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QuestionablyVerdant
This looks so cool! What help do you need
Slow_Manager8061
Well what is the output? What does it spit out if you plug in all of those variables? Also pH should be on that list.
MarDaNik
I mean, I love the idea in principle and would be very keen to see it develop into something usable! I’ve tried a few different bread calculators but have generally struggled to use them in any practical way.
I feel like I need to have a play with it to see how it responds, and how the numbers relate to my experience. Any chance of a link to have a look at?
Hairy_Lie_321
A link to try it ourselves would be helpful. The ability to change between Celsius and Fahrenheit would also be helpful to some people.
pwmg
Allow me to just type in numbers as an alternative to using the sliders; allow conversion of C to F units; give the percentages in US percentages (just joking). Looks like you have fridge proofing time, but not room temp proofing (i.e. before the bake)? Did I miss something there?
Looks like a good start!
Asleep-Raspberry-819
You have a lot of time on your hands for this matter.
Tim_Riggins_
You should be able to set the hydration level of your starter. That influences the overall hydration of your bread.
This is neat tho, I would use it but probably not pay for it. So if you’re trying to make money consider monetizing with ads.
Nookandcrannies
Following for a link
RivetheadCowboy
Maybe add the ability to change fridge temp
ZeQuark_
Link please!
ColdasJones
I would personally much prefer text fields over sliders, but I know some like sliders so if you could integrate both that would be awesome. Obviously Celsius and Fahrenheit like others have mentioned.
MrSomethingred
I have some concerns about the theory. For one, if you are using deepseek, the LLM probably doesn’t actually know how to adjust a sourdough recipe, it is just making some guesses.
Second, total mass/volume is going to have some kind of impact, that I am not sure this is accounting for. I’m not so sure about linearly scaling all the variables with slider bars
Neat implementation though, its got legs if you actually get the theory right
HimalCheese
The ability to add multiple types of flour. Also, where can we try this out?
botanicaldragonslay
This is wonderful! I was just doing calculations for a bread recipe I am working on and this would come in handy. I am currently doing a test to see if my method yields better results if I autolyse.
as someone who uses bread flour and whole wheat flour, i think having the option to add another flour type (or two) would be great!
another thing that would help would be an optional calculation addition for humidity in the room. although that would be pulling in possibly more complex mathematics (not entirely sure what that would be, but I know it adds to hydration considerations. )
Salt % would also be nice because I usually go for 12g in a 500g flour loaf.
I second the other commenter who would love a link when it is done!
WesternPractice9611
Temperature/weather would be nice
zudzug
What about elevation above sea level?
InterestingDouble383
Hey everyone, not sure why my last message got deleted, but here it is again. I’ve built a tool because I just started making sourdough myself, and honestly, the info out there can be overwhelming and seems to vary for everyone. I figured a smart tool with lots of variables could help give better insight into how long the process will take.
I’m definitely no expert, so any feedback is super welcome—there’s a good chance some of the variables are off. But I’m more than happy to tweak and improve it!
Assume the output here is bulk fermentation and proofing times? Is that based on some s-curves for diff temperatures?
dangPuffy
How about also being able to calculate by knowing final loaf weight?
Also number of loaves.
murpdurp20
This is all you need [http://breadcalc.com](http://breadcalc.com) because a recipe is not universal.
moogiecreamy
This is super cool. One question/criticism though is I’m not sure the BF time are accurate at lower temps. For instance at 18C my BF takes like 15+ hours. Also would be more accurate to base on dough temp rather than ambient temp. And generally because there are so many variables in BF time that would be impossible to account for in a calculator like this (e.g., starter strength/characteristics) I would express the BF time output as a range rather than a specific # of hours.
mahomesdagoat05
Yes please
boilerdam
This is a great tool! As an engineer, I’ve drawn out the various recipes I’ve tried as flow charts and ratio tables. I just started last year and my issue is consistency – either with recipes or results. I haven’t yet found the recipe that I’m comfortable with and I haven’t baked a loaf I’m happy with (I realize it’s a chicken/egg situation). This tool is cool to help with what I need to do by myself and use recipes to hone techniques because the proportions and amounts are overwhelming trying every recipe.
manofmystry
You don’t take temperature into account. I think that affects proofing time.
