My sourdough loaves

I’ve consistently failed with sourdough for about 2 months since I began the journey. I did everything to prevent a gummy, dense, or sometimes uncooked loaf: starter maintenance, temperature checks, dough checks, bulk checks, etc. Please note: my sourdough starter was fairly weak.

One time I got so frustrated I put the banneton inside the oven with the light on (door slightly open) for 2 hours until I saw it was visibly expanded and risen above the rim of the banneton, then let it cold proof overnight. Before that, I left the dough to bulk ferment for 8-12 hours, made sure it had not overfermented, shaped it, and put it in the banneton. Mind you, my house temp was set at 73-75F. And then the rest is history!

Unfortunately, my starter was too weak to survive the house move. He’s been so good and forgiving to me for a whole year.

My recipe (and I kept pushing the amount of inclusions, and I know I shouldn’t):

60g starter (well fed and visibly risen)

240g bread flour

60g rye or semolina flour

5g malt powder

240-245g water

6g salt

15-20g flaxseed

15-20g hemp seeds

10g black sesame seeds

I learned how to take care of the dough and add inclusions from this video by @SourlottibyAbby: https://youtu.be/A7TO5gJANeE?si=PC1Aapxre4b\_iHoG