QUICK LINKS
Deflated sourdough mix | Sourdough dough that didn’t rise (1st Rise) | Deflated sourdough dough (2nd rise)
The structure of your sourdough starter is SUPER important. What sourdough starter looks like when you use it, is what your sourdough bread will be like when you bake it.
Sourdough is a living breathing thing that requires our care at certain points in it’s journey.
If your sourdough starter is puffy and airy… and your dough is proofed correctly, your bread will be puffy and airy also.
But things can go wrong.
Your sourdough starter can double and then deflate, and look like it never grew. Your bread dough doesn’t grow… or it becomes runny and loose.
Read below to find out what causes some of these issues and how to fix it.
Deflated sourdough starter
If your sourdough starter is left too long it gets hungry and exhausted. You will know because it will have doubled and then the air pockets start to collapse and the mix deflates.
This can happen at any temperature, but it will be slower to occur in cool environments and much faster in warmer.
If your sourdough starter deflated but you aren’t baking immediately it will recover with a Feed. Be mindful to watch for the sourdough starter to double and be ready to make your dough when it does.
If your sourdough starter deflated prior to baking
To rescue your starter and make sourdough bread:
1. Discard 1/3 of the sourdough starter (use it to make sourdough pancakes!)
2. Weigh the remaining sourdough starter and add the same amount of water and bread flour. Mix.
3. Let it double again. When it doubles, continue.
DOUGH that didn’t rise (1st Rise)
So you made your dough but nothing is happening. The dough is the same size as when you first made it and that was a while ago.
It’s likely that your sourdough culture is weak, the room is too cold or your are just being a little impatient! 😊 (I get it!) But don’t throw out your dough!! If it truly doesn’t double within 12-14 hours, with a little TLC there is a fix that will give you a lovely loaf of sourdough bread.
You’ll need:
3/4 Tablespoon of yeast
1/2 Cup of warm water
1 Tablespoon of sugar or honey
1/2 Cup of Bread Flour
Instructions:
1. Mix together the warm water, yeast and sugar/honey in a bowl and let it foam for 10 minutes to get nice and active.
2. Mix your foamy liquid together with the bread flour until it’s incorporated, then knead this mix into your dough. Don’t over knead it. You just want the two well combined.
3. Let your dough double. It might happen quickly so be around to watch it. Meanwhile, get your oven ready and bake according to your preferred method:
Dutch oven or casserole dish
Pizza stone
Faking it – Baking without a Dutch oven or pizza stone
Deflated DOUGH (second rise)
If your dough has doubled after making it but… when you move the bowl or start the pull & stretch to shape it, the air bubbles collapse significantly – the dough is exhausted. It’s been too warm for the length of the rise, or too left too long. It’s easy to see – the dough deflates like a balloon and the structure looks like thin spaghetti. Overall the dough is slack and sloppy.
Sadly, your dough may not recover, however, you may as well try! Gently shape your loaf and let it proof in the fridge for 8-10 hours. Don’t leave it the optional 24 hours. If your loaf has regained some structure, bake as normal, but I recommend not slashing it to keep as much air in as possible.
If it’s slack you can bake it in a loaf or cake tin to hold the shape. Place it in very gently. It would be great if it can fit inside your baking method vessels! Don’t slash it in an attempt to keep the remaining air in.
Sourdough is a living, breathing thing and can be a steep learning curve for some of us. It was for me. Working out what went wrong and how to fix is was trial, error, research and a lot of dud loaves!
Something that will help you incredibly, is understanding the impact of time and temperature. I’ve put together a downloadable journal (on Etsy), that hones in on just that. Aimed at making you a proofing pro, with something for beginners to experts, detailed to go with the flow – I am sure you will have at least one ‘ah ha’ moment when it comes to making better sourdough.
This journal is under our new brand specially for foodies: Enfoodiest
Sandra Reiter
May 13, 2021If you have made a starter with whole wheat and rye four, what do you feed it? Do you use one or the other-
Mary-Jane
May 14, 2021Hi Sandra, It really depends on what kind starter you want it to be. Unless, its health related (ie.lower gluten in rye) then it will really depend on flavour and the type of bread you want to make. If you feed it just rye, eventually it will become a rye starter with rye only flavour and characteristics. Same with wholewheat. You can feed it a mix of both for a blend of the two and if so, I would mix both flours in one large container to make feeding easy.
