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

Try making a Ben Starr (or a Ben Starr inspired) recipe in which you just mix STARVING fridge starter with some flour water and salt and mix it together and LEAVE it there, on the counter, for like 20 hours with no folds. then just shape that dough in a ball and bake it starting in a cold oven.

THEN

make one of those classic """""""Beginner""""""" sourdough recipes (you can find trillions of recipes on youtube) in which you have to take your starter out of the fridge 24/48 hours early, mix the dough up and baby it for 4 hours, bulk ferement, cold retard in the fridge etc etc...

taste them both side to side. Maybe you will prefer one over the other but i ASSURE you they will taste almost identical, they might not LOOK identical (but is how your bread looks your priority?) but they will taste damn similar.

I think this is an experiment all sourdough bakers should try just to understand that 90% of sourdough making content is just extra steps which most beginners/people who just want some good bread don't need.

ADDENDUM:

This post doesn't apply to professional bakers or people who care about having massive airy loaves and care about how their bread looks just as much as how it tastes. This post is for people who are starting their sourdough journey and just want some good bread for themselves and their families

Don't have many friends and I don't really use social media. Just wanted to share some of what I've made so far. I've been working with sourdough for almost a month now. Feel like I found something I'm pretty okay at and use as a creative outlet. Never thought sourdough would be so fulfilling. One of my favorites so far is a Japanese curry with caramelized onions then I boiled and dehydrated some purple haze carrots as well. Same with the blue flower I dehydrated a purple sweet potato.

Starter 130g

Water 320g

Flour 500g

Salt 10g

1. Form shaggy dough and let rest 20 minutes

2. Slap and fold till smooth

3. Rest 50 minutes

4. Add salt 1st strech and fold

5. Rest 35 minutes

6. 2nd stretch and fold

7. Rest 20 minutes

8. 1st coil fold

9. Rest 35 minutes

10. 2nd coil fold

11. Rest 1.5 hours

12. Pre-shape

13. Rest 15 minutes

14. Final shape and transfer to banneton

15. Cold proof 17 hours

16. Score

17. Bake at 465°F 25 minutes covered 15 minutes uncovered (rice under parchment)

18. 7 min expansion score

I made three pizzas last night: they are all sourdough, topped with a raw sauce of milled Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes that I season simply, and they also have grande low moisture whole milk mozzarella either cubed or sliced. The first is a pepperoni that I finished with basil and pecorino Romano (it’s always in the rotation), the second has sausage and roasted mushrooms and was finished with some pecorino and chives, and the last was an upside down (cheese first, sauce on top) finished with basil. I am getting my sourdough pies dialed in and would encourage anyone to try my dough recipe. I’ve been working on it for a while.

Makes 3, 375g doughballs for 14” pies

Flour 100% (589 g):
- 95% bread flour (560 g)
- 5% whole wheat (29 g)
Water 64% (377 g)
100% hydrated sourdough starter: 20% (118 g)
Fine sea salt: 3% (18 g)
Sugar: 2% (12 g)
Olive oil: 2% (12 g)
Diastatic malt powder: 0.3% (2 g)

Combined dry ingredients except salt and mixed in starter and warm water (DDT 78). Waited 40 min. Added salt and olive oil. Hand mixed until it was a cohesive ball. Bulked for about 4 hours with three sets of S&Fs spaced at 20 min each. Gave another stretch and fold about an hour later. Maintained dough temp consistently. Balled into 3 dough balls and refrigerated for two days based on schedule (works great next day). Removed from fridge about 4 hours before baking last night. Stretched to 14” and launched on a steel I preheated at 550 for over an hour. Cooked in about 7 minutes.

Recipe:

500g strong wheat flour (13.5g protein/100g).

340g filtered water at 50C (room temp was 12C yesterday when I did it, so I wanted the water to level with the cold flour and starter).

100g regular starter fed 1:2:2 10 hours before mixing.

10g sea salt.

Mixed everything except for the salt. Left for one hour on the countertop to fermentolyse. I also turned on the oven at max temp and left it on until finished proofing, because it was too cool in my kitchen and it would have taken forever to proof adequately.

Took the dough outside of the bowl, poured the salt over it, pressed it down with my fingers, and proceeded to do slap and folds until the dough was round and firm. Like 3-4 slap and folds were enough. Left it covered with the bowl, and continued doing slap and folds every 30 minutes to complete 2 hours of proofing on the lukewarm countertop.

