One of the questions my bread baking students ask me is ‘How do I stop my sourdough spreading?’
I think everyone has this ideal picture of how their sourdough should look like and when it doesn’t, people (quite understandably) get disappointed.
Fortunately, there are plenty of ways you can prevent your sourdough spreading and even if it does, it’s not the end of the world! I’m sure your sourdough will taste great no matter what.
First off all we need to understand a few basic points…
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Why does my sourdough spread out?
This is usually because the sourdough is over fermented.
If you leave your sourdough to prove for too long, the gluten structure that you’ve created will start to slowly break down and the bread looses it’s structure. It will be more difficult to shape and it won’t hold it’s round shape when you bake it.
What to do when your sourdough bread is already spreading (how to salvage what you have)
Mix the overproven sourdough with newly made sourdough mix with fresh flour and sourdough starter
If you have the time and you don’t mind having more sourdough bread, you can mix the overproven sourdough bread with new bread mix made with fresh flour and active sourdough starter.
Carry on kneading, proving, shaping and baking as if it was the first bread loaf. For the last proving, divide the bread dough into at least 2 or more portions and tightly shape your loaves. Leave to prove one last time and bake when your bread doubles (or just before it doubles in size).
This way, the wild yeast will have still enough energy to rise the bread and lift it to a more round shape.
Shape your sourdough bread even tightly than you normally do
Use sandwich loaf bread tin
I can hear all the hard core sourdough fans shouting ‘Nooooo’, but, if you don’t have the time to mix another dough or have more flour and you just need to use the bread mixture you’ve made, use something that will support the bread as it proves and bakes like a traditional Pulman’s loaf tin.
You’ll end up with sourdough sandwich loaf, which is better than flat dry sourdough bread.
Keep in the fridge (or separate into 150 g chunks and freeze) and add it to any new sourdough or normal bread you make.
The overprooven sourdough bread might not have it’s gluten structure, but it has a well developed flavour. Longer fermentation time also means that your sourdough bread will be easily digestible even if it’s overproved.
You can easily use it for baking other breads (or even for pancakes and other simple cakes). You can use any recipes, that also use discarded sourdough starter.
If you keep your ‘spoiled’ sourdough bread in the fridge, it will be fine for few weeks.
Alternatively (if you don’t bake that often), just portion it into 150-200g chunks and freeze separately. Take out, defrost and use to add to your bakes (as if it was a discarded sourdough starter).
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How to stop your sourdough from spreading (for the next time)
Shape the sourdough correctly and tightly
This is a common problem for most bread bakers when they are just starting out. It doesn’t apply just to sourdough bread, but all yeasted breads.
Your bread dough needs to be tightly shaped to achieve high rise. The more water and the more over proven your bread is, the more tightly you need to shape it to prevent it from spreading out.
The best way to shape your bread is to gently deflated first (when you take it out of the proving bowl). Deflate it with your fingers (as shown in the first picture) and then roll like a sausage, tightening and gently stretching the dough at the same time.
Do this twice, making sure that you work with the seam from the first rolling up. The photos are taken from the second tightening, so that you can see the seam from the first tightening round (first photo).
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When you roll the bread for the second time, you should get something like in the third photo – a chunky rolled sausage.
If you are using a sandwich tin, leave it like this and place in the tin. Or you can just use a long banneton for your proving.
Pinch the long sides down (or under the dough) and tighten on the side (with the pinched ends underneath).
Tighten until you are happy with the shape and you have a round dough. Place it in the round banneton, making sure the dough is upside down (with the pinched long sides on the top). Leave to prove again.
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Use banneton for the final rise
To achieve a perfect rise, it’s best to use a bread banneton (or something similar) for the final rise and proving your sourdough.
You still need to shape your bread tightly first, but the banneton helps to hold the sourdough structure as it’s rising.
If you are using a traditional banneton made from natural cane, the outer layer of your bread is going to dry out a little as the bread breathes through the gaps in the cane structure of the banneton.
This is good thing, because this is how you get your lovely crust on the bread, but as the outer layer hardens a little, it help to keep the bread structure as you take it out and put it on the tray to bake.
Be very careful when taking your bread from the banneton on to the baking tray
I’ve seen this many times – people are impatient and want to turn the sourdough bread out quickly on to the baking tray and what usually happens is that they turn the bread banneton upside down and let the sourdough drop down on to the tray.
Well, you can just imagine what happens! No matter how brilliantly you’ve shaped your loaf, you’ll deflate it by flanking it down on the tray!
What you need to do is to be very gentle with your dough. Place the tray on top of your banneton (with your sourdough inside) and then slowly and carefully turn the whole thing the right way up.
You will need to hold both the tray and the banneton together. Then all you need to do is to carefully lift the bread banneton and there you are – one perfect loaf of sourdough!
Learn how to bake bread at home with my practical bread making e-book. Step by step techniques, photos and tips on how to bake artisan bread, sourdough and enriched dough treats. Read the customer’s review on Amazon and 
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