Sourdough Bread Recipe ~ Maintenance-free – Beautiful Living
May 30, 2021[…] HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE The difference between the two is that one is not active and the other is very active. In the active (now deflated) mix, the structure has been broken down by over fermentation, this makes the mix runny. Tilt your jar to see if there is movement – the consistency of pancake mix. There will be a lot of bubbles on the surface as well. If this happens, read: A rescue for deflated sourdough […]
Peyton
November 8, 2024Hey! If using yeast to save a weak starter bread dough after a failed first rise, do I add yeast, wait for it to double, shape, then bake immediately? Or do I shape, wait for a rise (I’m making dinner rolls), then bake?
Michaela
June 1, 2021Hello Mery-Jane,
I seek all over the internet an answer to my question why does my bread rises so well when using whey but it ends up always rather flat when using normal water 🙁 in both cases the same starter and flour. Would you have any tips or suggestions? Many thanks!
Michaela
Mary-Jane
June 2, 2021Hi Michaela,
Nice to hear from you! Whey is high in protein. Supposing your starter is all good I can only think the difference is your flour may be lacking in protein which is present when using the whey. Check if your flour has minimum12% protein? Ideal is 13% (13g per 100g). The other option is that whey tends to cause dough to rise faster, so if your flour does contain 12-13% protein already, the loaf with water may just need more time to produce the same rise? If you are using leftover whey and it’s still warm, it will increase/speed up the rise as well. 🙂 MJ
Shannon
December 2, 2023Are you using tap water? It’s often chlorinated and may kill the healthy starter.
Loretta
June 4, 2022When I complete these steps will I wind up with no starter
Mary-Jane
June 5, 2022Hi Loretta, Sourdough starter will multiply with every feed. So it will never run out, as long as you have a little bit to feed. As small as 5g is enough. If you send me an email with the issue you’re having, so I understand a little more about what’s happening for you with the sourdough starter, I will reply with some simple instructions to fix it.
Pete
August 2, 2022My starter forms a pedicle on the thin layer of fluid left on top of the dough-it’s not colored, dry on the surface. Should this be tossed or mixed in?
susan OBEJI
August 15, 2022Mt starter was fed yesterday and doubled very well. I let it a couple of hours on the counter. When I came back to make the dough the starter had fallen. I just put the starter back in the frig for the night..
What now??
Kimberly
October 4, 2022Okay this may sound crazy but here I go. I made my sour dough bread out of my starter, it was rising PERFECTLY!! I was so happy, it’s my first time making bread. Well, I had it on the counter to finish the rising, dinner was ready. I go in the kitchen and my husband put a bag of hotdog buns on top of my bread “YEP” he did! 🤐
Question is, is it ruined? Is there anything I can do!!!
Mary-Jane
October 10, 2022You could try reshaping it and letting it rise again or maybe it’s time to make pizza… You’ll have done very well if you kept your cool!! Eik! What a moment!! 😅
Carleen
January 9, 2023Apparently I am not doing it all wrong as it was beautiful until the 3rd feeding. Then it collapsed both times I made it. Started over the 1st time, determined to continue this time.
Corinne Greenberg
January 17, 2023How do I known the right measurements when I use a food scale? Will the bowls add to the measurements?
Mary-Jane
January 17, 2023Hi Corinne! This is good question! Place the bowl on the scale and press the ‘tare’ button. This will bring the scales back to zero and you can measure your first ingredient. When that’s measured, press ‘tare’ again to get zero and measure the next ingredient and so forth! 🙂
Corinne Greenberg
January 17, 2023How do I known the right measurements when I use a food scale?
Mary-Jane
January 17, 2023Hi Corinne! This is good question! Place the bowl on the scale and press the ‘tare’ button. This will bring the scales back to zero and you can measure your first ingredient. When that’s measured, press ‘tare’ again to get zero and measure the next ingredient and so forth! 🙂
Royce Faina
April 10, 2023I’m using a, porported to be, San Francisco Sourdough starter. I didn’t have time to start folding, left in a tub with the lid on went to bed at 7:30 pm in the kitchen counter top. before leaving for work at 4:30am it had grown quite a bit, filling the tub and touching the lid! I wasn’t anticipating it to take off like that. I used 2 Tbls of starter that had been in the fridge a 10 days. I grabbed my lunch and put the tub in the fridge hoping to slow it up. *Do I fold it a few times then shape? Do I just shape it and wait for it to double? * Is it too late and just divide it to add to another dough? *Something else? I dought you’ll get back to me today so I’m hoping your answers will be useful for other bakers.
