Your Sourdough Fails FIXED! - 221 

Sorry boss, I'm gonna be late to work. Jack just posted an hour long sourdough video.

Your struggle to accept enthusiastic compliments (and pronounce the word “intellectualize”) is very relatable! It made me smile.

To prevent burning the bottom of a loaf in a Dutch oven I put a cookie sheet on the rack below the Dutch oven to block the direct heat. Not my idea, just passing it on. It works for me.

Jack, thanks for the mention. On the question of burning the top of the bread, I put a shelf as close to the top element as possible and put a baking sheet on it. This diffuses the direct heat and prevents burning. As I bake multiple loaves at a time, I am not fancy about turning the oven off and then waiting for it to reheat. This cured my burning problem and the bread still browns well.

To those having trouble with bottom of loaves burning in Dutch Ovens or baking stones. I was told by someone on RU-vid last year to try putting foil over the center of the lowest rack leaving about 3-4 inches without foil on each side. I also have put a small circle of parchment under the bottom of loaves when baking. This has absolutely worked for me. Thought I’d share in case it may help.

It seems there is often a time in most people’s sourdough journey where suddenly loaves start failing, and there seems no obvious reason why. I’ve seen this often when watching various RU-vid channels and reading through comments, many by those who are not novices. I had a run of about 4 loaves one Winter that were difficult to shape and didn’t spring, even though I had done nothing differently from many dozens previously. In retrospect it had to be over proving, but I think because it was Winter, and we have no heating in our kitchen, I was almost stubbornly refusing to accept that it could be. Now, with a lot more experience, I am better at getting a feel for the dough during the stretch and fold process, and can usually tell when enough is enough, and another stretch and fold would not be a benefit, and potentially detrimental. I still don’t know exactly why those few loaves over proved; possibly the starter was exceptionally active around then, which accelerated the entire process, again I really don’t know. It is a 50+ year old starter, so maybe just a mid life crises 😉. Practice is important to build experience, and with experience you get to know when a dough feels right, and that feeling is more important than sticking to exact recipes, timings etc, especially when you are dealing with living organisms. These days I usually do 3 to 4 stretch and folds, as opposed to early on doing 5-6. I Also stopped autolysing a long time ago, as I personally found it made no difference to my finished loaves whatsoever. The fact it removes one sticky step was just a bonus. I still get the occasional loaf I’m not happy with, and I have no doubt that I will get the occasional failure going forwards, but practice is definitely key to getting a feel for what works for you in your own environment.

Regarding the question of how long can you leave your dough in its baneton in the fridge, I saw a video where they made 6 or 7 doughs at the same time and baked one a day for a week. The result was they were all great loaves but the flavour seemed to get better the longer they sat in the fridge. So the answer is there is definitely no rush. Yay!

I've been making bread for 2 years and I have struggled. Thank you so much for your upbeat positive outlook in making others better at your craft !

Hi Jack. I’ve watched this video twice, second time taking notes😊 it’s pity that there are so few likes, it is very informative video! Thank you for giving us such a valuable tips🌺

Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to teach. We can all learn from each others' sourdough experiences.

I've been grinding my wheat and finall got a really great loaf of bread yesterday. I've not gone 100% whole wheat yet but letting it rest much longer has brought about a much softer loaf! Thank you for the perfect advice. 😊

Jack, the reason starters bubble for several days at first is the initial bacteria that form "set up" the environment needed for the lactobacillus to grow. If people keep feeding it, it will be fine. A new starter's not actually ready for a couple weeks. 👍🏻

Loved this, Jack. I’ve been on a sourdough mission since 2020 with probably 10% success. I had one absolute triumph along the way so I know it’s possible I just need to figure out how to recreate it. I make notes during each bake but somehow lost them. Lesson learnt. I made a new starter which seems a lot happier than my old one and I’m persevering. I prepared a sourdough loaf while listening to your video which was really fun. I could listen to you chat about bread all day. 😌 Keep up the amazing work.

I don't make sourdough loaves but this info also applies to my rustic loaf-pan breads. Folding builds structure. Yeast need enough time but not too much time. Cuts help direct expansion. Too much heat can stop expansion in one place so that the expansion happens elsewhere. Tools make a difference. Fingers need to learn the feel of a nice dough! Thanks Jack!!!

Jack! I have the cure for the burnt bottom! Some ovens (especially gas ovens) have too much direct heat on the bottom. The fix it one of two things: #1: Get an "air-bake" cookie sheet and put that under your Dutch Oven, or baking stone. That way, the D.O. or the stone will not get hotter than the ambient heat of the oven. Or: #2: put any cooking sheet one level under the D.O. or stone.

