Finally figured out why my late night bread always came out dense

Been baking sourdough at 2am for months and it was like a brick every time. Turns out I was adding the salt too early and killing the yeast, waited 15 minutes after mixing starter in and the last loaf actually had air pockets. Has anyone else made this dumb mistake with their timing?

2 comments

2 Comments

nina_hall15d ago

My buddy Jenna was making banana bread at midnight last year and kept getting these sad little hockey pucks. She'd add her baking soda right when she mixed everything together and then leave the batter sitting while she got distracted watching random cooking TikToks. Finally her mom told her to add the leavening stuff last and get it in the oven immediately. That first fluffy loaf she pulled out at 1am she literally texted me a photo with like 100 exclamation marks.

the_lucas14d ago

Actually I gotta push back here, @nina_hall's story proves the exact opposite point - she was just in a hurry. Salt doesn't kill yeast that fast, and if your starter is active enough it'll handle a little salt mixed right in. I add my salt at the same time as the starter and my bread comes out fine, so maybe it's more about how strong your starter is than when you add things.