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The bakery owner told me my dough was too cold that whole time
Been making sourdough at home for 6 months. Loaves always came out flat and dense. A baker at the Portland farmers market said "your starter is fine but your dough temp is way off" and showed me to aim for 78 degrees. Anyone else get a simple tip that fixed months of bad results?
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faith_thomas6d agoTop Commenter
78 degrees? That seems really specific and honestly kind of fussy for a home baker. I've been making sourdough for years and never once checked the temperature of my dough. I just mix it up and leave it on the counter for however long it takes. My loaves come out fine - not perfect like a bakery maybe, but good enough that my family eats them. Honestly, I think people overthink this stuff. There's a reason grandmas made bread without thermometers for centuries. Your flat loaves could just be from not kneading it enough or a weak starter (you know, just a thought).
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jessicaw546d ago
Hold up, wait - you've been making sourdough for YEARS and never checked your dough temperature once? That's wild to me, not gonna lie. I mean I get that grandmas did it by feel back in the day, but they also had like 50 years of practice and probably knew exactly what 78 degrees felt like on their hands. For us regular folks who just bake on weekends, a quick temp check is basically a cheat code for consistency. It's not fussy, it's just smart - takes two seconds and saves you from guessing if your dough is actually happy or just sitting there.
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