I really enjoy your website and your videos. A friend of mine recommended you to me and I’ve made the sourdough and then bread.
My first bread worked out very well so I was really proud. It rose well and tasted delicious. But, I made another one and followed the exact same recipe and the dough didn’t rise well overnight.
I will attach pictures of both breads. The recipe I followed was for the basic sourdough bread with 2 cups of white flour and 2 cups of wholewheat flour.
Any idea or tips of what could have gone wrong or what I could have done in the morning after seeing that the dough didn’t rise overnight? In both cases, I fed the sourdough a few hours before I made the bread dough and it was bubbly and alive.
Thank you so much!
Going to need some more info starting with your starter.
How did you make it? How old is it? What was the recipe you followed?
There’s not much to go on at the moment.
Can I suggest you follow this recipe as closely as possible (for now) and take photos of each step. The post it back here and we can see how your starter is performing from beginning to end of the bake.
Hi Abe,
Thank you very much for your reply.
This is the recipe I followed for the starter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eysKhYsPQFM&t=367s and the recipe I folllowed for the bread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihSIjve7msM&t=326s
My sourdough is about 3 weeks old and I feed it a few hours before making the dough. Like I said, it worked the first time. I have a feeling it could be because I made my sourdough with wholewheat flour and then fed it with white flour. Is it possible? It did grow though and was bubbly and alive. Do you think I should make it again and keep it with the same flour?
I tried it again last night and again this morning the dough didn’t rise. Is there a way I can save it? Should I add more sourdough?
Thank you so much! Sorry, but at this point, I don’t want to start all over again with another sourdough or bread recipe. I would just like to understand what went wrong.
Hello,
Thank you for your suggestion. I will try waiting for another few hours and see.
Actually no. I made the starter with wholewheat flour and then fed it with white flour, as I ran out of the wholewheat. It was still getting alive. Do you think that could be the reason why?
But I made the starter with wholewheat flour and I’m feeding it with white flour. Could that be the reason why it’s not working, even though it grows and has a lot of bubbles?
So you’re feeding 1/4 cup flour and water to how much starter? And leaving it for how long?
I think we might need to look at starter maintenance. One can feed a starter any flour. Doesn’t matter if your starter was whole wheat and fed white flour.
Leave the dough in a warm spot for now and in the meantime defrost some yeast from the freezer in case its needed to save the dough.
You can switch what flour you feed a starter as much as you want.
My thought is that if your starter is lively and your dough is not, then perhaps there’s something wrong with the flour you used in the dough…if you used a different flour for the dough versus the starter.
I’m feeding 1/4 cup flour and water to about 3/4 cup of starter. I leave it for 2 to 3 hours before I make the dough. It worked the first time but not after. I defrosted some yeast. I’m leaving my dough in a warm place to see if it rises later.
Thank you for your advice.
Joëlle
That’s a poor feed. Keep that up and it won’t be too healthy for the yeasts. Explains why your first loaf came out OK but subsequent loaves suffered.
Scales is easier so if you have any then switch to weighing. There’s no need to weigh of course as long as its a healthy feed but for the learning curve weighing will help you get the grasp of it quicker.
To increase the health of your starter switch to something like…
1/4 cup starter + 1/4 cup water + 1/2 cup flour.
Allow this to bubble up and peak before repeating. Do this at least a couple of times before attempting your next loaf.
When it comes to your next loaf, feed again and use when peaked.
OK. I understand. I will feed the starter more. Thank you very much.
In the meantime, my dough still hasn’t risen. What do you suggest I do to salvage it? Add yeast?
I think its time to save the dough. Proof some yeast in some warm sugared water for a few minutes. When frothy dimple it into the dough and knead till fully incorporated. Then leave to rise etc.
Looking forward to finally seeing this loaf. Best of luck. I’m sure the starter would have imparted plenty of flavour even if it didn’t leaven the bread.
Good morning Abe,
I just want to tell you that even though the dough did rise after I put the yeast, it didn’t really rise properly and this morning the bread looks too flat. Anyway, thank you for all your suggestions, I will try again another time.
Regards.
Joëlle
I know you’ve set your heart on this recipe however I think with a bit of TLC, the way we discussed, for your starter and a change in recipe will bring about better results. Once you’ve brought your starter back up to good health and have a few good bakes under your belt then return to this recipe. Don’t be put off. Try and try again.
