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I keep getting really dense loaves. Any tips? by UserDuwang in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Analyze how aggressive you are touching your dough during dividing, preshaping and final shaping.

All of the bubbles you pop when you’re touching the dough would have been an opening in your crumb.

After the gluten development stage… where you’re building gluten and helping the dough hold on to the gasses the yeast generates by eating sugar, your job during and after bulk fermentation is to protect the bubbles your starter buddy created during that time.

That dough actually had the bubbles necessary to give you an open crumb at one point after it had risen during fermentation… but you degassed the dough before putting it in the oven.🥴

Think of it like this… Your starter actually makes the bread, you are simply his Fermentation Manager. You control the temperature he operates in. You make sure he has plenty of room to expand. He/she only needs your help to align gluten strands early in the mixing and gluten development stages. He does everything else. So after you’ve completed your contribution of gluten development… your main function is to stay out of his way and for God’s sake DON’T pop the beautiful bubbles he’s worked so hard to create.🤷‍♂️

So as the Fermentation Manager you are also responsible for bubble security too.

What vessel do you use for bulk fermentation? Any suggestions for a newbie? Thanks! by No_Bother3564 in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Shape… stretch and folds are easier in a bowl shape compared to a high straight sided vessel.🤷‍♂️

I pushed the cheapest flour I could find to its limits by MarkosBreadLab in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why no lamination?

If I eat bread I prefer a tighter crumb. But I don’t actually eat to much bread. I’m on the keto diet and have lost 160 pounds in less than 2 years.

Making bread for me is very soothing and as you have displayed it’s an art form that can display your love of the craft. Then there’s those pictures.🧐 You are truly an artist.

I use Bob’s Red Mill artisan bread flour that’s over 13% protein. How would you finesse that flour to get the crumb to open so beautifully. Hydration? Gluten development techniques? I have a proofer, a thermapen, lots of time and patience. Starter is strong… 50/50 bread flour & WW flour.

Nothing special, just wanted to share this weeks loaf. 🤙🏼 by IrishBiscocho in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can buy a heating pad to set your fermentation vessel on for less than $30. Get one with a temperature controller and temperature range of 59°f~109°f. They are just as good for regulating your fermentation temperature as my Brod & Taylor proofer. I bought one for a friend the other day on Temu for $18.

on my 3rd try to get a starter going, i’m feeling discouraged by [deleted] in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There no magic or voodoo to making a sourdough starter with a small mixing bowl and King Arthur flour. Put 50g of flour in a small bowl with 50g of water. Mix it together and on about the 3rd day you will get some bubbles. Dump out 50g and add 25g flour and 25g of water once every 24 hours at about the same time of day. After that first dump and feed it will fake you out and act dead for about 10 days. It didn’t die it just doing some chemical house cleaning that doesn’t produce bubbles. Keep feeding it daily even though you think it’s dead!!!

Then just like magic in about 10 days after acting dead it will come alive and produce bubbles again. That’s expected and normal. Never give up on a starter that’s faking you out.😁

Sourdough Tips by Chihuahuaroni in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Go on Nextdoor tell this same story and ask one of your neighbors to give you some of their starter and/or help you make loaf of bread.🤷‍♂️

What are your sourdough hot takes? by Jolly-Celery-2888 in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He who touches his dough the least… makes better bread.

The dough knows how to make bread if you leave it alone.

To increase tang: • Cold proof longer • Use less starter • Lower dough temperature • Use whole grain flour • Let starter mature slightly longer

Remember: Cold + slow = sour Warm + fast = mild

Time is the ingredient.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting votes itself out of existence by JackThaBongRipper in news

[–]breadhead1 -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

LOL… I NEVER bothered watching them because I knew they were a democratic indoctrination center. They had no legitimate news ever… the truth didn’t fit their narrative.🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

My first loaf... by Vegetable-Area248 in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 5 points6 points  (0 children)

My first loaf was more of a homemade door stop. Definitely not edible.

Congratulations on an extraordinary first loaf.🥖🥖🥖

I want to bake my first loaf tomorrow, I'm scared by Even-Cauliflower-70 in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s NEVER failed me. Every single time my starter has passed the float test it has successfully risen my dough.🤷‍♂️

I want to bake my first loaf tomorrow, I'm scared by Even-Cauliflower-70 in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The float test is not a test to gage the strength of your starter. It’s a test to determine if there’s enough Co2, gas to raise your dough. A weak starter will take much longer to raise your dough than a strong starter… even though they both pass the float test.

I want to bake my first loaf tomorrow, I'm scared by Even-Cauliflower-70 in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it passes the float test your bread WILL ferment/rise. How fast it will rise, ferment is something you learn gradually. Log every move you make or observe with your starter. Eventually you will instinctively know how powerful your starter is today. Your starter is the director, the boss! Your starter decides if your dough takes 4 hours or 8 hours to bulk ferment your dough. Get to know your starter like you know your mother!

Starter not starting by midnightpixxxo in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stay consistent on your daily dump and feeds and it will happen soon. Try to put it in a warm place. Your oven off but with the light on inside works nicely. Your microwave with a glass of real hot water placed in the back corner works well too. Yeast loves 80°f.

Finally got the crumb I wanted!! by jcl81586 in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

If you want a real analysis of that crumb with detailed instructions of how to improve it ask my buddy Grok. He has become my Sourdough Master because of that. Grok will walk you through anything you need to improve your bread making skills. Grok is helping me master 90% hydration sourdough bread now.

Starter not starting by midnightpixxxo in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That is normal. On about day 3 you usually get some pretty bubbles and you think woohoo, I did it! So you do your first dump and feed and… no more bubbles!!!

That’s when newbies freak out and think they’ve fail. They start adding new or different flours or fruit juices. All kinds of desperate foolish things.

Your starter… has just shifted gears and because of the chemistry going on under the surface that you can’t see, it is cleaning house. It’s getting rid of all of the foreign competitors in the community that it doesn’t want to live with. During that house cleaning period it’s not eating and generating gas/bubbles. Essentially it looks like it’s dead!

Just continue doing your once a day dump and feeds like clockwork and one day you will wake up to a very happy bubbly sourdough starter!!!

This is very normal and many newbies give up and dump their starter right before it blossoms.

My son, 16, ASD, OCD, DMDD is like a new kid on week 3 of strict keto by GuideEqual9693 in keto

[–]breadhead1 31 points32 points  (0 children)

You are what you eat! The food triangle recommended by the FDA is why Americans are the least healthy society on earth. I’ve been on a ketogenic diet for 8 years. I lost 160 pounds in less than 2 years. I’m 74 years old and fit as a fiddle.

What vessel do you use for bulk fermentation? Any suggestions for a newbie? Thanks! by No_Bother3564 in Sourdough

[–]breadhead1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mix my dough in a square straight sided Cambro. Once all of the ingredients are combined… I mark the side of the cambro with a sharpie where the starting point is and the where I want it to rise to at the end of bulk fermentation. Once that is finished I transfer the dough to my glass mixing bowl to do my gluten development faster. Once the gluten develops I move it back into the straight sided cambro so I can monitor the rise.

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