a few times, form it into loaves, put it into pans. It's usually ready to bake in 2-2 1/2 hours. I bake @ 350F for 35 min. I seldom ever get large pockets. I feed my dough once a week with ground grapes, wheat flour & water. Store in the back of the fridge.

[@Ingrid_EverydayFilmmaker]

Did you say it backwards? For a stiff starter shouldn't it be 1 part of flour and half a part of water? In the video you said one part of water and 1/2 part flour. Wouldn't that larger one part of water make the half part of flour too runny? 2) You also answered my question about hydration. I live in the Czech Republic and our flour here is probably like yours in Germany, and my flour kept coming out too sticky and loose when I followed the hydration recipes on the internet. I too, have to cut back on the water percent. I have been going crazy trying all diff types of flour here to prevent it.

[@charlottejohnson4653]

Omg I love you. These are the most helpful tips on reading the crumb I’ve come across. I’m entering my sourdough in a local baking show soon and this will help, I need all the help I can get 😅🫶🙏🥖🍞🥨

[@dami2001]

Hello, very useful and interesting video, I wonder if you could use a pH meter to decide if your dough is sufficiently fermented, thank you very much for your help.

[@jimreagan6510]

I just love this man good bread baker an good very humor Danke

[@jacobcohen9205]

Love your channel, greetings from the Isle of Man. I keep over proofing

[@peterwhitaker4231]

Ahem, sorry to be the picky engineer, and I'm sure you will want to set the record straight Hendrik... 1:34- a stiff starter has one part water and half a part flour...oops. great to see your videos again and keep up your top work, L.G., Peter

[@the_bread_code]

Yes. Sorry. I don't know what happened how I missed this 😂😂😂. Thanks for pointing this out. It's of course half the flour as water.

[@Sigrid-h7j]

Gluten Tag 😊 vielen Dank für deine lehrreichen Videos. Wäre es möglich mal ein Video über ein helles Dinkelbrot mit flüssigem sauerteig zu machen? Ich vertrage Dinkel besser und der Geschmack ist einfach lecker aber die Porung wird irgendwie nicht so schön wie mit Weizen oder, Hartweizen. Ich liebe Brot mit sehr großer Porung, wie deine tollen Brote. Viele liebe Grüße aus Süddeutschland. Sigrid

[@EgbertWilliams]

One part water and one-half part flour produces a "dry environment" and a stiffer starter? Shouldn't it be one part flour and one-half part water to get that? How does more water than flour produce a dry environment?

[@zaurike]

Considering his previous statement, I believe he misspoke.

[@ThatGuy-123]

Hallo Hendrik, auch wenn es sicher schon oft gefragt wurde: welchen Typ Mehl nutzt du und welchen Proteingehalt?

[@alinajupe568]

This is so awsome Hendrik, I didn't know you are a celebrity! 😄 I started to feed my starter Dudley more after I've watched your videos and he looks so happy and fluffy already - very excited about its first outcome tomorrow! Will send you pictures! :D All the best, Alina

[@the_bread_code]

Please do either via instagram or email 🤗

[@MarcMunoz1]

Love to see that the book is in LaTeX :-)

[@EllaeenahJadeFire]

How long should the first part of the bake be? I generally do 25 mins and then 20 mins. 230C

[@the_bread_code]

Hi there! Yes. That is exactly the same way I go about it.

[@EllaeenahJadeFire]

Thank you

[@maryannjolly181]

I kneaded a dough with my starter in my kenwood, tipped the dough into another bowl to bulk rise. I swished the kenwood bowl with water, but there was a smear of dough still present. I then added water, flour and salt, mixed & autolysed on the bench covered. I forgot about it. About 30 hrs later, I went to add starter, but the dough had already risen about 3 times from the minuscule dregs of kneaded dough still in the bowl. I though it was over proved so put it in the bin. Later, i went to the bin, it was still rising. I should have just baked it out of curiosity.

[@maryannjolly181]

Have you ever tried what I accidentally did. Ie, autolysing, bulk rising and proving at the same time, on the bench with probably no more than 1/2 tsp of active starter .

