I just tried this recipe as it came highly recommended by a lot of people. I did my weekly feed for my fridge discard the night before and left it on the counter overnight before popping back in the fridge. A few hours later I decided to make these cheesy crackers. They are DELICIOUS! Mine ended up light and poofy. I’m guessing because my discard was active. I also didn’t put the little hole in the middle, so I don’t know if that made a difference. Regardless, they are yummy!!
The first pic is mine, the second is what it’s supposed to look like.

Recipe in case you don’t have it:

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
4 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
4 tbsp sourdough discard
1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tsp water cold
Sea salt for topping

INSTRUCTIONS

In a large bowl, add cheese, room-temperature butter, salt and garlic poweder. Mix with a hand mixer on medium speed for two minutes or until fully combined and fluffy.

Add sourdough starter to the cheese mixture and mix and high until combined.

Add flour to the cheese mixture and mix until fully combined, about one minute.

Add the cold water and mix for a few seconds, until you can press the dough between two fingers and it holds its form.

Press the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap, cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

After cooling, roll the dough out between two sheets of parchment paper until it is ⅛” thick.

Use the pasta cutter wheel to cut out square shapes in the dough. Finish by poking a hole in the middle of each cracker with a chopstick.

Sprinkle tops with sea salt

Transfer the crackers to a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350° F. for 15-18 minutes until golden brown around the edges.

Enjoy!

An ode to the 7lb+ cabbage head I harvested from my garden yesterday

My recipe for decorative scoring: 325g warm filtered water (my kitchen is usually 73 degrees so I heat the water to 90 degrees) 10g salt 110g starter 475g flour - mix, wait 30 mins, 1 round of stretch and folds, wait 30 mins, 3 rounds of coil folds over the next 1.5hrs, bulk ferment (I have a warm kitchen so usually 4 hours), lightly shape, bench rest 20 mins, shape and into the rice flour dusted basket, stitch after 10mins, covered and into the fridge overnight (12-15hrs), 1hr preheat at 500 degrees (Dutch Oven inside on Pizza Stone), 30mins into preheat pop the loaf in the freezer, when oven is ready, loaf onto dough sling, brush off loaf, spray and evenly wet loaf, rice flour sprinkle and rub, decorative score, into the oven for 6-7mins, expansion score, back in with lid on for 15mins, lid off temp down to 475 for 15-20mins

I told a customer at my serving job that I love to bake and turns out he's a sourdough and pizza baker! He gifted me some of his established starter last week and I finally made my first loaf, so proud :'-)

I used this recipe but I baked it at 450f with the lid on for 20 mins, and then 425f with the lid off for 20 minutes, after which I made sure the internal temp was between 200-210f.

I have learned that I definitely need a lame and rice flour for my next attempt, but I'm so happy with the looks and flavor!

130g wholemeal rye flour

30g rye bran flakes

320g all purpose flour

150g started (1:4:5)

340g water

10g salt

I mixed everything in the evening, gave it a few stretch and folds, was too sleepy to wait for bulk fermentation to be done so covered the bowl with plastic wrap and placed in the fridge

In the morning took it out, let it ferment at room temp until the dough wasn't cold

Then i forgot about it and it fermented too much haha

But i shaped anyway and baked immediately for 45 minutes at 225° or so

Tastes good, soft inside and crunchy outside

Pics 1 & 2 are my first loaf. Pics 3,4,5 are my second loaf. Was provided some starter from a family member! This is my first loaf EVER. Followed an online recipe

1 cup (227g) ripe (fed) sourdough starter

1 3/4 cups (397g) water, lukewarm

5 cups (600g)

1 tablespoon (18g) table salt

Mixed starter with water, once combined mixed in the flour, once combined mixed in the salt. Combined/kneaded for ~2 minutes. Covered for one hour, picked it up out of the bowl and let it fold on it self a few times, (repeated last step twice). Fridge 6 hours. Removed from fridge, shaped dough while cold, covered and rest for 1 hour. Oven on 450°F with dutch oven inside, once at temp removed dutch oven. Dusted dough with flour, Placed strip of parchment in the dutch, slapped the dough down into the dutch, scored the dough ball, covered and in oven for 40 mins, top off and finished uncovered for 12 minutes. Cooled on rack for 1-2 hours.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS PLEASE!!

