Dense, Gummy, or Sticky Sourdough? Causes and Fixes
Dense loaf, gummy crumb, or sticky dough? Match your symptom to the cause and fix it, from fermentation time to hydration, folds, and cooling.
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Reading Your Sourdough Crumb: What Fermentation Looks Like Inside the Loaf
Cut your loaf open and read the crumb. See how under-fermented and over-fermented sourdough looks inside, and what to change on your next bake.
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Sourdough Starter Problems: Not Rising, Runny, or Smelling Off
Starter not rising, runny, or smelling like nail polish? Match your symptom to the cause and fix it, including the one reset that rescues a hungry starter.
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Baking Sourdough in Florida Heat and Humidity: Dough, Starter, and Storage
Humid, hot kitchen? Fix fast fermentation, a hungry starter, sticky dough, and bread that goes soft or moldy, with fixes tested in a South Florida kitchen.
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Sourdough Proofing and Scoring Problems: Not Rising, Spreading, or Deflating
Dough not rising, loaf spreading flat, or deflating when scored? Learn to tell underproofed from overproofed and fix shaping, scoring, and timing.
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Sourdough Shaping and Sticking Problems: Dough That Sticks to the Banneton, the Bench, and Your Hands
Dough that glues itself to the banneton, the bench and your hands is a rite of passage. Here is why it happens and how to shape and release dough cleanly.
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Sourdough Crust Problems: Too Hard, or a Burnt Bottom with a Raw Middle
Why is your sourdough crust so hard or tough? Find the cause, from steam and oven heat to rack position, and fix a burnt bottom with a raw middle too.
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Do You Need a Humidifier to Proof Sourdough?
A humidifier helps sourdough proofing only in a dry kitchen. In a humid, air conditioned room it usually does nothing, and here is how to tell which one you have.
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Whole Wheat and Rye Sourdough Problems: Why Your Whole-Grain Loaf Is Dense, Dry, or Gummy
Whole wheat and rye break the rules white-flour bread follows. Match your symptom to the cause and fix a dense, dry, sticky or gummy whole-grain sourdough.
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Enriched Sourdough Problems: Why Your Rolls, Buns, and Sandwich Bread Will Not Rise or Turn Out Soft
Butter, sugar, eggs and milk change how sourdough rises and bakes. Find your symptom and fix slow rises, dense rolls, greasy dough and dry crumb.
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Sourdough Pizza, Focaccia, and Flatbread Problems: Snap-Back Dough, Dense Crumb, and Pita That Will Not Puff
Pizza dough that shrinks, focaccia without bubbles, soggy centers and flatbreads that will not puff all have simple causes. Find yours and fix it.
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Sourdough Discard Baking Problems: Too Sour, Too Dense, Spreading Cookies, and Chewy Crackers
Discard recipes can taste too sour, bake up dense, spread flat or come out chewy. Match your symptom to the cause and fix pancakes, cookies and crackers.
About Sourdough Troubleshooting
Find your symptom, then read the cause. A flat loaf and a dense crumb each have a short list of likely reasons, and the guides here walk through the likeliest ones first. Start with the cheapest test, usually dough temperature or starter strength, before you change the recipe. If you are not sure what you are looking at, the Reading Your Bread guide in the Academy matches crumb and crust to causes. Change one thing per bake so you can tell what worked.