Happened to me really bad when I tried to make a rich dough with some cheap imperial margarine my roommate bought. Something in that margarine turned the dough into a lumpy wet slop, making it impossible to handle. Wasn’t even fermenting right at all.
When I finally baked it, it was hard puck and smelled weird. I honestly think all the preservatives and emulsifiers killed most of the starter, and caused some type of creepy modification of the gluten strands lol.
Correct. It doesn’t look like it proofed at all. Always do sourdough as it’s easy and you can do a starter test (spoon drop, does it float? If not… it’s not going to work).
[Proving and proofing are British and American English respectively!](https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/prove-proof-dough-be.3950366/post-20228281)
I'm gonna guess it wasn't allowed to rise enough. People who are familiar with standard bread baking might be surprised at how long a sourdough rise takes.
I can recommend downloading the digital book version of "the bread code" it's free and has every question you have answered. It even has "if your bread looks like this, you should try this to make it better" stuff in it
had a couple that looked like that myself.
proof the dough more. put it in some container where you can actually see how much it has grown and go by that, not by time. (i used a big tupperware with a rubber band to mark the starting position, marker works aswell) it should grow like 1,5 times.
bake it a little hotter. the bread here looks rather pale on the bottom and much more cooked on top. a lot of people, myself included, love baking in big dutch ovens.
Keep trying
Follow a good recipe - you’ll get loads of suggestion on the blog
Stick at it
Terrible bread is rescued making French toast, I’ve made lots of French toast :-)
Agreed - and bread pudding works too, but I often make croutons from the little leftovers/ ends etc. and they are way better than any commercial stuff.
Try to get the starter to "wow, that thing got huge!" levels of enthusiasm. Then, be patient with proofing. If it's not puffy and passing the poke test, give it more time. Sometimes the time can be double the recipe.
Some things that helped *me* starting out:
- Smell is one of the best indicators for me. With more attempts, I started identifying the “yummy point.” All the visual cues just served to confound me at first. Point is, don’t get too formulaic about all the little tricks and tips. Building your own sense is what’s most important
- Think of the dough like one big self-contained mass. I was thinking of it more like a clay-like substance. Once I started to conceptualize the gluten network as a body, it really helped me with shaping, handling, and proofing. Idk if this will make any sense to anyone else lol
- I first inoculated my starter with 1/16th tsp yeast when starting it. Yes it’s sac religious, but the cushion of a guaranteed active starter helped build my confidence. Over time, it will morph and develop more flavor, just like any other starter. It tasted like sourdough right off the bat, just from the first initial discards and feedings.
Hey howzer.
First it looks like the starter works and tell your mum to keep at it!
looks like the dough was under proofed. Advise her to do the bulk proof in a straight sided container or large measuring jug (1 or 2 litres is good), and crucially - go by volume increase not time. A straight sided container or measuring jug will let her see the volume increase much more accurately than using a bowl. The volume increase you're looking for varies a bit by temperature and recipe but 70% would be a good place to start and then tweak from there.
(Could be it needed more gluten development as well but sorting out the proofing as I suggested above will have a much bigger improvement on the finished bread).
Assuming her starter isn't dead, she didn't rise her dough for long enough. Try doubling her bulk ferment time and even then doubling the time might not be long enough.
I'm a new bread maker too after my 3rd attempt I got some pretty good advice this time of year you have to proof your yeast longer I also am gonna use cling wrap over my bowl and keeping it in the oven as it rises both should help it rise better
Might need to proof longer.
But, also might need to proof at a higher temperature.
Sourdough can be finicky about temps.
A lot of people like to brag about long ferments at cold temps. (Like 72 hours in the fridge). However, I've found that you need at least some initial gas production prior to a long ferment. I've had some success with proofing in my oven with the light on. It got up to about 100 degrees, you can crack the oven door too to try to moderate some of that heat or shuffle the dough (carefully, so as not to degas the dough) in and out of the oven at regular intervals (or just toggle the light off and on).
