I have bought some S.F. sourdough starter online. I follow the dirrections and everythings seems to work fine, until I place it on a cookie sheet to bake. Then the dough just flattens out. What am I doing wrong?
Without a lot more details of what recipe you are using and what you do it is a bit hard to be specific but I would suggest that you have a good read of the Beginners Blogs (Home Page - right hand column) which is one of the better primers that I know of. The Pane francesa recipe that you will find in there is a very good basic recipe to learn the ropes on. You can always branch out into more exotic recipes and methods later on. One of the most important things is not to be too pedantic about following time-lines given in methods strictly. They are merely guides and a myriad of factors can change the time required dramatically. However, the temperature that you are working at is by far the greatest significance and this is the major reason for needing to vary from what is written.
Replies
Hello Swilliams,
One word (sort of) - over-proving.
To fix it. Two words - less time.
Without a lot more details of what recipe you are using and what you do it is a bit hard to be specific but I would suggest that you have a good read of the Beginners Blogs (Home Page - right hand column) which is one of the better primers that I know of. The Pane francesa recipe that you will find in there is a very good basic recipe to learn the ropes on. You can always branch out into more exotic recipes and methods later on. One of the most important things is not to be too pedantic about following time-lines given in methods strictly. They are merely guides and a myriad of factors can change the time required dramatically. However, the temperature that you are working at is by far the greatest significance and this is the major reason for needing to vary from what is written.
Good luck with your projects.
Farinam
Thank you so much!