You can read about this in detail in my free book called “The Sourdough Framework”. You can get it here: breadco.de/book. You can support the project with a donation, but there is absolutely no knead. I believe information like this should be free and accessible to everyone. The book is made for everyone who wants to understand the important details when making sourdough bread. Thank you!
Gluten tag gets me every time. As Norwegian it's so close german that it is rally mening something to me, so I start the videos by smiling and laughing. Danke for the extraordinary superinteresting way you explain and also shows the effects, not just letting it stop by being theory. Please enlighten us as much you can, I am shure the bakers world is a world you can have a bright future in if you are taking this route you do.
Mate, thank you so much! My starter had been looking “sad” for a while now, and after you pointed out the issue, I re-fed it 1:10:10, and it exploded into life! Just baked my best ever loaf 😁 Bravo 👏
You blow my mind with every video. I just learned my starter was not up to par as I have been feeding her just bread flour. So tonight she gets some wheat and rye. Thank you Hendrik for all you do for us all.
Thank you so much for this video! I am loving the kitchen science experiments. I live in a very warm humid environment, so I had unknowingly been consistently over-fermenting my dough. The set times that other vloggers had suggested just weren’t working for my dough but I didn’t realize that that was what the problem was. Your tip of using the sample to judge when the bulk fermentation process should stop has saved me from giving up! Bless you dear bread geek. I’m a new fan.
Thank you SOOOO much. My starter was alive but not thriving or rising fully. I realized after watching this that my ratio of 1:1:1 was making it too acidic. Switched to 1:5:5 and wow! Thanks so much.
Peace & love to you , i am starting my first starter looking to get in the world of sourdough baking .Is it okay to start with whole Spelt & Rye flour ?
I’ve always had issues with what I now know from too acidic starter. I’d given up on baking sourdough until this video! Thanks for breaking down the info and proving steps in a concise, consumable manner! I can’t wait to try this method!
Great tips, it took me so long to figure out the sourness levels of my bread. Can't emphasize how right you are about having a strong starter because, in my experience, 90% of the battle is a strong/healthy starter. The rest of the process will be forgiving to the point where you can practically be neglectful. Using a weak or mediocre starter will require a LOT more skill and will crush you if you're a beginner. However, if you're ever forced to use a weak or mediocre starter, adding a tiny pinch of commercial yeast to your dough is magical.
Moin Jay. Thanks for the nice words. Yes, I love doing that with buns for instance. When you proof them on the tray the added yeast really helps speeding things up. A great hack, truly.
I find you videos boring before I made my first bread. But now after 3 failed sourdough breads I discovered your videos super helpful. thanks so much for all the technicalities and tips. Love lots from the Philippines😍
You are just very good to explain things in a way that everybody can understand. Thank you so very much! I can tal you this: 3-4 months ago, not in my wildest dreams have I not dreamed to bake bread myself. But because of you, Foodgeek and Bake With Jack, I baked today "the bread of my childhood" It may not be exactly like THAT bread, but when I tasted the crust and the crumb, this is what it came in my mind. It happened to write to you, because of this amazing interesting experiment, but I learned from all three of you 🙂 Thank you 🙋♂️ Non of the breads I'v been bakenging tourned out bad. I don't know why 🤷♂️🤣🤣🤣 but I have been progressing with each bread I baked. I am far away from your lavel guys, but I can bake now, because of you, bread that I cannot buy anywhere. So that's more than enough for me. And I'm getting better still.......I hope 😂 So, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH ! an I hope to hear MOIN! a long time from now😀😉🙋♂️ Stay cool and stay safe!
I am on day 4 of my first sourdough starter batch. I have watched a ton of videos. This was extremely helpful. I am definitely going to try this method!
Hi dear, I´m Adriana from São Paulo, Brasil. I´m new in the art of making sourdough bread. In Brasil we use more the french word Levain because the word sourdough sounds stranger in Portuguese. I already have my sourdough starter "Nono" it´s only three months old. I´m learning a lot with your videos and the important details you share. Tank you so much for this. I´ll watch all your tutorials to learn more, I´m dreaming of bake the perfect sourdough bread. All breads I have baked until now are flat : ( I wish you all the best and tanks again to share your knowledge!
Adriana, Tudo bem? I live in Brazil, Indaiatuba, SP, and make my own sourdough bread. I use 400 g Renata Tipo 1 and 100 g of Farinha de Centeio. For the starter I use only Farinha de Centeio, as follows: 1-2-2. In a clean glass I add 30g of my previous starter, now I add 60g of Farinha de Centeio and 60g of water. Mix all together well and put in fridge. I feed my starter once a week. My bread always turned out perfectly. Good luck.Boa sorte.
Dear The Bread Code, I just want to say a huge thank you for this video. We've been struggling for many months now (following other, very different, approaches) to get the light, open, aerated texture which we consider to be the sign of a great sourdough loaf. Following your very clear instructions here and switching the feeding of our starter to rye flour, we have now made two loaves which we are really proud of; they look and taste fantastic. The only tiny change we made was to use 10g less water, as we struggled to shape the dough ball and to use a little more water than flour when feeding our starter, just to loosen it up. Thank you again for a truly transformational video and keep up the great work. Best wishes to you and your family.
Moin Dave. You are most welcome and thank you for the nice words. That truly means a lot. This is what motivates me, enabling so many people around the world to bake amazing bread.
I've been making SD for about a year. I must have watched your video 5 times and I paid great attention to your details. My first loaf tasted amazing, I had the ear and the blisters but not the rise. Everything looked as yours did throughout the process until I put it in the Dutch Oven. Then it just spread out not as bad as your Frisbee example but needs help. I will make my second loaf following your instructions again this week. Thank you for making a video with all the details.
From one German to another.....Wow I just followed all your 4 steps,,,,,and my gosh my bread turned out awesome, especially the trick with the sample jar, and the fermentation....THANK YOU SOOOOO much 👍 and I been using everyone else's techniques without much success
Moin 2nd Chance Creations By Christa, you are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
Your videos are so awesome with all the explanations for making sourdough. I have been on my serious sourdough journey since March 2020. Yes I named the starter and she is Rye Flour based. During pandemic time baking and learning sourdough kept me happy. I’ve watched so much TH-cam channels but mainly 4 including yours. It is good to merge as much as we can. Unfortunately here in BC, Canada I can only find protein levels of 4-5 which is not high but I have good success. I still have much to learn but this is my happy place so thanks again for your hard work helping all of your followers.
Este tipo es un genio. Has rebelado tips y consejos como nadie en sur América lo hace. Los panaderos youtubers de sur América explican cómo hacer pan de una manera muy resumida, tacaña, guardandose mucha información con el fin de hacer negocio y ganar dinero. En cambio tu, lo haces desde la perspectiva más generosa, basada en tu teoría y práctica y por lo que veo sin ánimos de lucrar. Tu canal es muy bueno, felicidades. Saludos desde Chile 🇨🇱
Breadmaking is part art, part science. While the art part is acquired with practice and experience, the science part comes from understanding the chemistry, biology and physics of the breadmaking processes. Your explanations are very helpful and interesting! I'm a novice sourdough baker but your tips will help me to improve the final product. My bakes so far have been good (and quite edible) but I want a springier loaf with a more open, airy crumb. Thank you!
I've watch about 3 sourdough experts explain it all in some detail but this video beautifully ties it all together - the knowledge of what is really going on so it is no longer a black box and the tips and tricks that go with that knowledge to avoid common mistakes.
Great information and completely different from what other sources say. I've read in the past that you should only use white flour to feed the starter and use a 1:1:1 ratio when feeding, but your starter is so beautiful that I'm going to start using your directions.
You, sir... Are a legend. This has helped my bread greatly. I couldn't get a proper oven rise with my all purpose flour starter and now I know why. Thanks a lot! Can't wait for your book.
Wow, I’ve been on this sourdough journey about a month and what I’ve come to understand is that every starter is different because every circumstance, environment and ingredients are different. What I missed from this video was that to prepare your starter to be ready to bake, if you change the percentage of flour and water to starter, you need to keep your starter outside the fridge for two days and use the new percentage for a couple of days to build your starter up again. But this also applies to starter that has been outside the fridge already. But maybe that’s just me!!Haha. I think the best moment for me was when I finally realized that my circumstance is different than any other and I would need to build my starter and my process to fit my unique environment rather than look for a structured ‘recipe’ from someone else. This freed my mind to mix all the info out there and experiment on my own turf to come up with my own process. Once I got over the frustration , it felt amazing and freeing. I have yet to create my first loaf, but I’m on the road to my own unique starter. Once I’m satisfied with it, I know I’ll be a great bread baker. Love your content! I enjoy your personality and your little smiles!! Bake on and prosper. LoL.
Hi! I'm using 1/25/25 ratio and it's really doing a great job. I feed my starter once in 24 hour and hold it in room temperature all the time. The leftovers are great for pancakes and muffins. Thank you for all of the videos!
