LOSING my Sourdough POWERS :-( 198 

BEFORE YOU COMMENT! There is a telegram scam in here replying to comments saying you have won a prize, ITS NOT ME. Please report if you see it, I’ll try to get them all ✌🏻 🍞

As an artist who lost her “mojo” a few months ago, this video really speaks to me. I really appreciate your eloquent summarization of an experience that is so universal to any endeavor. ♥️

Holy sh*t Jack. I never thought the day would come but you made me tear up in a damn bread video mate. Your message speaks to my heart. I've been at it for more than 5 years now, taking time off work to work in sourdough bakeries across the continent and I recognise completely every aspect that you described, right up to the "moral" of the story. Thank you so much for reminding me.

I think it's cool that as you talk about recovering from failure, taking a break and letting the process get back to the fun and rewarding activity that it is, you're going through all the steps in the background of turning out a fantastic loaf of sourdough bread. Keep up the teaching and the baking. You're a good real life example for all of us bakers. (Forgot the salt, ha ha. Nobody ever does that, right?)

How does this man not have a baking show yet?!

It's so interesting to see that you can still fail and continue to learn from it. That's what makes you a great professional and teacher. Most professionals won't admit this is.

Hello Jack. New to the channel. I live in Thailand and the bread here is terrible, sweet and lasts for 2-3 weeks out in the open without going moldy so God knows what's in it. Just put in new outdoor kitchen with new oven and started bread making. Since watching your videos my bread has improved greatly. Suffered with dense loaves and struggled with sticky dough kneading and was adding flour all the time. Now my bread is great thanks to your tips. Just on simple bloomers and burger buns at present. Thank you mate, you've made bread making a pleasure. All my Thai neighbours now want bread LOL.

Jack, I need to thank you so much. After making a seemingly endless series of bricks and doorstops out of bread ingredients, I found your channel. I learned so much and finally ended up understanding things better and actually made some wonderful bread thanks to your principle-based approach to teaching. I've just ordered your book and can't wait for it to arrive!

Haha Jack you always seem to hit the nail on the head, I haven’t been making sourdough as often lately, it’s the summer, we are busy, family members are elsewhere and less bread is being eaten… anyway I had bragged up my sourdough bread to a friend, telling her one day I’d give here a loaf. That day came, and it should be noted that I do pull “Moody” out and feed her from time to time even when I’m not making sourdough bread and I had fed her a couple times to liven her up but she wasn’t at her best and I told myself it would be fine. To make matters worse I was doing a million things, not keeping track of timing and which stretch and fold am I at? was the AC set to 19°C? Then the plan got changed, could I come in sooner, sure, I’ll just shave a little time off proofing… I gave my friend a loaf of bread that resembled the worst of my first attempts at sourdough making. But I remember you saying in a video that even our worst attempts are better than anything we buy in a supermarket. I gave my friend some vine ripened tomatoes and she was planning to have toasted sourdough tomato sandwiches. My friend was over the moon, she said it was delicious! You know what? Another thing is we can be very critical of ourselves, I had even added an extra helping of love by throwing my garden grown, sun kissed tomatoes in. How could it possibly be a complete fail? It wasn’t my best bread but it was the first homemade sourdough she’d ever had and I’ll knock her socks off next time! Thx again Jack! P.S. I named my starter Moody early in the going cuz one time she’d be crazy active and the next time kinda meh. After a little self reflection I have to admit it is I who has all the variables going on and Moody will do the same thing every single time if I set her up for success.

Your honesty is why I love your channel. Thank you Jack

Discussing your own reversals is a brave but very useful thing for any teacher to do! I like to think of things from the other direction - The more I enjoy my breadmaking process, the less likely I am to mess up, and the more likely I am to find redeeming qualities in the resulting bread, even when it's not quite as expected. Looking forwards to an interesting winter coping with very variable kitchen temperatures...

That goes not just for making sour dough bread but for most everything in life. Thank you for reminding me.