Thanks Jack for all the excellent information. Yup I’m still watching so much to learn. I have to say to everyone that if I never made any mistakes in my baking and bread baking experiences I would have learned nothing. Some have been so bad I am left laughing. But each one is a lesson that has made me better at what I love doing.

When making a starter they can go quiet (even when continually being fed), after an initial burst of energy, at around days 3-4. This is very normal. If you have fed it and it goes quiet then skip feeds! It has enough food because you have fed it and it hasn't bubbled up. It may look like nothing is happening but the starter is 'sorting itself out'. Don't be tempted to over feed it to 'wake it up' as when fermenting the pH is trying to drop. When it has dropped enough to support the yeasts that eventually take up home in a starter it'll begin to bubble up again. Should you continually discard and feed while it has gone quiet all you are doing is throwing away all the good stuff. So if it goes quiet just keep warm and stir every 12 hours. Should it become very watery then just thicken it up, that's all. Once you begin to see some sign of life then begin the feeds again. Start off with smaller feeds at first and increase them according to the strength of the starter.

Hi jack, you live down the road to my Nan! And i’m sure you know my Mum too. I love watching your videos, they’re so calming and plus i like baking so i want to try and attempt sourdough bread soon.

I can listen to you forever! Easy learning and fun😊

Hey Jack. Thanks for another fantastic video! I’m still on the never ending quest for a successful sourdough. My biggest problem is getting tension in the skin as when folding and shaping, the dough sticks to everything and tears, breaking the tension. I will persist and never give up! 🤣. (I’ve been making sourdough for 3 years now!! The loaves always get eaten by husband and sons though, so no real problem!!). Keep up the fantastic work- and if you need to practice having people back in the classroom, myself and my wonderful friends will more than happily volunteer!!!!! 🤣🤣. Take care. 😁😁😁

Thanks, Jack. Long but informative. Well worth watching in full.

Great video. Had I not come across the scraping method never would have continued with sourdough - just couldn't stand the discard (or sit through, ha ha). Now I save about 50 grams and leave it in the fridge until I am close to ready to bake, then build it up. Fed while watching this video. Have preached the scrapings method far and wide and also referred to your page/videos. I make King Arthur's basic loaf 90% using the stretch and fold method and have no problems. Bakes are sometimes different, but always edible. Thanks so much for giving me a way to continue sourdough baking without going against my 'no waste' tendencies.

Love you Jack. What a nightmare ride youve taken us on. Loving every lesson 😂

Still here, to the end. Did enjoy it and learned so much.

Thank you so much Jack for a fantastic video. Thank you for showing my sourdough bread and providing very helpful suggestions which I will definitely try. You are the best baker and teacher. I had so much fun watching this video and I am still smiling.

Your explanation on making the levain up to 11:24 was so helpful. Thank you!

I leave the water loosely covered overnight to allow chlorine to escape.

Fabulous video!! Great advice. Had to watch to the end

I really would like to try sourdough but my kitchen is very cold-even when central heating is on and kitchen rad up full. I struggle to guess/when to know ive left any loaf to prove enough

Your best video yet! Thank you!

That was a terrific watch. Many thanks.

Come from a family of grandma bakers. As a male young child I took an interest, and an the last of the family to carry to carry on. One thing I have not tried in a very long time, and thought you might like to explore is American frontier sour dough flap jack pan cakes. Mom and I used to make those the night before back in the 1960s, and they were good! Dare you to test your skill on this one! Good luck with the egg. We made sour dough English muffins as well, so is only fair.

Hi Jack. Your sourdough recipe was not my problem. I tried using a baking stone but the bottom crust was always undercooked. My Dutch oven gave me a great loaf but unfortunately the lower bottom sides are not crusty but is soft. My solution was to buy a custom piece of steel 1/2 inch thick (12.7 mm) and use it as my baking surface. It weighs about 25 lbs (11.3 kg). My loaves have turned out perfect...I use a steam bath using hot stones to keep the steam. My starter is like yours...all I do is keep the excess and use it for another bake by adding 100g of whole wheat and 100g of water. Stick it in the microwave over night and use it I the morning.

Really enjoyed this. Lots to learn from.

All this was really helpful!

Wish I’d watched this sooner. The first question rung true with me. Followed your exact instructions but the dough was just too wet and sticky for me to be able to fold it. Love your channel mate, thanks for all the help.

Great video again Jack 🎉

TRUST THE BUBBLES!

Like Cheryl from Vancouver Island I have a dense hard to slice bottom crust. I don't use "proper" equipment. No Steam. No baking stone, No dutch oven. I still like the taste of the bread. Lately I have been using a heavy cookie sheet and allowing the oven to reach 450 F and remain there for 1/2 hour before beginning the bake. I actually got a tiny ear on that bake. Although the breads always taste good to me, the look of the breads continue to improve. Like Jack says there is not really a substitute for experience. Besides the whole process is fun:>

Today i had similar results as that at 20:00 mark. Starter was active (took a spoon from mother in the fridge, fed it 50g/50g and it doubled in size the next day), mixed, stretched and folded 3 times and fermentation was about 6-7h in 24degC and then shaped and went to fridge for almost 16hrs (whole evening and overnight). That should be plenty for fermentation and proofing.

