I have a starter born this past May that, all summer long, reliably tripled at its peak. Around mid-August - BEFORE the weather got appreciably cooler - it started to peak at lower and lower levels, until now I'm lucky if I can get it to double before collapsing. It seems to be raising my bread just about as well as it did in the summer, but I'm worried about the downward trend. My living quarters are supposedly temperature-controlled at about 72 degrees F, though I'm sure it's not as stable as my thermostat claims it is.

Any ideas why this could be happening and if, or when, I should worry about it?

I am attempting to retard two loaves left in the fridge overnight. Question:  do I take them out of the fridge and shape them while still cold or let them warm some?

der Hinterhof

Hello all!  I have been lurking for sometime now and am now so completely fustrated with my lack of rise that I finally had to join and post.  I live in Santa Barbara, California which is pretty temperate, however my house is all tile, has very high ceilings and is very cold (we only turn on the heat a couple of hours for our morning routine and a couple of hours at night.)   When making bread I can zap my water in the microwave and check the temperature but as far as a warm place for my starter or bread to sit is challenging.  I tried heating the oven for just a second and then waiting for it to cool enough to where I thought it was at the mid 70's for the rise but AGAIN my final creation was tasty but lacking the holes it should have had.  Any suggestions other than buy a warmer house?

I'm using my breadmaker to make a multi grain bread.  It was looking great, having risen almost to the top of the bread pan.  Then, it started to sag.  At first, the middle collapsed a little, then, the sides almost caught up.  The situation is not terrible as the bread will be finished shortly and it still rose enough, however, it was around an inch taller.

What caused the drop?  Itmust be too much, or too little of some ingredient.

Thanks

After 1 year from the birth of our son I have returned to baking bread. The steam thing for crust and rise has never worked for me with certainty, and my wife thinks that it is a bit overly dramatic to have plumes of steam in the kitchen. So, I started to get the outer surface of the loaf really wet and every 5 min(for the first 15-20 until starts rising) remove the loaf and re-wet. All this from a cold start.

A child has been a phenomenal aid to the motivation of time management and systematic trial and error.  For those visual learners out there, I would like to share this side by side comparison below.

It seems that the loaf did not quite double. As can be seen by the rip at the upper left, it could have proofed a while longer, maybe until it showed a more pronounced clearing of the lip of the bread tin. The wetting technique allowed me to get this rise whereas before with steam I could not.

Below are 3 pictures:

1. The first successful sourdough 65% hydration.
   1. Crust was way too thick on the sides from the baking tin(450deg and too long time)

1. Same sided by second loaf same formula(for size and rise comparison).
   1. The first had just crested the lip of the baking tin but expanded to fill the shape of the tin.

1. The second loaf but the horizontal consequence of over proofing.
   1. filled with sharp cheddar and cracked pepper, while a monster to look at, it is to be reckoned with next to a pot of homade chicken soup.

      Strangely the second loaf at 65% hydration, when folding, when overproofed felt more like 85% hydration at mixing.

Merry Breadmas and may this season be full of life to you and your kitchen,

Parousia

Made these crown challahs today that have an apple butter filling.  Taste wonderful, but look like they exploded.  Any suggestions on what is causing this?  Too much oven rise?  How do I avoid that?  It is a woven loaf not a pull apart bread which it looks like.

The one on the left is what it should look like.  I made all of these and do not know why some look good and others look like they exploded.

Many challahs

Sharon

www.thebraidedloaf.com 

In January I started my first batch of sourdough starter.  The taste evolves weekly and is delicious.  Within the last month I've noticed that after kneeding, the bread seems to get very sticky and rises so fast I can't keep up with it.  I've tried adding more flour before and after the kneed, but it seems to suck in the moisture from the air or something and just gets stickier.  It rises so fast that I punch down and let it rise about 3 times, which actually seems to develop the flavor more but also makes it difficult to manage.  My last problem is that it doesn't seem to rise in the oven.  I score the loaf just before putting it in and when I pull it out it doesn't even look as  though it's been scored.  Any thoughts or suggestions on any of these oddities? 

I have a West Bend bread machine and can make excellent white bread that rises just up over the top of the pan perfectly every time. However, when I make whole wheat bread - and I've tried several recipes - it never rises - oh, it may rise 40% of the pan height at most, but that's it. My 1.5 lb. wheat bread load is less than half the height of my 1.5 lb. white bread.

Any suggestings on where to start looking for the cause? I have all fresh ingredients.

Thanks oodles!

Terry Farrell

Tampa, Florida

Looking for someone to hold my hand and show me how to make bread dough that doesn't collapse in the oven, or bread machine, supposedly from too much liquid; or fails to rise, supposedly from too little liquid.

This website is great. I recently starting making my own bread using Mark Bitman's NY Times no-knead recipe. I've had tremendous success with it and I am using a clouche. The crust and crrumb almost perfect and I am creating some nice loaves.

I wanted to try a sourdough loaf at the request of my 10 year old daughter. I used Mark Shepard's Simple Sourdough formula/recipe for a starter and the bread.

I am able to get a pretty good starter, it bubbles has a sour smell, has hooch and looks a lot like the pictures posted on the web sites I visit. I also am able to get a pretty good sponge. Its a little too wet but again its bubbly, has a sour smell and when stirred has a pretty good body.

My problem is when I make the dough, I am not getting a good rise. I let it sit in the gas oven with the pilot on for 4-6 hours. It looks like it is rising or doubling is size but when I go to put it in the clouche or a loaf pan it just lies flat. I follow the directions and start out with a cold oven and set it to 375 and let it bake for 55 minutes.

The loaf comes out as a flat disc that is very dense. The last one I made had a an alright crumb, nice holes in it but it was very dense. The flavor was pretty good too but not nice and airy like the other bread I've made. I am using King Arthur Whole Wheat flour for the starter and for the dough.

Any suggestion to get a good rise would be greatly appreciated.

btw, i have ordered the starter from Carl Griffith's page and am thinking about ordering the starter from King Arthur.

 I have the starter in the refridge now and it looks pretty good.

 thanks

alex