The proofing chart on my flour bag was way off and it ruined 3 loaves

I was making sourdough last weekend and decided to finally follow the proofing time printed on the back of my King Arthur bread flour bag. It said 1-2 hours at room temp. Well after 2 hours my dough looked fine so I shaped it and baked it. Came out flat as a pancake with zero oven spring. Tried it again the next day with the same result. On the third try I let it go 5 hours and finally got a decent rise. I found out from a baking science blog that flour companies underestimate proofing times because they assume you're using commercial yeast not natural starter. Has anyone else noticed the times on packaging are just plain wrong for sourdough?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathan1931mo ago

Yeah that's total crap and I'm sorry you had to waste three loaves figuring it out. I had the exact same thing happen with a different brand of all purpose flour last year and it made me so mad. Those charts are definitely written for commercial yeast and they don't even try to hide it. Sourdough is a whole different animal and needs way more time to bulk ferment properly. What really gets me is that they could just put a note on the bag saying "these times are for instant yeast only" but they don't. Hope your next batch works out better now that you know the real timing.

margaret2341mo ago

Yeah, honestly I used to think the charts were fine until this exact thing happened to me.