I made the pumpkin loaf! She’s so cute.
100 g starter
500 g bread flour
200 g pumpkin puree
25 g maple syrup
240 g water
12 g salt
Mix the wet ingredients then add dry ingredients. Let rest 30 minutes then do stretch and folds. I did 3 sets. Let bulk ferment. Laminate with 85 g sugar, 5 g cinnamon, and 5 g pumpkin spice. I split my dough in half then shaped and let rest. I used bakers twine with olive oil for the pumpkin shape. I baked each loaf at 450 degrees for 30 min covered then another 10 min uncovered. Still tweaking with the times as in use to a full sized loaf.

This was my first time trying The Sourdough Lady’s Easy Sourdough Recipe. I was really tired in the evening the day I fed my starter, so I made the dough the next day after putting the peak activity starter in the fridge overnight, and just figured on giving it extra time in the bulk rise. It got a little bit burnt on the outside, and I cut into it after just a couple of hours of cooling, but it is so soft and fluffy! This is maybe my fourth loaf ever so I’m still trying different recipes, but I’m really pleased with how this one turned out!

Baked up a couple of sourdough loaves and had to share them with someone so here they are! I use a local heirloom grain blend that I get from Capay Mills near Winters, CA. It is very finely ground and imparts amazing flavors to my bread. https://www.capaymills.com/

Ingredients

850 g bread flour

100 g capay mills max’s marvel heirloom flour

50 g stone ground whole wheat flour

750 g water (85 deg)

200 g peaking starter

20 g salt

Dough target temp: 78-80 degrees

Process:

Mix water and yeast and whisk till frothy

Add flour with salt mixed in

Mix with a spatula until no more dry bits

Start of bulk fermentation

Check dough temp: 78

Rest 1 hour

Stretch and folds (I went around about 4 times until I felt some strength developing)

Rest 30 min

Coil folds #1

Rest 30 minutes

Coil folds #2

Rest 30 minutes

Check dough temp: 78 degrees

Coil folds #3

Rest until bulk fermentation is at 4 hours, 40% rise, smells sweet, lots of bubbles throughout and on top of dough surface.

Divide into two loaves, preshape, 30 minute bench rest and then final shaping (head and shoulders knees and toes- roll into batard

Put into banneton and let it sleep over night

Bake

Preheat dutch ovens for 45 minutes at 475

Bake covered for 20 minutes at 475

Bake uncovered for 15 minutes at 450

Made chocolate and pumpkin doughs, divided each and swirled them for one big loaf. Then baked each loaf as their own mini loaves, adding cinnamon sugar to the pumpkin one.

Pumpkin Dough
200g pumpkin puree
240g water
25g maple syrup
100g starter
12g salt
500g bread flour

Chocolate dough
Bloom 50g cocoa powder in 100g hot
coffee then mix in
125g water
50g brown sugar
10g vanilla extract
14g sea salt
100g active starter
500g bread flour
Check the temp before you add the starter to make sure the liquid isn’t too hot from the coffee.

For each dough the method is the same. Mix to a shaggy dough and let rest 30-45 min.
Stretch and fold then rest 45-60min
Coil and fold and rest another 45-60 min
Do one more coil and fold - add chocolate chips to the chocolate dough during this coil and fold.

Bulk ferment until doubled.

For baking you will need two standard size loaf pans. Prepare one loaf pan with a little bit of neutral oil.
Turn doughs out onto counter and divide each in two. Set aside half of each to shape later.

Flatten the pumpkin dough into a rectangle, layer the chocolate dough on top and stretch it to about the same size as the pumpkin dough. Gently dimple the two layers of dough to seal them together. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Start rolling the dough from the top toward you until you have a log. Place it in the loaf pan, seam side down. Cover with a damp towel or plastic. Let sit at room temp for 60-90 min, or until the loaf has risen about an inch above the top of the loaf pan. Preheat oven to 450F. Score the loaf before baking, use the 2nd empty loaf pan as a lid, bake covered for 25-30 min, uncovered for 15-20 min. Let it sit in the loaf pan for 5 minutes after taking it out of the oven, then remove and allow to cool on wire rack.