Virginiasings
Selfishly, being able to update your elevation would be so handy! We live at 5500ft and it’s hard to find high elevation recipes.
trameng
I am kind or new making sd bread weekly for 2 years so still learning. List below is too long so Im stopping here. Good luck, I hope this works for everyone. I would like more items in easy to follow format Outdoor temp Indoor temperature % relative humidity Starter kept in fridge or on counter Starter temp starting mix Feeding ratios 1:1:1 % starter rises Types and amount of each flour Weight or volume Amount of salt Stretching Folding Kneading Lamination Bulk fermentation process complete indicators like dome, stickiness, juggliness, poke test, bubbles Refrigeration time 0-3 days (more) Bowl or banneton – made of or?? Dutch oven, loaf pans etc Bake temp and time covered Bake temp and time uncovered Dough temperature when baking done
Fine_Platypus9922
1) Bannetons and Dutch oven size chart would be helpful as a first step. You can drag proportion toggle, but there are limitations on how big of a loaf you can make with your equipment. So, e.g. if a user starts with “I want to make X loaves, my banneton(s) are size T, I am baking in Dutch oven of shape S and dimensions D (diameter for round oven, and width &length for oval), and height, etc. Then the tool can output a recommendation of loaf size, baking temps and times and e.g. output a warning are you sure you want to bake a loaf that big / small? If a user is not using a Dutch oven, then recommended baking modes (steel / pizza stone / etc) should be also supported.
2) There should be warnings on e.g. Extra low hydration, extra high amount of some ingredient that will not result in successful loaf = edge cases.
3) there should be toggle for salt. I just was answering a question today from someone about what’s the minimum amount of salt you should use in the dough, and I answered to the best of my ability, but there is a correlation between salt amounts and fermentation times. And if someone needs to drop their sodium intake, the current version leaves them figuring this part out on their own.
4) a toggle / way to add different flours (whole wheat etc) would be great.
5) if the tool supports different flours, protein content may need to be specified for each. The tool can also then recommend e.g. autolyse time for e.g. whole wheat flour recipe.
6) it may be beyond what you envisioned, but humidity of the house is also a factor in fermentation. The user can be given an option to provide their location to have the current (outside) humidity pulled from a e.g. accu weather API.
7) maybe outside of a beta version, but inclusions / substitution charts would be helpful. E.g. this calculator works well for a basic dough, but if you are making a chocolate loaf (and add cocoa, or coffee instead of water), fold chocolate chips, or other stuff, it will change fermentation times. I mean sky is the limit for stuff people put in sourdough but this tool can cover some common staples. Warnings about too much inclusions or changing PH levels could be also helpful.
8) one step further from 7 is to support other recipes, e.g. bagels, focaccia, enriched sourdough breads like babka, Pannetone etc.
9) I am not sure how you calculate fridge hours for proofing. There should be a toggle for how cold the fridge is (and not 4C default) because some fridges run colder or hotter. And a user may want more acidic bread, so you can give them an option to adjust fridge rest for less sour / more sour / very sour for example. And since sourness also comes from the amount of starter used and the ripeness, this can be also an initial input a user needs to provide.
10) to expand on previous point: the user has to specify if they use hungry starter (unfed / past peak) vs at peak, whether it doubled / tripled, how old it is. This is also to catch some rookie mistakes and calculate fermentation times more precisely.
11) this is more of a dream land idea, but a probable look of a loaf crumb based on inputs would be great.
12) I think a fermentation target (+75% or more rise) aside from times is always helpful.
I mean it’s a lot of ideas you may not be willing not implement in a tool to play around with but as a somewhat experienced sourdough baker I feel like this calculator as is will lead people astray more than help.
skotgil2
room temp is important but even more so is the DOUGH temp when figuring bulk fermentation times.
Raphy247
Don’t think I’ve seen anyone mention it, but adding fields as well as sliders (while still checking bounds)
VERY far future, maybe a “save” button to save a recipe (with a name..?)
cflatjazz
What exactly are you using for the underlying math here?
WillingnessNo4994
Ooh this is so cool. I think you should be able to select different types of flour if you don’t know your protein levels e.g. 80% bread flower 20% whole wheat flour and have it estimate the protein for you. Also maybe incorporating in if your starter is white or whole wheat. Another thought that is very relevant to where I live is an altitude/desert adjuster – fermentation occurs faster at altitude and it takes more water to hydrate to the same stickiness a wheat germ in a drier climate.