Thank you Jack!🙂 Perfect time to bring this up! I haven't made sourdough in about a year too. This might be the time to get back into it before I'm in a 'have to' situation. Love & blessings!💜

I've been watching your vids for a couple years now and always enjoyed and learned much. But this one was the straight-up inspirational talk I DIDN'T KNOW I NEEDED. Your words touched my heart, I feel a fantastic momentum from what you've shared here, and I just appreciate this so much. You've done more than you know for people you'll never even meet. I hope this year is a beautiful one for you. Heaps of thanks from west coast U.S. :)

Thank you so much, Jack! It truly is an important part of any craft... baking, cooking, stitch work, painting... to be open to the whole process and learning along the way. Whether it is a person's "mojo", or environmental changes, learning along the way helps find new appreciation and new awareness in the craft! This was such an important topic to discuss and to share!! Thank you!!

Thank you Jack, I never stopped making sourdough, it’s my favorite and my go to, I only could not bake during our heatwave this last two weeks, and I miss the process as I find it very soothing. I have always used your recipe I follow your advice to the letter, I have never had a bad loaf, maybe one that wasn’t as puffy but never one that did not taste good so I always thank you when I’m working on my dough. 💕

This video is exactly what I needed for so many reasons beyond baking! Great words of wisdom.

listening to you on this video, sang volumes to my heart. I actually teared up. I'm 64 years old and I'm still trying to find value to my life and to see someone at your age so wise gives me hope that all will be right in the world. Remember jack to take time for yourself, make sure to find time to recharge so you can continue to do an amazing job. I know I am only 1 person out of 1000's who watch you, but you do give me joy, you actually made it possible for me to start baking again. Thank you. V

I just got back into sourdough making my starter again after my last 2 attempts had 😢failed. It's now June and my summer breads were great so I will try again on my brand new stone. Fingers crossed. I do hope to see more videos from you Jack. Happy baking.

Thanks Jack, this helps. Good to know that even masters struggle at their trade now and then

Thank you for always bringing in the mental component when it comes to making bread (and any hobby for that matter). It's great to see a baker that talks about their mistakes or pitfalls. Your videos are always a breathe of fresh air. Bread mindfullness.

Completely unrelated to the topic here but I wake up with anxiety every morning and for some reason watching your videos helps me ground myself, so thanks

This video not only gave me an invaluable sourdough lesson, but a life lesson as well. Thank you for your thought-provoking and comprehensive advice, especially the last part. Lots of love.

This is so timely I'm going through the process of failing every sourdough I'm trying to make right now 😭

Thanks Jack for your personality! I’m a new subscriber and am really enjoying your videos and getting inspired. I used to use sourdough daily when I lived in Alaska. It’s been years but I have a new starter going just because of you. You are bringing so much joy with your humor!

You're so right. Not just for bread, but for all my baked goods. If I am doing it reluctantly or when I'm upset, my baked goods always fail.

Wise counsel, Jack! Good advice for all things in life. XOX from Los Angeles, California. Thank you for all your interesting, educational and entertaining videos. I appreciate them, and appreciate you!

I went through exactly this a while ago. felt maybe all the sourdoughs I had made earlier were just 'beginner's luck' which had now run out. And each time the bread was worse. So bad!!! and i shifted my mindspace...saw a lot of your videos that i find so inspirational....and boom! good bread again!

Thank you for posting this! It's nice to see that I'm not alone in my sourdough failures. I'm getting better every bake, but I want mastery!

Awww ! I just need to hear that! Thank you jack ! Be blessed!!!

Thanks, I needed to see this video. I have dormant sourdough starter that’s been in my fridge for 6 months. Now I’m motivated to start baking again!

Excellent tutorial as always, Jack. And you're right about putting "love" into your bread. People always tell me they can "taste the love" in everything I bake.

You are such a kind soul

Great video Jack. So much important content. I've been making sourdough for a couple years and finally got it where I want it. It's all been edible bread except for the time I forgot the salt. I don't have a job so my process is pretty flexible and I can dedicate myself to it. The temp in my house is sometimes a little too cold and drafty because my partner likes it freezing in the house. My solution has been to use the microwave as my proofing area. As long as you haven't just used it and the range surface light isn't on it stays at about 80f (26.6 c). It's worth testing this to make things a little easier. I've learned a ton from you and several others online but mostly I learned to keep trying, pay attention to the process and the outcome and eventually you get exactly what you want. I have revitalized starter after a year in the fridge by feeding it about 4 times. I recently did it again to 2 month old starter in the fridge by feeding it 3 times. This is so much fun The best part about making sourdough is it is almost always edible. Unless you forget the salt of course. Thanks again for all your support and help. You're the best.