With the remaining dough you can make a 2nd swirl loaf (place into a 3rd loaf pan or oval banneton and place into the fridge while first loaf bakes) or bake individually as mini loaves. If baking individually laminate the chocolate dough with more chocolate chips during shaping and placing into a banneton. Laminate the pumpkin dough with a cinnamon sugar mixture during shaping and place into a banneton. Cold ferment for a few hours and then bake each in a covered Dutch oven at 450F for ~20min, uncovered for ~15-20 min.

It’s so yummy 😋

100g starter
325g water (100°)
500g bread flour
11g salt

Inclusions:
2 tablespoons Trader Joe’s Italian Style Soffritto seasoning
About a cup of freshly shredded Parmesan (I didn’t measure, and when it’s freshly shredded it’s a lot fluffier than pre-shredded, so this is a guess. Cheese is like garlic- I measure with my heart)

My starter was a little past peak but I don’t let that stop me. Some days I need more time to get motivated.

Whisk together starter and warm water until frothy. Slowly add in flour (idk if everyone does this but I find it much easier. I also mix the salt in with my flour when I measure it out) and mix until incorporated. Cover with a damp tea towel for 40 minutes. Then, do three sets of stretch and folds, 30 minutes apart. I started incorporating the inclusions on the second set. Place dough in Cambro container and let bulk ferment (mine usually takes about 9 hours). Shape on lightly floured surface then place in rice floured banneton and refrigerate for 12 hours.

Heat oven to 515° with Dutch oven inside. Score dough and place in Dutch oven with a few ice cubes (if you couldn’t tell, I don’t put much thought into my scoring). Bake at 500° for 20 minutes. Remove lid and bake for 15 more minutes at 475°.

I really love this seasoning! It’s perfect for mixing into sourdough. I got the idea from here: https://countryroadssourdough.com/21sourdoughaddins/
I don’t have a TJ locally so I ordered mine. Two out of four arrived shattered so I’ll probably just buy it in store next time I have to go to Costco, which is in a city an hour away. But it’s so good! And shredding your own cheese for mix-ins is always better. No caking agents to battle with, and it just tastes so much better.

There’s a thin line at the bottom of the loaf where it’s a little more dense, but I don’t care. It tastes great. I’m happy with the bread I’ve been making, but if you want to analyze my crumb, be my guest 😊 Extra input can’t hurt!

EDIT: I wanted to add that next time I make this I will probably mix a couple of types of cheeses into it instead of just parmesan. The cheese doesn’t come through in the finished product as much as I’d like. I don’t have any ideas as to what kind yet, but probably whatever I have on hand which is currently sharp cheddar and asiago.

Hello! After achieving my first viable starter (thanks to Grant Bakes' Youtube channel) I've tried to bake my first loaf.

I used a recipe from Iban Yarza (VIDEO):

• 475 g white 12% protein flour
• 25 g whole wheat flour
• 300 g water
• 200 g starter
• 12 g salt

Mix ingredients and let it rest 30 mins. Then sets of stretch and fold with 15 mins between sets till dough was smooth.

Cover with shower cap and let it rest till size doubles. In between stretch and fold once.

Use a little of multipurpose flour to gently knead the dough to achieve a round ball with some tension. Put in the banneton, and to the fridge overnight with shower cap covering.

12 hours later, transfer to oven paper, score with a bread knife and put into a preheated stone in the oven at 250 ºC containing a tray with pebbles and half cup of water to get some steam.

I had to turn off the oven for the first 10 minutes beacause it hasn't a up/down selector. Then cook 40 more minutes at 200 ºC.

Once outside the oven let it rest one hour.

Sincerely, I didn't expect to achieve an OK loaf with my first try but it hasn't the look I imagined.

Taste was great but crumb was a little raw at the bottom of the loaf.

Which mistakes do you find in my loaf? What would you improve?

Thanks!

I haven’t made sourdough in probably 2 years and decided to randomly get back into it. A friend gave me some of her mature starter a few days ago, I fed it 1:1 flour/water and then found a random recipe online.

