Bake 01 · the early days
The sea-view loaf
One of our first proper boules — baked the night before, then carried to where it tasted best. The crust split off-score, but the ear opened and the crumb held. We were hooked from here.
🍞 Kitchen Journal
Sourdough ExperimentsThe good loaves, the burnt one, and everything we learned
The Project
Learning sourdough, one honest loaf at a time
Sourdough is the one thing in the kitchen that flatly refuses to be rushed — which, since we settled on Tinos, suits us. This is our running log of it: the loaves we got right, the one we badly overbaked, and the focaccia we escaped to whenever the starter turned moody.
Nothing here is expert. It's a family experiment — a jar of starter living on the counter, a battered Dutch oven, and a kid who enjoys the poke test more than is strictly reasonable. Below: seven bakes in order, then the fifteen mistakes we keep learning not to make.
7
bakes in the journal
75%
hydration we trust
1
loaf we'll never live down
∞
room left to improve
The Bakes
Seven loaves, in order
A few years of trying, photographed honestly — the wins kept us going, the failures taught the most.
Bake 02 · the routine
Breakfast on the ledge
A modest, even bake we still rate. Cooled overnight, then set out on the wall next to the basil we were growing alongside it. Slow living, made edible.
Bake 03 · the breakthrough
The one that looked the part
After a long gap, the loaf that finally matched the picture in our heads — a clean ear, a scatter of semolina freckles, a confident round. Lessons 9 to 12 quietly clicking into place.
Bake 04 · the detour
A focaccia escape
Cherry tomatoes, rosemary, a flood of olive oil. Focaccia forgives almost everything a boule punishes — a good reset on the weeks the starter felt temperamental.
Bake 05 · dialled in
Deep crust, real spring
Baked to colour rather than the timer (lesson 14). A dark, blistered crust and a high, proud rise — the Dutch oven finally earning its place on the shelf.
Bake 06 · the cautionary one
Too far
Chasing that dark crust, we left it in too long. Half char, not flavour — lessons 13 and 14 written into a single loaf. Photographed anyway; that's the point of a journal.
Bake 07 · the verdict
The crumb test
The only verdict that counts is the cut. Open, fairly even, springy — proof the proof was (mostly) right. Still chasing a more uniform structure for next time.
What we keep getting wrong
15 mistakes we learned the hard way
Borrowed, gratefully, from Mike G's guide to sourdough mistakes — and then confirmed, one by one, in our own kitchen.
01
Weak or inconsistent starter
Feed it on a schedule — daily, ideally twice a day when you're baking. A sluggish starter has no power to raise a loaf.
02
Skipping the autolyse
Mix flour and water and let them rest 45+ minutes before the starter goes in. It builds gluten while you do nothing.
03
Ignoring baker's percentages
Weigh every ingredient as a percentage of the flour. Suddenly any recipe scales and adjusts cleanly.
04
Hydration set too high
Start at 70–75%. Dough above 80% is a sticky, demoralising mess while you're still learning the feel.
05
Using the starter off-peak
Use it domed and roughly doubled. Past its peak it has already spent the lift you needed. Float-test if unsure.
06
Kneading instead of folding
Stretch and fold every 30 minutes for about two hours. Hard kneading knocks out the air you're trying to keep.
07
Not reading the dough
The dough tells you where it is — shinier, smoother and rounder with each fold. Watch it, not only the clock.
08
A rigid proofing schedule
Cold-proof in the fridge overnight. It bends bread around your life and deepens the flavour while it waits.
09
Over-flouring while shaping
Use a bench scraper as a second, non-stick hand. Too much flour stops the dough sealing to itself.
10
Under-flouring the banneton
Flour the basket generously. A loaf stuck to the banneton loses its shape the moment you turn it out.
11
Forcing one shaping method
Aim for a taut, tight surface without deflating the dough. Find the motion that fits your own hands.
12
Skipping the poke test
Poke about an inch deep. A dent that springs back slowly means it's proofed just about right.
13
A burnt bottom crust
Slide a spare tray under the Dutch oven for the last 20 minutes. (We have photographic proof of forgetting — see Bake 06.)
14
Baking by the timer
Bake to colour, not to time. Ovens lie — aim for a deep, dark, confident brown and trust your eyes.
15
Giving up after a flop
It is genuinely hard. Every disappointing loaf teaches the next one. Keep a jar going and keep baking.
One more, from the pros: crack the oven open for the last few minutes of the bake to dry the crust out and push the flavour a little further.
Mistakes adapted from “15 Sourdough Bread Mistakes” by Life by Mike G — tested in our own kitchen.
Baked with a sea view
Every loaf here rises in a small kitchen on Tinos. The slow life that made room for sourdough is a story of its own.
🇬🇷 Read the Tinos story →