I began my sourdough journey on January 6th 2026 by creating my own starter. I've made 9 loaves now, and they have all tasted great (except the 2nd – I biffed that one and made a frisbee instead of a loaf). Problem is, I keep looking at my crumb structure – Oh no! I over proofed! Dang, this one is under proofed! I've been really critical of almost every single one.
This weekend, I came to an epiphany with the help of my husband and my kids: No one cares what my crumb structure looks like – they just enjoy eating delicious bread. It's kind of like plastic surgery – nothing I did ever seemed good enough. From now on, I'm going to try to be less critical of my loaves and enjoy eating tasty bread! I hope you do, too. Seems there are a lot of people who are too critical of their work – I see you and you're making great bread as well!! (Pics are of the loaves I made this weekend – the latest ones I critiqued haha 😉
Recipe (from Keep it Sweet Kitchen):
500g flour (490 BF 10 WW
340g water (330 with flours for autolyse in KA mixer, 10 reserved for salt add)
100g starter at peak (80% hydration starter made with 25%WW 75%BF
10g salt
I mix the autolyse for 2 min in my KA mixer with spiral dough hook, rest for 30-60 min, mix rest of ingredients for 5-6 min in mixer. Rest 30 min. 2 series of stretch and folds (based on Elaine Boddy's master recipe) 2 series of coil folds. Bulk ferment based on dough temperature (this varies) anywhere from 9-11 hours (dough temps around 75 – I'm still learning BF – my dough doesn't seem to rise very much). Shape, cold retard for 12-14 hours. Preheat 475, bake 455 for 28 min lid on, 10-15 min lid off or until internal temp reaches 200-205. Cooled for 2 hours, then cut and devoured
by Sn00pysG1rl
7 Comments
Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good as they say. Agree with you 100% (although it is nice to be fanatical about something once in a while, ha!)
This is so hard to learn but so important. People love homemade bread. People love to be thought of. I gave (what I didn’t know was) my worst loaf away last week. It looked great on the outside but when they cut in and sent a picture, I actually cried from embarrassment. One bigger hole to the side, collapsed air structure. Not dense by any means but definitely wrong. I could see it all, but they said “It’s so airy and moist!”. So I didn’t say anything against it, just said “yay enjoy!”. They texted the next day that the loaf was gone.
We are our own worst enemies. People just appreciate bread.
“Cut and devoured” had me chuckled. Thanks for this.
I’m a middle school science teacher, but despite this, I’m constantly playing around with different recipes. I made a loaf this morning – started it yesterday- that I made just like a yeast bread, other than leaving it in the fridge overnight, and it’s great. I have no idea what a crumb is other than “a small bit of food.” I have no idea if I’m letting my dough rise enough or too much. I just know my bread tastes great.
I have never looked at if it’s over or under proofed. I cut into it and go “ooooh pretty!” and then eat it, no matter what it looks like lol
Just eat the bread. Free yourself.
I started my sourdough obsession at the same time and have recently had the same epiphany! I was driving myself crazy, buying unneeded paraphernalia (looking at you, ph tester), and was feeling like a failure despite making REALLY TASTY loaves every time. I’ve stopped obsessively comparing my crumb structure to all the charts being circulated and just leaned in to enjoying how much everyone in my sphere is enjoying this new-to-me hobby. 😊
I just made the flatest loaf in a long time this weekend and everyone is touting it as my “BEST ONE YET”. It is a pizza flavored loaf with turkey pepperoni and mozzarella and everyone has inhaled it despite all my “well it does taste good, but my rise is terrible, maybe because of all the inclusions, etc”
No one cares but me. I still want my loaves to look a certain way, but I no longer worry about sharing the “failures” with people.
Recipe – in case anyone wants to give it a try. It was a very sticky dough and it doesn’t even seem to have much rise in the official recipe pics, but it is very tasty.
[https://amybakesbread.com/pizza-sourdough-bread/](https://amybakesbread.com/pizza-sourdough-bread/)