Tip #1: Increase the Hydration Level of your Dough for a Softer Textured Sourdough. The amount of water you add to the dough affects how open the crumb is in the final result (open crumb means bigger holes and a softer texture). The higher the water level, the more open the crumb will be.
One of the most common mistakes is having a dough temperature that's too low for the starter to feed on all the flour in the dough, resulting in a crumb that's dense, with fewer openings. "Starter is happiest and most active at around 75 degrees. If it's a lot colder, the process will be much slower.
We get many questions from customers about why their sourdough bread has uneven holes in it. Holes that are too big obviously aren't good, neither are 'tunnel' holes along the length of your sourdough loaf. But uneven holes occurring through your sourdough is good, not bad!
If your starter is not doubling or growing substantially in volume between feedings, it is not strong enough to leaven dough. You can certainly try baking, but you most likely will not achieve proper fermentation.
When sourdough bread dough doesn't rise, it's usually because the starter you used wasn't active enough. To remedy this problem, make sure you're using recently fed, active starter with lots of bubbles. Also, next time try using warm (not hot) water when you mix up the dough and rising it in a warmer location.
The amount of water you add to your dough directly affects how the crumb in your baked loaf. A more open crumb results in bigger holes and a softer texture, whereas a closed crumb results in a more robust textured bread. Simply put, the more water in your dough, the more open the crumb will be.
Excess yeast causes extra air bubbles to form, creating holes in the baked bread.
For low hydration doughs (dry, stiffer dough), the gluten will need more time to relax, about 30 minutes to 1 hr. Otherwise it won't stretch properly. As always, these are suggested timeframes. Watch the dough and not the clock!
Add Baking Soda to Sourdough for a Boost
Mixing baking soda into the dough at the shaping stage (just after the bulk ferment) will give sourdough bread an extra boost and help it become lighter and more airy. Baking soda is a heavy alkaline and reacts with the strong acidity of sourdough.
There's something magical about the bread you get at your local bakeries - they're always sooo soft and fluffy. Many of these breads, especially packaged ones, are made with a ton of chemical additives such as calcium propionate, amylase, and chlorine dioxide which help keep them soft, light, and fluffy for days.
Dense or heavy bread can be the result of not kneading the dough mix properly –out of many reasons out there. Some of the other potential reasons could be mixing the yeast & salt together or losing your patience while baking or even not creating enough tension in the finished loaf before baking the bread.
If your dough is too dry and/or you cannot resist degassing it by punching it back you will probably not get holes, no matter what you do. You can use either high or low protein flour but beware flour from different countries does behave differently.
Fermentation really is the key to a more open crumb sourdough bread. You need to ensure that it isn't under fermented, nor over fermented as each of these issues will result in a more closed crumb. Ideally, you want your dough to double during bulk fermentation.
The crumb structure of an under proofed loaf will be tight and gummy. Because it was not given enough time to develop and trap CO2 gasses, the crumb structure will be very dense, with uneven air bubbles.
Your path to an open crumb
An open loaf is the sum of all parts: great quality flour, sufficient dough hydration, strong fermentation, gentle dough handling, and a full proof.
What exactly is "high-hydration" bread? High-hydration bread refers to loaves with a high ratio of water to flour, by weight. In baker's percentages, we're talking about doughs that are often in excess of 80% hydration.
The good news: We found an easy way to rescue overproofed dough. Simply punch it down gently, reshape it, and let it proof again for the recommended amount of time. In the test kitchen, these steps resulted in bread that tasters found acceptable in both texture and flavor.
A 24-hour rise time will produce much more sour bread than a 4-hour rise time. If using a shorter rise period, 4-12 hours, a second rise is optional. If desired, punch dough down, reshape, and proof a second time.
How Long will it take? The dough is ready when it has doubled in size and no longer looks dense. This can take anywhere from 3-12 hours depending on your current room temperature, the potency of your sourdough starter and the specifics of your surrounding environment.
Final proof is also known as the “second rise” where you let the dough continue to ferment and rise after shaping and before baking. In final proofing, the yeast is past its peak and the rise will tend to be slower and less visible than in bulk fermentation.
The most common feeding ratio is 1:1:1 (sourdough starter: flour: water). For example, let's say you have 40 g of sourdough starter in a jar. To feed it, you'll add 40 g of flour + 40 g of water. This is referred to feeding with “equal parts by weight.” You need a scale for this.