Yes 1:5:5 is the correct way to make ur starter perfect only bread code was kind enough to help me through with my success of beginners sourdough i was stuck on dense breads for more than a month but with guidelines from bread. Ode i imprved in a weeks time, all other sourdough bread makers are mean n selfish they want u buy merch from them n they may or maynot help you. Bread code helps people who help themselves who have a strong passion for sourdough. Thanks once again brother hendrick. 🙏🏻
Thank you so much. This tutorial was extremely helpful and I learned so much. My ratios have been all wrong. I was using the 1:1:1 and really not seeing very much consistent growth in my starter. I will out to practice your suggestions 👍🏼
This was an absolutely excellent video! I started my starter with rye flour and it really came to life even blew the lid off the jar I was using too small of a jar! But once I got to the maintenance stage I tried all purpose flour and it killed my starter! So now I’m using whole wheat flour and it came right back to life and made an excellent sourdough bread! But the second loop wasn’t as good but I had it where the dishwasher is and the dishwasher I use twice in the day and it puts off a lot of heat and humidity so the acid level obviously went up in the second little poison is good! Thank you that I now understand the watch the acid level!
This was an awesome tutorial! I am reading and watching “everything sourdough” lately. I finally am feeling the rhythm and rhyme of sourdough. What a relief! Oh, and think it is very cool to travel with your starter and incorporate local flours into it! Thanks again!
when I was a kid I always asked "why?" Oh, my parents were so sick of it, but for me, having an understanding how things work made everything so much easier, acceptable, and of course UNDERSTANDABLE :D I LOVE this video. Thank you for posting it and never second guess all the information you generously give.
Thank you so much for your useful videos. Very often i couldn’t guess the right time when I had to stop stretch and fold and usually I have got over fermented dough. Recently i used your method to put a small amount of dough in som glass and follow up the fermentation process of my dough. The result was amazing. I put the dough into refrigerator the right time and the open oven spring I have got after I baked the bread was amazing. Thank you once again.
I've watched many TH-cam videos and was trying to make my own bread but all I ended up with was pancakes. It wasn't until I found your channel that my bread finally started turning out correct. I really appreciate the very scientific approach.
I'm very new to the process so thank you so much for all your super useful/technical information. I'm also of German decent so I get how In depth you become when you explain the process.. I'm the same! Love it.....
Thank you for the mini jar idea to keep a track of bulk fermentation. Going to do the same but using a shot measuring cup. I have one that is 3 ounces and has a measurement every 10ml which is perfect for this purpose.
@@Fırındansofraya yes it does differ slightly, however it doesn’t matter. I’m going to use an analogy as to why. Lets say there’s two people who are counting. One counts upwards at a consistent pace and by one integer (1, 2…1000 etc.) and the other does as well but every time he reaches a hundredth number (100, 200, etc) he subtracts 18-22 (think of this as the folding stage) and then keeps counting up (99, 100, 81, 82 etc). The first person is your control in this scenario/the mini jar. The second person is your bread dough. Since both people are counting at the same rate, you can be fairly sure that when person A’s count is 500, person B’s count will be very close to 400. It’s the same exact thing for bread. The reason we can safely assume they’re counting at the same rate is because the percent of bacteria/yeast in both doughs is the same. They multiply at the same rate and produce the same amount of gas per volume of dough. Just because you’re slightly degassing the dough via folding, it does not change the rate at which the bacteria and yeast are creating gas. I hope this clears up any confusion :). I’ve actually moved on from using a shot cup and now use a plastic test tube with a string tied to the screw cap. I then spin it like a centrifuge to get the dough down to the bottom. I worked in a lab so yeah… centrifuges should be a kitchen appliance I swear. I know how ridiculous it is, however I can calculate the rise down to 1% making my proofing time extremely accurate and it has greatly improved my bread making to the point that I now always have the perfect proofing time.
@@Fırındansofraya sorry the rise time doesn’t differ, the volume of rise does differ. Remember the dough matrix is being broken down at the same rate, regardless of how much the dough has been degassed. It is the breakdown of this matrix that ultimately decides if the bread has been proofed properly, not the volume. You can have a perfectly timed proof bread and completely degas it will look less proofed than an underproofed bread. If you bake them though, the properly proofed bread will taste better, albeit it will be denser.
@@Fırındansofraya so the control in the small jar is measuring the amount of matrix breakdown. If you are consistent with your recipe and the timing of when you put your control dough in the jar, you will be consistent in knowing when the dough’s matrix has been broken down properly. Regardless of the volume in increase of your bread dough, if your control has increased in volume by lets say 75% (note this may be different for you depending on your recipe, flour, starter, and if you refrigerate and how long) you can be sure that your bread dough is done proofing because the optimal matrix breakdown is complete.
I needed this YESTERDAY!! I mean I've had my dough collapse every time! I've been saving it by adding store bought yeast and lots of flour! Bread bakes up very nicely but i needed to learn this. I have been doing my starter all wrong! I can't believe you save only a small tsp! Great tips! I just wish they taught these 4 tips with the "How to make a starter" instructions. What a life saver! So glad I learned it now.
I changed the flour of my starter from bread flour to whole wheat Its been a wk now. Although it doubles in size. Its not passing the float test. Did i just kill my healthy starter ? Help please!
My starter was in the fridge for 4 mos! I dried it out w flour then stirred and added more flour on top (no air). Tight lid- went away. It took me 10 days to get my starter healthy because I wasn’t adding enough flour to feed it for several days. Today I’m making bread (starter has doubled and floats)! ❤
This is pretty awesome! I’m a bio teacher and I can use this video to illustrate many aspects of fermentation BUT the issue is that the graph is backwards. The greater the acidity the lower the pH and your x and y values are very much misplaced. I got your point, though, and most people wouldn’t mind. My comment is not a smarty pants comment, it would just become confusing to explain which I would have LOVED to use your video in the classroom. Your starter is EXCELLENTLY deconstructed and superb.
Thank you; I'm sitting in Australia where the floods have begun to recede and the temperature is 30 degrees C. What better way to spend my time than re-watching your video on the importance of lower acidity in the starter etc. I had one disaster with a huge change in overnight ambient temperature; tried a rescue that didn't work but I learned much. I have contented myself with yeast and different mixes of flour for rustic bread as I wait again for cooler weather and calmer starter.
Ahh, so many questions answered! Thanks very much for all the detail and clairity around the measurements, and the science and the slow and careful delivery...Happy 2021
Moin and Gluten Tag. Too long didn't watch - Fermentation is king 🤣. Also - it seems I did a small error in the video, sorry for missing this. The dough had 375 grams of water (75%) :-). Not 350 grams. I will do the same recipe again next week, trying to tweak it even further.
I did something similar with a longer autolyze. One tweak that you might want to try to make it easier, even though it's called no kneed bread: After loosely incorporating the starter, instead of continuing with effort to finish incorporating in the pot, you could always dump your dough on the counter and bench kneed it there, even round it up. Much easier to incorporate and actually see if you missed spots (also ads strength). Then it's back in the pot :) Good luck.
Just to share my findings. Today I baked 2 loafs, from starter prepared as you showed. 1 loaf was pre-shaped at 50% rise of fermentation probe, 2nd loaf was pre-shaped at 100% rise. The 1st loaf turned much better, the 2nd turned out flat. So I guess 50% is the goal for me.
😅 I’ve come across your videos I’ve been taking breaks for 35 years never had I made a sourdough or use the wet recipes. I’m following your directions making sure the oven is not the actual temperature baking the breads, at a lower temperature. Oh, paying close attention to the starter. I am so proud to say I have oven spring. I have oven spring dark crusts. 🙏🙏🙏 thank you so much.😊
I have watched and watched again all of your tutorials and find them very informative. Thank you for taking the time to make them!! I live in Chiangmai, Thailand - therefore the weather is not the same as in Germany. This year it has been pretty dry actually - around 50% humidity rather than 80%! Therfore I adjust my water accordingly. Temperature in my kitchen is about 22-26C I spent all day yesterday testing a few ways to make sourdough bread. I made 1 loaf according to your recommendation and another loaf - I changed a few things around in an attempt to get a decent loaf, in less time! This is what I did - all in 1 day - no overnight for the dough. I used 1:5:5 starter which I fed a day earlier using 20% rye + 80% unbleached bread flour natural spring wheat 13% protein - it grew 4+ times over night! - while the 100% rye feed only doubled in volume. The recipe I used was 300gm bread flour (13% protein), 50gm rye flour & 50gm all purpose flour. I mixed 8 gm of salt into the flour and sifted everything (to make sure it's all blended well and lighter - same as in cake making!). Then I put 80gm starter into 300gm water (make sure the starter floats!) - mix well --- add flour mixture to the water solution and mix by turning in the center with a fork - same as making pasta dough. Mix really well as you would do when feeding the starter - no dry flour left - and leave at room temperature, well covered for 2-3 hours. Take out & shape gently on bench into a nice tight ball - rest again (covered) room temperature for another hour. Take out - shape & into basket, covered, leave for 30 minutes. Heat up Challnger in oven for 30 minutes. Spray water on loaf - score - bake at 240C for 20 minutes covered & 20-25 minutes uncovered. As a result, the oven rise was much better than your method - the loaf practically exploded! Perhaps you can try. I feel that if the flours are not well mixed - then the results are not as good. If the starter is not well incorporated into the flour - the result is not so good either. Smearing the starter on the dough later makes it very difficult, and messy, to incoorprate properly. These are the reasons why I mixed them up in the beginning ... salt into flours .... starter into water. The salt did NOT kill the starter - and that is for sure :-)
Excellent video. Would suggest using a "shot glass" (as used to mix drinks) to hold the small proofing sample. Tapered shape and volume marks make measuring easy.