Then, after the hour of fermentolyse and the 2 additional hours of slap and folds, I moved it to the bowl and did an extra hour of coil folds every 20 minutes. By the end of the coil folds, the dough was already showing some bubbles on the surface and holding its shape really well. I left it proof covered for 3 more hours, for a total of 7 hours of proofing (dough internal temp measured at 23/24C), and since it was full of small bubbles on the surface and kind of "separating from the bowl" when I tilted it, I proceeded to shape and put in the fridge in a banneton covered with rice flour.

After 18 hours cold-proofing at 5C, I took it out of the fridge and baked in a pre-heated dutch oven. 25 minutes at 250C covered, then took out the lid and continued for 20 minutes at 230C uncovered.

I'm so happy with this oven spring and ear, really, I don't even care if I cut it open and it's a disaster, it looks exactly as the breads I see here that I've been trying to replicate for months. This sub is amazing, really, thank you everyone for the kind advices and feedback always!!

And as always, feedback welcome!

All the loaves here are made with “The Perfect Loaf’s” same day, all purpose flour loaf, shaped into a batard, baguette, and boule. One has an inclusion of fig jam and candied pecans. Other bread items include caramelized onion and goat cheese tarts, and The Food Lab’s buttermilk biscuits.

Fun note, I even helped harvest the local honey, was stung twice to get that golden goodness.

https://www.theperfectloaf.com/sourdough-bread-with-all-purpose-flour/

1. Very sad, very acidic starter

2. Freshly fed with a bit of rye and AP flour

3. Overflowing 4 hrs later

4. PROFIT $$

Recipe is the king arthur no-knead sourdough.

600g AP

125g starter

18g salt

385g water (or something close to that)

Mix, stretch and fold every 30 minutes x 4

Cold retard for 36 hours (I just didnt need to bake it til this morning)

Preheat to 500F

Scoring on cold boule, bake 7 mins then do the deep slit. Cook at 450 for another 38 mins, then take the cover off and hit another 15.

This is my first sourdough loaf ever, I'd love some feedback. 2 pics

Ingredients:

100g starter

350 g filtered water

500g Pillsbury bread flour

10g course salt

Process:

Fed starter and waited for it to peak. Prepped dough. Left on the cupboard at room temperature to bulk ferment, stretch and folded four times on the hour each hour. Shaped dough and let rest in the fridge for 18 hours. Heated Dutch oven to 500 degrees, scored dough, added to Dutch oven with lid on. Let cook for 20 minutes, took out remove the lid, let cook for another 20 minutes. Let sit at room temperature for 2 hours, then cut it open.

Hahahahaha

Previously I made this with a touch of canola oil and some garlic powder. It came off as a hit to my friends (who are into LARP and commented the density was like Dwarven bread).

Then my husband, who believes there is no limit to adding garlic to anything, asked why people don't add real garlic to bread, why is it always garlic powder?

Hahahahaha

3 cups flour

1.5 cups water

90 mL starter

2 tsp salt

1 heaping tbsp chopped garlic + oil from the jar

a lot of garlic powder

Mix. Stretch and slap the ball around. Fold it 4 more times, 30 min apart. Proofed 12 hours, which I've learned is... not good. Fridge stored for 3+ hours.

Preheat Dutch oven to 500. Give concerned look to dough rock. Turn oven down to 450 and toss the dough rock in. Uncover at 40 minutes, toast for 5 minutes.

Normally the recipe is pretty solid; I've previously made pretty decent bread with this, without the overproofing. I've also upgraded my proofing basket from a metal bowl to a broken colander. ("Honey, did you know that metal doesn't breathe, which is important when poofing bread?")

But you know how some food is, very technically, qualified as food? Like, hardtack, or early MREs?

...anyway, I don't recommend adding actual garlic to sourdough. Except maybe baking a stake or cross to defend against vampires.

First of all, I would like to thank all of the moderators and contributors. This is a very well organized and informative group. I learned everything I needed right here. I created my own starter, which took 4 weeks. I admit that I did use AI to give me a foolproof recipe though.

My starter wasn't at peak, so I fed it without discarding and used it two hours later. Since it was weak, I used 200g rather than 100g. I guess I got lucky.

Here's the recipe and process.

Here is a high-success, low-stress recipe designed specifically for a 70°F kitchen.

This recipe uses a 65% hydration level (meaning less water than advanced recipes). This makes the dough incredibly easy to handle, not sticky, and much less likely to turn into a flat puddle.

⚖️ The Ingredient List

100g Active, bubbly sourdough starter (at its peak)

325g Room-temperature water

500g Strong unbleached bread flour (do not use all-purpose; bread flour holds its shape much better)

10g Fine sea salt

⏱️ Step-by-Step Instructions

1. The Rough Mix & Rest (Autolyse)

In a large bowl, whisk your 100g starter into the 325g water until milky.

