I am very new to the sourdough world. My starter was made from scratch 30 days ago and is very active. Fed at a 1:2:2 ratio with some rye and KA bread flour twice a day. I have made one semi successful loaf of bread but my problem is it didn’t really double in size during bulk proof and therefore was more gummy after baking. 2nd loaf also never rose or doubled so I didn’t bake it. This was my 3rd attempt today… I mixed the dough earlier so I could give it longer and I also used the “bread proofing” setting on my oven to make sure it was warm enough it rose some but didn’t double. After 12 hours I dumped it on the counter and it was liquid!! What the heck happened?! It was NOT liquid like this when I did my stretch and folds… it was very tight…. I am so discouraged.
The recipe I am using is my mom’s which she bakes with daily: 50g starter 330g water 500 KA bread flour 10g salt
by maddisonheckrn
21 Comments
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You have successfully over fermented. The gluten broke down and now nothing is holding it together.
Did you include salt?
Edited to add that this is what happened the one time I forgot salt. It was liquid and extra sticky.
12 hours in a warm oven is way too much. Generally you want to do around 5-6 hours at room temp and then a longer bulk ferment in the fridge. That setting on your oven is likely for quick-yeasted breads
Looks like it would be fun to play with
Over fermentation. 12 hrs in oven is too much. Also I think 50g starter for your flour quantity is not enough
My oven proofing setting gets WAY too hot for proofing (100+F). Even the oven light on will get to warm if I don’t monitor it and shut it off.
Too little starter, I use 150g
Definitely over fermented which destroyed the gluten. If you want to speed up fermentation, you can use more starter or you can put it in a cold oven with a pot of hot water. I also recommend you take the temperature of your dough and use that to determine how much you let it rise. Never use time. If you aren’t sure how to gauge rise percent, either get a straight sided vessel with lines or use small 2 ounce plastic cups to do the Aliquot method.
https://preview.redd.it/696vr2gi97me1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e43807def5031216a30ba24ce876264b99b65ae
As a sourdough newbie myself, I found http://www.theperfectloaf.com very helpful.
Silly question but – what container are you proofing your dough in / how are you determining how much the size has increased? Cause in a bowl dough rising is very misleading
Oven proofing temp is usually around 105-110 degrees which is excellent for a quick rise with commercial yeast but terrible for sourdough. You would typically proof for about 40 minutes with a nice commercial yeast and get a great rise. Flavor, not so much.
Sourdough, on the other hand, is a one way ticket to flavor town but it’s a long road with a lot of stops along the way. Sourdough, in my opinion, is best with patience. It’s a symbiotic colony of wild yeast and wild bacteria doing their little wild thing. Let those little critters go to work at their own pace, whatever it is. 12 hours at 70F might be good, or 16 hours at 65F, but 1 hour in a proofing oven will usually give you a bland poorly fermented dough. 12 hours in the proofer will give you fully digested dough.
Don’t be discouraged with any failures as this is how you learn. I had a lot of failures, which made me determined to get it right. It took me over a year, but I am now confident I know what I am doing.
It looks like oobleck!!
Many have commented about overfermentation. I would like to add, that in addition to ambient temperature and time, a weak starter is usually the underlying problem.
A weak starter means (simplified), that it is more acidic than you want. In am acidic environment the lactic acid bacteria are thriving instead of yeasts. This leads to slow rise in the dough. Additionally, the acids facilitate enzymes that break the gluten. Therefore this combo makes a deflated and gooey dough.
Study these [charts](https://thesourdoughjourney.com/the-ultimate-sourdough-bulk-fermentation-guide/). Temp you dough and follow the % rise and time estimate. It’s not precise but it is a cheat code for learning to read your dough and approximating peak fermentation. I would avoid the proof setting. My ideal setup has been the dough bowl positioned on a rack approximately 1 inch above a seed mat which keeps the dough around 72 degrees in a 60-65 degree house.
12 hours is a crazy amount so makes sense. That would be ideal for a chill room during winter
There are just too many variables when it comes to this. Using Rye didn’t help either. You can’t really judge any of the steps with timing alone, you need to check on them doughs. You want them puffy and jiggly
It seems like the gluten was completely destroyed :(.
This happened to me several times when I tried to do a 50% khorasan flour.
Focaccia time!
That’s how my first sour dough was lol. I added more flour and made it shapable but after baking didn’t rose at all .
Add a little flour and u have sourdough for days!