This explained so much about a recent sticky disaster I had in a no-knead bread that I let go overnight outside the fridge. And I totally figured German before I heard “guten tag” but I mean that in a really affectionate way. I have had a few German friends in my life when I was younger and they were very special.
The fact he is willing to have a body cavity search in the name of sourdough scientific research makes him my go to bread guy. Period. Dry humor sorry.. Thank you for all you do for us figuring out the code. No wonder my starter hated that ap flour.
This is great. I note that in the video you call for 500g flour and 350g water to make 75% hydration, but the recipe actually has that ratio correct (500g flour to 375g water). Thanks for the excellent tips!
Yep - sorry. I also made a followup with that recipe. I adjusted a few things, specifically the hydration based on the flour's protein % - maybe interesting to you: th-cam.com/video/dl7crk2Nvj8/w-d-xo.html
Great contens! thank you. Learnt a lot... However, the sample in the small glass dish next to the fermenting dough didn't react at all, and when I thought it was long enough, the main dough was overfermented and it was perfect for a frisbee game. Well, making the perfect sourdough bread ain't that easy anyway.
I have made this recipe several times and it truly was a game changer for me! Thank you for all of your help and guidance though my sourdough journey 🙏 I decided to rewatch the video again and noticed there is no mention of stretch and folds/coil folds after the dough is mixed. I have been doing about 4 sets of coil folds when I've made the bread, but are YOU personally omitting this step in this recipe?? Thanks again for your help ❤
You give such important advice at every step. It is your videos that have given me some understanding and some confidence to try again. You’re a great teacher and you’re also funny.
Thank you for this... the explanations, recipe, techniques, all of it. VERY helpful, uncomplicated, & much easier to understand the "hows" & "whys" with your video. I'll be using this ASAP to "fix" my starter & technique, & I have no doubt my bread will be (nearly) perfect! Again, THANK YOU!
Thanks for this video! It was super informative 😁🤓👍🏼🍞 I’ve just gotten into making sourdough myself and you taught me so much! I’m curious as to where you got your thermometer 🌡 and pH tool from? If you could please share the brands with us? Thank you 🙏🏼
I had to admit that the length of ur video caused me reluctant to watch at first. But I end up with watching number of its!!! Thanks for ur greats sharing #from another side of the world
First time making a starter and baking bread from scratch! I followed these instructions exactly, my bread turned out amazing! Wish you could show pics in comments!
I bought the same IKEA glass container last week and it makes a big difference! Before that I just had the plastic mixing bowl that came with my hand mixer and it is not perfectly smooth on the inside and I covered it with a damp towel because I don't have a lid for it. Getting the dough out of there has always been a bit tricky. But the IKEA jar is perfectly smooth on the inside and the lid has a rubber seal and it keeps the moisture inside in the best way. In the video where you taught me the basics you said "any container will work", but I want to underline that the container should be made of glass and be perfectly smooth inside and have a rubber seal lid. I also tried with a Pyrex glass container, but that one has the word "Pyrex" stamped into the bottom where the dough will catch. So IKEA is cheapest and by far the best! It is the 3.1 liter model of the 365+ series of kitchenware.
Nice tips! However, I usually feed my starter with bread flour and it works fine. I feed at a 1:1:1 ratio if it is already very active, or I use a ratio of around 1:50:50. I find that bread flour makes it easier to adapt it for different breads.
Same, though when I initially made my starter I did also use rye flour. Once it was alive and kicking I switched to regular white flour and at least so far so good (couple months).
@@omgitalo My starter is now almost 1 year old (started in Feb 2021). I initially created the starter using a very coarse whole wheat flour, and it was ready in 2 weeks.
Today is day 3 for my starter I named her Sylvia . She is doing so good bubbly and happy. Her twin brother is in the refrigerator and Sylvester is waiting to be a part of the next batch of pancakes! Thank you so much for all the help.
Hi, thanks so much for your amazing channel! I love sourdough bread but it is hard to find any authentic ones in my area. Your videos finally convinced me to start my own sourdough starter last week. A big question is, when checking the volume of the starter, do I take into account the bubbles the starter create? My one-week-old starter (Bob) now doubles in volume within a couple of hours after feeding, but when I tap the jar on the countertop, it collapses and I see that the size has not really increased much, just a little bit. Another thing is, it is starting to smell quite acidic (like nail polish - I don't have a PH tester). Is it because it is too warm (24C) and maybe I should also reduce the feeding ratio (change from 1:1:1 to 1:5:5)? Thanks again and looking forward to baking my own sourdough bread very soon!
Hey V L. You are most welcome. Yep - try switching to the 1:5:5 feeding ratio. No worries, the moment you see your starter doubles, it is ready to be use. Good luck on the first bread :-)
I’ve learnt so much from this video alone! After around 3 loaves of bread (which were good, but not great), I have started to get a better understanding of the fact that the starter sourdough is by far the most important factor (which you confirmed, and embellished so excellently). I started with rye, then changed to white flour for the starter. I’m going to go back to Rye starting tomorrow with your 1:5:5 using the white starter (which is definitely too acidic)… again, thank you so much for all this information - you made me very excited to get going tomorrow!
Haha.. I travel with my sourdough, a cast iron pot, and my Kefir grains. Then again my family generally rents condos when we go on holiday. (Cheaper in our experience for larger families)
I learned so much from this video. I had this (omg I am so stupid) aha moment when I realized that feeding starter with all purpose flour is probably the reason why my often fed starter is weak. I thougt that the flour in starter must be the same as in the dough (I dont know why 😀). And all the other tips helped me understand the process so much more, I cant wait to recultivate my starter and bake something great. Thank you!
Moin moin! I was super excited stumbling over your videos after getting hooked on sourdough by foodgeek :) now I finally tried out your 10h Autolyse technique, but it completely failed on me. In the morning the gluten is very weak and tears immediately. I used your percentages, bread flour with 13% protein, normal German room temperature. I already thought the "hard" berlin tap water is the problem?! Thanks so much for your help!
Moin! Oh noes, that's annoying. I have never heard this happening. Even with my regular T550 flour this did not happen to me before. Have you tried again? Did it happen again? Interesting idea on the tap water.
@@the_bread_code sorry for late reply I need to get my notifications in order ;( I got it to work by ordering the Italian flour you suggest on your blog. Don‘t know why it failed, didn‘t dare trying again
Thank you, 2 days ago I started my starter and followed exactly as you did, my PH just before adding to the autolyse was 4.3. I did some stretch and folders and it doubled in volume. (Small sample in a covered jar) however I found my dough to be bubbly yet still slightly softer than your dough on the video. I have made a slight change by adding 100gr organic wholemeal and 400gr white organic stoneground flour. Now it's shaped and in the fridge, fingers crossed for tomorrow morning when I bake.
Well it failed, the dough was soft and fell flat slightly, anyway its in the oven baking now. Let's see what oven spring it has. I really cannot understand why this happens. What is breaking down the gluten? I autolyse overnight and did 3 folds, i pre shaped, but it appears to have risen slightly overnight, leaving the dough softer than I would have liked. I really want to perfect the method of making sourbread so frustrating
@@tonytony6031 Hi Tony. I think your dough was overfermented. If the autolysis increased the volume it seems that your flour has a lot of enzyes by itself. Then when adding your starter it become too aggressively acidic and active that the organisms have eaten up everything and keep nothing for oven. What I suggest is that you autolys in fridge instead of room temp. Or decrease the amount of your starter or decrease the fermentation period. As he said: No 2 flours the same and no 2 kitchens the same. Keep practicing with trial and error you will definetly got it at some point
You had me at sourdough starter. I have been trying to make sourdough bread for probably 15 times in the last two years. I tried every different recipe. Your video helped me understand the science behind it. I followed every step. This is the first time I got (which I consider) a good I oven spring. I live in high altitude state. I think I need to tweak it a bit. Danke Schoen.
Oh! What to do with the discarded sourdough? I realized that for Christmas, instead of putting it in a discard jar, I could split it and make several jars of starter for bread to give as Christmas gifts. :-)
Moin Denise. Oh - I typically bake a nice bread out of it. That's a nice idea. I would recommend you dry it this way, then it won't go bad: th-cam.com/video/EEqjqaTKV24/w-d-xo.html
Actually, you don't even need to feed your sourdough unless you plan to use it. Just keep it in the fridge and then there's no waste. For discard you already have, you can make bread or crackers. I like adding mine to egg noodles. If you do an internet search there are tons of recipes for discard.