Mary-Jane
April 11, 2023Hi Roy!
Thanks for being in touch. It sounds like the dough was ready to shape! Next time, take 45 seconds to shape it and pop it in a sealed container in the fridge, then head to work. You’ll be able to bake it whenever you get home. This time though, I would shape it and then let it proof on your countertop before baking. Keep a firm eye on it to not let it over-proof.
I wouldn’t do a series of folds before shaping. They do improve the strength of the dough but you’ll still get a decent loaf without them. The dough benefits from folding during the first half of the fermentation when the dough is young and gluten is being formed. It’s best left to rest for the second half of the bulk rise. You could do a pre-shape however, before the final shape – loosely shape and leave to rest for 10 minutes then continue to shape as normal.
When the dough moves fast like that I find it does slow down in the fridge but can continue to ferment, even to the point of over-proofing due to the momentum already taking place. If it’s over-proofed, I tend to make flat bread with it or pizza bases. I’ve never tried dividing it an making a new dough. I’ll try it sometime.
Hope this helps!
Happy sourdoughing!
Alice
May 4, 2023Hi Mary-Jane,
I just subscribed to your site and very much enjoyed reading this page-
Here is my question/dilemma:
I am a newbie to sourdough starter. My daughter-in-law gave me some of her starter on Sunday night. I fed it when we got home, and it rose during the night. I discarded some, set aside some for making a loaf of bread, and then fed/refrigerated the rest.
The bread had a great bulk rise, and I baked it the next day. Loaf came out great! (this was a sourdough sandwich loaf in a bread pan)
I kept watching the starter in the fridge, but it didn’t do anything. I finally took it out last night at about 6:00 pm, and it was rubbery on the top. I removed all that rubbery stuff, and mixed it well, discarded all but 100 gr, added 100 gr water, and 100 gr flour (A/P) and left it on my counter to grow at around 7:00pm. It doubled overnight, (~12 hours) so this morning early, I discarded all by 100 gr, then fed it 100 gr water and 100 gr flour. This was finished around 6:45 am. Left it on the kitchen counter again.
By 9:30 am, no change at all. Not even one bubble. So, I placed it in my oven, light on. By 11:00 am, it had started to grow. By 2:00, it had grown to “just under the 3 cup” level. (The original was at about the 1 cup level).
Of course, I expected it to take waaaay longer to grow. And now my problem is that I won’t be home until around 7:00 this evening. I asked my husband to take it out of the oven and place it on the counter in the kitchen. (I think the temperature in my kitchen is not warm enough to facilitate vigorous growth, although the thermostat says 71 degrees…).
I wanted to mix bread dough tonight. I’m worried that the starter will be collapsed by the time I get to it.
If it has, what should I do, and when can I use it to start a loaf? (I want a loaf to be finished by 5:00 tomorrow evening). Will I be able to do this?
Thanks so much for your help-I am so exited to be trying this, but it is very tricky…
Alice
Ranjit Edward
July 31, 2023Hi there, my starter seems very healthy, but it does rise and fall within the first 3 hrs of a feed. I live in Oman where the summer can be rather hot. Right now my kitchen temp is around 80F (27C). I feed it every 12 hours. Do I increase the feed to 3 times a day? Please suggest. Thank you.
Mary-Jane
November 6, 2023Hi Ranjit, yes you will need to increase feeding to 3 times a day or store your sourdough starter in the fridge where it will go dormant and store well. Just feed it and let it double on the counter once a week before putting back into the fridge.
Claud
October 31, 2023Thank you sooo much for this!!!
I’ve been growing my sourdough for 10+ days but sometimes I didn’t feed it twice a day.
Finally, yesterday it was looking much better and I decided to give a bread recipe a chance.
I had just fed the starter and I thought that since I had just fed it I would be better off using the leftover (and deflated) starter. Left that over night and it seemed really good.
Little did I know I had already made a serious mistake already…
I will try to slavage using the dried yeast and honey formula. Thank you!
Matt Fisher
November 22, 2023This was a very helpful and informative read. Thank you Mary-Jane
Mary-Jane
December 18, 2023Thanks Matt. So glad it was useful!
justin g
November 27, 2023My dough is just floppy is that because it has over risen? I started bulk rise before I went to bed. It’s my second attempt I am getting same result not sure what is happening
Mary-Jane
December 18, 2023Hi Justin, it could be over risen, or your flour – either not enough protein (13% is ideal) or too much water in the recipe for your flour to cope with. Try my recipe: https://beautifullivingmadeeasy.com/best-no-knead-sourdough-bread-recipe-easy/ Hope it helps!