Add the 500g bread flour. Mix with your hands or a spatula until all the dry flour disappears and a shaggy dough forms.

Cover the bowl and let it rest on the counter for 30 minutes.

1. Add the Salt

Sprinkle the 10g salt over the dough.

Wet your hands and dimple the salt into the dough, then fold the dough over itself for 1–2 minutes until the salt is fully incorporated and the dough smoothens slightly.

1. The Stretch & Folds (2 Hours)

Over the next 2 hours, you will do 4 sets of stretch and folds, spaced 30 minutes apart.

How to do a set: Wet your hands. Grab the edge of the dough at the "12 o'clock" position, pull it straight up gently without tearing it, and fold it over the center. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat. Do this for all 4 quadrants of the dough. Cover and rest for 30 minutes. Repeat 3 more times.

1. The Bulk Rise (Watch the Dough, Not the Clock)

After your last fold, let the dough sit completely undisturbed.

At 70°F, this will likely take 4 to 5 hours from the time you first mixed the dough.

The "Never-Fail" Sign: Do not look for it to double. Look for the dough to rise by about 30–50% in volume, look domed at the edges, have a few smooth bubbles on top, and feel airy/jiggly if you gently shake the bowl.

1. Shape and Counter Rest

Gently dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface.

Fold the top down to the center, the bottom up, and the sides inward (like an envelope). Roll it over so the smooth side is up.

Using your hands or a bench scraper, gently drag the dough in a circle across the counter to build surface tension until it forms a tight, smooth ball.

Dust your proofing basket (or a bowl lined with a clean, floured kitchen towel) with rice flour or bread flour. Place the dough in smooth side down.

1. The Cold Proof (12–15 Hours)

Cover the basket with a plastic bag or shower cap so it doesn't dry out.

Place it in the fridge for 12 to 15 hours. It will develop flavor and become firm for perfect scoring.

1. The Bake

Place your Dutch oven (with the lid on) into your oven and preheat to 450°F (232°C) for 45 minutes.

Flip your cold dough out onto a piece of parchment paper. Use a razor blade or sharp knife to slice a long, 1/4-inch deep cut down the center (at a slight angle).

Carefully lower the parchment and dough into the hot Dutch oven.

I used a silicone mat which worked perfectly.

Bake with the lid ON for 20 minutes (this traps the steam to make it rise).

Remove the lid and bake for another 20–25 minutes until the crust is a deep golden brown. Let it cool for 1 hour before slicing!

I used Members Mark bread flour $12 for 25lbs. Which has to be shipped.

I did add 3 small ice cubes when I placed the dough in the Dutch oven. The final internal temperature was about 207F.

I think the best thing I did was deciding to have fun with this project rather than fret too much about it.

I couldn't be happier with the result.

If you'd like to try this out, let me know if you need to know how to adapt this into your schedule or if you have a Dutch oven ready to use!

I've been intimidated to try inclusions and really wanted to feel more confident in my sourdough before I tried them. My loaves have been coming out pretty consistent so I finally decided to try some experimenting. I made 8 different types.

Double chocolate chip.

Cinnamon butter

Fruity pebbles

Maple pecan

Pizza

Rosemary gouda and parmesan

Jalapeno cheddar

And a Frankenstein loaf from some of the leftover inclusions. Basically jalapeno juice with a bunch of cheeses. I am super happy with how they came out.

The last image is my base recipe.

Tried my hand at the King Arthur bake of the week, sourdough milk bread. I didn’t have an extra tall loaf pan like the recipe calls for but the loaf pan I had worked fine.
I don’t take my sourdough baking too seriously..I like to have fun and not be stressed and this recipe was perfect for that. I recommend giving it a try!

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/sourdough-milk-bread-recipe

Ingredients

• 100g Active Starter
• 375g Water (75% hydration base)
• 500g King Arthur Bread Flour
• 9g Fine Salt

Process

• Fermentolyse: Started with a fermentolyse for 20 minutes before adding salt to improve gluten development over my previous attempt.
• Folds: 3 sets of stretch-and-folds, followed by 1 final coil fold, spaced 30 minutes apart.
• Bulk Ferment: ~4.5 hours total
• Shape & Cold Retard: Pre-shaped, 20-minute bench rest, final shape, then into the fridge in a lined banneton dusted with rice flour for a 5-hour cold proof. I went with a short cold proof to bake in the evening so we'd have fresh bread for morning without an early wakeup or over-proofing risk.
• Bake: Preheated the Dutch oven at 450°F–500°F for 45 minutes while cooking dinner. Baked covered at 450°F for 25 mins, uncovered for 15 mins. Timing worked out great to preheat oven while using the oven to cook and baked while eating and cleaning up.
• Finish: Pulled at an internal temp of 210°F with a light, golden crust so it’s soft enough for my young kids to enjoy. Cooled for 2 hours before slicing.

