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Hi community, i am new to this forum but have been reading a lot of advice from fellow bakers here while my sister and I are trying out our very first sourdough.. We have gotten to "Charlie" (we name our sourdoughs alphabetically hoping to get it right before the alphabet "Z"), but our sourdoughs were never right. Our problem was with the tacky, rubbery, sticky insides of the baked bread (I could press a piece of the inside  between my fingers and it would stick on without falling) no matter how long we bake it for (Charlie was baked for 40 mins in the cast iron and 20 mins on a rack, and the picture attached shows the insides). We would like to share the recipe we used here, hopefully to get some help from the experienced bakers around! Thank you in advance!

150g bread flour, 150g all-purpose, 90g whole wheat flour with 350g water (slightly warmer than room temperature by the touch), with 90g of starter and 9g of salt. 

Steps:

Autolyse for an hour before adding the starter (rest 30m) and salt (rest 15m) all by hand using the folding and pinching method. We performed up to 6 sets of stretch and fold during the first two hours of fermentation before leaving it to bulk ferment for the next two hours. Even though our dough doubled in size at the end of four hours with visible strength around the rounded sides, there weren't bubbles on the surface of the dough. Nonetheless we ended the bulk fermentation when the dough doubled in size (at the end of two hours after the last stretch and fold), and performed the pre shaping and final shaping. Throughout the shaping, the dough felt aerated and light and bouncy and it was easy to handle after dipping our hands in water. We retarded the dough for 16 hours. We preheated the oven (which was constrained at 480F) for an hour, and baked Charlie for 40 mins (tried 25 mins for Betty) in the cast iron, and 20 mins on the rack. The exterior was perfectly brown. Sliced through the bread in an hour and it left sticky residue on the knife and the insides was tacky. In our previous attempts, we thought it was undercooked, hence the longer baking time for Charlie  this time round. But we are utterly puzzled by the outcome again. Would really appreciate some pointers, thank you in advance!!

Hello wise bakers! I'm looking for advice and feedback on my loaf bellow. I am determined to bake with 100% whole grains milled at home. I'm struggling to get an open crumb and good oven spring, but I know its possible from seeing loaves made by Josey; and George Q and David Snyder on this site! 

I used Joey Baker Bread's formula: 

I used Anita's Hard Red Wheat kernals, homeground. My starter was a 100% rye, 100% hydration starter, quite young and very active at the time of mixing the preferment (while the original starter was all rye, my preferment used wheat). 

My preferment sat at room temp for 14.5 hours. 

I only did a 20 minute autolyse, and incorporated the starter from the beginning. I've read mixed things about autolysing with fresh milled grains. Would a longer autolyse help?

I completed 3 stretch and folds over 2.25 hours.

My final proof was for 3 hours. 

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Could I have overproofed it? I find the poke test difficult with whole grain doughs. Any advice for knowing when proofing is complete? 

Do I need to increase the hydration? I tried once more with a much higher hydration (102%) and the loaf was very dense, concave, and gummy. 

Thank you! You inspire me to keep trying. 

Hello,

I'm a new baker, just started 2 weeks ago. I have 2 different brand of instant yeast:

Yeast A: bought in sealed pack of 7gr, the remaining is kept in freezer. It has light sourish/pungent smell, almost fruity. Expiry date is May 2022.

Yeast B: bought from a wholesale store. In the store, the yeast is kept on a large, clear airtight glass jar. I got a small amount in a small clear jar, stored at room temperature (range 25-29 deg C). Smells bready, not as sourish as Yeast A.

I used Yeast A on the early bakes. I like the smell of Yeast B, so I've been baking with it for 6 batches or so. Both yeasts gave good rise during bulk fermentation and proofing, but it has poor oven spring and usually less texture. It might be due to multiple factors (kneading, room temperature, oven temperature), but I also had suspicion on the yeast.

I tested both yeasts using the same measurement: 50ml watear at 40 deg C, 5gr sugar, 1gr yeast.

Yeast B has very, very minimum bubble despite of good rise during proofing.

Yeast A, both from the newly opened sachet or the leftover from freezer, yield similar froth. It's far different from what I saw on the internet where the instant yeast can double in volume.

Is the result from the yeast test normal, given the quantity of water/sugar/yeast? Can different brand of instant yeast contribute to different result, e.g. due to different quality of the yeast?

I just ordered a few bannetons, and got a cloth liner for one of them, not knowing if that were necessary or not.

When do you use one, and why?