Miss Cookie
January 31, 2024Instead of adding the yeast mixture after a failed dough rise, is it possible to use more Sourdough starter instead??
Mary-Jane
February 8, 2024Hi, I haven’t tried this but it’s worth a try, so long as the original flour content hasn’t been broken down by the original input of sourdough starter.
Lindsay
February 7, 2024My starter bubbles, and more than doubles. However, even at its peak, it loses its structure easily when I move it. It is very runny. How do I get more structure to my starter? I am using a 12.7% protein flour, with a 1:3:3 ratio. I put it in the oven with the light on after feeds, still feeding it twice a day, 12 hours apart. My first loaf lacked structure, just like my starter and just like your article here says it would. #help
Mary-Jane
February 8, 2024Thanks for your comment. It sounds like you’re doing everything right.
It could be that it’s being kept quite warm and rising very fast. Which then means the ‘peak’ or ‘doubling’ window is fast too. Therefore, it’s over proofing by the time you get to it. Hence runny and super bubbly. It’s active but lost all structure.
I suggest not putting it on your oven for now and letting it sit at room temperature to double and see if that makes a difference. It will double slower – so have patience but it will also give you a longer window to work with it at peak before it over proofs. Also try using tap water instead of warm, if you are using warm water at the moment.
Alternatively, if it’s a young starter, it may just need to mature a bit more. But it sounds like a temperature thing.
Hope this helps!
S
February 15, 2024What weight of dough is the dough that didn’trise based on ?
Mary-Jane
April 23, 2024Hi, Good question. It makes a 750g loaf (baked)
Monica
March 6, 2024Hello,
I really could use some help and advise.
I have a healty starter that a feed every day and keep on my counter top at 21 degrees celcius.
I’ve been baking for a couple of weeks and only had great results a couple of times.
And I can’t find the reason were i go wrong.
I make a levain 12 hours prior of making a autolyse. I try to keep my autolyse and dough at 23-24 degrees celcius. I wait until my dough doubles in size with bulk fermentation.
I preshape the dough, give it rest ( 30-40 min)
Shape it and put it in a banneton for 3-4 hours at 21-23 degrees.When i take it out the benneton it becomes flat. I score and bake it, it’s become a very flat bread.
Today i did a 30% rise for bulk fermentation as recommend in the tartine bread book.
It look good after the preshape i put it in a banneton for 3,5 hours and it went flat again after taking out.i have the same result when i prove them in the refrigerator.Do i prove it too long? Or is there another thing i’m doing wrong
I don’t remember wat i did the times the loafes came out great.
I appreciate any advice/ insight you can provide
Mary-Jane
April 23, 2024Hi Monica, it could be your flour. I’ve sent you an email to continue troubleshooting. Cheers, MJ
Anesu
May 3, 2024Hi.. I’m using rye flour for my sourdough starter. It more than doubled yesterday afternoon but I only fed it in the morning 24 hours after last feed. Now it hasn’t risen 5 hours after feeding. Please help..
Mary-Jane
May 20, 2024HI Anesu,
I suggest just giving your starter a little more time. They respond to temperature (cold = slow fermentation and warm = fast) but are otherwise they are pretty indestructible. Unless it’s a super mature sourdough starter rising on a very warm day, seeing change within 5 hours may not happen for everyone. Give it more time and it will come good, I am sure. Thanks for commenting!
Kaley
May 8, 2024Hi mary Jane! This was incredible helpful. I had been having so much sucess with making bread but now that the temperature here (Ontario Canada) is warming up significantly it’s affecting my dough in a bad way! I keep getting sticky dough and loaves that dont rise when baked. Any suggestions??
Mary-Jane
May 20, 2024Hi! Glad you found this helpful. With the warmer weather, your sourdough will ferment faster. Therefore, it needs a much shorter period of time than you were used to before. Try 1/3 to 1/2 the time and look for the same signals as before. It’s smooth, doubled etc (or whatever metrics you used to know when it was ready before). You may not be able to leave it out overnight. If you want to slow the fermentation down, try using cold water from the fridge when feeding you sourdough starter or mixing your bread dough. Hope this helps! MJ