I made the baguette (poolish) recipe 2 days ago and yesterday made the French bread. My French bread was so soft and sticky, and I'm not sure why. That's not my question.. I love in TN and you can cut the air with a knife right now. But, my French Loaves are so soft and delicious. What makes the difference in the hard chewiness of the baguette versus the French bread? Is it just the water? Because it a bit sloppy and I wasn't sure if it would rise in the oven, but I like how soft they turned out. So my guess is the high water content? Family is taking them to church as sandwiches tonight. I just really want to understand the science. I'd love some day to not have to look up recipes but to know generally what I'm doing. Thanks!

Fred and Roy are dead, Long live Roy! Long story short - First everything is good. My wife and I had an emergency trip this week and were gone for a few days. Fred and Roy were left sitting on the counter like always. I checked on them after we got back home. Both had mold... I will be starting a new Roy with rye flour today. I have decided not to start a new Fred, because the white flour did not develop the same flavor as the rye flour. Thanks to everybody here, I and my family are addicted to real Sourdough Bread.

Batch A risen to 55% and then cold proofed overnight. I will bake it tomorrow morning. Batch B risen to 70% and baked this evening. Crumb shots tomorrow. June 30, 2026 Experiment… 78% hydration open crumb attempt: BATCH B - baked same day, tonight Formula: 100/78/2/10 With 100% hydration starter Recipe: 2 loaves 540g high gluten flour 540g all purpose flour 816g water I held back 36g water to dissolve the salt to be added after the Fermentolyse 240g Hank = 120g h20 + 60g HG flour + 30g WW flour + 25g dark rye flour = 10% of total flour weight. 24g salt —————- 2160g total weight 600g HG flour = 50% 540g AP flour = 45% 30g WW flour = 2.5% 30g dark rye flour = 2.5% ——————————————- 5:00pm: mix using warm water… for 1 hour Fermentolyse. Dough temperature 86°f. 6:00pm: add salt & water. Do through mix using pincher/Rubaud/slap & folds methods. Bench rest 25 minutes. Dough temperature 84°f. 6:30pm: slap & folds. Dough temperature 83°f. Bench rest 25 minutes. 7:00pm: coil folds. Passed the windowpane test. Put dough in cambro + put cambro 4.5” on heat pad set at 82°f. Dough has risen 12%. Dough temperature 80°f. Keep heat pad warm until dough has risen 55%. 7:30pm: 4.75” = 19% rise 8:00pm: 5” = 25% rise 8:30pm: 5.5” = 38% rise 9:00pm: 6.2” = 55% rise 9:35pm: 6.8” = 70% rise. 9:40pm: divide into equal portions + preshape + cover with mixing bowls. Bench rest 20 minutes. 10:00pm: final shape + put in bannetons + bench rest 10 minutes + lace bottom seam to add surface tension + room temperature final proofing. 10:22pm: put dough on preheated baking steel at 510°f unscored. Bake shell on for 7 minutes. Remove shell, score dough, replace shell and continue baking as normal. 10:42pm: remove shell so the crust can brown and the interior continue baking until it reaches 205/210°f. 11:03pm: interior temperature 210°f… transfer loaf to cooling rack. Reheat baking steel to 500°f. 11:25pm: put loaf #2 onto the steel, unscored. Bake 7 minutes shell on. Remove shell, score dough, replace shell and bake as usual.

Who says you can't have DESSERT for breakfast? Behold my sourdough fruit pizza. For the crust – simply unfed starter, that's it! Easy peasy! Form into a round (as best as you can, I use a soup ladel lol) and placed into my 8" cast iron. I baked the crust for 10 min at 425° flipped and added the bananas and strawberries. Baked for another 10 minutes. Topped with raspberries, grapes, and my vegan cool whip! Just aquafaba and maple syrup. Then of course I devoured it 😆

Formula: 100/75/2/10 Recipe: 2 loaves 540g high gluten flour 540g all purpose flour 780g water 24g salt ——————- 2124g total weight 1. Mix and Fermentolyse for 1 hour 2. Add salt/held back water. Mix using pincher/rubaud/slap & folds. Bench rest 30 minutes. 3. Slap & folds. Bench rest 30 minutes. 4. Coil folds. Put in cambro bulk fermentation vessel at 80°f. Put on heating pad and don’t touch it until it has risen 50%. 5. After it had risen 50% I divided it and preshaped it. Bench rested for 30 minutes. 6. Final shaped + bannetons + 10 minute rest + lace bottom seam to get more surface tension. 7. Into fridge for 18 hour overnight cold proofing. 8. Bake on baking steel right out of the fridge. Everything seems to have worked out just right…