I am pretty adventurous, so Ive added it to waffles/pancakes (just this AM), muffins, even doughnuts (which I bake then lightly pan fry). Focattia, all kinds of stuff. I hesitate to try & use it for enriched bread tho.
Hi Tibi. This is what we always do in most middle east regions. We dont do any sour starters or poolish or what so ever. We just add some yougurt to the dough mix and go overnight in the fridge... without even a yeast. The older the yougurt the better
Tks again. I live in d tropics n my kitchen temp is daily 30c, only on very rainy days does it cool to 29c 😃 Previously wet dough handling was a challenge even at 70% hydration when my starter/levain was
Being a cheap German myself, I have the same free jars 😄 my dough is resting in the fridge overnight now, thanks to your videos all went well until now!
@@the_bread_code Turned out to be my best sourdough bread yet! Thank you for all the comprehensible explanations, instead of following a recipe I tested out hydration levels and all your other steps - this was an eyeopener for me :) Vielen lieben Dank dafür!
Man, thank you so much for putting all this together for us to educate ourselves ! I think I've learned more in 30 min that I had in my one year sourdough bread read-the-net/trial/error journey. I've been plagued by flat bread issues for most of the summer and been trying to fiddle around with bread fermentation time and oven settings only with marginally better results. I never guessed that the 1 to 1 to 1 daily feeding schedule that most people tend to praise as ideal throughout the internet might be the the biggest culprit here. I'm definitely going to put all your tips to good use. One more thing, I have been given a couple tips by a friend who worked in a bakery for a few years here in France, and one of them was : never put your yeast (they weren't making sourdough in that bakery though) directly into contact with solid salt. Salt grains will harshly pull out the water from the yeast cells and destroy some of them. Always dissolve all your salt into the water you are going to put into the bread and then add you yeast, to get the best fermentation results. I don't have any idea how much this is true or if it will make any difference in the end of the day, but I wanted to know if you have heard of, or experimented with this in the past ?
You are most welcome, thanks for the nice words. Yes, I heard this before, but I don't think it's that big of an issue. A few might die yep, but they also reproduce at the same time all the time. I wouldn't worry about this too much, it sounds to me like it could be 0.01% improvement hehe.
@@the_bread_code Yeah, not sure what difference it may make either. One thing for sure, this is definitely not a ground breaking effect because I'm still doing it by habit, but my bread is miles away from greatness ! XD I also wanted to let you know that I've baked my second bread applying your knowledge and things got instantly better. I've used a brand new flour that my local farm harvested this year, with an old variety of wheat which is, the lady there told me, quite low on gluten compared to modern wheat they have been growing until now. But despite having no experience with this new flour, I went for an overnight long autolysis and a less acidic starter and I'm already having twice as more air inside the loaf as my previous bread with the gluten rich flour. That was just amazing (and good tasting !) Still a lot of room for improvement on working with this new kind of flour, but now I have a much clearer idea of what I'm looking for and what I may change for the next one. Thank you so much !!!
@@arnaudn.5675 You are most welcome and glad to hear that. Try also using a loaf pan for your daily bread, it makes things a lot simpler. Plus in case you like it, you can make the dough a lot more sour and will still get quite good oven spring.
@@the_bread_code I already made the switch to the loaf pan. I prefer regular bread myself but my girlfriend is a huge fan of squared bread for her toasts despite the drop of oven spring. Things we do for love... Oh and we had a go on your recipy for the discard sourdough starters and it turned out amazing as well. I went for the mediterranean style, and tweaked it a little with a bit of dried garlic powder on top of the herbs and two tablespoons of olive oil in the dough (280g of starter + 140g of flour). Of course I kept the parmisan cheese on top. 👌
Your method has put my sourdough bread making abilities over the top! I have struggled for a year with making this, so I am truly happy to have bread with holes in it, versus regular looking bread. I even had an ear…in my loaf pan! Question, mixing the rye flour with equal amount of water produces a thick paste. Should I be adding a bit more water to the starter?
Ehrlich, eines der wichtigsten Videos zum Brotbacken, die ich dieses Jahr gesehen habe! Ich kenne genau die Probleme; habe aber nie verstanden, wieso. Danke! 🥰
Baking and cooking IS science! 😉The best recipes are all based on geeky scientific observations, trial and errors. That’s called the scientific process. 🤩 this is why I love cooking , baking AND science! You got to learn how things work and why especially because you are using living organisms in fermentation. #anothergeektalking 🥰
@@mybelovedsvineyard I thought it was obvious I feel the same way... which is why I enjoy watching the bread code channel. He's one of the smartest cutest geeks out there. #eatmoresourdoughbread. 😆❤
Hello, I love your bread tutorials! If I want to make as our a dough as possible for a really strongly flavored loaf do you have suggestions on a maximum pH level I could go down to? Thanks again, I have made so much better sour dough bread this year than last thanks to you.
I have been watching your videos, I will be trying this noknead bread and feeding my starter a different ratio. Some of my other bread recipes I have tried are so dense, the dough has been hard to handle. Thank you so much, love your accent by the way, living in Australia.
I've learnt so much from this video and I'm excited to try the overnight autolyse...wow!! Does acidity have an effect on how sour the bread tastes? I really like a super sour (would that be uber sour?! 🤣) taste so would love your geeky insight into how I can get that consistently...thank you! 🍞
Hey Mary. Glad you enjoyed the video! For a more sour bread, try to maybe use a loaf pan in the end. It will give additional support and you can make a more sour dough :-)
Hi, i was hoping you can help me with my sourdough starter. I started my starter yesterday and now my 2nd day i see that it doubled in size. But i noticed there is some kind of white liquidy flours at the very bottom of the jar.. By the way i used a whole wheat flour with some hulls in it. I hope you could help me. Thank you
You can read about this in detail in my free book called “The Sourdough Framework”. You can get it here: breadco.de/book. You can support the project with a donation, but there is absolutely no knead. I believe information like this should be free and accessible to everyone. The book is made for everyone who wants to understand the important details when making sourdough bread. Thank you!
Gluten tag gets me every time. As Norwegian it's so close german that it is rally mening something to me, so I start the videos by smiling and laughing. Danke for the extraordinary superinteresting way you explain and also shows the effects, not just letting it stop by being theory. Please enlighten us as much you can, I am shure the bakers world is a world you can have a bright future in if you are taking this route you do.
Made my first bread using your method and it was a success! After 4 other poor tries, you are the teacher for me! Thank you!
Mate, thank you so much! My starter had been looking “sad” for a while now, and after you pointed out the issue, I re-fed it 1:10:10, and it exploded into life!
Just baked my best ever loaf 😁
Bravo 👏
You blow my mind with every video. I just learned my starter was not up to par as I have been feeding her just bread flour. So tonight she gets some wheat and rye. Thank you Hendrik for all you do for us all.
Thank you so much for this video! I am loving the kitchen science experiments. I live in a very warm humid environment, so I had unknowingly been consistently over-fermenting my dough. The set times that other vloggers had suggested just weren’t working for my dough but I didn’t realize that that was what the problem was. Your tip of using the sample to judge when the bulk fermentation process should stop has saved me from giving up! Bless you dear bread geek. I’m a new fan.
Taking your starter on international trips - you’re truly committed to the craft of bread making!
Thank you SOOOO much. My starter was alive but not thriving or rising fully. I realized after watching this that my ratio of 1:1:1 was making it too acidic. Switched to 1:5:5 and wow! Thanks so much.
Moin TheGardengrrrl, you are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
17:23 - Hi, what kind of flour did you use? Have you ever used whole wheat flour? I want to use whole wheat but I’m afraid it won’t work?:((((
@@nguyenling4478 you Are supposed to use wheat or rye flour!
Peace & love to you , i am starting my first starter looking to get in the world of sourdough baking .Is it okay to start with whole Spelt & Rye flour ?
I am from Barbados thanks very much for your content we love it thanks very much
I’ve always had issues with what I now know from too acidic starter. I’d given up on baking sourdough until this video! Thanks for breaking down the info and proving steps in a concise, consumable manner! I can’t wait to try this method!
Moin Denise P, you are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
Great tips, it took me so long to figure out the sourness levels of my bread. Can't emphasize how right you are about having a strong starter because, in my experience, 90% of the battle is a strong/healthy starter. The rest of the process will be forgiving to the point where you can practically be neglectful. Using a weak or mediocre starter will require a LOT more skill and will crush you if you're a beginner. However, if you're ever forced to use a weak or mediocre starter, adding a tiny pinch of commercial yeast to your dough is magical.
Moin Jay. Thanks for the nice words. Yes, I love doing that with buns for instance. When you proof them on the tray the added yeast really helps speeding things up. A great hack, truly.
I find you videos boring before I made my first bread. But now after 3 failed sourdough breads I discovered your videos super helpful. thanks so much for all the technicalities and tips. Love lots from the Philippines😍
You are just very good to explain things in a way that everybody can understand.
Thank you so very much!
I can tal you this:
3-4 months ago, not in my wildest dreams have I not dreamed to bake bread myself.