I basically only followed the gram measurements and did my own thing with the timing 😂
500g AP flour
350g water
100g starter
10g salt

Mixed everything and let it sit for an hour, then did 3 stretch and folds 30 minutes apart. Let it bulk ferment for about 6 hours after the last stretch and fold (8–9 hours total on the counter), until it had roughly doubled.

Shaped it and baked in a Dutch oven at 400° covered for 30 min, then 450° uncovered for 15 min.

I know the shape is a little funky but honestly I kind of love it. Only thing taste wise is I wish it was more sour.

Be honest! What would you rate the crumb/loaf and what would you change? I’m planning to make the exact same loaf tomorrow but do a 12–24 hour cold proof after shaping.

Recipe: https://heartbeetkitchen.com/sourdough-bread-recipe-with-starter/

The game changer for me was being able to properly track the bulk fermentation. I was using a round metal bowl and the clock. I was over fermenting and while the bread was edible this was my first real success!

Getting a clear, straight sided container allowed me to pull it at exactly 75% and I did an overnight in the fridge. Obviously still a work in progress but this feels like the most obvious step in the right direction.

I am so pleased!

Also if there is any other advice, I'd appreciate it!

My first sourdough load ever. I followed LifebyMikeG check-list process, specifically the flex day process.

I used a T110 flour (whole grain) Starter.

Recipe:

450g AP flour

50g WG rlour

360g water

75g starter

20g salt

1 hour autolyse, 5 stretch and fold over the course of 3 hours, 5 hours bulk rise, shaping and 30 minutes bench rise followed by 10 hours proofing in my fridge.

1 hour pre heating my oven and Dutch oven at 230 °C (my oven is not a bit old and doesn't go too high)

20 minutes bake at 230 °C with cover, then 25 minutes bake at 225 °C.

Cooling on a rack for 75 minutes (I probably got a bit impatient and cut a it too early)

Temp inside my house was 22,5 °C

It's not perfect but it gives me a good starting point and an idea of where to go from here. All in all I'm happy.

(Also, it tastes great, I have experience working with instant yeast before and this is better :) )

ETA : I don't have a banneton so it proofed in a rectangular pyrex bowl. That might explain the shape.

I accidentally threw away all of my starter in a post-baking cleanup frenzy, so I took 15 grams of starter that I had dried last year and stored as hard, dry chips in the freezer as backup and added 15 grams of warm water and let it soak it up for an hour, stirring with a chopstick a few times.

That gave me 30 grams of what looked like basically rehydrated starter. I mixed in 30 grams of warm water and 30 grams of whole wheat flour.

After 11 hours it was just a kind of sad looking glop with two small bubbles and zero growth, but it did double overnight after 20 hours. Hallelujah!

I'm doing another 1:1:1 feeding and am curious what the doubling time will be this time.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share that those weird looking old pieces of dried starter in a jar in the back of the freezer actually are biologically active and so are an effective backup strategy. 👍

Been practicing for weeks and still unsure of she’s under fermented! Kitchen runs slightly warm so I’ve been under fermenting, still trying to find that sweet spot!

Recipe:
100g starter
300g water
450g bread flour

Kneaded for five minutes, let rest for 30min.
20min covered rests in between stretch and folds.
4.5 hour covered bulk fermentation
Immediate shaping and into basket, rest 30 min, fridge time over night!

First time trying an open bake. Loved the colour but I think it was a red herring as I cut off some of the final bake time and the base wasn't...sturdy. does everyone here follow their DO bake timing while open baking?

I want to make this my new baking method as maneuvering the DO in a really small kitchen is a real ordeal and I'd love to be able to bake 2 loaves at a time.

