Common Baking MistakesA few things go wrong for almost everyone with their first few loaves. Each one is easy to prevent once you know what to look out for.Using Your Starter Before or After Its PeakProbably the most common mistake of all.A starter that isn’t active enough — or has already passed its peak — simply gives your dough less leavening power, no matter how well the rest of your process goes.Wait until your starter has clearly reached its peak before you begin.See Reading Your Starter.Timing Bulk Fermentation by the Clock Instead of the Dough“Four hours” is a guideline, not a rule.A warm kitchen can shorten that time considerably, while a cold kitchen can extend it just as much.Look at volume, bubbles and texture instead of blindly following a timer.See Process Control.Being Too Gentle With Your FoldsWorried about “damaging” the dough, it’s easy to fold too gently or not often enough.The result can be a weaker gluten structure than necessary, and a less airy loaf.Stretch and folds and coil folds can be reasonably firm. The dough is more resilient than it may seem.Using Too Much Flour During ShapingSticky dough can be uncomfortable to handle, and the temptation is to keep adding more flour.But too much additional flour during shaping can actually interfere with surface tension rather than help it.A lightly floured work surface, wet hands and confidence in your technique work better than a thick layer of flour.Skipping the Cold Proof Out of ImpatienceIt’s tempting to bake as soon as bulk fermentation and shaping are finished.But the cold proof contributes to flavour, structure and dough that is easier to score.Skipping it will still give you bread, but not necessarily the best result the dough could have produced.Scoring HesitantlyA hesitant, jagged cut produces less predictable oven spring than one confident stroke.Make sure you have a genuinely sharp blade or bread lame, and make the score in one smooth movement.See Scoring.Lifting the Lid Too Often During BakingEvery time you check how things are going, steam escapes — and you can’t get that steam back.That steam is exactly what helps make strong oven spring possible.Trust the process and keep the lid closed until the first 30 minutes are over.Slicing Too EarlyProbably the hardest mistake to avoid, simply because freshly baked bread smells irresistible.But bread that is still warm can feel damp and gummy when sliced — not because it has failed, but because the crumb hasn’t had time to finish setting.Let the loaf cool completely on a wire rack.Not Preheating the Oven Long EnoughA pan that isn’t genuinely hot when the dough goes in won’t provide the immediate burst of heat needed for strong oven spring.Preheat for at least 30 minutes, even when that feels like a long wait because you’re already so close to the finish.The Biggest LessonAlmost none of these mistakes is fatal.Sourdough is far more forgiving than it may seem at first, and even a loaf with several of these mistakes is usually still perfectly edible — and often still delicious.The best way to learn how to prevent them is simply to bake more often.Every mistake you make once becomes something you recognise more quickly the next time.Part of The Baking Process.Continue reading: Bread Troubleshooting · Process Control