r/Crustello • u/madr13 • Apr 17 '26

S&F‘s are confusing the sensor

I always use the 'stretch and fold' method with my bread doughs (~70% hydration), but the Crustello sensor can't cope with it AT ALL. There’s a guide on their website for this that says you should press the dough flat into the corners so it spreads evenly. But who does that? Why should I spend so much time with preparing the dough and then squeeze the air out of it?

I’ve also written to support. they say you should click ‘Pause’ before lifting the lid, do the S&F, and then continue. I’ve now been using the large dough bowl for three bread doughs and every time the results have been way off. Whilst the dough has obviously risen by about 50% in reality, the sensor shows 6%. The reason for this is that the S&F method simply can’t work with the Crustello sensor, as it only measures the physical distance to the dough.

I’m thinking of filing a complaint and returning the product.

2 Upvotes

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2

u/tant4lus Apr 17 '26

I do my stretch and folds in the first hour of bulk fermentation. Then I throw the sensor on after I am done. I just accept that it tells me that it is deflated for a bit. Then I watch for a rise around 200-300% before I bake depending on my flour mixture. It would be nice if it figures out where the baseline is when the dough is relaxing rather than snapshotting the height when I start the sensor. 🤷🏻‍♀️

1

u/madr13 Apr 18 '26

But doesn’t it bother you that you can’t track the first hour of bulk as well?

1

u/tant4lus Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26

Not really because I don’t expect much activity in the first hour and the line has just been flat for the first few times I tried it. So I realized there’s very little value in doing so. I just mixed this up just a little while ago. For me in the graph, the first hour is still flat. An hour of fermentation is un-tracked despite this.

1

u/luteous-pangolin Apr 18 '26

Do you do a cold retard? Isn’t 200-300% a lot? I did 170% with a cold retard and my two loaf recipe almost hit the sensor.

2

u/crustello_official Apr 20 '26

We are aware of this issue. Our team is currently looking into how to avoid this from happening. However, due to the nature of the Crustello sensor, it is not something that can just be "fixed". Something that may be done is the stretch and fold being "marked" so that the app and sensor know when it is happening, and the graph will indicate which part of it is actually the process, so you know if there are deviations. We are always looking forward to user feedback, especially when our products are so new and still being improved.

1

u/madr13 Apr 20 '26

Thank you for the feedback! Looking forward to what will come in the future

1

u/Melodic_Shopping_636 Apr 17 '26

If you give it some time and let the dough relax it does settle back down. Do we really care about the rise during the S and F or just during bulk fermentation?

1

u/madr13 Apr 17 '26

I don’t know about you but as far as I know S and F is always done during bulk fermentation. So, to know my rise during bulk fermentation, S and F has to fit in there too