Definitely not perfect and I didnt get the rise during bulk fermenting that I thought I would but it taste so good

Let's chat about starters💬🫧 On a scale of 1–10, how confident are you with understanding your starter? What still confuses you? What makes you feel most unsure? And on another note, What drives you nuts about starter advice online? What makes you roll your eyes? What advice feels overly complicated? What phrase about starter makes you cringe? You don't have to answer all the questions, just one's you relate to at the moment!

I'm all about full transparency, so let's take a look at what I did wrong and how to fix it! ✨️💯 **long read ahead** Even sourdough microbakery owners can have a flop every now and then😅 ESPECIALLY when they're so eager to do the experiment that they rush through it and don't think first🤭🤣 so let me tell you how to learn from my mistakes this time around👇🏼 Our monthly challenge at the table this month is hydration exploration - comparing your regular hydration to a new one you dare to try. And although I've handled dough at this hydration before, I've since changed up some of my methods (used to use tea towels as liners and switched to plastic shower caps for convenience) and silly me didn't properly think this one through🤫 just know I immediately ordered some more tea towels after this🤣 Anyway let's get into the nitty gritty... My ✨️impatience✨️stems from my eagerness to see the finished product. In turn I cloud my senses and don't think it through properly 👀Checking for bulk ferment doneness: I temped my dough and each dough was at slightly different temps, resulting in almost exact same bulk ferment time. As I pulled the dough away from the bowl (80% loaf) I noticed the resistance, although it did eventually pull off. And I knew... I KNEW it needed longer. How did I know? Because the other wasn't ready (64% loaf) and I knew they should be done at the same time... BUT, against my intuition, I went ahead and shaped it anyway🤦🏻‍♀️ 1 hour was the difference!! If I would've waited just ONE hour, that would've fixed one mistake. ⏳️Patience⏳️ 👐🏼Shaping: When shaping the 80% hydration loaf I did not flour the surface nor my hands beforehand - and I highly wish I would've. Because I didn't, I wasn't able to get a super tight shaping that I wanted due to the dough sticking to my fingers. I could have also wet my fingers... but in this case with the plastic shower caps, flour would've been helpful 😅 Also 👉🏼, I should have let the dough rest at least 5 minutes after reshaping to allow the gluten to relax, hence the cracking on the exterior crust (also caused by slightly underproofing)

Real question today! If you close your eyes and think of “home,” what flavor shows up first? Not the Pinterest-perfect meal or the recipe you impress people with. I’m talking about the simple, ordinary taste that instantly makes your shoulders drop😌 The soup you ate when you were sick. The bread that lived on the counter growing up. The dessert that always showed up at holidays without fail. Flavor has a funny way of holding memories, doesn’t it? One bite can take you back years. One smell can feel like a hug you didn’t know you needed. That’s part of why I love baking so much. We’re not just mixing flour and water... We’re carrying little pieces of “home” into the future. So I want to hear yours today! What flavor feels like home to you? No wrong answers, just memories. It could be a specific sourdough bread flavor or a meal! Tell me below 💬

A reminder about sourdough and temperature! Idk where you're from, but here in Louisiana it's a bit chilly😅 (truly only a little compared to other places lol) and I'm about to get creative with my dough proofing today! It's order makin time☺️ the exstensiveness of my creativity is just putting dough in the oven with the light on for a little bit to warm it up🤣 Here's a quick reminder today: dough doesn’t run on a clock, it responds to temperature! Time is just our tool, but warmth speeds things up and cooler temps slow everything down, every single time. If your dough feels behind, it isn’t broken, and if it’s moving faster than expected, it isn’t wrong — it’s just reacting to its environment. Recipes give us structure, temperature gives us context, and your hands tell the real story👐🏼