I've been kneading my sourdough wrong for years and a video of a baker in San Francisco showed me

I always pushed and folded my dough hard for a full 15 minutes, thinking that built the best gluten. Then I watched a clip from a bakery in the Mission District where the baker just gently stretched and folded the dough a few times over an hour. Tried it last week and my crumb opened up way more than before. Has anyone else switched to a gentler method and seen better results?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_christopher20d ago

Honestly, it's just bread. My old method made a solid loaf we all ate. This new gentle fold thing is fine, but was the old one really wrong? It still tasted good. People get so deep into the perfect crumb they forget it all gets slathered with butter anyway.

fox.derek20d ago

What's the point of getting better at anything then? Your old bread worked, sure. But the gentle fold isn't just about the crumb for me, it's about the feel of the dough and getting a lighter texture. That better texture holds up under good butter instead of just soaking it into a soggy mess. It's a small change that makes the whole process and result more satisfying. I get where you're coming from, the_christopher, but for some of us those details are the whole point of baking at home.

the_charlie16d ago

Yeah, that part about the texture holding butter better really hits home. I've had that soggy slice problem too. @fox.derek is right that the small win of a better crumb changes the whole eating feel. For me, getting better at the little steps is the fun part, even if the old way made something okay. It's not about the bread being wrong before, it's about the good feeling when a small change makes it noticeably better.