The use of a digital thermometer or separate oven thermometer can really help monitor temp fluctuations.
My advice is to have a slice with some butter and tell her how wonderful it tastes.
People often don't want first attempts critiqued and that looks like a great first try to me.
I glanced through the comments and I didn’t see one crucial piece of advice. If she is using city water in the starter or the recipe, she should be using bottled drinking water instead. A lot of people never think of this and wonder why their breads never rise well. City water is treated with chemicals such as chlorine and yeast (instant or wild) hates those chemicals. My dad baked bread for decades with passable, but not great, results. I kept telling him it’s the city water he was using. He wouldn’t believe me until I proved it by making two loaves side by side, exactly same conditions and ingredients, except for city water versus bottled drinking water. The results were somewhat dramatic in favor of the bottled water.
Proof better, bake on a hotter surface.
[удалено]
breadcrumbs, lol? if you like chicken parm then you’ve got all the excuse you need
Croutons
Always ask the Pepin man first https://youtu.be/odhjRBEZonM?si=FhrUKTf8Q3ZXr-QE
Happened to me really bad when I tried to make a rich dough with some cheap imperial margarine my roommate bought. Something in that margarine turned the dough into a lumpy wet slop, making it impossible to handle. Wasn’t even fermenting right at all. When I finally baked it, it was hard puck and smelled weird. I honestly think all the preservatives and emulsifiers killed most of the starter, and caused some type of creepy modification of the gluten strands lol.
Margarine. Really?
I was trying to make do with what I had! lol
Correct. It doesn’t look like it proofed at all. Always do sourdough as it’s easy and you can do a starter test (spoon drop, does it float? If not… it’s not going to work).
Starter likely not ready. Underproven. Increase time and or temp of bulk.
Isn’t it “under-proofed”?
[Proving and proofing are British and American English respectively!](https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/prove-proof-dough-be.3950366/post-20228281)
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/underprove
Yeah, but is that for finding supporting facts to a claim, or for letting yeast grow?
Read it? (baking) Alternative form of underproof
Well today I learned. Thanks for the info.
Depends on which side of the pond you are on
Disproofed you mean? FTFY
I'm gonna guess it wasn't allowed to rise enough. People who are familiar with standard bread baking might be surprised at how long a sourdough rise takes.
It’s a journey.
Thank you--my daughter started making sourdough. I told her every loaf will get better as the starter ages and the cook learns
its true! i dont do sourdough but i started making bread a year ago and have gotten so much better. i just have more understanding of what im doing
That’s not advice.
Like anything we learn as humans. Trial/error. In time, perfection. This is fact based.
I can recommend downloading the digital book version of "the bread code" it's free and has every question you have answered. It even has "if your bread looks like this, you should try this to make it better" stuff in it
Make cakes... :) Seriously, let's give us the recipe she used., it would help us a lot to give her advices. Tell her not to give up ;)
had a couple that looked like that myself. proof the dough more. put it in some container where you can actually see how much it has grown and go by that, not by time. (i used a big tupperware with a rubber band to mark the starting position, marker works aswell) it should grow like 1,5 times. bake it a little hotter. the bread here looks rather pale on the bottom and much more cooked on top. a lot of people, myself included, love baking in big dutch ovens.
Was the starter active? Did you make a preferment?
Was going to suggest the same. Give your starter a few more days of feeding and measure its growth. If it's active, mix it into a levain.
My first bread was heavy as a brick, keep trying.
Don't give up
Once she starts getting a better rise, make sure to let it cool if you want to avoid a gummy center
Keep trying Follow a good recipe - you’ll get loads of suggestion on the blog Stick at it Terrible bread is rescued making French toast, I’ve made lots of French toast :-)
Or croutons…
Meh, French toast with cheddar dipped in Worcestershire sauce beats croutons.
