Figured out why my sourdough kept turning out flat after 2 months of trying

So I've been making sourdough for about 4 months now, and the first 2 months were a disaster. My loaves were flat as pancakes with barely any rise. I tried different flours, water temperatures, everything. Then last week I stumbled on this trick where you let the dough do a cold proof in the fridge for 24 hours instead of just 4 or 5. I threw my dough in the fridge on a Friday night, baked it Saturday morning, and it came out with this huge oven spring and a perfect ear. Turns out my kitchen is too warm for a short proof and the gluten was just collapsing. Has anyone else had better luck with long cold ferments for sourdough?

2 comments

2 Comments

robert6416d ago

my kitchen is too warm" so you're saying 4 or 5 hours at room temp is enough to collapse your gluten? That sounds more like a starter issue than a proofing time thing.

milap3516d ago

Actually, a warm kitchen can weaken gluten during long room temp proofs, so cold fermentation helps strengthen it.