That was a brilliant lesson about the connection between hand and heart Jack. Our human energy field can in some circumstances, radiate miles from our bodies. In hindsight it seems only natural that how we feel impacts our environment and what we focus on. Especially the things we come into physical contact with. My mother taught me at a young age about the need to remain in as loving a state as possible when working with food. Something that through personal discovery, you have been able to articulate to all of us who are passionate about food and life in general, how profoundly this realisation can affect our outcomes, and reinforce our love and passion to create and maintain beauty and balance in our world.

Great video as always. Wanted to let you know that I made your whole meal nut and fruit loaf. I replaced the walnuts and raisins with pecans and dried cranberries. It was amazing! Thank you for publishing Bread Everyday!

Love this form of presentation!

I love that you say stuff out loud about the love factor. I plan to always make my food with a love attitude ☺️ So much more flow in the process

I just love this so much. Thank you Jack! ❤️

Man hit me right where I am at on my sourdough journey. Thank you for this! Put some starter away and after a period of months and quite a few failures thought I'd just give up and make only yeasted breads. I think I'll take a week or so more on reflection and set a time for "us" (me and my starter).

What a great video Jack! I recently completely lost my baking mojo. It wasn't just with sourdough, just a basic cookie or buttercream would turn out inedible! I managed to awake my sourdough starter that had been in the fridge untouched for months but the first attempt overproved, so I Googled what to do and attempted to turn it into a regular loaf, however even the garden birds wouldn't eat it 😭 So yeah, I was definitely at a stage of thinking why do I bother! But I love baking so am persevering and have since made a successful sourdough loaf and a delicious brownie. So point is, like you say, keep trying, keep learning ❤️

This is an awesome video. Thank you.

Love my proving box, and it does a bunch of other things too. It has humidity so the dough feels beautiful after time in there

Beautiful video Jack. So good to hear that you also can fail at sourdough making - gives me more faith that I can also get through my challenges with it! Also science has shown that labratory experiments with yeast and single celled creatures, done in the same enviornment, recast differently depending upon the expectations and attitude of the scientist involved, so of course our feelings, thoughts and expectations affect our bread result. Love this video.

Your video really amused and consoled me. As a fairly As a seasoned sourdough baker, I became distracted for a while by baguettes, bagels, garlic bread and olive rosemary rings. On my retun to sourdough, I only managed an inedible flying saucer. I have now made three or four sourdoughs and seem to be getting back to normal. Fascinating how hard it is is get there but also how easy it is to slip and lose it!

Jack - you have to hear this! I used to make my own Sourdough Bread (good bread too!). But I really got to hate discarding starter and I stopped. Then I found your video on No Discard. And so I built my starter up again (took about two weeks because it was mid-winter). I grow my starter in a 1l plastic yoghurt pot and so all I do is pop the container into a 1l saucepan of hot water. Anyway, I followed your directions for a no-knead Sourdough Bread. And on Wednesday night I made _the best loaf of Sourdough Bread I have ever made_ ! I have been scarfing this stuff down for the last 24 hours. Real butter. Apricot jam. Honey. It's just totally divine. But I hear you about Feeling The Failure because here in South Africa we have something called Loadshedding. Which means that we lose electricity for two hours at a time. So my bread would be ready but no electricity... Anyway I got Your Method right on the THIRD try. Oh man - it picked my love for Sourdough Baking right back up again! Dearest Jack, consider your face thoroughly kissed!