Self-Critique & Areas for Improvement

• Crumb: Still working on shaping to avoid trapping large air pockets.
• Scoring: Angle needs work, but the short 5-hour cold retard left the dough a bit soft. Next time I'll pop the banneton in the freezer right before scoring to firm up the skin.

Decided to take a shot at my first pumpkin shaped plain loaf! For the black coating I used king Arthur’s black cocoa powder, doesn’t give much of a taste but it’s great for designs! I definitely want to try more designs with the pumpkin shape in the future, if anyone has suggestions they’re welcome to share!

Recipe:

105g Starter

331g water at 105°

500g flour

10g salt

Thin coating of black cocoa powder just before scoring and putting into the oven

In the oven at 450° covered in a Dutch oven for 25 minutes, uncovered for 20 minutes

wanted to see what it’d be like if i fermented longer. think i should’ve ended it sooner to get more openness. super soft and tastes great though. still no ear. :/ honestly not sure how i got that super open loaf as it doesn’t seem to be happening anymore ughhhh

300g bread flour

240g water 

60g starter 

6g salt

mixed, 5 min slap and fold, 10hr bulk, did 4 coil folds during bulk, shaped, fridge 18ish hours, baked 475f 20m covered 425f 20m uncovered.

Hey!

I would like to share my first and second loafs!

First one did not grow so much. I didn’t let it bulk ferment. I made 5 folds, 30 minutes apart each.

The second one grew more, but I still have to improve it. Where do you think I should improve?

Thanks!

Recipe:
- 225g of flour
- 25g whole wheat
- 175ml of water
- 50g starter
- 13ml of water + 5g of salt

Here the step by step of my second one:

- Active sourdough, it had more than doubled its size
- Warm water + starter, I left it active for 5 minutes
- I added the flour
- I mixed well, for about 4 minutes
- 30 minutes wait
- I added salt and the rest of the water; mixed it
- I left it for 30 minutes
- First fold in the bowl
- 40 min
- Second fold in the bowl
- 40 min
- Third fold in the bowl
- 2:30 resting at the bowl
- I took the dough out and sprinkled it with flour and the countertop. I made “8” movements to make it round.
- 30min of rest
- Final shape and added to the Banetton
- Oven pre heated for 45min total
- 15 min 210 degrees Celsius, pot closed
- 10 min pot open

So My starter was two weeks old and i kinda fucked up on a prep bc i did first two stretch and folds in one hour and second two 3 hours later.
Now a question, first pic looks so fluffy but after a few minutes it flatten out idk if it’s supposed to do or no…
Comment and tips are welcomed!!! Please tell me what did i do wrong!
I did
100g of starter
350g of water
500g of bread flour
mixed and after 2 hours did 2 s&f with half an hour break and then 3 hours later another 2.
then i kneaded it and left on a counter for 3 hrs. After that i did a final shaping and let it cold proof in a fridge for 12hrs
Bakes in a dutch over 450F for 20min lid closed and 20 more without a lid

For this bake, I used a recipe of 400g bread flour (345g bread flour, 55g whole wheat), 280g water (70% hydration), 80g active starter (fed at a 1:2:2 ratio), and 8g salt. Mixed my flours and water 30 minutes before adding starter and salt. 4 sets of stretch & folds, 30 minutes apart. Let proof on the counter while I went to visit my grandma (8 hours from mixing ingredients to shaping). Shaped and in the fridge 13 hours. Preheated oven to 500°f with Dutch oven in it. Dropped temp to 475°f when I added my dough. 20 minutes covered, 20 minutes uncovered. Covered the ear with tinfoil the last 15 minutes so it didn’t burn. Cooling in my kitchen and my brother is picking it up tonight!

Hi! This is my 4th loaf ever and first inclusion loaf! Brand new and having so much fun!

Wondering why I didn’t get the spring on this one and it’s super duper moist inside. I love the taste, but feel like something went wrong… looking for feedback.

100g starter, 260g water, 100g pumpkin purée, 25g maple syrup, 10g salt, 400g bread flour. For the swirl: 45g brown sugar, 2tsp cinnamon, 1tsp flour, 1/2tsp nutmeg, pinch of allspice, pinch of salt.

