Sourdough Troubleshooting

You followed the recipe. You fed your starter. You waited. And then you pulled a dense, gummy, or completely flat loaf out of the oven and wondered what went wrong. Sourdough has a learning curve that most bread doesn't. Because it relies on wild yeast and bacteria rather than commercial yeast, it's more sensitive to temperature, timing, and the condition of your starter. After years of baking hundreds of loaves each week at BreadHaus in Grapevine, TX, we've seen every failure mode there is. Here's our breakdown of the most common problems — and what's actually causing them.

Problem 1: My Sourdough Is Too Dense

A dense loaf with a tight, heavy crumb is one of the most common sourdough complaints. Usually the culprit is one of three things.

Underfermentation

This is the #1 cause of dense sourdough. If the dough doesn't ferment long enough during bulk fermentation, the gluten network isn't strong enough and the yeast hasn't produced enough gas to create a light crumb. Most recipes give time ranges that assume a specific temperature — but bulk fermentation is driven by temperature, and a 68°F kitchen ferments much slower than a 78°F kitchen. The dough should roughly double in size and show bubbles throughout before you shape it, regardless of how many hours that takes.

Weak Starter

If your sourdough starter isn't active enough, it won't produce the gas needed to leaven the bread. Before using your starter, it should be visibly bubbly, have roughly doubled since its last feeding, and pass the float test — drop a small spoonful into water. If it floats, it's ready. If it sinks, feed it and wait.

Flour Protein Content

Bread flour (12–14% protein) builds stronger gluten than all-purpose flour (10–12%). If you're getting dense results, try substituting bread flour for at least half the total flour in the recipe.

Quick fixes: Extend bulk fermentation and use dough volume as your guide, not just time. Make sure your starter is at peak activity. Bake in a Dutch oven with the lid on for the first 20 minutes to trap steam and promote oven spring.

Problem 2: My Sourdough Is Gummy Inside

The crust looks beautiful, but the interior is dense, wet, and almost sticky. This is a gummy crumb, and it has a few specific causes.

Cutting the Loaf Too Soon

This is the most common reason home bakers get a gummy crumb. When bread comes out of the oven, the interior is still full of steam and the starch hasn't fully gelatinized yet. The loaf needs to cool completely — at least 1–2 hours — before you cut into it. Cutting too early releases the steam and causes the crumb to collapse into a gummy texture. We know it's hard to wait, but put the bread on a wire rack and don't cut it until it's fully cool to the touch.

Underbaking

Many home bakers pull their sourdough too early. The interior needs to reach an internal temperature of at least 205–210°F (96–99°C) to fully bake. Use an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center — if it reads below 205°F, it goes back in the oven. Also, after removing the Dutch oven lid, continue baking until the crust is a deep, dark brown. Pale sourdough is almost always underbaked sourdough.

Quick fixes: Always cool the loaf fully before slicing. Check internal temperature (target: 205–210°F). Bake the crust darker than feels comfortable — sourdough benefits from a deep, dark crust.

Problem 3: My Sourdough Won't Rise / Is Flat

A flat loaf that barely rose — sometimes called a "hockey puck" — is usually a starter problem, a shaping problem, or a combination of both.

Inactive or Young Starter

The most common cause of a flat sourdough is a starter that isn't strong enough to leaven the bread. A new starter (under 2–3 weeks old) often isn't mature enough yet. Before you bake, feed your starter at a 1:1:1 ratio (1 part starter : 1 part water : 1 part flour) and let it sit at room temperature until it has at least doubled and is bubbly throughout. This is peak activity — the ideal moment to use it.

Poor Shaping

The goal of shaping is to create surface tension on the outside of the loaf — a tight, smooth skin that holds the loaf's structure as it proofs and bakes. If the shaping is loose, the loaf will spread sideways rather than rising upward. Practice pre-shaping into a round, let the dough rest for 20–30 minutes, then do a final shape with deliberate surface tension. You should feel the skin of the dough tighten as you work it.

Overproofing

Counterintuitively, a flat loaf can also result from too much fermentation during the final proof. If the dough over-proofs, the gluten weakens and the gas structure collapses. An over-proofed loaf will feel very soft and jiggly and won't spring back when you poke it.

Quick fixes: Test your starter before baking — it should double and look bubbly within 4–8 hours of feeding. Focus on building surface tension during shaping. Use a banneton (proofing basket) to help the loaf hold its shape. Preheat your Dutch oven inside the oven — a blazing hot baking vessel is critical for oven spring.

Problem 4: My Bread Collapses in the Oven

The loaf goes in looking great and comes out spread flat and deflated. This is overproofing — the dough has fermented so long that the gluten structure has weakened past the point where it can hold the gas during the bake.

Do the poke test to diagnose: gently press a floured finger about half an inch into the dough. A properly proofed dough should spring back slowly and partially. If it stays dented and feels weak, it's overproofed.

If you're doing a cold proof in the refrigerator, don't leave it longer than 16 hours. When in doubt, bake a little earlier rather than later — a slightly underproofed loaf is usually more salvageable than an overproofed one.

Problem 5: My Sourdough Is Too Sour (or Not Sour Enough)

Sourness in sourdough comes from acetic acid. The ratio of lactic acid (mild, yogurt-like) to acetic acid (sharper, vinegary) is influenced primarily by temperature and fermentation time.

If your bread is too sour: ferment at a slightly warmer temperature (76–80°F) and reduce total fermentation time. Using a higher ratio of ripe starter to flour speeds fermentation and pushes flavor toward the milder, lactic end.

If you want more tang: lower the fermentation temperature and extend the process. Cold, slow fermentation in the refrigerator for 24–36 hours tends to produce a noticeably tangier bread. Using whole grain flour (whole wheat or rye) also adds flavor because the bran feeds the bacteria more actively.

At BreadHaus, we dial in our fermentation temperatures carefully to get complexity and depth without being aggressively sour — we want you to taste the grain, not just the acid.

The Honest Summary

Most sourdough failures come down to a handful of root causes: an inactive starter, insufficient fermentation, weak shaping, or miscalibrated baking time and temperature. All of these are diagnosable and fixable with attention and practice.

The hardest part of sourdough is learning to read the dough rather than just the clock. Once you understand what properly fermented, properly shaped dough looks and feels like, the rest follows naturally.

And if you'd rather just eat great sourdough without troubleshooting it yourself — that's what we're here for.

Visit BreadHaus in Grapevine, TX

Come try our naturally leavened loaves, baked fresh Tuesday through Saturday using the same long fermentation process we've refined over nearly 30 years.

Location: 700 W Dallas Rd, Grapevine, TX 76051
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

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