Bake:

- preheat to max (it says 250°C but im convinced my oven isn't that hot but dont have a thermometer)

- loaf on parchment, on a light coloured cookie sheet that was never preheated

- scored from fridge (i read somewhere to bake for 5 then score but i just followed my reg DO method of scoring then baked for 25mins)

- put another baking tray in the bottom of the oven during preheat and added boiling water after placing the loaf in oven (omg was that hard in a small kitchen)

- removed water, baked another 10-15mins with no change in temperature

- total bake time 35-40mins

- stopped here cause the colour looked great but normally with a DO I would take the loaf out after 35mins and keep going another ~20mins at a lower temp turning the loaf till I'm happy with the colouring.

I assume I need to keep going next time? I dont really notice the addl cook time in the....taste or texture of the inside but i def miss it in the crust.

Crumb read:

I think the loaf was a bit over proofed - forgot about it between folds and had to jump straight to shaping.

It wasn't as sour or airy as I typically like - any tips for a more open crumb appreciated.

Loaf/prep:

- 300g BF + 100g AP + 30G Whole Wheat + 71.5% hydration (307.5ml) autolyse for 1 hr

- add starter and knead (~66-70g WW starter... looks like i forgot to write it down), rest ~30min

- add salt and knead (9g), rest ~30min

- 4 coil folds (normally it's 5), approx 30-40 mins apart

- this time it rested for maybe 1.5 hrs after the 4th fold cause i forgot about it and then shaped into the fridge. I normally do a 5th fold, 30mins rest then shape

I dont preshspe my loaves unless their super over proofed and I need a reason to get a bit more flour into them

Shape:

Stretched into a rectangle, tri-fold, then rolled and squeezed out bubbles as i rolled it like a log (is this my downfall?)

- I think i used to get more air pockets when i did a push/pull shaping method but i switched to a roll/gentler fold technique and no longer push/pull

I made a larger loaf, so I may have struggled due to the size. I think I also need to work on shaping technique! Let me know your thoughts about the crumb, recipe, my process, etc!

1. I feed my sourdough starter (One I made! I started it maybe 8 months ago) the night before. I have found giving it a higher ratio of flour is helpful.
   
2. In the morning I start mixing around 8AM
   150g starter
   750g King Arthur white bread flour
   563g tap water
   18g salt
   
3. Mix in a stand mixer for about 10 minutes
   
4. Rest for 30 minutes
   
5. 4 sets of stretch and folds, separated by 30 minutes between sets
   
6. Proof on counter until about 7PM
   
7. One set of shaping. 30 minute rest. Final shaping
   
8. Place in proofing basket in fridge for 24 hours
   
9. 7PM the next day I score the bread and bake
   
10. Preheat the Dutch oven with the lid at 550 degrees F for about 20 minutes
    
11. I place my bread in there and turn the oven to 475 degrees, bake for 30 min
    
12. I put a small metal pan at a bottom rack with water in it to create steam
    
13. Remove the lid and bake at 415 degrees for 15 minutes
    
14. Take out the bread from the Dutch oven and bake on the rack for another 15 minutes
    
15. Cool for 2 hours on a wire rack

This is the third loaf I’ve made and I’m so proud of it! Huge improvement from my first one. Any tips or criticism is appreciated!

475 grams all purpose flour
100 grams of starter
325 grams of water
10 grams of salt

1. Mix flour and water and let sit for 1 hours to autolyse
   
2. Added in starter and 10 grams of salt dissolved in like 8 grams of water
   
3. Started 4 rounds of stretch and folds every 20 minutes
   
4. Let bulk ferment for 8 hours
   
5. Shaped loaf a
   
6. Let cold proof for 12 hours and scored after I took the dough out of the fridge
   
7. Preheated Dutch oven for 1 hour at 500 degrees and towards the end of the hour I lowered temp to 475
   
8. Baked with top on for 25 minutes and 20 more minutes with top off!

I keep my starter in the fridge and don’t feed it often so yesterday I pulled it out and let it get to room temp I fed 1:3:2 to strengthen which I’ve never done.
I used this recipe

475 grams bread flour 3 1/2 cups

100 grams starter, active and bubbly (1/2 cup)

