First locate the stage where expansion stopped. Check starter activity and actual dough temperature for a slow bulk rise; investigate handling and support if a bubbly dough spreads. Low oven spring alone does not prove that fermentation failed.
- Name the stage: starter, bulk fermentation, shaped proof, or oven.
- Reconstruct measured ingredients and include the flour and water in starter.
- Use dough observations alongside time and temperature.
- Choose one measured change for the next bake instead of changing the entire formula.
Find the stage where the rise stopped
A loaf that stays short does not necessarily have a starter problem. First identify where progress stopped: the starter jar, the dough during bulk fermentation, the shaped loaf, or the oven. Those are different observations. A starter that never expands calls for a different next step from a dough that rose well, spread during shaping, and baked into a low loaf.
Write one sentence that names the stage and the evidence. For example, the dough level barely changed during bulk is more useful than my sourdough failed. Keep the container, recipe, ingredient weights, and any photographs available while you investigate. The aim is to locate the earliest clear departure from the intended process, then change that part of the next bake.
| Where progress stopped | Check first | Evidence to collect |
|---|---|---|
| Starter jar | Feeding history and consistency | Starting mark, peak or high-water line, feeding weights |
| Bulk fermentation | Actual dough temperature and ingredient totals | Container marks and time-stamped observations |
| After shaping | Transfer, handling, and proof history | Whether the dough lost gas or tore |
| During baking | Oven setup and dough condition before loading | Preheat, vessel, loaf size, and cooled crumb |
Establish whether the starter actually rose
Mark the starter level immediately after feeding and photograph the jar from the side. Record the feeding weights, flour, and temperature. Check more than once rather than relying on a single late observation. A line above the current level can indicate that the starter rose and fell before you looked; a low level alone cannot distinguish that from no rise.
King Arthur Baking explains that a neglected starter may need repeated feedings to recover activity, and a newly established culture can have an initial burst followed by quieter behavior. Neither situation supplies an exact readiness date. For your record, distinguish a new starter, a mature starter recently taken from storage, and a mature starter that behaved predictably before the problem began.
Separate bubbles from expansion
A few bubbles establish visible activity, but they do not measure how much the starter can lift a particular dough. King Arthur also notes that a very thin starter can release bubbles without expanding much. Check the feeding arithmetic before assuming the culture has stopped working. Equal volumes of flour and water are not the same as equal weights.
For a deliberately 100% hydration starter, equal flour and water weights provide a clear comparison. If yesterday's jar was fed by weight and today's by spoonfuls, the change in consistency makes the height comparison ambiguous. Return to one documented feeding method and jar before judging the trend. Do not keep adding random flour or water until it resembles a photograph.
Check temperature without overheating the dough
Room temperature, water temperature, and actual dough temperature are separate measurements. A bowl beside a cold window can behave differently from the room's wall thermostat. King Arthur's dough temperature guidance confirms that temperature affects fermentation consistency. Record the dough after mixing and during its rest if progress seems unusually slow; the observation should come before an attempt to warm it.
If your recipe assumes a warmer environment, move the covered dough to a reliably moderate location and watch its response. Avoid switching on an oven around a forgotten bowl or treating a very hot spot as a shortcut. The practical comparison is the same dough under measured conditions. There is no sound basis for declaring that every cold dough requires exactly one extra hour.
Reconstruct what was actually mixed
Check the ingredient list against your notes, used containers, and scale settings. Was starter added? Was the scale zeroed before weighing salt? Did the recipe include commercial yeast that you omitted because the title said sourdough? A recipe containing starter and added yeast has a different leavening arrangement from one that relies only on starter, even when both produce sourdough bread.
Do not correct a suspected omission by guessing a second quantity into a partially fermented dough. First establish what is known. If you cannot reconstruct the salt weight or starter addition, record that uncertainty and use a fresh, measured batch for the next comparison. A successful result after several unknown additions would still leave you without a method you could confidently repeat.
Use the right denominator for starter quantity
Starter mass and prefermented flour are different percentages. Consider an illustrative dough with 500 g total flour and 100 g starter at 100% hydration. That starter contributes 50 g flour, so the prefermented flour is 10% of total flour, while starter mass is 20%. Neither number is wrong, but they describe different quantities and must be labeled.
Now suppose 500 g is the fresh flour addition instead. Total flour becomes 550 g, and the same 50 g starter flour represents about 9.09%. This arithmetic cannot predict a finish time. It can reveal why two supposedly identical recipes are not identical. Resolve the ingredient totals before interpreting a slower rise as a failure of your starter or technique.
Measure bulk fermentation in a useful container
A transparent container with relatively straight sides makes changes easier to compare. Mark the starting level after the dough has settled, then observe the same container from the same angle. A broad bowl can hide a modest increase because the dough spreads sideways. The apparent height change also becomes misleading if you compare a mound immediately after folding with a relaxed mass later.