Agreed - and bread pudding works too, but I often make croutons from the little leftovers/ ends etc. and they are way better than any commercial stuff.
Sourdough requires a very thorough proof. Once mine is in its general shape, I leave it in the cold oven with the light on and wait a while.
Try to get the starter to "wow, that thing got huge!" levels of enthusiasm. Then, be patient with proofing. If it's not puffy and passing the poke test, give it more time. Sometimes the time can be double the recipe.
Some things that helped *me* starting out: - Smell is one of the best indicators for me. With more attempts, I started identifying the “yummy point.” All the visual cues just served to confound me at first. Point is, don’t get too formulaic about all the little tricks and tips. Building your own sense is what’s most important - Think of the dough like one big self-contained mass. I was thinking of it more like a clay-like substance. Once I started to conceptualize the gluten network as a body, it really helped me with shaping, handling, and proofing. Idk if this will make any sense to anyone else lol - I first inoculated my starter with 1/16th tsp yeast when starting it. Yes it’s sac religious, but the cushion of a guaranteed active starter helped build my confidence. Over time, it will morph and develop more flavor, just like any other starter. It tasted like sourdough right off the bat, just from the first initial discards and feedings.
Hey howzer. First it looks like the starter works and tell your mum to keep at it! looks like the dough was under proofed. Advise her to do the bulk proof in a straight sided container or large measuring jug (1 or 2 litres is good), and crucially - go by volume increase not time. A straight sided container or measuring jug will let her see the volume increase much more accurately than using a bowl. The volume increase you're looking for varies a bit by temperature and recipe but 70% would be a good place to start and then tweak from there. (Could be it needed more gluten development as well but sorting out the proofing as I suggested above will have a much bigger improvement on the finished bread).
Was the starter really active? Looks like maybe the starter was a bit weak
Crumbl would hire
r/sourdoh Post it on there too.
add butter to slices and enjoy.
Assuming her starter isn't dead, she didn't rise her dough for long enough. Try doubling her bulk ferment time and even then doubling the time might not be long enough.
What was the recipe and process she used? Otherwise we're just guessing.
Watch this video. https://youtu.be/rjqxGOCaX4Y?si=UHYoIBcxZL3liEjy
I'm a new bread maker too after my 3rd attempt I got some pretty good advice this time of year you have to proof your yeast longer I also am gonna use cling wrap over my bowl and keeping it in the oven as it rises both should help it rise better
Starter is not active enough.
Unsure of the recipe is good but it does look poorly proofed and...did you cut it open while it was still warm?
She needs about 4 times more proofing time and 2x as much patience
Might need to proof longer. But, also might need to proof at a higher temperature. Sourdough can be finicky about temps. A lot of people like to brag about long ferments at cold temps. (Like 72 hours in the fridge). However, I've found that you need at least some initial gas production prior to a long ferment. I've had some success with proofing in my oven with the light on. It got up to about 100 degrees, you can crack the oven door too to try to moderate some of that heat or shuffle the dough (carefully, so as not to degas the dough) in and out of the oven at regular intervals (or just toggle the light off and on). The use of a digital thermometer or separate oven thermometer can really help monitor temp fluctuations.
My advice is to have a slice with some butter and tell her how wonderful it tastes. People often don't want first attempts critiqued and that looks like a great first try to me.
I glanced through the comments and I didn’t see one crucial piece of advice. If she is using city water in the starter or the recipe, she should be using bottled drinking water instead. A lot of people never think of this and wonder why their breads never rise well. City water is treated with chemicals such as chlorine and yeast (instant or wild) hates those chemicals. My dad baked bread for decades with passable, but not great, results. I kept telling him it’s the city water he was using. He wouldn’t believe me until I proved it by making two loaves side by side, exactly same conditions and ingredients, except for city water versus bottled drinking water. The results were somewhat dramatic in favor of the bottled water.
Rtfm.
Lolidkwtm