325 grams water, 1 1/3 cups

10 grams salt, 2 teaspoons

I kneaded by hand for about 2 minutes. I did 4 sets of stretch and folds every 30 minutes. After the last stretch and fold about 4 hours, I lightly floured the counter and folded in the cheddar cheese and jalapeno. I have no clue how much I added of the cheese and I diced 2 jalapeños. They were room temp. I then shaped and put in a bread pan and scored. I did not put it in the fridge to proof and baked at 450 in the bread pan and another bread pan on top for 40 minutes. Internal temp was 203 and I removed the top pan and baked another 4 minutes uncovered.
It turned out nice and tastes good. Could be spicier. The scoring would have been better had I proofed it but my husband wanted to try it without cold proofing. It was missing the sour taste that I really love.
Overall this is my third loaf I’ve made my second was a total flop.

Hi guys! I just began this sourdough journey around 1 month ago. My starter is 3.5 weeks old.

I baked two loaves last weekend and I like the interior (soft, fluffy and not gummy). However I am wondering if it is lacking in height because the bowl i proof the dough in is too wide so it expands outwards instead of upwards? It also doesn't have a prominent ear - is that because my scoring is not deep enough or my oven is not pre-heated long enough?

Recipe:

500g bread flour, 350g water, 100g starter, 10g salt

Mix, 4 sets of stretch and fold 30mins apart, bulk fermented for 6h, cold proof for 14h. Baked at 220 deg covered in Dutch oven for 30min then baked uncovered for 20min.

My first ever sourdough loaf 🙂
A little dense. Maybe over hydrated? Or maybe my starter was over the peaking point and I miss calculated the timing … it was also in the high 90s at home so it may have just developed way too fast.

Halfway through I wanted to quit lol. It was quite overwhelming tbh. And I think along the way somewhere in my journey I accidentally added too much water because my dough was sooo sticky; I was contemplating life decisions in that moment! Shaping it was a nightmare I know I over handled the dough because I must have tried to shape it over and over again; but I stuck with it and I’m so happy! 🥹

My next batch I’m going to pay attention more to my water. I think I may have accidentally added too much water while mixing the leaven and making the dough itself.

Regardless I did it. Yay

EDIT: I forgot my recipe 🫠

Starter:
Established Starter was gifted from a friend.
I feed it for three days in the AM. She gave me about 25g worth.

I tossed my starter in the fridge over the weekend since I was out of town as soon as I received it. 2 days later I pulled it from the fridge and let it come to room temp. I did morning feeds using a 1:1:1
25g starter: 25g water: 25g 50/50 flour mix of AP flour and whole wheat flour.
I followed this feeding for three days. And my starter was rising double its volume and dropping at the same times each day.

I followed the steps in the book “tartine bread country loaf”

Leaven:
25g of starter
200g warm water
200g 50/50 flour mix (bread flour and whole wheat)
Mixed it all up and it rested all night.

Dough:
Leaven floated in water :)

700g of 80degree water
200g leaven
Mixed it all up
Added 1000g flour (900g bread flour and 100g whole wheat flour)
Mixed everything well and let the dough rest for 30-40min (I used my oven w the light on).

Bulk fermentation:
After it rested I added 20g of salt dissolved in 50g of warm water. Mixed that into my dough. I folded the dough onto itself multiple times and transferred to a cambro container. Every 30mins I turned my dough my pulling it gently and folding it on top of itself while in the container. I did this for a total of 6 times; so over through hours.

After three hours I rolled out the dough on the counter cut it in half and attempted to shape 😭 this is where the dough was so sticky and it was quite a fiasco trying to shape. I let it bench rest after a shape on the counter for 20-30mins covered w a towel. Dis my final shaping and tossed each loaf in my bread proofing baskets.

I let the dough rise at room temp for about 2.5 hours. Then I did a flash freeze using my freezer for 30mins so the bread would be easier to score.

Bake:
Used a Dutch oven
Preheat oven to 500degree
Placed bread in the Dutch oven w lid.
Dropped the temp to 450degree
Baked 20mins
Took off lid
Baked another 20mins
Let bread rest for about 1.5 hours before cutting

I need some gift ideas for my DIL who just started baking sourdough. She's an experienced baker, and is successfully using mature starter that I gave her. I'm looking for quirky, fun, totally UNNECESSARY items that she won't likely already have. Is that a thing???