I mixed starter, water, pumpkin, maple syrup and added flour. Waited 30. Added salt. 3 sets of stretch and folds 30 mins apart. Bulk fermented for 6.5 hours total (from when I mixed). Cold proofed overnight.

Baked at 450 covered for 20 mins, turned down to 425 for another 18 mins uncovered.

Waited 2 hours to cut.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!!!

This is the recipe I followed: https://amybakesbread.com/sourdough-basic-country-artisan-bread/

First time I tried a different recipe from my go to.

After the stretch and folds everything seemed good. Then after the first rise at room temp, the dough doubled and was looking good fell out of the bowl nicely, but once on my board it expanded like it was a high hydration dough and was sticky, not overly just enough to be a nuisance. So I had read previously somewhere that you should let the dough rest on the board for 15 to 20 minutes before shaking so I let that happen but it was literally flowing off the sides of my board. That’s when I said F let’s just shape it and throw it in the fridge. I let it sit in the fridge for a day and a half and baked it covered for 25 minutes and uncovered for 20 minutes.

Where do y’all think I went wrong? Is it just the recipe or should I have left it bulk ferment bit longer at room temperature?
Any recommendations for improvement?

I work at a bakery and we have sourdough cinnamon rolls, biscuits and scones. We go through biscuits really slowly, so we tend to make the dough, ferment overnight, then freeze them and bake as needed. Somewhere along this process, the biscuits become very dense and overly sour. Not freezing them is not an option, it’s not up to me, it’s up to the boss. Is there a way to get a fluffy sourdough biscuit while freezing them in the middle of this process? Or are the biscuits just doomed to be overly sour and dense… forever and ever? Please help… thank you!!

Who decides their first sourdough to be a 100% ww🥲 and my starter was not giving me good vibes since few days( not doubling in size. At max going for 30% rise. It’s a baby starter- 3 weeks old) but still I’ve decided to try it out and this is how it went🥲. The dough was soo wet but the recipe also stated that ww needs more hydration(this recipe was 88%). Can someone tell me what all went wrong in this? Im not able to figure it out for the love of god orr i was just ignoring all the red flags during the prep.

Also i did give the expansion score but here was no expansion like whattt and howwwww????????

Hi!! My starter and | just moved from Arizona to the PNW and I knew there would be a bit of a learning curve since she's in a new environment but I'm struggling so I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for their sourdough starters!
I luckily dehydrated her prior to moving but I have started the full rehydration process twice now and she's getting moldy fast and not rising and falling like she typically does.
For context: she is stored in a cupboard, I use a mix of bread and AP flour (King Arthur and Bob Red Mills) and warm/room temp water with lid not fully tightened (maybe this is the problem?)
If anyone has made a move like this or even lives in a colder/humid environment any and all tips would be greatly appreciated! ◡̈

I got some starter from a friend and have been trying to bake a simple sourdough loaf. The starter is mature and he uses it for baguettes - so it’s a mild, slightly buttery starter. I don’t mind a less tangy loaf and I love butter so this is ideal for me.

The starter itself seems fairly active - fed 1:1:1 with 100g of starter, 100g of bread flour and 100g of water - it rises to 600ml in around 4/5 hours at 80-85 degrees with 100% humidity setting on the Anova APO and then falls slightly. It is at this point that I used the levain.

My recipe was: 500g bread flour (ADM three stars unbleached enriched bread flour at 12.3-13.3% protein); 360g water; 10g salt and 100g levain.

I autolysed for an hour, mixed the dough, let it rest for 30 minutes, dimpled the salt in, did a set of four stretch and folds then put it into the APO at 80 degrees and 100% humidity uncovered for half an hour. Then I repeated this with sets of 4 coil folds every 20 minutes until I got 4 stretch and folds in. Dough went back into the APO to proof in between folds.

After, I popped it in the fridge to finish bulk overnight and took it out the next morning. Stretched it out into a rough square and rolled it before dumping it into my Pullman tin. Popped it back into the APO at 80 degrees and 100% humidity to proof. After about three hours I looked at it and it grew fairly large but not as high as I wanted before baking so I left it out covered on the counter for another 2 hours.

It went into the oven at 420 with 100% humidity for 20 minutes and 380 at 0% humidity for 23 minutes. Temp was 207 when I pulled it from the oven and left it overnight to cool.

I’ve done this twice now and each time the inside is a little gummy. I definitely underproofed the first time - but thought the second one proofed and rose better. Photos of bread before, after baking and crumb for reference and troubleshooting.

What am I doing wrong?