But because of you, Foodgeek and Bake With Jack, I baked today "the bread of my childhood" It may not be exactly like THAT bread, but when I tasted the crust and the crumb, this is what it came in my mind. It happened to write to you, because of this amazing interesting experiment, but I learned from all three of you 🙂
Thank you 🙋♂️
Non of the breads I'v been bakenging tourned out bad. I don't know why 🤷♂️🤣🤣🤣 but I have been progressing with each bread I baked. I am far away from your lavel guys, but I can bake now, because of you, bread that I cannot buy anywhere. So that's more than enough for me. And I'm getting better still.......I hope 😂
So, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH ! an I hope to hear MOIN! a long time from now😀😉🙋♂️
Stay cool and stay safe!
Moin Stefan. Awesome. Thank you for the nice message. That truly means a lot! Feel free to send more questions my was at any time. Thank you!
The hack with the mini-jar is priceless!
It's been the single most important tip that has improved the consistency of my loaves. Thank you.
I am on day 4 of my first sourdough starter batch. I have watched a ton of videos. This was extremely helpful. I am definitely going to try this method!
Hi dear, I´m Adriana from São Paulo, Brasil. I´m new in the art of making sourdough bread. In Brasil we use more the french word Levain because the word sourdough sounds stranger in Portuguese. I already have my sourdough starter "Nono" it´s only three months old. I´m learning a lot with your videos and the important details you share. Tank you so much for this. I´ll watch all your tutorials to learn more, I´m dreaming of bake the perfect sourdough bread. All breads I have baked until now are flat : ( I wish you all the best and tanks again to share your knowledge!
Adriana, Tudo bem? I live in Brazil, Indaiatuba, SP, and make my own sourdough bread. I use 400 g Renata Tipo 1 and 100 g of Farinha de Centeio. For the starter I use only Farinha de Centeio, as follows: 1-2-2. In a clean glass I add 30g of my previous starter, now I add 60g of Farinha de Centeio and 60g of water. Mix all together well and put in fridge. I feed my starter once a week. My bread always turned out perfectly. Good luck.Boa sorte.
Dear The Bread Code, I just want to say a huge thank you for this video. We've been struggling for many months now (following other, very different, approaches) to get the light, open, aerated texture which we consider to be the sign of a great sourdough loaf. Following your very clear instructions here and switching the feeding of our starter to rye flour, we have now made two loaves which we are really proud of; they look and taste fantastic. The only tiny change we made was to use 10g less water, as we struggled to shape the dough ball and to use a little more water than flour when feeding our starter, just to loosen it up. Thank you again for a truly transformational video and keep up the great work. Best wishes to you and your family.
Moin Dave. You are most welcome and thank you for the nice words. That truly means a lot. This is what motivates me, enabling so many people around the world to bake amazing bread.
Anyone else see the SMILEY FACE in starter at 12:51? It's a sign that this is a great video. Thanks TBC!
THANK YOU!!!! I have been struggling with my starter and I learned more from this video than I have from anyone EVER!!!
Moin Betty Shannon, you are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
I've been making SD for about a year. I must have watched your video 5 times and I paid great attention to your details. My first loaf tasted amazing, I had the ear and the blisters but not the rise. Everything looked as yours did throughout the process until I put it in the Dutch Oven. Then it just spread out not as bad as your Frisbee example but needs help. I will make my second loaf following your instructions again this week. Thank you for making a video with all the details.
From one German to another.....Wow I just followed all your 4 steps,,,,,and my gosh my bread turned out awesome, especially the trick with the sample jar, and the fermentation....THANK YOU SOOOOO much 👍 and I been using everyone else's techniques without much success
Moin 2nd Chance Creations By Christa, you are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
Your videos are so awesome with all the explanations for making sourdough. I have been on my serious sourdough journey since March 2020. Yes I named the starter and she is Rye Flour based. During pandemic time baking and learning sourdough kept me happy. I’ve watched so much TH-cam channels but mainly 4 including yours. It is good to merge as much as we can. Unfortunately here in BC, Canada I can only find protein levels of 4-5 which is not high but I have good success. I still have much to learn but this is my happy place so thanks again for your hard work helping all of your followers.
Este tipo es un genio. Has rebelado tips y consejos como nadie en sur América lo hace. Los panaderos youtubers de sur América explican cómo hacer pan de una manera muy resumida, tacaña, guardandose mucha información con el fin de hacer negocio y ganar dinero. En cambio tu, lo haces desde la perspectiva más generosa, basada en tu teoría y práctica y por lo que veo sin ánimos de lucrar. Tu canal es muy bueno, felicidades. Saludos desde Chile 🇨🇱
Thank you very much!
@12:52, you can tell his starter IS really happy... it literally has the cutest happy face 😂❤
I like that you actually explain why you do what you do unlike most video just tell you to do it with no explanations. Very good!
Here I am back to rewatch and absorb your wonderful teaching!
Thanks 😍
You might be a cheap German, but the wealth of hints and insights you give made my day, honestly. Your chart hit the nail on the head for me.
Breadmaking is part art, part science. While the art part is acquired with practice and experience, the science part comes from understanding the chemistry, biology and physics of the breadmaking processes.
Your explanations are very helpful and interesting! I'm a novice sourdough baker but your tips will help me to improve the final product. My bakes so far have been good (and quite edible) but I want a springier loaf with a more open, airy crumb.
Thank you!
I've watch about 3 sourdough experts explain it all in some detail but this video beautifully ties it all together - the knowledge of what is really going on so it is no longer a black box and the tips and tricks that go with that knowledge to avoid common mistakes.
Great information and completely different from what other sources say. I've read in the past that you should only use white flour to feed the starter and use a 1:1:1 ratio when feeding, but your starter is so beautiful that I'm going to start using your directions.
How did it turn to be?
You, sir... Are a legend. This has helped my bread greatly. I couldn't get a proper oven rise with my all purpose flour starter and now I know why. Thanks a lot! Can't wait for your book.
Is this one of the BEST sourdought bread videos or what?
Just GREAT! :)
Wow, thank you! Feel free to send more questions my way at any time. Cheers!
Wow, I’ve been on this sourdough journey about a month and what I’ve come to understand is that every starter is different because every circumstance, environment and ingredients are different. What I missed from this video was that to prepare your starter to be ready to bake, if you change the percentage of flour and water to starter, you need to keep your starter outside the fridge for two days and use the new percentage for a couple of days to build your starter up again. But this also applies to starter that has been outside the fridge already. But maybe that’s just me!!Haha. I think the best moment for me was when I finally realized that my circumstance is different than any other and I would need to build my starter and my process to fit my unique environment rather than look for a structured ‘recipe’ from someone else.
This freed my mind to mix all the info out there and experiment on my own turf to come up with my own process.
Once I got over the frustration , it felt amazing and freeing. I have yet to create my first loaf, but I’m on the road to my own unique starter. Once I’m satisfied with it, I know I’ll be a great bread baker.
Love your content! I enjoy your personality and your little smiles!! Bake on and prosper. LoL.
Hi! I'm using 1/25/25 ratio and it's really doing a great job. I feed my starter once in 24 hour and hold it in room temperature all the time. The leftovers are great for pancakes and muffins.
Thank you for all of the videos!
Sounds great! You are welcome!
I just made some starter pancakes and they are delicious.
Yes 1:5:5 is the correct way to make ur starter perfect only bread code was kind enough to help me through with my success of beginners sourdough i was stuck on dense breads for more than a month but with guidelines from bread. Ode i imprved in a weeks time, all other sourdough bread makers are mean n selfish they want u buy merch from them n they may or maynot help you. Bread code helps people who help themselves who have a strong passion for sourdough.
Thanks once again brother hendrick. 🙏🏻
Moin Jayvi Gangwani, you are most welcome! Glad I was able to help. Enjoy your bread!
And ThePerfectLoaf uses this ratio as well…he explains sourdough science in incredible detail. All for free….lots of generous teachers out there
Thank you so much. This tutorial was extremely helpful and I learned so much. My ratios have been all wrong. I was using the 1:1:1 and really not seeing very much consistent growth in my starter. I will out to practice your suggestions 👍🏼
This was an absolutely excellent video! I started my starter with rye flour and it really came to life even blew the lid off the jar I was using too small of a jar! But once I got to the maintenance stage I tried all purpose flour and it killed my starter! So now I’m using whole wheat flour and it came right back to life and made an excellent sourdough bread! But the second loop wasn’t as good but I had it where the dishwasher is and the dishwasher I use twice in the day and it puts off a lot of heat and humidity so the acid level obviously went up in the second little poison is good! Thank you that I now understand the watch the acid level!
This was an awesome tutorial! I am reading and watching “everything sourdough” lately. I finally am feeling the rhythm and rhyme of sourdough. What a relief! Oh, and think it is very cool to travel with your starter and incorporate local flours into it!
Thanks again!
Taking your starter on holiday?lol😁
when I was a kid I always asked "why?" Oh, my parents were so sick of it, but for me, having an understanding how things work made everything so much easier, acceptable, and of course UNDERSTANDABLE :D I LOVE this video. Thank you for posting it and never second guess all the information you generously give.