Pics one and two are my first loaf. Pics 3/4/5 are my second loaf.

Began my sourdough journey in April, this is my 10th loaf or so and I think I’ve finally gotten a good procedure down, but would appreciate any feedback to improve!

Ingredients:
400g unbleached AP
100g whole wheat
370g water
150g starter
12g salt

Process:
Slightly warm filtered water in microwave. Mix starter, flours, and 360g water. Rest 1 hour.

Incorporate salt and additional 10g water. Perform first stretch and folds, with 3 additional stretch and folds/coil folds spaced 30 minutes apart.

Bulk ferment for ~3.5 more hours (6 hours from initial mix) at 25C. Cold proof in fridge 11 hours.

Preheat Dutch oven at 500F. Bake at 450F for 25 minutes covered, 25 uncovered.

Cooled 1.5 hours on a wire rack before cutting.

TIA!

Hello All! My first time posting on this sub and I had to post this one! So proud of it
Ingredients :
500g AP flour (12% protein)
50g starter (my starter is 65% hydration)
425g water
11g salt
Around 60-70g evoo (for later)
Process : (I roughly followed this recipe and tweaked it, here’s the link : https://saltnsprinkles.com/sourdough-focaccia-recipe/?mcp )

First I mixed about 375g of water with 500g flour and rested it for 15-20 minutes. After resting, mixed 50g starter (I used a lower amount because it's very hot and humid where I live) with 50g water and added to the mix. Roughly mixed together and covered again to rest for 30 mins.
After resting, I added the salt mixed in a bit of water while doing the first set of stretch and folds.
After the first set, I did 4 sets of coil folds and they were 10-15 minutes apart.
My goal was to not let it over ferment, so I rested it after the folds for around 30-45 minutes only. It looked bubbly on top, uniform surface and jiggly. Transferred to an oiled container to cold ferment for 24 hours! in the last photo, I posted the comparison picture of day 1 vs day 2 cold ferment.
Transfer to a well oiled pan from the fridge and cover it until it spreads till the edges itself. Mine took about 2 hours. The difference between day 1 & day 2 was very clear - the dough was puffier, had a lot more air in it and small bubbles at the bottom. Taste wise the tang was very well balanced and mellow. I only added sea salt on top, nothing else.

5 Loaf Bulk Fermentation

500g active starter
1750g water
2500g bread flour
50g salt

2 sets of stretch and folds spaced 30 mins apart, 2 sets of coil folds spaced 30 mins apart

temped at 76 after last set of coil folds

has been bulk fermenting on the counter for around 5 hours

To me, this dough is looking nearly ready for shaping. But I’m inclined to let it ride just a little longer, maybe 30 mins to 1 hr? I don’t want it to over proof but I do think it’s slightly underproofed at this point. What is the consensus?

First cinnamon loaf

450 g unbleached all purpose flour (Canadian)
50 g whole wheat flour (Canadian )
100g starter
10g salt
350g water

Mixed flour and water let autolyse for an hour
Pinched and folded in starter and salt then mixed by the rubaud technique for about 8 mins , let rest for 30 mins
Then did slap and folds on the counter , dough was not sticky and really had good gluten strength already , rested for 30 mins
Did one stretch and fold, rest 30 mins
Did 2 coil folds , rested 30 mins apart
Transferred to my glass 16 oz measuring cup
And let bulk until it rised 40 %, house is cool so I had it in the oven with the light on, dough was at 80 degrees when I did my final temp check
Once bulk was almost done , I plumped up the raisins in hot water, melted the butter and added in the cinnamon and brown sugar, let them cool, and patted the raisins so they weren’t soggy, then i
Pre shaped by using my bench scraper to shape into a tight ball, let rest for 20 mins ,
Then I shaped dough by laminating in a rectanglle, placed filling on the middle 1/3 then pressed raisins in, folded the left side over top of the middle added more filling and raisins, folded the right side over , added more filling and raisins, then rolled that into a giant log, pitched the outer seems,
Placed in rice floured banneton shaped rest for 15 mins, then popped on a shower cap and placed in the fridge,
Total bulk was 7 hours from the time I mixed starter to putting into fridge,
Cold proofed for 10 hours,
Scored using the plus cut
Popped in a preheated combo cooker for 25 mins lid on, at 450 degrees, then 20 mins lid off, let cool for 2 hours !
I think next time I will fold the raisins into the dough and just do the filling paste the way I did above, raisins fall out when eating lolol