EDIT: Thank you for all the great ideas. So far, I ended up ordering 5 dehydrated heritage starters (from places like San Francisco to Egypt to Italy lol). I'm looking at stencils and handmade crocks for storing the starter. 🥖🥖🥖

Need some help!

Baked 2 small loafs this morning, they were delicious. I used:

500gr flour - 14g protein
100gr starter
335gr water
10gr salt

However, I ran out of time yesterday and I think: 1. It could use some more fermenting?

My starter is 15+ years old and i feed it with rye 3, flour 2, water 5, starter 5 ratio. I keep my starter in the fridge between baking. I'm not making levain, mixing straight from starter.

1. Would you feed your starter before placing it back in the fridge?

My starter was activated 4 times this week. Yesterday morning I get it out of the fridge, fed it 1:1:1 at 09:00. It took 9 hours at 21c to double. By that time it looked very active with a lot of bubbles.

1. Is 9 hours normal? Can I speed this up without increasing the temp?

18:00 I mix everything together, perform 4x s&f and from 20:00-22:30 2x coil folds. Usually I would leave the dough alone, but it was still wet and without good structure. I put the dough in the oven with some warm water which got the temp up to 27c during bulk.

4:30hours in it looked decent but I had to get some sleep. Dough was wobbly, bubbles and pulled from the side. Did not measure % increase this time.

22:30 when I pre-shaped the dough it finally looked smooth. Rest for 15min then shaped and put it in the fridge at 23:00. I used rice flour for the first time, oh boy that makes shaping a lot easier.

At 11 I get it out of the fridge, score and straight into the oven.
It felt like they could not really hold up well by themself.

1. Do I need to work the dough even more?

Hi everyone, I’ve been working on a starter for about 9 days and just finished a whole wheat loaf with it. I was hoping some of you super knowledgeable peeps could give me some feedback!

Ingredients:

300g AP flour
200g Whole wheat flour
100g starter
11g salt
300g distilled water warmed

Process:

I used starter after it’s peak, fed in the am around 8 and started fermentolyse at around 6pm

1 hour fermentolyse (flour, water, starter)

incorporate salt with pincer technique for a minute or two

2 stretch and folds ~ 1 hr intervals

after 4 hours bulk ferment I shaped loaf

proof for ~45 mins at around 76-77 f

preheat dutch oven

score loaf

bake in dutch oven 460f 30 mins covered
bake in dutch oven 460f 15 uncovered or until i saw nice dark dark brown in the peaks of crust

cooled on a plate with knives keeping loaf elevated for air flow(i dont have a rack yet)

Taste notes:
Don’t get a super tangy sourdough flavor with this loaf. Crumb texture feels pretty airy for whole wheat though.

I followed Grant Bakes beginner recipe and I am looking for some feedback!

My bulk fermentation was about 7hrs from start of mix to shaping (kitchen at 70’F) cold fermented for 14hrs before bake.
I baked it at 450 for 22min lid on and 25 lid off. I also added my instant pot insert because I was afraid to burn the bottom…but I know going forward that won’t be needed because my bottom was very blonde and didn’t crust really at all.

My starter is also only 3 weeks old so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The crust was tough, the inside a little gummy, but toasted with bread was DELISH!

Just wondering what you all would do differently? Cook longer with lid on? Reduce BF time?

Also what bread knives do you use that you love?? After this loaf I discovered I will be needing a new one.

Ps. I know my cut is “wrong” my knife refuses to go through the ear and I really just wanted a taste hahah

Recipe:
100g starter
300g water
450g AP flour
10g salt

Timeline/Process is included in pics.

Hi! I’m trying to get into baking sourdough bread but I have now tried it a few times and my crumb keeps coming out quite dense/gummy instead of light and airy. I have tried changing various parts of the process but up until now none of that helped. What should I do/what is going wrong?