[@kirstenmartin2650]

what is that glass bowl your bread is being baked under? I think it would be lovely to bake a bread under a glass bowl like that and how do you do it? Do you heat the bowl as you would a cast iron pot?

[@trijezdci4588]

Hello there, you do not need a high-gluten flour for the dough to absorb 80% or more water. All you need is more arabinoxylan (AX). That's a non-starch carbohydrate polymer that naturally occurs in the grain's outer layers, also know as dietary fibre. The German bakery curriculum also (still) uses the term Pentosan, but that's misleading because pentosan simply means any carbohydrate that is made of 5-carbon atom molecules and there are many of those that aren't found in grain, and there are highly water absorbing fibres that are made of molecules with different numbers of carbon atoms. Anyway, AX is found in the bran of the wheat. Get some wheat bran from a bio-food shop, mill that down to the finest particle size you can, which you can do with a coffee mill. Add the fine bran powder to your dough, about 10-12% will do wonders for your dough's water absorption capacity. AX's ability to absorb water far outperforms that of the gluten, but it takes much much longer. It is therefore advisable if not necessary to let the dough rest for a couple of hours or longer to fully absorb the water. You can either do an extended autolyse before adding your starter, or you can simply reduce the amount of starter so that the total fermentation time is extended by a few hours. IN any case, stretching and folding should be taking place after the dough has absorbed the water. Some experimentation is advisable to find out the sweet spot how much fine bran powder needs to be added to a dough made from a particular flour to absorb the desired amount of water and also how long it takes for the dough to absorb that water. In any event, this will improve the water absorption capacity and lead to a better rise of the loaf. And BTW, AX is what gives rye dough (lacking gluten) the ability to hold gas and rise. Most seeds, including those of cereals contain AX but generally in the outer layers. Rye is unique in that it has a high concentration of AX in both the bran and the endosperm. So, you can easily improve a wheat dough's water absorption capacity by adding a small amount of (fine) rye flour, say 3-5%. Last but not least, you can strengthen the gluten of a dough made with a weaker flour by adding some apple cider vinegar to the bulk water, say 3-5% and perhaps mix in some dried ground up lemon or orange peels for the vitamin C contained therein. Or use dried and ground acerola or camu camu fruit from a bio-food shop.

[@clsieczka]

I’m impressed with the explanation. It’s amazing though, how our ancestors made great bread without even measuring spoons , let alone scales and thermometers. In a wood burning oven, not knowing the temperature at all. Those were bakers. And now we have all this science, and technology, people buy Wonder bread .

[@turuanu]

Hey, Bread Pitt is also the name of my starter!

[@dyyyou]

Such a very helpful video! Thank you.

[@JC050980]

"Glutentag". Clicked the Like button just for that greeting :D

[@aE-bx3cn]

Hallöchen, gibt es eine Auflösung zu den Fehlerbildern, die Du dankenswerter Weise an den Schluss des Videos gehängt hast? Ich backe seit drei Jahren sehr intensiv Brot und Brötchen und erkenne meine Ergebnisse in einigen der Bilder prinzipiell wieder. Übrigens, geniale technisch wissenschaftliche Arbeitsweise, Dokumentation und Präsentation, die Du pflegst! Gehört zum besten, dass ich je gesehen habe. Macht riesig Lust auf mehr.

[@L_T86]

Lately, my sourdough bread has been rising quite a bit in the oven, but there are hardly any air pockets inside and it's quite hard. In places there are pieces that are not fully baked I wonder what I am doing wrong. The last few times I baked it in a switched off oven, preheated to 240 degrees for 20 minutes and then 30 minutes at 220

[@PrescilleCukingnan]

I learned a lot! Thank you Hendrik!

[@laurie896]

What if my bread is gummy??? I get great oven sping and the flavor is amazing, but gummy

[@poulsen5750]

Agreed!!!