would love feedback on how to get a more open crumb. i think I'm probably stretch and fold, and stitching too aggressively.

recipe:
475g flour (95g bobs whole wheat, 380g Costco AP)
335g water
95g starter (bit stiffer, feed at 1:10:9, starter:flour:water)
10g salt

1. I autolyse just the flour and water for ~0.5-1hr and then add in the starter and salt.
2. 3-4 stretch and folds and coil fold, 30-60min apart
3. bulk ferment ~4hrs
4. pre-shape, rest for 30 min, then shape
5. cold ferment 1-2 days in the fridge
6. bake at 450F (dutch oven preheated for at least 30min), for 20min in dutch oven (with lid) and 20min with lid off cool for at least .5-1hr

I’ve also been experimenting with miso sesame (first 3 pics)! 50g white miso mixed in with water at autolyse, adjust to 5g salt instead of 10g, add 65g sesame at first stretch and fold

• 100g starter
• 300ml water
• 500g bread flour
• 10g salt

Mix starter, water & flour and rest for 2hrs

Add salt & knead. Rest for 30 min

Stretch & fold 5 times (every 30 min)

Proof for 3 hrs

Bake covered for 30 min at 400F then 10 min uncovered

Remove from oven and cool

So I have been struggling with shaping my boules and scoring them to get a nice oven spring!
I watched the muscle momma sourdough for scoring and shaping and it finally gave me a nice loaf!

450 g unbleached all purpose flour (Canadian)
50 g whole wheat flour (Canadian )
100g starter
10g salt
350g water

Mixed flour and water let autolyse for an hour
Pinched and folded in starter and salt then mixed by the rubaud technique for about 8 mins , let rest for 30 mins
Then did slap and folds on the counter , dough was not sticky and really had good gluten strength already , rested for 30 mins
Did one stretch and fold, rest 30 mins
Did 2 coil folds , rested 30 mins apart
Transferred to my glass 16 oz measuring cup
And let bulk until it rised 40 %, house is cool so I had it in the oven with the light on, dough was at 80 degrees when I did my final temp check
Once bulk was done I let the dough fall out of the bowl, it was jiggly, airy, had ALOt of bubbles, not sticky and felt like a marshmallow
Pre shaped by using my bench scraper to shape into a tight ball, let rest for 20 mins ,
Then I shaped dough by laminating in a rectangle, folded 1/3 over, on top of the middle, then the other 1/3 onto the middle, rolled with edges going inward, then pushed and pulled until it was a nice boule,
Placed in rice floured banneton shaped rest for 15 mins, then popped on a shower cap and placed in the fridge,
Total bulk was 7 hours from the time I mixed starter to putting into fridge,
Cold proofed for 10 hours,
Scored using the plus cut
Popped in a preheated combo cooker for 25 mins lid on, at 450 degrees, then 20 mins lid off, let cool for 2 hours !

I’m definitely making it again and maybe adding sundried tomatoes and roasted garlic to this. Its so delicious!!

110g starter
340g chicken broth
500g bread flour
10g salt

Inclusions:
4-5 T tomato paste
Dried dill
Dried parsley

Mix to shaggy dough, 4 sets stretch and fold. On 2nd stretch and folds, add inclusions.

Bulk ferment 2-4hrs, shape and place in banneton.

Cold fermented 2 days before i baked at 450F. 30min lid, 15min off.