Oohhh been there done that! All of the same.Stopped doing bread for oohhh 6 months. I even killed off my starter (it felt so good to let that go.). So I recently started up again. Maybe it had something to do with no more homemade bread in my freezer or a change in the weather. In fact I finally just missed making bread. Made a new starter, much easier this time. Still had knowledge of that process. I was very confident it was all going to work. (No stress about not getting it right!) so I didn’t have to over think it. I simply let the process happen. Made a beautiful loaf of sourdough bread and it was fun again. THANK YOU JACK for putting all that on you tube. That was a great lightbulb moment for me and probably many others. Oh and yep I forgot the salt too and it really SUCKED.

God….. I love how you are so real! Life always has challenges, it’s how you handle them that makes or breaks you 😊

In my experience, the starter left in the refrigerator for a week or two is no longer active starter and it needs 1-2 feeds, 8-12 hours each, before we make it the final starter for baking bread - it's again about 8 hours in a proportion of 1/2/2. It is also important that the starter stands at 24-25'C. 21'C is too cold, only light acid will be made, but wild yeast will not multiply.

I'd given up on sourdough as it just wouldn't rise. Ambient temperature was my stumbling block (cold kitchen). I bought 2 "wheat-bag neck-wamers" , 1 min each in microwave, wrap around my proofing bowl with a tea towel over the top to keep the heat in. Bingo! Now happily baking sourdough every 48 hours! Love it! 🍞 Thanks for your videos and tips. 🙏 Bread-making is such a joy. 😊

Awesome vid and all so true. I’ve had more disasters than successes with sourdough but something keeps me coming back for more. I had one absolute triumph and I long to re-create it. I wrote everything down with each loaf, as you recommend but forgot to date it and I have no idea which piece of paper it was. 😣 More fool me. Oh well, so is life. Interestingly though, I do remember that right before I baked it, it looked so small and sad. It hadn’t risen at all in the fridge. It blew my mind when I took the lid off to see this mountain of a loaf. I’ll never forget it. 🥰 We ate the whole lot in one sitting!

Patience, peace, trust. Thank you Jack.

It's the like a Sunday sermon (without the religion) delivered by an inspirational sage, that looks like a child, but has the wisdom of Confucius. Brilliant!

I feel your pain chef, after keeping my mother alive for 4 years, into work one morning fridge shut down everything had gone off including my sourdough starter, tried to revive it but to no avail, wasted over 12kg of flour , and you're right after that I had lost my passion for sourdough bread baking

I'm happy to know I'm not the only one. I had given up making sourdough for about a year. Seems it never turned out. I kept my sourdough healthy, just didn't use it. I'm back to making it and just this morning turned out a beautiful loaf. Wish I could share pictures here.

You make it look so easy!

Great video. Thank you. Quick question re banetton: do you lightly flour the cloth before putting the dough upside down in ? Only tried without cloth and despite flouring the banetton, I found it it difficult to remove dough. Would like to try with the cloth next.

The journey can be daunting. I began making sourdough during 2020 also, and even though I was fairly successful, I began watching how “others” make their sourdough and began to fail. I thought I needed a book so I went on Amazon, and there was my answer: one of the authors, had written, “It’s your bread, make it yours.” Indeed, and I did, and I’ve never looked back. Whatever method I choose, it’s MY bread, plus faith, a solemn prayer before along with the sign of the cross assists immensely with successful bread making. God bless all.

I'm at this same spot. Thanks Jack

Jack, to err is human, to forgive is divine. Forgive yourself, you are after all , divine.

Dear Jack, I've been with this channel since before this virus stuff all started. I can see and feel the difference in you--there is an uneasiness in your eyes that smiles don't hide. These last years have been hard on all of us, so I get it. But what makes me sad is that you have a harder edge about you now, and you have evidently well overcome your aversion to commercialization (money). I suppose you had to, to take care of your family and survive. Anyway, I appreciate the fact that you still come to us in this way, and I loved this video story. Thank you so much.

Thanks, Jack, for inspiring me to have another go at sourdough (despite having loads of fresh yeast in the fridge and freezer). My first attempt didn't work out despite following the process on page 263 of your book...I used a spare jar exactly the same as the one page 262 which has a wooden lid and I suspect there was some interaction as it smelled like damp wood after a few days...using a Kilner jar this time!