Thank you so much for your useful videos. Very often i couldn’t guess the right time when I had to stop stretch and fold and usually I have got over fermented dough. Recently i used your method to put a small amount of dough in som glass and follow up the fermentation process of my dough. The result was amazing. I put the dough into refrigerator the right time and the open oven spring I have got after I baked the bread was amazing. Thank you once again.
Moin Tasos Menelaou, you are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
I've watched many TH-cam videos and was trying to make my own bread but all I ended up with was pancakes. It wasn't until I found your channel that my bread finally started turning out correct. I really appreciate the very scientific approach.
Great video! My feeding ratio was totally off!! You've saved my starter - DANKE!
I'm very new to the process so thank you so much for all your super useful/technical information. I'm also of German decent so I get how In depth you become when you explain the process.. I'm the same! Love it.....
Thank you for the mini jar idea to keep a track of bulk fermentation. Going to do the same but using a shot measuring cup. I have one that is 3 ounces and has a measurement every 10ml which is perfect for this purpose.
But. wouldn't the rise time different due to the stretch and folds we do to the main dough?
@@Fırındansofraya yes it does differ slightly, however it doesn’t matter. I’m going to use an analogy as to why. Lets say there’s two people who are counting. One counts upwards at a consistent pace and by one integer (1, 2…1000 etc.) and the other does as well but every time he reaches a hundredth number (100, 200, etc) he subtracts 18-22 (think of this as the folding stage) and then keeps counting up (99, 100, 81, 82 etc). The first person is your control in this scenario/the mini jar. The second person is your bread dough. Since both people are counting at the same rate, you can be fairly sure that when person A’s count is 500, person B’s count will be very close to 400. It’s the same exact thing for bread. The reason we can safely assume they’re counting at the same rate is because the percent of bacteria/yeast in both doughs is the same. They multiply at the same rate and produce the same amount of gas per volume of dough. Just because you’re slightly degassing the dough via folding, it does not change the rate at which the bacteria and yeast are creating gas. I hope this clears up any confusion :).
I’ve actually moved on from using a shot cup and now use a plastic test tube with a string tied to the screw cap. I then spin it like a centrifuge to get the dough down to the bottom. I worked in a lab so yeah… centrifuges should be a kitchen appliance I swear. I know how ridiculous it is, however I can calculate the rise down to 1% making my proofing time extremely accurate and it has greatly improved my bread making to the point that I now always have the perfect proofing time.
@@Fırındansofraya sorry the rise time doesn’t differ, the volume of rise does differ. Remember the dough matrix is being broken down at the same rate, regardless of how much the dough has been degassed. It is the breakdown of this matrix that ultimately decides if the bread has been proofed properly, not the volume. You can have a perfectly timed proof bread and completely degas it will look less proofed than an underproofed bread. If you bake them though, the properly proofed bread will taste better, albeit it will be denser.
@@Fırındansofraya so the control in the small jar is measuring the amount of matrix breakdown. If you are consistent with your recipe and the timing of when you put your control dough in the jar, you will be consistent in knowing when the dough’s matrix has been broken down properly. Regardless of the volume in increase of your bread dough, if your control has increased in volume by lets say 75% (note this may be different for you depending on your recipe, flour, starter, and if you refrigerate and how long) you can be sure that your bread dough is done proofing because the optimal matrix breakdown is complete.
Thank you so much. I will let u know the results.
I needed this YESTERDAY!! I mean I've had my dough collapse every time! I've been saving it by adding store bought yeast and lots of flour! Bread bakes up very nicely but i needed to learn this. I have been doing my starter all wrong! I can't believe you save only a small tsp! Great tips! I just wish they taught these 4 tips with the "How to make a starter" instructions. What a life saver! So glad I learned it now.
Moin Linda McLawhorn, you are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
Your sample technique has really changed my baking success, thanks!
You are so welcome! Thank you very much.
I over fermented my last loaf and now going to try your method. Your explanations make perfect sense-Thank you!
You are so underrated! Love you! keep up the good work! Gluten Tag!
Moin! You are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
In the first few minutes I’ve learned from you than anyone. I couldn’t figure out why my dough was nightmare sticky this summer. Ich liebe dich!
Moin Vicki Moseley, you are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
I changed the flour of my starter from bread flour to whole wheat Its been a wk now. Although it doubles in size. Its not passing the float test. Did i just kill my healthy starter ? Help please!
My starter was in the fridge for 4 mos!
I dried it out w flour then stirred and added more flour on top (no air).
Tight lid- went away.
It took me 10 days to get my starter healthy because I wasn’t adding enough flour to feed it for several days. Today I’m making bread (starter has doubled and floats)!
❤
This is pretty awesome! I’m a bio teacher and I can use this video to illustrate many aspects of fermentation BUT the issue is that the graph is backwards. The greater the acidity the lower the pH and your x and y values are very much misplaced. I got your point, though, and most people wouldn’t mind. My comment is not a smarty pants comment, it would just become confusing to explain which I would have LOVED to use your video in the classroom. Your starter is EXCELLENTLY deconstructed and superb.
Oh thank you! Haha, nope - great comment indeed! Maybe you can just show the video and do your comments as you go hehe. Take care!
Thank you; I'm sitting in Australia where the floods have begun to recede and the temperature is 30 degrees C. What better way to spend my time than re-watching your video on the importance of lower acidity in the starter etc. I had one disaster with a huge change in overnight ambient temperature; tried a rescue that didn't work but I learned much. I have contented myself with yeast and different mixes of flour for rustic bread as I wait again for cooler weather and calmer starter.
Ahh, so many questions answered! Thanks very much for all the detail and clairity around the measurements, and the science and the slow and careful delivery...Happy 2021
Thanks Mary. Happy 2021 to you too. Take care 🙏🏻
Just tried this. My bread came out massive and beautiful with a massively open crumb. This really woke my starter up.
Sehr danke!!!
Moin and Gluten Tag. Too long didn't watch - Fermentation is king 🤣. Also - it seems I did a small error in the video, sorry for missing this. The dough had 375 grams of water (75%) :-). Not 350 grams. I will do the same recipe again next week, trying to tweak it even further.
Totally fascinating to hear all you have to say, and extremely helpful tuition. Thank you.
I did something similar with a longer autolyze. One tweak that you might want to try to make it easier, even though it's called no kneed bread: After loosely incorporating the starter, instead of continuing with effort to finish incorporating in the pot, you could always dump your dough on the counter and bench kneed it there, even round it up. Much easier to incorporate and actually see if you missed spots (also ads strength). Then it's back in the pot :) Good luck.
@@ToastedSynapseGaming Yep, I did this before but then I got too much hate from no-kneaders over this 🤣
Thanks for the tips, I applied them to my starter, will try bake tomorrow morning, I hope it goes better!
Just to share my findings. Today I baked 2 loafs, from starter prepared as you showed. 1 loaf was pre-shaped at 50% rise of fermentation probe, 2nd loaf was pre-shaped at 100% rise. The 1st loaf turned much better, the 2nd turned out flat. So I guess 50% is the goal for me.
😅 I’ve come across your videos I’ve been taking breaks for 35 years never had I made a sourdough or use the wet recipes. I’m following your directions making sure the oven is not the actual temperature baking the breads, at a lower temperature. Oh, paying close attention to the starter. I am so proud to say I have oven spring. I have oven spring dark crusts. 🙏🙏🙏 thank you so much.😊
What a lot of work you have done!!! Thank you so much🙏 Now its time to use the knowledge.
Moin Fluffy, you are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
I have watched and watched again all of your tutorials and find them very informative. Thank you for taking the time to make them!! I live in Chiangmai, Thailand - therefore the weather is not the same as in Germany. This year it has been pretty dry actually - around 50% humidity rather than 80%! Therfore I adjust my water accordingly. Temperature in my kitchen is about 22-26C I spent all day yesterday testing a few ways to make sourdough bread. I made 1 loaf according to your recommendation and another loaf - I changed a few things around in an attempt to get a decent loaf, in less time! This is what I did - all in 1 day - no overnight for the dough. I used 1:5:5 starter which I fed a day earlier using 20% rye + 80% unbleached bread flour natural spring wheat 13% protein - it grew 4+ times over night! - while the 100% rye feed only doubled in volume.
The recipe I used was 300gm bread flour (13% protein), 50gm rye flour & 50gm all purpose flour. I mixed 8 gm of salt into the flour and sifted everything (to make sure it's all blended well and lighter - same as in cake making!). Then I put 80gm starter into 300gm water (make sure the starter floats!) - mix well --- add flour mixture to the water solution and mix by turning in the center with a fork - same as making pasta dough. Mix really well as you would do when feeding the starter - no dry flour left - and leave at room temperature, well covered for 2-3 hours. Take out & shape gently on bench into a nice tight ball - rest again (covered) room temperature for another hour. Take out - shape & into basket, covered, leave for 30 minutes. Heat up Challnger in oven for 30 minutes. Spray water on loaf - score - bake at 240C for 20 minutes covered & 20-25 minutes uncovered. As a result, the oven rise was much better than your method - the loaf practically exploded! Perhaps you can try. I feel that if the flours are not well mixed - then the results are not as good. If the starter is not well incorporated into the flour - the result is not so good either. Smearing the starter on the dough later makes it very difficult, and messy, to incoorprate properly. These are the reasons why I mixed them up in the beginning ... salt into flours .... starter into water. The salt did NOT kill the starter - and that is for sure :-)
Excellent video.
