Not what first comes to mind, but for the inaugural ferment, here is my approach to sourdough
I will write up some of the many other things I have bubbling away in the near future.
8by3.net/~sbr/others/food/2025-06-07.the-conquest-of-bread.gmi
Jul 07 · 1 day ago
3 Comments ↓
I had been following this method as well and having failure after failure. The thing that fixed it for me was to keep things warm. My microwave has an old style light bulb on the bottom of it (it hangs over the stove) and this was about 25.5C/78F. I guess my place is cold because this made all the difference
☀️ sbr [OP/mod] · 11 hours ago:
Assuming you are keeping the amount of yeast and liquid stable, all fermentation is a dance between time and temperature. So entirely, if things are under developed then increasing either will help. I find that in winter I need to increase the jump starter phase by an hour or two. There should be small holes / bubbles on the top (a bit like cooking pancakes). 25C seems rather warm, in general around 18-22 works best in my experience but there is no hard rule, apart from being below 60C when the yeast dies and it will takes forever if too cold, although technically does still ferment while at fridge temp.
The 12 hours time is at around 20C. Happy you found something that works!
If you don’t have an old microwave, there tends to be a warmer and colder part of the house, a high shelf, something near a heat source. Sometimes in cold places I’d put the oven on for a minute and then put the yeast in that overnight. Just so it started in a warmer environment.
I think a lot of the trial and error is figuring out the particulars of the starter you have created. I make my starter in a jar and put a rubber band at the level it begins at. It makes it easier to see how active it is. When preparing loaves I take pictures when I start fermenting or proofing, again to check progress.
The really difficult part is figuring out how to do this with a working schedule where I'm out of the house for 13+ hours a day 5 - 6 days a week. Hurrying the fermentation steps in the makeshift incubator is why I finally succeeded on my 5th loaf.
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