Troubleshooting
I’m trying to make my own starter from scratch and it’s not doing anything!
A: How long has it been? When I made my starter it took me about 12 days for it to start doubling. It’s a long process, but patience is key. If it’s been longer than 14 days and your starter hasn’t doubled yet, you may want to start over.
I’m making a starter from dried starter and it’s not doing anything!
While this process is shorter than making a starter from scratch, it still takes some time. If you are using my dried starter your starter isn’t bubbly by the 5th or 6th day of scheduled feedings, shoot me an email at sourdoughsaturday@gmail.com with a picture of what your starter looks like, and I’ll work through it with you.
I think my starter is ready to bake, but I’m not sure… how do I know?
When your starter is consistently doubling in volume in 6 hours, your starter is ready to bake with! If it’s not yet doing that, keep feeding it until it is!
I made my first loaf and it didn’t rise…
That’s okay! You’re not going to get on the first time, try it again and make sure you follow all of the instructions closely. While sourdough is more forgiving than a lot of homemade breads, it can be tricky when you are starting. Try again, and stay positive! It’ll be worth it!
My bread came out super gummy and/or dense, what did I do wrong?
This is often a sign of your dough being under-proofed. This can be from a few things. When baking you want to use your starter at its most active point, right when it has doubled. Using a less-active starter can result in under-proofed loaves. It could also be that your dough was in the fridge for too long. The longest I leave my loaves in the fridge is about 14 hours, no longer.
The bottom of my bread is burnt, but the rest looks okay.
This is a problem I face all the time. With electric ovens, the heating elements are often at the bottom of the oven, causing all of the heat during baking to be concentrated at the bottom of the Dutch oven. To combat this, I will stack two baking sheets together and place them on the shelf below where my Dutch oven will be. I place these in at the same time as I place the dough into the Dutch oven. This will help block some of the direct heat from the bottom of the bread.
More questions? Send me an email, or message me on Instagram!
@sourdoughsaturday