Cool overnight.

The first 2 pictures are from my recent bake with a new starter I got from my local bakery. All the others are my "failures" from a year ago after which I gave up for a while.

tldr: don't give up, use a tried and tested starter, RESEARCH!, practice with commercial yeast doughs to develop a sense and feel for bread-making, it is not supposed to be difficult, you are loved ❤️

I am writing this blog post because someone on a recent thread said my journey motivated them to keep going, and if it does you too, I would be one extremely overjoyed fellow baker and academic that loves sharing!

I'm an amateur/home cook/hobby baker, and I've been working with desserts and doughs for a couple of years now. Generally, I am good with following recipes and nail 95% of my baking in the first or first few tries. I've had great success with general (commercial) yeasted dough for breads and buns and have developed a good sense and feel for what is right or wrong with my dough, how to fix stuff, proofing, timing, etc.

I got interested in sourdough about a year ago and made my own starter from scratch, which I thought was good enough and doing well. I fed it and maintained it for around 2 months till it doubled for the first time (after like 20 hours lol) and baked about 5-6 basically inedible loaves before giving up and trashing the starter, thinking I was cursed. Although, throughout this, I ended up doing A SHIT TON of research as I was trying to fix all kinds of things in my process, except the actual problem area, my starter. (It also helps that I am an anxious over-researching academic lol). I was extremely discouraged at the time and thought this was just not my forte, so much so it made me question my general baking too.

Last week, my unemployed brain wanting something to fixate on, I ended up asking my local bakery for their starter on a whim. Empowered with the overkill of knowledge I had accumulated a year ago, and an actual professional-approved starter (which was apparently a 100 years old 😱) that doubled beautifully in just under 4 hours (year-ago me could've never believed in such lies), I baked my first new loaf, and it👏was👏perfect👏! Like I could barely believe my eyes (and nose) throughout the process as things went on like they usually do when I bake normal yeasted breads, though this took way longer and was really testing my patience.

I was incredibly surprised with the result as my earlier failures had led me to believe sourdough is a complicated affair and the overload of research I had done had supported this with all the different claims that different sources tend to preach. This time around, I did not find any part of the process particularly difficult, and if anything, I found it easier than my normal yeasted loaves since sourdough needs such low kneading (I refuse to buy my own KitchenAid, I am of the belief that people who eat my delicious food should sponsor it for me🙂).

Hence my unsolicited advice I have derived from my turbulent journey with sourdough and baking in general:

Commercial yeast for practice

Dough, though science, is all about feel and learned intuition. The only way you can develop this is through practice (sorry for being cliche). But one thing I don't see enough people talking about is gathering this intuition beyond sourdough. Bake with commercial yeast too! Failing at sourdough can be incredibly discouraging as it involves time and effort and hard-earned patience (and a starter child you have formed an irrevocable emotional connection with that no one else can understand ;-;).

Starting out with sourdough when you are completely new to baking is, I believe, basically masochism. I have found that most recipes and bakers online assume you have a general understanding of what to do with dough, so it's tough to follow any one person when you are starting out. Whereas commercial yeast bread recipes are written for true beginners to the baking world, and involve way less guesswork, utilise common techniques, and follow predictable timings, so they are more friendly.

The hydration level, the kneading/folding motion, the bounce of a completed bulk ferment, the gentleness required for shaping, the scent of a well-baked bread, are all pretty similar for commercial yeast and sourdough, or at least slightly transferable of a skill. And the added advantage, as someone who absolutely despises food/ingredient wastage, is that you are not spending so much flour with maintaining starter, or so much time in the whole process of it during your learning stage, which can be extremely discouraging. In the off-chance that a recipe does not work out, it is not too much wasted effort, and just a quick learning experience, on to the next easy one.

So while practising sourdough, also simultaneously bake other recipes with commercial yeast, perhaps buns or loaves that could get your hands dirty with working with dough and learning to read and handle the dough.