Use your marks to describe progress, not to impose a universal target. If a straight-sided sample rises from 200 ml to 260 ml, the observed increase is 30%. That calculation does not prove readiness. Keep it alongside the recipe's endpoint description, dough temperature, surface appearance, and handling observations. A number becomes useful when you know what was measured and what changed around it.
Decide whether the problem is gas or support
If the dough shows little expansion anywhere, investigate starter performance, temperature, and the formula first. If it contains bubbles but cannot hold a mound, gas retention and handling also deserve attention. These routes overlap, which is why another hour is not always the best answer. Waiting addresses insufficient progress only when the dough still has the capacity to benefit from it.
Look back through the sequence rather than pressing the dough repeatedly. Was it weak from the initial mix, or did it become fragile after previously holding shape? Did it tear when handled, or simply relax? Those distinctions help you choose the next record to improve. They do not let you diagnose gluten strength or fermentation state with certainty from one photograph.
Check what happened between bulk and the oven
A dough that expanded during bulk but lost volume while being transferred has not followed the same path as an inactive dough. Record whether it stuck to the container, tore during shaping, or was heavily compressed. Also note how long it waited after shaping. Keep the sequence short and factual so the next bake can test one stage rather than every stage.
If the shaped loaf scarcely changed, compare it with the intended proofing method, including any refrigeration. Cold dough can feel firmer without being unfermented. Do not use a single fingerprint as the sole decision rule, particularly when changing flour or temperature. Combine the recipe's guidance with the history of the dough that entered the basket; it did not begin fermentation at shaping.
Distinguish low oven spring from no fermentation
Oven spring describes the expansion during the early bake, not all the rise that happened earlier. A loaf may have fermented and still show little extra height in the oven. Conversely, a dramatic opening at the score does not by itself establish that the interior will have the texture you wanted. Judge the cooled loaf together with its earlier observations.
When the dough looked appropriate before baking, review the oven setup rather than immediately increasing starter. Record the preheat, vessel, loaf size, and covered or uncovered stages. Compare these with the recipe you actually followed. Avoid adopting several equipment changes on the next attempt, because a different pot, smaller loaf, and longer preheat would leave three possible explanations for improvement.
A worked example of a slow batch
Imagine a baker whose usual formula contains 500 g total flour, 350 g total water, 10 g salt, and 50 g prefermented flour. The ingredient arithmetic is unchanged, but the new batch is mixed in a noticeably cooler kitchen. Its notebook contains only clock times, so there is no evidence that the dough reached the same condition before shaping.
A useful next trial keeps those ingredient totals and the same equipment, but records actual dough temperature and progress during bulk. The planned change is the observation and management of fermentation, not a simultaneous increase in water and starter. If expansion improves, that supports investigating conditions further. It does not establish a universal temperature-to-time conversion or prove that every previous loaf had the same cause.
Compare the batch with a useful reference
A previous loaf from the same recipe is a better reference than a different loaf photographed online. Put the two ingredient records side by side. Check flour type, ingredient weights, starter hydration, container size, and the stage at which each photograph was taken. A new flour bag, a smaller starter build, or an interrupted mixing session may be the first meaningful difference. Treat that difference as a lead, not a verdict.
If this is your first attempt, there is no successful household batch to compare. Keep a trusted recipe intact while you learn its sequence, and record any substitution explicitly. For example, replacing its flour and removing its added yeast creates two changes before fermentation begins. Rather than labeling the starter defective, return to a clearly documented formula. A smaller practice batch can reduce wasted ingredients, provided its quantities are scaled consistently and its different size is recorded.
Choose a decision for the dough in front of you
For a lean dough that is still early in fermentation, has no spoilage signs, and appears simply slow, continued observation under the recipe's conditions can be reasonable. If it is visibly collapsing after earlier expansion, waiting for it to double again is not the same experiment. A supported loaf may be a practical baking format, but support cannot reverse an unknown fermentation history.
Do not taste raw dough to decide whether it is ready or safe. FDA guidance identifies raw flour and dough as foods that require cooking. If the starter has visible mold or unusual pink or orange discoloration, follow starter discard guidance rather than trying to rescue the batch with heat. Keep perishable fillings out of an improvised extended room-temperature fermentation.
Plan the next bake before mixing it
Choose one question that your notes can answer. If the starter's performance is unknown, establish a documented feeding pattern before another large dough. If the dough temperature changed, measure and manage that first. If rise was lost during transfer, keep the formula stable and simplify the transfer. Write the question at the top of the record so it survives the temptation to improvise.
Define success in terms you can observe: a clear increase during bulk, a clean transfer, or a cooled loaf with more even texture. Keep photographs at the same stages and record any unplanned changes. Improvement is easier to interpret when the comparison is narrow. You are building a repeatable process, not trying to make every jar or loaf match someone else's timetable.
Sources & further reading
This guide combines published references with our own explanations and decision aids. Numerical examples are illustrative; they are not records of Sourdough Bench test bakes.
Put it into practice.
Keep the recipe, observations and next change together in your downloadable bake log. For a symptom-led starting point, use the loaf troubleshooting guide.