Don't make this ONE STUPID MISTAKE when Baking Bread

Even the "failed" bread would be a succes for me.

You're getting plenty of oven spring on most of your loaves. The phenomenon you're calling "oven spring" is usually referred to as an ear. For most sourdoughs the only case in which the heat can be too high is if you don't have adequate steam (and the excess heat sets the crust before the loaf has time to fully spring). Adding an ice cube to the inside of your dutch oven or just using sufficiently high hydration dough such that it releases enough steam naturally. If you want to consistently get ears you need to develop enough gas and strength in the dough during bulk fermentation. You also need to make sure that you generate enough tension in the final shape such that the dough still spreads in the way you want, even as it runs out of gas while baking. Finally when scoring it's important not to completely relieve all the tension in the dough by cutting too deeply. This is hard to describe but basically the phenomenon of the dough pushing against the score as it opens plays a huge role in the development of an ear. You can score an underproofed dough more deeply and an overproofed dough should be scored much less. Your loaves are fairly small as well so I'm not sure how much steam they're generating inside the challenger pan. Great looking bread regardless!

I went through a similar troubleshooting process. For years, my bread had fantastic oven spring, and I was able to develop a great ear. Then suddenly, with a different starter, and a change to the flour that I was using, I was getting awful oven spring, and no ear. I tried increasing hydration, decreasing hydration, increasing and decreasing salt, changing my bulk fermentation and final proofing times. All to no avail. Then I started playing with temperature. Previously I had baked covered at 500f for 30 minutes, then uncovered at 450. The magic bullet was preheating the dutch oven to 500 for an hour (and checking it with an IR thermometer), adding the dough to the dutch oven and immediately turning the oven down to 425. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Uncover, and bake at 425f for another 30 minutes. Turn off the heat, crack the door, and leave for another 30 minutes while the temperature coasts down. Suddenly I was getting amazing oven spring, a great ear, AND it solved my longstanding problem of overly moist and chewy crumb! Another benefit is that the bottom of the loaf is now thinner, and doesn't need a saw to cut through. That has been my standard technique for a year now, and it has never failed. I was simply cooking too hot.

I really apreciate that You show us failures, not only sucseses 👍

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Trying the lower temp + introducing water into the dutch oven for more spring has been a revelation - it's like an entirely new bread. Never thought I could get this much oven spring or such a gorgeous ear as a beginner bakey. Seriously this video has been a breakthrough for me.

So excited! Yesterday I followed everything you shared in this video, as well as dough strengthening, fermentation and proofing times. I wrote notes like crazy about times, temperature, etc. and this morning I finally had success all the way through the process!! Huge oven spring! Great crumb, taste, and moisture inside. And the whole trick that made the difference is your discovery that if you preheat and bake at 230c instead of a hotter oven, the crust doesn’t bake hard so quickly and the oven spring can keep expanding. Thank you so much 💗 for all you teach us , excellent videos and truly caring about your followers and wonderful sourdough bread.

I admire your perseverance and tenacity. There's so much work behind producing this wonderfully informative video. Thank you.

I'm a newbie at home-baking, and love watching your videos and your enthusiasm for bread-baking. Thank you for sharing your knowledge which you have gleaned from your experiments. So refreshing to watch you. I downloaded your free book, and am hoping to use it to improve my skills.

Im actually happy to see that even a good dough baker has issues with sourdough sometimes. Im pretty new and am getting frustrated thinking Ill never figure this stuff out

I’m an avid baker myself and I know baking is a science, but you took it to another level 😂

Try NOT preheating your dutch oven. The King Arthur no knead sourdough recipe they instruct you to fully preheat the oven, and place dough in the room temperature dutch oven and bake for 45 minutes before removing the lid, and another 15 minute without the lid. I swear I get much better oven spring out of any loaf. I think this prolongs the 'life' of the yeast while it's in the oven and encourages more oven spring vs. killing it all quickly...

This is the most German video about bread in existence. Beautiful.

Although you are a remarkable "bread teacher," you teach a lot more than bread. I love your persistence and placing a high value on failure. A true learner and a an excellent teacher.

in the intro, they both looked amazing! YOU ARE HEADS AND SHOULDERS ABOVE MY LEVEL

This is by far the best advice anyone can give…just tried it now and wowwww what a difference it made…thank you

The pronto posting is very muchly appreciated! My new normal is now 450deg F.

Thanks for testing that temperature parameter. I have a combi steam oven that only goes to 225 C. So, I always thought I was shut out of good spring because I couldn’t get to those upper end finishing temperatures. Now, I will try to play with other recipes.

This video offers a helpful perspective. A few days ago I baked two loaves back-to-back and the second one had much better oven spring. It makes me think the temp was too high for the first loaf, and that the dutch oven cooled a bit by the time I baked the second loaf. I will try lowering my oven temperature from the get go next time and see what happens.

Great presentation. Thank you for inviting us into your trials and errors. Your bread is beautiful!

Thank you! I’ve always wondered why I get no ear and my bread is flat!!! And I’ve been searching for the reason. I can’t believe it’s so simple. Thank you!