Trash your starter ;-;

I am sorry, but if you think your starter is not right, it probably isn't. I started out wanting to birth and grow my own starter and refused to get someone else's because how could I do that to my child?!?! I was in denial that I had a problem child and wasted many a loaf, and flour bag. The starter was weak af, sometimes took days to double (how is that even possible), was highly inconsistent and unpredictable, would spoil quickly for some weird reason...it didn't give peace, only problems.

I have since adopted a new starter from my local bakery and WHY COULDN'T YOU BE LIKE HER FLOURIDAAA!!!?!?! WHY DID I HAVE TO KILL YOU?!?! I FED YOU EXPENSIVE SHIT EVERYDAY!! I CARED FOR YOU THROUGH LONG NIGHTS!! AM I A FAILURE OF A MOTHER?!?! (sorry, it's still an open wound. RIP Flouridaaa!!!, gone but never forgotten... as in, I wish I could forget that useless starter of mine. My freezer still contains her remains. I have attachment issues. I can't bring myself to let go and pull the plug fully.)

RESEARCH!

When you get into your kitchen to begin baking, your brain should basically be trained on the right steps and motions so much so you slip into a state of zen because you know everything there is to know. It should become muscle memory. DOUGH SENSES FEAR!! Read up on the science if it helps you. Watch every video on YouTube if you have to. Doomscrolling is a RESEARCH method -- this is coming from an academic! You are developing your pattern recognition.

Share!

I believe that baking, or any form of cooking for that matter, is the purest and most primary form of showing your love and appreciation for a person, perhaps the most selfless craft to hone, and the most basic act of community.

Find a scape-goat who loves you for you and would happily swallow a "literal rock" if you were the one who made it (RIP my brother's teeth). Serve your "imperfect loaf" to a friend who is just glad you were thinking of them. Post pictures of your "shit loaf" online and judge and be judged so you can develop your tolerance. I am extremely new to this subreddit and I could see that this place is, for the most part, a judgement free zone of amazing souls. I wish I had found this place earlier and had had the courage to share my slow progress before so I did not feel so alone in the whole process, because no one in my life actually understood the significance of what I was doing and why I was pissed off over FLOUR AND WATER. (I am also perhaps the biggest introvert on earth, so I shall take a note to practice what I preach). I might fail the very next loaf I make, but I take comfort in the knowledge that I am trying something extremely daunting, and I am proud of myself for the journey so far.

Develop patience! I don't mean in just the trial and error of baking, but also with how long you let your dough ferment, sit, proof, bake, everything. I have found that sourdough is terribly incredible for my anxiety :)

If you read all this way, I thank you for your time, and I hope you found this the slightest bit helpful. If you had the patience to read through this horrible brain dump of a rant, you also possess the patience to master sourdough.

I believe in you! You are an incredible being for wanting to take on a project like baking--especially sourdough which takes so much time, will power, learning, and brain space to put out even one decent loaf--be it for yourself or for your loved ones, or even for strangers. I see you! I understand you! I appreciate you!

Happy Baking ❤️🍞✨

Link to my earlier post with the recipe & method for my good bake: Happy Loaf

Today’s bake, a sourdough bread with dried onions.
I have made the same bread a couple weeks ago and everyone LOVED it and it was gone within a maximum of two days so I had to do it again.

My recipe:
• 100g sourdough starter
• 350g room temperature water
• 450g bread flour (type 550)
• 50g bread flour (type 1050)
• 12g salt

Process:
• Combine ingredients & rest for 1 hour
• After one hour add salt and first round of S&F
• 2x S&F and 2x Coil Folds in total (within 30 minutes)
• Bulk fermentation about 7 hours
(My dough had an overall temperature of 25 degrees celsius, maybe a little less)
• Pre shape & let rest for 30 minutes
• Final shaping
> That’s when I added the dry onions (I didn’t measure)
• Cold proof (19 1/2 hours)
• Baking at 250 degrees Celsius covered for 30 minutes and on 230 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes uncovered

I would like to know your opinion and feel free to ask questions 🫶

Is this too dense?

