Sourdough troubleshooting: find your symptom, get the fix

Most sourdough problems trace back to four variables: fermentation time, dough temperature, starter strength, and hydration. Get those four right and the rest is technique. So the fastest way to fix a loaf is to work backward from the symptom to whichever variable was off, rather than changing five things at once and hoping.

Find your symptom below.

Starter problems

It won’t rise, or barely moves after a feed. Usually a starter that is still young, a kitchen that is too cold, a feed with too little fresh flour, or flour too refined to sustain it. → Why isn’t my sourdough starter rising?

It smells like acetone or nail polish. Hungry, not spoiled. Feed it sooner or at a bigger ratio. → What should a sourdough starter smell like

It rises and falls before you get to it. It is peaking faster than your schedule. Move it somewhere cooler or feed at 1:5:5 instead of 1:1:1. → Sourdough feeding ratios explained and feeding schedule by temperature

There is gray liquid on top. That is hooch, and it means hungry. Pour it off or stir it in, then feed. Not a reason to start over.

There is fuzzy or colored growth. That is mold. Throw the whole jar out and start again; do not try to scrape it. → How to make a sourdough starter

Dough problems

The dough is slack and sticky and won’t hold shape. Hydration above your current handling skill, gluten that has not been developed, or a bulk that ran too warm and too long. → Why is my sourdough dough so sticky

Bulk fermentation seems to take forever. Check dough temperature before anything else. A few degrees changes the time by hours. → What is bulk fermentation, and how long does it take and the fermentation calculator

You never know when bulk is done. Judge by rise and feel, not the clock: roughly 50-75% larger, domed, jiggly, with bubbles at the edges of the container.

Loaf problems

It baked flat and spread out. Over-proofing, slack shaping, weak gluten, or hydration too high for the flour. → Why is my sourdough flat, and how to fix it

The crumb is dense and tight. Almost always under-fermentation or a weak starter. → How to fix a dense, tight sourdough crumb

The crumb is gummy or sticky in the middle. Usually underbaked, cut too warm, or over-fermented. Bake to 96-99C (205-210F) internal and cool it completely. → How to fix a gummy sourdough crumb

It tastes too sour. A warm, long ferment, a hungry starter, or a long cold retard. → Why is my sourdough too sour, and how to fix it

It has no ear. Shallow or vertical scoring, over-proofing, no steam, or a dull blade. → Why your sourdough has no ear, and how to get one

The two-variable rule

When you change something, change one variable and hold the rest. A loaf that failed for two reasons at once teaches you nothing if you fix both at the same time. Note the dough temperature, the bulk time, and the hydration for every bake, then compare the loaf that worked to the one that did not.

That is the whole reason to keep a bake journal. Once you have ten bakes logged with temperature, timing, and a rating, the pattern in your own kitchen is usually obvious, and it is often not the variable you would have guessed.

Before you change anything else, confirm the basics: is the starter peaking reliably (how to tell), do you know your dough temperature, and is your hydration what you think it is (hydration calculator)?