Would suggest using a "shot glass" (as used to mix drinks) to hold the small proofing sample. Tapered shape and volume marks make measuring easy.
Good idea. I just need to find one that has the right shape :-)
I purchased one like that yesterday just for this reason! Great minds think alike 😆
This explained so much about a recent sticky disaster I had in a no-knead bread that I let go overnight outside the fridge.
And I totally figured German before I heard “guten tag” but I mean that in a really affectionate way. I have had a few German friends in my life when I was younger and they were very special.
The fact he is willing to have a body cavity search in the name of sourdough scientific research makes him my go to bread guy. Period. Dry humor sorry.. Thank you for all you do for us figuring out the code. No wonder my starter hated that ap flour.
I fly with my starter everywhere haha never had problems. Here's hoping
The joke about if u want a good steak 🥩 you could stick your head up a cows arse, or u could ask ur butcher… I prefer to ask my sour dough guy…
This is great. I note that in the video you call for 500g flour and 350g water to make 75% hydration, but the recipe actually has that ratio correct (500g flour to 375g water). Thanks for the excellent tips!
Yep - sorry. I also made a followup with that recipe. I adjusted a few things, specifically the hydration based on the flour's protein % - maybe interesting to you: th-cam.com/video/dl7crk2Nvj8/w-d-xo.html
Great contens! thank you. Learnt a lot... However, the sample in the small glass dish next to the fermenting dough didn't react at all, and when I thought it was long enough, the main dough was overfermented and it was perfect for a frisbee game. Well, making the perfect sourdough bread ain't that easy anyway.
I have made this recipe several times and it truly was a game changer for me! Thank you for all of your help and guidance though my sourdough journey 🙏
I decided to rewatch the video again and noticed there is no mention of stretch and folds/coil folds after the dough is mixed.
I have been doing about 4 sets of coil folds when I've made the bread, but are YOU personally omitting this step in this recipe??
Thanks again for your help ❤
I love your German ways! So clear and techy. Thank you for your videos, they are great!
Thank you! 😃
You give such important advice at every step. It is your videos that have given me some understanding and some confidence to try again. You’re a great teacher and you’re also funny.
Thank you! Teacher maybe, funny definitely not 🤣
This is so informative!! My started also died and I was confused as to why, I fed it with AP flour because I ran out and it didn't end well.
Yep. Definitely. I had to learn this the hard way too haha! But now I had my starter for 3 years, it is more healthy than ever :-)
I’ve been feeding my starter with AP from the start. It’s been 2 months and they are active. I’m confused!
@@anchaleegrinins1096 I wonder if it is the combination, it is possible that the AP I was using was not great quality.
Thank you for this... the explanations, recipe, techniques, all of it. VERY helpful, uncomplicated, & much easier to understand the "hows" & "whys" with your video. I'll be using this ASAP to "fix" my starter & technique, & I have no doubt my bread will be (nearly) perfect! Again, THANK YOU!
Thanks for this video! It was super informative 😁🤓👍🏼🍞 I’ve just gotten into making sourdough myself and you taught me so much! I’m curious as to where you got your thermometer 🌡 and pH tool from? If you could please share the brands with us? Thank you 🙏🏼
I had to admit that the length of ur video caused me reluctant to watch at first. But I end up with watching number of its!!! Thanks for ur greats sharing
#from another side of the world
My starter has been a nightmare recently, really hoping I can get it back on track with this vid! Much love from aus
Update: discared almost all my starter and its back to doubling in size already!
Glad this helped. Thank you!
First time making a starter and baking bread from scratch! I followed these instructions exactly, my bread turned out amazing! Wish you could show pics in comments!
I've already watched this 2 times! Next time I'm going to take notes.
Moin Barry Chambers, you are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
I had to stop half way through and restart with the same idea. Pen and paper in hand. ;)
I bought the same IKEA glass container last week and it makes a big difference! Before that I just had the plastic mixing bowl that came with my hand mixer and it is not perfectly smooth on the inside and I covered it with a damp towel because I don't have a lid for it. Getting the dough out of there has always been a bit tricky. But the IKEA jar is perfectly smooth on the inside and the lid has a rubber seal and it keeps the moisture inside in the best way. In the video where you taught me the basics you said "any container will work", but I want to underline that the container should be made of glass and be perfectly smooth inside and have a rubber seal lid. I also tried with a Pyrex glass container, but that one has the word "Pyrex" stamped into the bottom where the dough will catch. So IKEA is cheapest and by far the best! It is the 3.1 liter model of the 365+ series of kitchenware.
Moin Jochen. Awesome. Thanks for sharing. I like the container a lot too, makes it very easy.
Nice tips! However, I usually feed my starter with bread flour and it works fine. I feed at a 1:1:1 ratio if it is already very active, or I use a ratio of around 1:50:50. I find that bread flour makes it easier to adapt it for different breads.
Same, though when I initially made my starter I did also use rye flour. Once it was alive and kicking I switched to regular white flour and at least so far so good (couple months).
@@omgitalo My starter is now almost 1 year old (started in Feb 2021). I initially created the starter using a very coarse whole wheat flour, and it was ready in 2 weeks.
Today is day 3 for my starter I named her Sylvia . She is doing so good bubbly and happy. Her twin brother is in the refrigerator and Sylvester is waiting to be a part of the next batch of pancakes! Thank you so much for all the help.
Hi Arminda. Awesome, hope Sylvia is going to do great work!
Mine is called Clint Yeastwood and just turned 1 last month!
Hi, thanks so much for your amazing channel! I love sourdough bread but it is hard to find any authentic ones in my area. Your videos finally convinced me to start my own sourdough starter last week.
A big question is, when checking the volume of the starter, do I take into account the bubbles the starter create? My one-week-old starter (Bob) now doubles in volume within a couple of hours after feeding, but when I tap the jar on the countertop, it collapses and I see that the size has not really increased much, just a little bit.
Another thing is, it is starting to smell quite acidic (like nail polish - I don't have a PH tester). Is it because it is too warm (24C) and maybe I should also reduce the feeding ratio (change from 1:1:1 to 1:5:5)?
Thanks again and looking forward to baking my own sourdough bread very soon!
Hey V L. You are most welcome. Yep - try switching to the 1:5:5 feeding ratio. No worries, the moment you see your starter doubles, it is ready to be use. Good luck on the first bread :-)
I’ve learnt so much from this video alone! After around 3 loaves of bread (which were good, but not great), I have started to get a better understanding of the fact that the starter sourdough is by far the most important factor (which you confirmed, and embellished so excellently).
I started with rye, then changed to white flour for the starter. I’m going to go back to Rye starting tomorrow with your 1:5:5 using the white starter (which is definitely too acidic)… again, thank you so much for all this information - you made me very excited to get going tomorrow!
You got me subscribe by the “ yes I’m weird” re traveling with sourdough. 🥰
Haha, thank you!
Haha.. I travel with my sourdough, a cast iron pot, and my Kefir grains. Then again my family generally rents condos when we go on holiday. (Cheaper in our experience for larger families)
I learned so much from this video. I had this (omg I am so stupid) aha moment when I realized that feeding starter with all purpose flour is probably the reason why my often fed starter is weak. I thougt that the flour in starter must be the same as in the dough (I dont know why 😀). And all the other tips helped me understand the process so much more, I cant wait to recultivate my starter and bake something great. Thank you!
Moin moin! I was super excited stumbling over your videos after getting hooked on sourdough by foodgeek :) now I finally tried out your 10h Autolyse technique, but it completely failed on me. In the morning the gluten is very weak and tears immediately. I used your percentages, bread flour with 13% protein, normal German room temperature. I already thought the "hard" berlin tap water is the problem?! Thanks so much for your help!
Moin! Oh noes, that's annoying. I have never heard this happening. Even with my regular T550 flour this did not happen to me before. Have you tried again? Did it happen again? Interesting idea on the tap water.
@@the_bread_code sorry for late reply I need to get my notifications in order ;( I got it to work by ordering the Italian flour you suggest on your blog. Don‘t know why it failed, didn‘t dare trying again
Thank you, 2 days ago I started my starter and followed exactly as you did, my PH just before adding to the autolyse was 4.3. I did some stretch and folders and it doubled in volume. (Small sample in a covered jar) however I found my dough to be bubbly yet still slightly softer than your dough on the video. I have made a slight change by adding 100gr organic wholemeal and 400gr white organic stoneground flour. Now it's shaped and in the fridge, fingers crossed for tomorrow morning when I bake.