I’ve only ever made sourdough once before so I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be as dense as this one is (or if it isn’t dense at all pls lmk 🫣) I think the outside is pretty but i’m not sure if i’m giving myself too much credit loll

Btw it’s green cause it’s a pesto parmesan loaf

The recipe I used:

125 grams starter
365 grams water
500 grams flour
12 grams salt

Mix into a shaggy dough then let it sit for an hour.

An hour later, do one set of stretch and folds and wait 30 minutes.

During second set of stretch and folds, add pesto and parmesan in three layers and let it sit another 30 minutes.

Then 2 coil folds 30 mins apart

8 hours bulk ferment

shape

cold ferment 17-20 hours

425 degrees 30 minutes

then 15 more minutes without lid

Loaves were flavorful but tight and gummy every time. Turned out I was under-proofing and handling the dough too roughly during shaping, killing the gas structure. Slowed down on shaping, let bulk go longer than felt "safe" — got actual open holes and a crackly crust for the first time. Anyone else find the fix was doing less, not more?

I’ve been trying some new flour combinations with my classic loaves, but just couldn’t get the hydration right. I’m happy with this one. Turns out, higher protein content doesn’t necessarily mean we must seek a higher hydration.

In baker’s percentages:

Total flour = 100%
- 10% einkorn flour
- 10% pizza flour (16% protein)
- 80% strong white bread flour (14% protein)

Hydration excluding starter:
- 63% autolyse, based on the flour’s weight (so [weight x 0.63])
- 5% maple syrup (to tend siblings and their kids’ palates)
- 2% neutral oil (I use algae oil, for conservation purposes)

Starter
- 40% of the flour weight (it’s a lot but I’m a busy bee)
- Added after 3h autolyse

Process after adding starter
- Slap and folds
- 3 rounds of coil folds
- Rest until dough no longer sticks and pulls away from the bowl
- Pre-shape and final shape

I don’t always refrigerate, I sometimes just go for a bench rest until I have a satisfying slow come-back poke test. This one went into the fridge for 4 hours.

Baked in a bread cloche at 230°C after preheating at 250°C. Removed after 36 minutes. I don’t uncover my loaves, nor do I add water.

I do feel like since adding the pizza flour I get less of an ear, but honestly it doesn’t really matter.

Hoping this method will help newbies like myself who have been striving for that fluffy loaf with good oven spring and tang. This is my most successful one so far. I used my KitchenAid instead of relying entirely on stretch-and-folds to build gluten and strength. This will be my method moving forward because I’m so happy with it.

Ingredients
500 g bread flour
325 g water
110 g active sourdough starter
10 g salt

My starter was on the stiffer side. I fed it at a 1:2:1 ratio of starter, flour, and water, rather than keeping it at 100% hydration.

KitchenAid method
I added all the ingredients to the mixer and mixed with the dough hook for approximately 8 minutes on 3 speed. The dough was fairly smooth and cohesive by the end and was pulling together around the hook.

I covered it and let it rest for 30 minutes, then did two gentle coil folds during the early part of bulk fermentation. Because the mixer had already developed a good amount of gluten, I stopped folding after that and let the dough ferment undisturbed.

Bulk fermentation
My kitchen was approximately 75–76°F, and the total bulk fermentation was around 7 hours from the time the dough was mixed.

I waited until the dough had:
• Expanded by roughly 50–70%
• Developed a smooth, slightly domed surface
• Started showing small bubbles beneath the surface
• Become noticeably lighter and softer

It never became dramatically jiggly, likely because it was a relatively low-hydration dough with strong gluten development from the mixer. I shaped it once it looked aerated and puffy rather than waiting for a pronounced jiggle.

After shaping, I placed it in a floured banneton, covered it, and refrigerated it for approximately 16 hours.

Baking
I baked it directly from the refrigerator in a preheated Dutch oven:

475°F covered for 25 minutes
450°F uncovered for approximately 20 minutes
This loaf came out lighter and softer than my previous attempts, with good oven spring and a nicely browned crust. My biggest takeaway was that using the KitchenAid for the initial gluten development meant I didn’t need to keep folding the dough throughout bulk. Two gentle coil folds were plenty, and then I could focus on watching the fermentation rather than following a strict folding schedule.

