TIL a bakery owner named Patty taught me why my sourdough was flat

So I was at this tiny bakery in Portland last summer, just grabbing a morning croissant, and the owner Patty came out to restock the display. I mentioned I’d been struggling with my sourdough loaves always coming out dense and flat. She didn’t brush me off, she just looked at my hands and asked if I wash my mixing bowl with hot soapy water. I said yeah, obviously. Then she laughed and said that’s your problem, you’re killing the wild yeast with the heat. She told me to just rinse with cool water and wipe dry, no soap or heat. That one tip fixed my whole bread game in about a week. Has anyone else gotten a super simple bakery tip like that that totally flipped how you bake?

2 comments

2 Comments

caseyrivera29d ago

Wait, hold on. "You're killing the wild yeast with the heat"? I get that soap residue can be bad, but I've been using hot soapy water on my starter jar for years and my bread turns out fine. I think people get a little too precious about this stuff sometimes. A quick rinse isn't going to nuke all your yeast unless you're soaking the bowl in boiling water for ten minutes. Honestly, I bet your flat loaves were more about your starter being weak or your shaping technique, not the temperature of your dishwater.

west.claire29d ago

Haven't you ever just... felt like the rules are more about vibes than science sometimes? I totally get where you're coming from. I used to boil my starter jar clean in the dishwasher and my bread was fine too. It wasn't until I switched to just rinsing with cool water that I noticed my rise got more consistent, but that might've been coincidence or my starter just being in a better mood. Your point about shaping is something I've definitely learned the hard way more than once.