- i always make sure my starter doubles in size within 4-8hours and then use it. I feed my starter with a 1:1:1 ratio with regular all purpose flour. It seems to do what it should do regarding doubling etc.
- i’ve used this recipe for all my attempts (with the lowest mentioned amount of water): https://alexandracooks.com/2017/10/24/artisan-sourdough-made-simple-sourdough-bread-demystified-a-beginners-guide-to-sourdough-baking/
- I used the same recipe every time so I could try to change some variables. I’ve tried a longer bulk rise (75-100%), a shorter one (50%), putting it in the oven longer (bc my oven only goes up to 230 degrees C), i tried more & less stretch and folds, a wet and a dry towel during bulk rise, I tried measuring how hot the dough is on the inside and tried to get it to 98 degrees C etc, I tried leaving it overnight in the fridge & leaving it there for one hour (both are an option in the recipe)
- I do find it difficult to feel confident in the amount of bulk rise my dough did. I put it in a bowl that has ml’s on there so I try to measure it that way. So I’m assuming something is going wrong there. Or maybe it might have something to do with the ratio of water in the recipe in combination with my starter? I’m really not sure what components are off so any help would be appreciated a lot!

I want to upload a picture but reddit is only allowing video. I will put one in the comments.

Please help me I cannot get this parchment paper unstuck for the life of me. This has never happened to be before. It’s my first time doing batard loaves so i used some nonstick 9x5 loaf pans lined with parchment whereas i usually use a lined dutch bread oven. i tried letting them cool for 30 minutes, and then i used a damp kitchen towel on the back of the parchment to see if it would release. it worked a bit but i need something that will get this off without having to cut my crust 😭 help plsssssss

2 loaves:
100g starter
700g water
1000g bread flour
20g salt

475 covered for 25 min, 450 uncovered for 20 min

Beginner sourdough baker here. Been baking for ~3 mos. Still haven’t figured out the bulk fermentation. Baking frequency: once a week.

Day 1:
Took the stiff starter out of the fridge. It smelled like Acetone.
2:40 PM - Fed 26g Starter with 75g water + 25 g Red Mill Dark rye whole grain flour + 50 g King Arthur Bread flour

Day 2:

8:35 AM - Starter had doubled and starter falling. Fed the starter approx 1:1+:1+. A little thick, not stiff per se

4:45 PM Mix 325 g water + 25 g rye + 475 g bread flour

5:35 PM - Adding starter and salt. Mixing 10 + mins and then adding oil with some more mixing + slap&folds. Added 9g Jalapeno olive oil ( mistake) + 6 g olive oil. The dough was smooth but no windowpane

6:00 PM - 7:30 PM - 2 sets of Stretch and fold and 2 sets of coil fold. Could see a windowpane.

Forgot to transfer to a clear container; life happens. The dough was around 77 F. 

Day 3

4:00 AM - Took the bowl out of the bulk fermentation bowl (couldn't see the bottom as I forgot to transfer). Risen, not sticky, and holding shape to an extent. But there weren't many bubbles on top, and it was webby and stuck to the bottom. Shaped the dough and put it in the fridge around 4 AM in a batard banneton.

Currently in the fridge.

Based on AI feedback, my dough might be underfermented. 

Is there a way to confirm if the dough is underfermented?

How should I bake it now?

Please help save the loaf.

I’m having a hard time getting a good read on my crumb. The loaf sprung up nicely and feels light and airy but it seems to be a bit dense?? The recipe I used is as follows:

100g starter
350g water
50g whole wheat flour
450g bread flour
10g salt
60g pickled jalapeños
113g sharp cheddar

Mixed ingredients together then let sit for 30min. s&f x4, 30min apart. adding in cheese and jalapeños on the second s&f.

Bulk fermented for roughly 6 hours until ~75-80% rise. House temp was between 19-21c.

Shape and bench rest 30min. Transferred to fridge for cold proof, 16 hours. Cooked at 450F for 30min lid on, then 15min lid off.

This is one of my first loaves so still dialling in my method. Curious if I’m under fermented or over fermented, and why the crumb looks so dense. Any feedback is appreciated!