Also do you have a GitHub repo? I would love to check it out if you do!
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This looks so cool! What help do you need
Well what is the output? What does it spit out if you plug in all of those variables? Also pH should be on that list.
I mean, I love the idea in principle and would be very keen to see it develop into something usable! I’ve tried a few different bread calculators but have generally struggled to use them in any practical way.
I feel like I need to have a play with it to see how it responds, and how the numbers relate to my experience. Any chance of a link to have a look at?
A link to try it ourselves would be helpful. The ability to change between Celsius and Fahrenheit would also be helpful to some people.
Allow me to just type in numbers as an alternative to using the sliders; allow conversion of C to F units; give the percentages in US percentages (just joking). Looks like you have fridge proofing time, but not room temp proofing (i.e. before the bake)? Did I miss something there?
Looks like a good start!
You have a lot of time on your hands for this matter.
You should be able to set the hydration level of your starter. That influences the overall hydration of your bread.
This is neat tho, I would use it but probably not pay for it. So if you’re trying to make money consider monetizing with ads.
Following for a link
Maybe add the ability to change fridge temp
Link please!
I would personally much prefer text fields over sliders, but I know some like sliders so if you could integrate both that would be awesome. Obviously Celsius and Fahrenheit like others have mentioned.
I have some concerns about the theory. For one, if you are using deepseek, the LLM probably doesn’t actually know how to adjust a sourdough recipe, it is just making some guesses.
Second, total mass/volume is going to have some kind of impact, that I am not sure this is accounting for. I’m not so sure about linearly scaling all the variables with slider bars
Neat implementation though, its got legs if you actually get the theory right
The ability to add multiple types of flour. Also, where can we try this out?
This is wonderful! I was just doing calculations for a bread recipe I am working on and this would come in handy. I am currently doing a test to see if my method yields better results if I autolyse.
as someone who uses bread flour and whole wheat flour, i think having the option to add another flour type (or two) would be great!
another thing that would help would be an optional calculation addition for humidity in the room. although that would be pulling in possibly more complex mathematics (not entirely sure what that would be, but I know it adds to hydration considerations. )
Salt % would also be nice because I usually go for 12g in a 500g flour loaf.
I second the other commenter who would love a link when it is done!
Temperature/weather would be nice
What about elevation above sea level?
Hey everyone, not sure why my last message got deleted, but here it is again. I’ve built a tool because I just started making sourdough myself, and honestly, the info out there can be overwhelming and seems to vary for everyone. I figured a smart tool with lots of variables could help give better insight into how long the process will take.
I’m definitely no expert, so any feedback is super welcome—there’s a good chance some of the variables are off. But I’m more than happy to tweak and improve it!
Check it here: [https://swift-building-001624.framer.app/](https://swift-building-001624.framer.app/)
Assume the output here is bulk fermentation and proofing times? Is that based on some s-curves for diff temperatures?
How about also being able to calculate by knowing final loaf weight?
Also number of loaves.
This is all you need [http://breadcalc.com](http://breadcalc.com) because a recipe is not universal.
This is super cool. One question/criticism though is I’m not sure the BF time are accurate at lower temps. For instance at 18C my BF takes like 15+ hours. Also would be more accurate to base on dough temp rather than ambient temp. And generally because there are so many variables in BF time that would be impossible to account for in a calculator like this (e.g., starter strength/characteristics) I would express the BF time output as a range rather than a specific # of hours.
Yes please
This is a great tool! As an engineer, I’ve drawn out the various recipes I’ve tried as flow charts and ratio tables. I just started last year and my issue is consistency – either with recipes or results. I haven’t yet found the recipe that I’m comfortable with and I haven’t baked a loaf I’m happy with (I realize it’s a chicken/egg situation). This tool is cool to help with what I need to do by myself and use recipes to hone techniques because the proportions and amounts are overwhelming trying every recipe.
You don’t take temperature into account. I think that affects proofing time.
Selfishly, being able to update your elevation would be so handy! We live at 5500ft and it’s hard to find high elevation recipes.