In reference to the tap water vs bottled, I do the same here in Florida, use only bottled water. I moved to FL from NJ and noticed my coffee tasted weird. Same coffee beans, coffee maker, but weird flavor. From that point I started using bottled water only. Had to get a 5 gal tank delivery service because tap water in FL is awful. They use a lot of chlorine due to high humidity levels is what I'm told. Bagels here taste like styrofoam. I don't know if water in NJ or NYC is the same as it was 10 years ago, but it was definitely better than it is here. I even started making my own bagels because I couldn't find a good bagel place. Even though water is being boiled, I still take from 5gal tank water vs tap. Definitely a noticeable difference.

You remind me so much of my youngest son. He's now in the US Marine Corps so I don't get to see him very often. He looks just a little like you, but it's more the expressions on your face as you talk that remind me of him so very much. I've seen your channel recommended so many times. I was using a modified scrapings method in that I would feed the scrapings right after mixing up my loaf. I would pop it into the fridge. When it had raised just a little over the rubber band, I would set it on the counter overnight. By morning, it was ready to go. Then I tried refrigerating only the scrapings. Now, to be fair it was a longer than usual when I took it out to feed it. But it had a foul smell & even had a spot of mold on 1 edge. I got another starter going, but the loaf turned out horrible. So I searched out your channel to learn some more about making sourdough. And, bonus! You remind me of my son.

Hi Jack, a friend bakes sourdough twice a week and it comes out perfect. I decided to have a go and made a starter which came out good. I made the sourdough but needed it for about 10 minutes then popped it in the fridge overnight before baking. The dough did not rise and when baked it was spongy and gooey inside. What went wrong as this method came from my friend?

Funny thing, I just started watching your videos in the last week or so, but during this one I noticed you blinking quite a bit in the video. I thought does he have a concussion? It will be five years for me since my accident, blinking and words getting stuck in my brain makes me stutter in a way. Many of my symptoms did not show up in the first few months and they changed frequently. I happened upon the one where you were injured on the skateboard. So I was correct in my thinking that you may be suffering from concussion symptoms. I hope you are doing well and continue to heal. Thanks for all your knowledgeable baking lessons.

Oh I’m excited to see this, and see it’s so long! I didn’t send in a question but maybe you’ll answer it from someone else- I’m new to sourdough and 3/4 of my loaves have failed to get an ear. Instead, where I slit my loaves kind of crusted over and remained flush with the rest of the top crust. In two of the loaves, the crust surface actually burst along the bottom, rather than the top. The texture of these loaves was very dense compared to the one that did get an ear (but they still made nice crisp breads- thanks for that suggestion in your book). I wondered if I slit my loaves too far ahead of putting them in the oven- I think I did the slit maybe 10 minutes before. Or perhaps I didn’t generate enough steam to keep the crust soft during the initial rise in the oven? If anyone else has experienced this, I’m happy to hear tips. Thanks!

Jack I think you might have misunderstood the question on starters 'dying'. Most starters will have activity in the first couple of days when they are new and then subsides despite daily feeds. I suspect your emailers might have been feeding when you seemed to assume they had not. That first bloom is bacteria which settles down as the microbes in the new starter 'do battle'. People perceive this as it failing, all you need to do is keep to the daily feed and it will establish itself.

I’ve heard that chlorinated water can be left on the counter top to “gas off”, meaning that the chlorine is no longer in the water. I would do this over night before you bake the bread. Chlorine is added to water to kill of bacteria. This will kill off the yeast as well as far as I am aware.

To the folks seeing their new starter "fail" after 3-4 days of initial success, discard some and press on and Jack advises. I believe this may be from following his excellent "No Discard" method to a T, which does not discuss discards. That video is excellent, but... Starting from scratch with 25g Flour and 25g Water and simply repeating for several consecutive days will initially work. But by day 4 or 5, you can no longer simply add 25/25g. You need to discard most of it, then crack on.

Hi Jack! Thank you for your videos!! Question…I feed my starter at 1:3:3 and store in the frig, but each recipe calls for different feeding ratios, can I just use mine in any recipe or must I change the feeding for each recipe. Thank you!

I have a brilliant yoghurt machine by Kuving that will ferment anything at a constant temperature for up to 60 hours, very helpful for timing the levaine.

I have a question. Baked my first sourdough bread. It was tasty and nice. Made it with rye and wheat flour. One thing disappointed me. It didn't smell much. I want bread to fill the kitchen with a wonderful smell. That's part of the experience but it didn't happen.