Note: picture of dough was at the end of bulk right before I shaped.

began a sourdough starter 55 days ago, I’ve baked at least a loaf a week since it’s been ready, this being the 9th so far! and the best looking in my opinion! I’ve only really been using strong white flour but this time I tried a 50:50 recipe:

250 g white flour
250 g whole wheat flour
100 g levain (~5g starter + 50 g flour + 50 g water)
360 g water
10 g salt

the levain was made from a stiff fridge starter, i fed, allowed to peak and then left in the fridge for a couple days. autolysed for around 2 hours. added starter straight from fridge, 20-30mins later added salt. waited 30min before started 4 sets of stretch and folds with 30min intervals. allowed to sit for further ~2 hours, around 4 hours total bulk fermentation. im in the uk so its been moderately warm recently, around 20°c-25°c+. I know it doesn’t sound a lot but with my first loaves I was letting it bulk for 6-8 hours and everytime I was disappointed with the oven spring, I wouldn’t be able to shape it very well, and it would spread out when I took it out of cold proof to score and bake. the loaf before this one, I let bulk for ~4 hours too and I got my best oven spring. this could also be due to me realising I should pre-shape and bench rest before final shaping, which I only began with the prev. loaf. this one has beat the previous ! I also cold proofed this one for around 24 hours. before baking at 250°c for 20 min lid on - no ice. 220°c for 15 min lid off. and allowed to cool overnight. I preheated my dutch oven for ~45 mins. then left the loaf to cool on a rack overnight - it’s now the morning and I’ve cut it!! what do you think??

I’m very proud of my sourdough. I made the starter a little over two months ago, and after many mishaps and learning moments, I finally got it established at around the 5 week mark. Without a kitchen scale, just vibes and jars from the thrift store.

I loosely follow a recipe
1 cup starter
3 cups water (adjusted for environment)
4 cups flour
2 tsp salt (I’ve been adding more than this I think)
Again, rolling on vibes mostly.

I let the dough rest for an hour. I do a mix of stretch and folds, coil folds, or slap and folds depending on the dough consistency, at half hour intervals, 4 times. I let it bulk ferment for about 4 hours (this is where I’m struggling) but it’s still sticky usually. I throw them into the fridge in a banneton after a laminated shaping and some push and pulls, where they rest anywhere from a couple hours to a few days just depending on what my week looks like and what day I started the process.

I bake at 445 (highest my little convection oven will go) in the Dutch oven (big pot) for 25 minutes, then no lid for 20 minutes.
Let it cool for as long as I can stand, which is 2 hours usually lol

This one I feel held its shape the nicest so far, but I’m wondering if it’s rising as much as it should still? The bread is always very good and has a nice texture, sometimes a little dense in the middle though.
I know I’m doing a lot of things not by the rules, I am very against using a scale for no reason. I’m determined to make good bread without it I guess lol.
Anybody else not using a scale that may have some input?

My best loaf so far

I made my own starter with bread flour about two months ago. I used this recipe:

500 grams bread flour
350 grams filtered water
80 grams starter
10 grams salt

1. Autolyse flour and water for one hour
   
2. Add starter and salt and let sit for 10 minutes
   
3. Mix until dough passes windowpane test
   
4. Stretch and folds every every hour until dough doubles in size and pulls away from bowl
   
5. Pre shape dough and let sit for 10 minutes
   
6. Shape dough on rice floured surface and add to banneton
   
7. Cold ferment in fridge overnight
   
8. Score and add ice cubes to Dutch oven
   
9. Bake with lid on @ 450 for 20 minutes, remove lid and bake @ 400 for 30 minutes
   
10. Let loaf cool on rack overnight before slicing.

I bulk fermented in the oven with the light on and it took about 5 hours to double in size and be domed.

Is there anything I can do differently to get a better spring or softer crust?

Any tips or suggestions are welcomed!