I am kind or new making sd bread weekly for 2 years so still learning. List below is too long so Im stopping here. Good luck, I hope this works for everyone. I would like more items in easy to follow format
Outdoor temp
Indoor temperature
% relative humidity
Starter kept in fridge or on counter
Starter temp starting mix
Feeding ratios 1:1:1
% starter rises
Types and amount of each flour
Weight or volume
Amount of salt
Stretching
Folding
Kneading
Lamination
Bulk fermentation process complete indicators like dome, stickiness, juggliness, poke test, bubbles
Refrigeration time 0-3 days (more)
Bowl or banneton – made of or??
Dutch oven, loaf pans etc
Bake temp and time covered
Bake temp and time uncovered
Dough temperature when baking done
1) Bannetons and Dutch oven size chart would be helpful as a first step. You can drag proportion toggle, but there are limitations on how big of a loaf you can make with your equipment. So, e.g. if a user starts with “I want to make X loaves, my banneton(s) are size T, I am baking in Dutch oven of shape S and dimensions D (diameter for round oven, and width &length for oval), and height, etc. Then the tool can output a recommendation of loaf size, baking temps and times and e.g. output a warning are you sure you want to bake a loaf that big / small? If a user is not using a Dutch oven, then recommended baking modes (steel / pizza stone / etc) should be also supported.
2) There should be warnings on e.g. Extra low hydration, extra high amount of some ingredient that will not result in successful loaf = edge cases.
3) there should be toggle for salt. I just was answering a question today from someone about what’s the minimum amount of salt you should use in the dough, and I answered to the best of my ability, but there is a correlation between salt amounts and fermentation times. And if someone needs to drop their sodium intake, the current version leaves them figuring this part out on their own.
4) a toggle / way to add different flours (whole wheat etc) would be great.
5) if the tool supports different flours, protein content may need to be specified for each. The tool can also then recommend e.g. autolyse time for e.g. whole wheat flour recipe.
6) it may be beyond what you envisioned, but humidity of the house is also a factor in fermentation. The user can be given an option to provide their location to have the current (outside) humidity pulled from a e.g. accu weather API.
7) maybe outside of a beta version, but inclusions / substitution charts would be helpful. E.g. this calculator works well for a basic dough, but if you are making a chocolate loaf (and add cocoa, or coffee instead of water), fold chocolate chips, or other stuff, it will change fermentation times. I mean sky is the limit for stuff people put in sourdough but this tool can cover some common staples. Warnings about too much inclusions or changing PH levels could be also helpful.
8) one step further from 7 is to support other recipes, e.g. bagels, focaccia, enriched sourdough breads like babka, Pannetone etc.
9) I am not sure how you calculate fridge hours for proofing. There should be a toggle for how cold the fridge is (and not 4C default) because some fridges run colder or hotter. And a user may want more acidic bread, so you can give them an option to adjust fridge rest for less sour / more sour / very sour for example. And since sourness also comes from the amount of starter used and the ripeness, this can be also an initial input a user needs to provide.
10) to expand on previous point: the user has to specify if they use hungry starter (unfed / past peak) vs at peak, whether it doubled / tripled, how old it is. This is also to catch some rookie mistakes and calculate fermentation times more precisely.
11) this is more of a dream land idea, but a probable look of a loaf crumb based on inputs would be great.
12) I think a fermentation target (+75% or more rise) aside from times is always helpful.
I mean it’s a lot of ideas you may not be willing not implement in a tool to play around with but as a somewhat experienced sourdough baker I feel like this calculator as is will lead people astray more than help.
room temp is important but even more so is the DOUGH temp when figuring bulk fermentation times.
Don’t think I’ve seen anyone mention it, but adding fields as well as sliders (while still checking bounds)
VERY far future, maybe a “save” button to save a recipe (with a name..?)
What exactly are you using for the underlying math here?
Ooh this is so cool. I think you should be able to select different types of flour if you don’t know your protein levels e.g. 80% bread flower 20% whole wheat flour and have it estimate the protein for you. Also maybe incorporating in if your starter is white or whole wheat. Another thought that is very relevant to where I live is an altitude/desert adjuster – fermentation occurs faster at altitude and it takes more water to hydrate to the same stickiness a wheat germ in a drier climate.
Also do you have a GitHub repo? I would love to check it out if you do!