I am going to sample you into my DNB tracks alrite? This was me receiving permission.😊 Got some dough in the oven right now!!!

Im a little late to the party...but..made my first two sourdough loaves over the weekend. I have lots of work ahead. Mine seemed under done..BUT...I thini i know where my mistake was.. i used a whole wheat for a starter(100%) which Im sure is just fine(?) It tripled in its overnight rise at roughly 80°F. I used 620g water, 16g salt and 900g flour...BUT..BUUT I used a combo of whole wheat(400g) and unbleached all purpose (500g). Bread was very dense.. Is this because I used whole wheat AND white flour with the -620g- of water? Im thinking..gets me in trouble all the time) that i should have increased my water?? I know, I know..first mistake was veering fromthe path of the recipe..from your video "sourdough loaf for beginners". You used 100% of one kind flour( unbleached All Purpose). Is this where I made my mistake..? Please help. . . . Edited...i saw "Josephines problem...mine could have been also that ut was too cool..69°/70°F in my kitchen..PLUS maybe the lack of H2O with whole wheat..since if im correct whole wheat requires more moisture(?) Crisps/crackers sounds like a good idea for mine then..with the hummus!🤌🏻

Neeta meant that she had trouble cutting slices because the crust was too hard to cut

Hi jack do you have video on making a nice crusty wholemeal loaf

Hi jack I've paused the vid to ask a specific question at 47:10 what flour did you use to get the light crumb and thin crust ?? thank you in advance.

Hi Jack, my sourdough came out and rose but it did not have oven spring, the texture is gummy and the crust is chewy not crispy. It 's defficult to be sliced. What have I done wrong? Should the sourdough bread be gummy? When I said gummy, I mean more gummy than my homemade normal bread which I made from commercial yeast.

All the best to you :)

Missing you ❤ hope you are ok. 🤞🙏❤️🕊

my starter scrapings has mold growing on it. what do i do?

How much bread do you eat in a day

Hi Jack. Question: why does my starter look more liquidly than yours? Yours looks much thicker and I am trying to figure out what I am doing differently.

QUESTION: Thanks Jack, you answered my question but I did a poor job of asking it. Let me try again… I’m a pandemic baker, but I bake a lot of bread only with yeast. I’ve never gotten a successful sourdough starter. After a few days of feeding it, it shows lots of bubbles, but then eventually, after maybe five or six days, it shows no activity at all, even when I feed it daily like I was doing during the first few days. I keep it in a closed jar on the kitchen counter. Any ideas? Thanks!

I love your energy! You have great videos! but... this one is my personal hobby horse: The majority of starters take more than 2 weeks to establish. Now you might say "Hang on, I get puff in 3 days? What is he on about?" There is one of 2 things happening if you are getting an active starter in 3 to 5 days: #1: you cross-contaminated your starter. I get it, you are not a scientist, you are just a fun guy helping people bake. No big deal... sorta... Anyway... #2: The starter is getting that initial bacterial bloom, and then will die down in a day or two. This is where people panic, and the source of a bunch of the questions. It can be a week of what looks like a "dead" starter, but what is actually happening is that it is a little tiny "bacteria fight club" going on. Normally, the starter is dropping the PH lower and lower each day. When it gets low enough, the yeasts in the flour kick on. SO...... I have a challenge for you: Pick a non-baking friend who is game for an experiment. Give them instructions for making a starter, but don't even go to his house; don't send him any of your equipment; don't send him any of your ingredients. No chance for cross-contamination this way. You can give your friend as much remote coaching as you wish. How long until it is a reliable starter?

Regarding the burnt ear. I heard someone (can't remember who's video) advise "flirt with burnt". I can't get that out of my mind now. I have actually put my bread back in the oven until I got that slight burn. I love it. Looks like a true artisan loaf. At least to me.

Can you do a keto bread so low carb?

hi Jack this has nothing to do with Sourdough. but why have you not covered Tiger bread in your book? just a thought, I think you mist a trick.

This isn't a sourdough question but I need help. I have been baking for quite a while now but I still have two problems. 1/ I bake a loaf with 645 grms of flour and 368 grms of water and @ 200 degrees but it's cooked in 23 mins. Any longer and it's overdone. Most recipes say 30 - 40 mins but if I left it that long it would be burnt. It was the same in my old oven so I am puzzled. 2/ It comes out of the oven with a beautiful crust but by the time it has cooled it's soft and raggy - Any ideas please???

Could Nick be using baskets that are too big? They look rather big. Also Jack, you play a lot of Nintendo? It sounds like it.

I like letting my flat bread dough rise like eight times. If I don't get at every half hour the alcohol and lack of oxygen will kill yeast and new bacteria guys.

40:20 women