Oooh, Jack had a dark night of the soul for sourdough... Glad you got through, this kind of frustration is very exhausting

Hey Jack, thank goodness I happened across this video. I recognise so many things that you spoke about in myself and how my confidence takes such a beating because of it. If we just stop and take a breath and go back to it when we are more on an even footing then all will be well. Thank you so much for the time you take to make these inspiring videos. They keep me in the groove.

Lovely thoughts. I mostly f**** it up when the weather suddenly changes. This summer, I found I had nearly overproofed a loaf after 2 hours.

Sourdough is a community of living organisms. Feeling how it is doing is critical. The right state of mind is necessary. Thank you for this reminder Jack.

When storing starter scraping in refrigerator, do you store in an air tight container or a container with some air flow. Example, should I twist the lid all the way down or leave it loose?

LOOOOOVE THIS!

if it's any consolation Jack, in Tuscany where l live traditional bread wheels are made without salt on purpose as "bread should complement the flavour of what you eat, and salt would change it".... Great episode, thank you for your teachings

Your videos have become about so much more than bread. They are a reminder of things we as a world have forgotten. I had hoped this time of CoVid would help us all remember. And clearly some of us have. Thank you so much for making these!! I am smiling and uplifted as I begin my day. And I too have had a sourdough slump. I’m going to go feed mine right now!

I will always love the "roll it!"

Wow, ingredients for baking are the same for life lessons, thanks for the insight.

A couple of years ago, had a run of about 5 sourdoughs in a row that just did not spring. The first time it was “ok, I’ll concentrate a bit more next loaf” the second failure was “oh, that’s odd, i’d better check my starter, date on flour, temperature etc” After the third failure there was definitely a slight panic setting in, as I would occasionally make bread for friends, and I could no longer trust what was going to emerge from the oven. That feeling of panic feels very much like losing your mojo. I still don’t know to this day exactly what I “fixed” to get my loaves good again. I have made myself a proving box now, but tbh, my loaves were back to normal before I started using it. It’s still a bit of a mystery, and there’s always a slight worry in my mind if I have to make bread for a friend. After about 5 years of making sourdough, I’ve found you don’t have to be anywhere near as precise as many channels stipulate to make a very good sourdough, however, there are limits to how much leeway you have with ingredients, timings, and the general care you take over the process.

Lessons for life, Jack.

Great video Jack. I can so relate. The greatest investment I have made as a sourdough baker is a heat mat. Cheap, simple, and soooo effective at boosting fermentation, either in my starter or my bread, which has saved my a#$e so many times. And using the all-in mix method helps to minimise errors in forgetting ingredients like salt. But we will always experience ups and downs, highs and lows in life.

I failed to make a good sourdough because my starter wasn’t active enough. Thanks to your tips on using Rye flour, I finally managed to get a very healthy and active starter. I’m now set to try again.

Oh, Jack, please forgive me for laughing uproariously at your pain. But it's only because I totally related to it. Not just in the kitchen, but in life. Love your show! Wish I could come bake with you. We'd have so much fun. 😅

beautiful video!

So timely! You've given me hope :) As an aside, where can I buy that wonder sling-thingie from?

Loved your talk here! Funny thing, for the first time ever I am trying a method used by a man who has been making sourdough since he was a child -- but NOT the way he was taught or that is taught by (apparently) anyone and certainly not by the experts: he does NOT feed his (half flour and half water) starter except when he is low on it and needs more. He did a video where it had been in the fridge for 3 months without being fed and with blackish "hooch" water on top. He just mixes that hooch back into the starter and moves on in the making of the bread. Well, I had seen that video last year and before I reviewed it I took my 4-to-5-month-old unfed starter from the fridge and POURED OUT all the hooch. (He would have said no no no NO don't do that!) I didn't know. I'm sorry. But I went ahead and am making a go of it anyhow. My bread will be proofing in the fridge for a couple of days -- partly because I don't cook on the sabbath (Saturday). I am very much looking forward to how this bread will come out! (The dough, which I started yesterday, Thursday, is already showing little bubbles. I'm doing this with all whole grain flour -- which that teacher would probably never do -- but that's how I roll. Whole grain I mean.)

