I was overworking my sourdough for a solid year before a friend pointed it out

Ray Morgan · 2026-03-11T06:35:06.135327+00:00

I kept getting these dense, gummy loaves and blamed my starter or the oven. My friend, who runs a bakery in Portland, watched me knead for 15 minutes and just said, 'You're beating all the air out of it.' I switched to a 4-minute mix and then just folds every half hour. The next loaf was completely different, way more open. Has anyone else found that less handling is the key?

william_taylor7mo ago

My loaves always need that extra kneading to develop proper structure.

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wendyj247mo ago

Oh man, that's so real. I mean, I did the same thing for ages. It's crazy how you can just wreck the air pockets by overdoing it. I get where @william_taylor is coming from, needing that structure, but for my dough, gentle folds work way better than a long knead. It's like the gluten develops without smashing everything flat. My loaves got way lighter when I stopped messing with them so much.

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brookerobinson7mo ago

So how do you know when to stop the folds? Like is it just by feel or do you go by time?

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