tara_jones94•5d agoProlific Poster

A customer told me my sourdough was too dense and now I'm trying a new folding method

Last month, a regular at my cafe in Portland said my sourdough loaves were 'a bit heavy for sandwiches.' I was doing four folds every 30 minutes. I switched to doing six folds every 20 minutes during bulk fermentation, and it made a huge difference. The crumb is way more open and light now. Has anyone else had success with changing their folding schedule like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

christopher_wells45d ago

I read that more frequent folds during bulk fermentation can really help with that dense crumb problem. Your results seem to prove it.

chen.casey4d ago

Totally get what you're saying. I had a brick-like loaf last month from overdoing it. Found that four folds, one every 30 minutes for the first two hours of bulk, is my sweet spot. You can actually feel the dough get tighter and hold its shape better. Going past that just made it slack and tear. What's your usual folding schedule like?

bettywood5d ago

Honestly I've found the opposite to be true. Too many folds can actually tear the gluten and make things worse. My best loaves came from doing fewer, gentler folds and letting time do the work. It's more about the dough strength and temperature than just the number of folds.