Well it failed, the dough was soft and fell flat slightly, anyway its in the oven baking now. Let's see what oven spring it has. I really cannot understand why this happens. What is breaking down the gluten? I autolyse overnight and did 3 folds, i pre shaped, but it appears to have risen slightly overnight, leaving the dough softer than I would have liked. I really want to perfect the method of making sourbread so frustrating
@@tonytony6031 Hi Tony. I think your dough was overfermented. If the autolysis increased the volume it seems that your flour has a lot of enzyes by itself. Then when adding your starter it become too aggressively acidic and active that the organisms have eaten up everything and keep nothing for oven. What I suggest is that you autolys in fridge instead of room temp. Or decrease the amount of your starter or decrease the fermentation period. As he said: No 2 flours the same and no 2 kitchens the same. Keep practicing with trial and error you will definetly got it at some point
12:50 Starter looks happy
Haha. I did not notice. Thanks for sharing!
You had me at sourdough starter. I have been trying to make sourdough bread for probably 15 times in the last two years. I tried every different recipe. Your video helped me understand the science behind it. I followed every step. This is the first time I got (which I consider) a good I oven spring. I live in high altitude state. I think I need to tweak it a bit. Danke Schoen.
Oh! What to do with the discarded sourdough? I realized that for Christmas, instead of putting it in a discard jar, I could split it and make several jars of starter for bread to give as Christmas gifts. :-)
Moin Denise. Oh - I typically bake a nice bread out of it. That's a nice idea. I would recommend you dry it this way, then it won't go bad: th-cam.com/video/EEqjqaTKV24/w-d-xo.html
Actually, you don't even need to feed your sourdough unless you plan to use it. Just keep it in the fridge and then there's no waste. For discard you already have, you can make bread or crackers. I like adding mine to egg noodles. If you do an internet search there are tons of recipes for discard.
I am pretty adventurous, so Ive added it to waffles/pancakes (just this AM), muffins, even doughnuts (which I bake then lightly pan fry). Focattia, all kinds of stuff. I hesitate to try & use it for enriched bread tho.
Also your video about scoring at the 90-degree angle was fantastic and it was a huge help for me in my bread being a simple engineer myself
Great tips! Have you ever tried making starter with flour, a small amount of water and buttermilk?
Moin Tibi. Thank you very much! That should work too. You would have lactic bacteria coming from the buttermilk.
Hi Tibi. This is what we always do in most middle east regions. We dont do any sour starters or poolish or what so ever. We just add some yougurt to the dough mix and go overnight in the fridge... without even a yeast. The older the yougurt the better
@@imanh9193 Thanks!
Thank u thank u thank u! BEST video to understand biochem behind starter health and strength. Made so much difference to my sourdough success!
Moin Charloz Pepdais, you are most welcome! Feel free to reach out with more questions at any time. Happy baking and cheers from Hamburg.
Tks again. I live in d tropics n my kitchen temp is daily 30c, only on very rainy days does it cool to 29c 😃 Previously wet dough handling was a challenge even at 70% hydration when my starter/levain was
@@deviangel6463 wow. What an amazing hack. Thanks for sharing this!
I’ve skimmed through the comments but can’t find it or on your blog - where is that adorable shirt from?!?!
Thank you! the-bread-code.myteespring.co/
Being a cheap German myself, I have the same free jars 😄 my dough is resting in the fridge overnight now, thanks to your videos all went well until now!
My pleasure 😊
@@the_bread_code Turned out to be my best sourdough bread yet! Thank you for all the comprehensible explanations, instead of following a recipe I tested out hydration levels and all your other steps - this was an eyeopener for me :) Vielen lieben Dank dafür!
Man, thank you so much for putting all this together for us to educate ourselves ! I think I've learned more in 30 min that I had in my one year sourdough bread read-the-net/trial/error journey.
I've been plagued by flat bread issues for most of the summer and been trying to fiddle around with bread fermentation time and oven settings only with marginally better results. I never guessed that the 1 to 1 to 1 daily feeding schedule that most people tend to praise as ideal throughout the internet might be the the biggest culprit here. I'm definitely going to put all your tips to good use.
One more thing, I have been given a couple tips by a friend who worked in a bakery for a few years here in France, and one of them was : never put your yeast (they weren't making sourdough in that bakery though) directly into contact with solid salt. Salt grains will harshly pull out the water from the yeast cells and destroy some of them. Always dissolve all your salt into the water you are going to put into the bread and then add you yeast, to get the best fermentation results.
I don't have any idea how much this is true or if it will make any difference in the end of the day, but I wanted to know if you have heard of, or experimented with this in the past ?
You are most welcome, thanks for the nice words. Yes, I heard this before, but I don't think it's that big of an issue. A few might die yep, but they also reproduce at the same time all the time. I wouldn't worry about this too much, it sounds to me like it could be 0.01% improvement hehe.
@@the_bread_code Yeah, not sure what difference it may make either. One thing for sure, this is definitely not a ground breaking effect because I'm still doing it by habit, but my bread is miles away from greatness ! XD
I also wanted to let you know that I've baked my second bread applying your knowledge and things got instantly better. I've used a brand new flour that my local farm harvested this year, with an old variety of wheat which is, the lady there told me, quite low on gluten compared to modern wheat they have been growing until now. But despite having no experience with this new flour, I went for an overnight long autolysis and a less acidic starter and I'm already having twice as more air inside the loaf as my previous bread with the gluten rich flour. That was just amazing (and good tasting !)
Still a lot of room for improvement on working with this new kind of flour, but now I have a much clearer idea of what I'm looking for and what I may change for the next one. Thank you so much !!!
@@arnaudn.5675 You are most welcome and glad to hear that. Try also using a loaf pan for your daily bread, it makes things a lot simpler. Plus in case you like it, you can make the dough a lot more sour and will still get quite good oven spring.
@@the_bread_code I already made the switch to the loaf pan. I prefer regular bread myself but my girlfriend is a huge fan of squared bread for her toasts despite the drop of oven spring.
Things we do for love...
Oh and we had a go on your recipy for the discard sourdough starters and it turned out amazing as well. I went for the mediterranean style, and tweaked it a little with a bit of dried garlic powder on top of the herbs and two tablespoons of olive oil in the dough (280g of starter + 140g of flour). Of course I kept the parmisan cheese on top. 👌
@@arnaudn.5675 Oh that sounds very delicious, I am hungry now 😂
Your method has put my sourdough bread making abilities over the top! I have struggled for a year with making this, so I am truly happy to have bread with holes in it, versus regular looking bread. I even had an ear…in my loaf pan! Question, mixing the rye flour with equal amount of water produces a thick paste. Should I be adding a bit more water to the starter?
I just found your channel and I love it soooo much!
Yay! Thank you!
Ehrlich, eines der wichtigsten Videos zum Brotbacken, die ich dieses Jahr gesehen habe! Ich kenne genau die Probleme; habe aber nie verstanden, wieso. Danke! 🥰
Danke Bruder!
@17:51 when he said "just to geek out a little bit," I cracked up! I was like does he mean, "just to geek out even MORE...!" 😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Baking and cooking IS science! 😉The best recipes are all based on geeky scientific observations, trial and errors. That’s called the scientific process. 🤩 this is why I love cooking , baking AND science! You got to learn how things work and why especially because you are using living organisms in fermentation. #anothergeektalking 🥰
@@mybelovedsvineyard
I thought it was obvious I feel the same way... which is why I enjoy watching the bread code channel. He's one of the smartest cutest geeks out there. #eatmoresourdoughbread. 😆❤
Eek out even more I think.
A brilliant video. I learnt more watching this than I have from all other sourdough tutorials I have watched, combined!
Hello, I love your bread tutorials! If I want to make as our a dough as possible for a really strongly flavored loaf do you have suggestions on a maximum pH level I could go down to? Thanks again, I have made so much better sour dough bread this year than last thanks to you.
You can go as high as you like. Just try to use a loaf pan for the actual baking. Nothing to worry then.
I have been watching your videos, I will be trying this noknead bread and feeding my starter a different ratio. Some of my other bread recipes I have tried are so dense, the dough has been hard to handle. Thank you so much, love your accent by the way, living in Australia.
I've learnt so much from this video and I'm excited to try the overnight autolyse...wow!! Does acidity have an effect on how sour the bread tastes? I really like a super sour (would that be uber sour?! 🤣) taste so would love your geeky insight into how I can get that consistently...thank you! 🍞
Hey Mary. Glad you enjoyed the video! For a more sour bread, try to maybe use a loaf pan in the end. It will give additional support and you can make a more sour dough :-)
@@the_bread_code thank you...will give it a go!
Hello... I must congratulate you on a stunning tutorial!!!! It is the best I've seen on sourdough!!! Thank you so very much, you are amazing!!!!💖
Hi, i was hoping you can help me with my sourdough starter. I started my starter yesterday and now my 2nd day i see that it doubled in size. But i noticed there is some kind of white liquidy flours at the very bottom of the jar.. By the way i used a whole wheat flour with some hulls in it. I hope you could help me. Thank you
Nothing to worry. Just keep feeding it. The liquid is normal. It also contains a lot of bacteria and yeast.
@@the_bread_code thank you so much for your response. What a relief!! 😊🙏