Can someone tell me what I’m doing wrong 😭 I used 100g starter, 500g flour, 350g of water – mixed together and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then I added 10g of salt and did 4 rounds of stretch and fold every 30 minutes. I put it in the fridge overnight, took it out and let it sit for ~2 hours this morning, then shaped my dough. I scored it, heat up the Dutch oven at 450° for 30 minutes and then put the dough in with the lid on for 25 minutes. Then let it cook ~45 minutes without the lid. It won’t rise. It tastes like sourdough, it just isn’t pretty and it’s very dense. This is my third loaf that looks like this. I’ve been working on my starter for almost 3 weeks now! I keep my starter around 75-78 degrees and use extremely filtered water and unbleached all purpose flour.
by Dapper_One9225
13 Comments
Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think you’re letting it bulk ferment long enough. 2 hours at room temperature before being out in the fridge isn’t a long enough bulk ferment, it probably *just* started to rise by the time you put it in the fridge, and 2 hours before cooking wasn’t enough for the yeast to wake up and finish rising before it was baked.
Most recipes I’ve seen have a bulk ferment of at least 4-6 hours after any stretch and folds and before putting it in a fridge overnight, and I’ve found for me that it’s closer to 6-8 hours.
Well you have to let it BF, depending on your ambient temperature this could take anywhere from 4-8 hrs, THEN you put it in the fridge overnight if that’s the method you’re following.
You definitely missed the bulk ferment. It would take 5-8 hours depending on the temp in your residence. On a cold day here on the east coast, I can start bulk ferment at night, go to sleep, and it’s not doubled until the morning! Sometimes, I’ll put my toaster oven on warm and warm the dough to speed it up a little bit or give it a boost. I use a rectangular glass food storage container and I know it’s perfect when it doubles up to touch the lid. It helps me be able to visually see the bulk. You’ll know it’s ready when you have some bubbles under the skin plus its not sticky to the touch. I use the exact same recipe as you so youre good there.
If it doesn’t rise, wait longer. Sometimes the very last hour might be where the entire rise happens. You got this! Keep at it!
OP, try this recipe it requires you to bulk ferment and proof in the fridge. It’s close to what you were following.
-Autolyse for 30 minutes, add salt
-bulk ferment overnight in the fridge
-shape and fold
-proof for at least two hours in the fridge
-then bake
I always get a very good oven spring.
https://youtu.be/gTHKEOTF5nA?si=KrDCWGCWEHf5vnzE
This looks undefermented. Longer bulk please. Make sure it doubles.
You’ve gotten a lot of great advice about the issues but I’d also suggest cranking your oven heat to the maximum temp instead of 450. I preheat at 500 with a pizza stone and the bottom of my Dutch oven or bread baker, to make it super hot. It’ll help your crust get nice and golden.
Turn the heat down to 450 about half way through when you uncover the bread.
It also looks like your oven thermostat could be faulty. No way it should be that colour.
I dont know where you got your method from or what everyone else is talking about. Why are you baking RIGHT after shaping? You need to bulk ferment, shape, then either:
(A) finish proofing in ambient temperature for the appropriate amount of time (1-3 hours, depending on fermentation activity, dough temp, and ambient temperature)
OR
(B) R*tard ferment in the fridge (this means you’re slowing down fermentation due to the cold temperature) for at least 12 hours. I go 18 because it’s what works for my schedule, some go as long as 28 hours.
THEN bake.
Your bread is currently tasting like sourdough because it has fermented, but you’ve knocked back all of the air when you shaped it and then didn’t allow it to rise again.
Also, preheat your oven to 500 with the dutch oven in it, then wait at least 30min before proceeding with the bake. That thing needs to be ripping hot. When you put the bread in, lower the temp to 450.
The idea is to replicate an old brick oven where you would heat up the oven, pull the charcoal out, and the load the break to bake in the oven as it cools slightly.
ALSO: Are you sure of your oven temp? 45min uncovered at 450f should result in a MUCH darker crust. I’d recommend getting an oven thermometer to confirm your oven temp. I can barely go longer than 25-30min with the lid off before it gets too dark.
And make sure you’re using Bread Flour, NOT All Purpose Flour for baking. King Arthur Bread Flour is my fave.
I was having the same issue, and it wasn’t until I switched to bread flour instead of all purpose flour that I started producing the loaves I wanted! Bulk fermenting as others said is a crucial step too!
*I’m still very new to this as well, so if someone more experienced wants to correct/add on to this please do!! Happy baking!
First, you don’t have to wait 30 minutes. You can wait 15 or 20 minutes and then start doing your stretch and folds. And you can add the salt all at once too. It’s not going to matter. And you don’t have to wait 30 minutes before stretch and folds. That’s just pointless. 15 to 20 minutes is all you need to let the dough relax. But after you have done that and let’s say your dough has been on your counter for say 2 hours, you want to complete your bulk fermentation. That might take as much as six more hours for that dough to increase in size. You don’t want it to absolutely double, but get it to about 75% increase in size.
Then you shape and put it in your container, and then you put it in the fridge. I have shaped mine put it in the container and put that in a large plastic bag and leave it in the fridge for overnight or for a day or two. You didn’t let your dope proof long enough. And the second thing is you could probably cook it a little bit longer. I’m not a fan of dark thick crusts, but 10 more minutes would have made years a nice golden color.
Do you have crumb pictures? 3 weeks is a relatively young starter. How often do you feed it and using what kind of flour?
I’d prolong your fermentation times, this sounds like just about ten hours total, try much longer like 24 hours total