Sort of unrelated: do you have some tips to prevent and get rid of rope spoilage? I have had it 2 year ago and this year again (during the hot summer). The previous time I managed to get rid of it by only making sourdough for a while.

Jack what did you pick the dough up on to put it in the Dutch oven? I shape a bit of grease proof paper or baking parchment but I have to make a new one each bake as it becomes brittle when baked. Whatever you see looked more sustainable.

Same happened to me! I felt like I “needed” to make sourdough all the time but started loosing the love…….& the results! Changed to making yeasted bread for a short while then returned to sourdough. Guess what…the love (& results) returned 😀

For me it was our dishwasher breaking down for the umpteenth time. This time we realized we need to replace it but not until we replace the late 80's formica counter that has completely crumbled where the dishwasher goes. Not having a dishwasher has made all my cooking less fun because I feel i can never catch up on the cleaning. I haven't baked any kind of bread since then.

My 10 year old sourdough starter died this month. I can relate to this upheaval we have gone through.

Hi Jack, after talking about different templates in different fridges on this vifeo, try this and you will find that if your fridge has glass shelves then on each tire the temperature varies as well, normally the bottom shelf will be the cooler and the top will be higher... Joe

Jack have you ever used potato sour dough starter? I add 1/3 cup each of potato flakes and sugar and a cup of water to my starter and make a loaf once every week to 10 days.

Here’s on for you…I’ve been so busy I have been feeding my starter day after day for months but still have not have the proper time to make my sourdough! But I keep feeding and can’t wait till I get a weekend to make it

I had a run of bad results when we were looking for our new home. We were living out of a trailer at one of our kids homes. It was in a very nice, close knit neighborhood. But since my lungs can't process the most common surfactant/emulsifier on the fragrance and medical products (including most medicines) market, I have to live in a world of high end air purifiers. It's either that or cease to exist. Anyway, after we bought a home I realized it was the obscenely clean air I was breathing. Now, just out of habit, I mix my starter and sponge outside on the front porch. As a result, my starter's are on steroids. I'm sure in part because now we live in the middle of hundreds of acres of farmlands. It's funny how the things you depend on the most, can sneak up and bite you in ways you never expect.

Just made me go get my starter out of the fridge ❤️

Baking is an ART. It is something you like to do. If you do not enjoy bread baking, you will not have success. I am speaking of Sourdough Bread. The most wonderful "Beast", in the baking world. That being said.....It will cause Baldness, Weight Gain, and Nervous Disorders, ect. I love it! This week I baked your recipe: sourdough for beginners. It turned out great. I baked my two loves in cast iron skillets rather than using a baking stone. Thanks for that recipe.

Agree with and experienced everything you mentioned. Except the attitude of “what’s the point”. Even with an interruption in the process, it is all worth it because “it is my bread, I made it”.

You need to have a show on TV!

I have had failed bread in the past because I was in an “emotional” state courtesy of a liking for spirits of a liquid kind 🤪 For you Jack your check list should include - pencil behind left ear. If it’s not there and you haven’t thought of it there will still be that something lurking in the back of your mind. Now in my late 70s and having worn an apron for many years while cooking or baking I had a weird experience; One day I put on the apron - and couldn’t tie it behind my back. No matter how I tried, the action which was automatic and simple was gone and I’ve never been able to do it since. I extended the ties and now tie it at the front 🧐

No teaches as well as you Jack - thank you ❤

I'm much more experienced at brewing where I also use a yeast starter, usually with predictable, pleasing results but the odd time I screw up it is usually from not being tuned in to the task. A phone call at the wrong time or something. We need to be in the groove and observing all the little things that provide feed back. Some days you are better off going fishing or something. It's just part of being human. Good luck every one.☯

When Jack said Let’s walk through this together I was waiting for him to break into song with “tip toe through the tulips 🌷 with me…..”

YES!

Balance Jack, in all things. ❤U.

A proofing box is the best thing i have bough for dough. Expensive but worth it if you make breast and pizza weekly. Makes all the difference in the colder months.