[@eugeemz]

The same thing that happened in the pictures happened to me 9 months ago aswell, the reason i stoped trying to make sourdough since all my atempts failled But now im confident its the sourdough starter that was the problem, it was too acidic since even if i shortened the fermentation time of the dough it would not rise and the dough still looked sticky same if i would use less levain, the acid was breaking down the starches in the dough or something idk Last time i made a starter i stirred in hooch and used only whole wheat flour(ive read its more acidic) and followed a strict recepie that didnt specify why i was doing the things i did I noticed it was too acidic since when i made pancakes with the discard they were extremly sour, I think thats what happened to the breads they made everything perfect but too much acid The only bread i made at that time wich worked was with the dry starter in your video where you compared normal, dry and liquid starters, thank you it was really delicous and *VERY* fluffy 😋

[@trijezdci4588]

You need to maintain a regular feeding schedule to keep your sourdough fit for baking. If it gets too sour, your feeding intervals were likely too long or you forgot to feed it. The wild yeasts in your sourdough will peak first, the lactic bacteria are always behind the yeast. It is the bacteria that produce the acidity. If your starter gets sour, it means that the yeast has already been out of food for a while and possibly it has already started to die. Shorten your feeding intervals and don't forget to feed. You can extend the time by putting the starter in a cooler environment but regular feeding is nevertheless important to maintain a starter. If it does not fit into your work-life rhythm to regularly feed your starter, you can also make a new starter from scratch that is ready for use within 2-3 days. Get rye grain. Not flour, but whole grain. Take some of it, put it into a glass jar then fill with lukewarm water and perhaps a bit of honey to a ratio of about 2 times the weight of the grains. Close the jar and leave in a warm place, or ideally in a temperature controllable yoghurt maker, set the temperature to 28 Celsius. This should start bubbling within about 10-12 hours. Open the lid at least once a day to let any CO2 gas out. After 1 day, you can filter the water out and mix it with flour 1:1, leave in a warm place or the yoghurt maker again, it should rise to twice its volume within about 6 hours. Feed that two more times every 6 hours and you have a potent starter ready for use. Another ferment that can be made in 2-3 days is raisin water. Put untreated raisins in a jar, fill the jar with raisin juice, close the jar, put it in a warm place (or yoghurt machine) and don't forget to let any gas out once.a day. After about 2-3 days it should bubble pretty strongly and you can then filter the juice out and use that to make a starter. The starter will automatically develop some acidity after several feedings with flour, but this starter will be dominated by wild yeast and is thus more potent. You can also add some rye grain and honey to the raisin-juice mix in the jar at the start to give the whole thing an extra boost. Either way, you then only need to stick to any regular feeding scheme 3 days before you bake and you can forget about it in between bakes. That is assuming that you bake only sporadically. Raisin-juice ferment can be kept in a PET bottle in a fridge for up to 2 weeks without feeding. But you need to open the lid of the bottle every other day to let the gas out. Do this very carefully because if you open the lid quickly, the ferment will start bubbling violently and shoot out and you won't be able to get the lid back on again and spill half or more of the ferment. After about 2 weeks, you can refresh this by putting it into another jar filled with raisins.

[@eugeemz]

@@trijezdci4588 thanks for the tips, and yeah i was mindlessly following strict sourdough starter recepies always wondering why leave so much starter or so less until i gave it more tought and started to wach more bread code videos and many others Now that you pointed it out I didn't understand the purpose of feeding intervals at the time and how to control them i was only feeding it every 24 hours but i think i got a grasp on it now I was making perfect sourdoughs every time but the core problem was the starter :D

[@jillwoodman9975]

Great info! Thank you😊

[@robertsterner2145]

I'd taken a break from sourdough until yesterday and then when I pulled my bread out of the fridge this morning.....overfermented! I sort of knew it was because it kept growing a lot inside the fridge, but I've only overfermented my bread once before (I'm more likely to underferment) and it was horrible--not super overfermented, but like the first example. So I'm going to make another loaf tomorrow just out of spite.

[@barrychambers4047]

If you put a lot of groceries into the fridge you may warm up your fridge a bit, then your sourdough steps on the gas again. Best to have an idea of your fridge temperature.