Comments on: How to Bake Sourdough Bread at High Altitude

By: Ann Grant

Ann Grant — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 12:00:41 +0000

I live on the Front Range of Colorado, about 5000 ft which we don’t think of as high altitude. Water boils at about 202 F, but I have never tested the temperature of a loaf of bread or any baked good. I go by appearance, smell, and lots of experience baking. Making a steamed loaf already requires heating the oven to 450, so I don’t heat it any higher. I have an electric oven and sometimes the top element will burn the top of my loaves if I am not careful. I use some rye in my starter and do not refresh it every day, but have a special routine I have devised to avoid wasting too much flour, as good quality flour is expensive. Some days my starter is crazy active and even chilling doesn’t slow it down much. I always autolyze the flour and water mixture, and freely adapt recipes for yeast to sourdough. Lately I have been baking my loaves a few min less as the crust was really hard, and I am experimenting with starting my loaves in a cold pan as I am tired of having my gorgeous risen loaf deflate as I plop it into a 450F hot Dutch oven, and frequently also burn my hand.

By: Native

Native — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 11:36:53 +0000

In reply to Laurie. I live at 7500 feet in the Rockies and have also found I can not get above 197 degrees. It just stops getting warmer. If I bake my bread at 425° or 450°, the bread gets dark very quickly and the crust get too thick and inedible, though the dogs think it is a great chew toy! I am a fairly new sourdough baker, baking around 10 months, and so far have not adjusted any ingredients. Baking quick breads and cookies, I follow the recipe weighing the ingredients versus measuring using measuring cups. They also turn out fine. Cakes are a different story. I couldn't get them to turn out picture perfect at sea level and they look and taste the same up here. Ugly, bland and unevenly raised. Angel food cake box mix always turns out perfect. Much of this is likely my problem.

By: Temp Mail

Temp Mail — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 11:15:13 +0000

I just like the helpful information you provide in your articles

By: Laurie

Laurie — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 14:59:02 +0000

I live at 9,000 ft in the Colorado Rockies. I have been baking your recipes for several years, and I must say, I disagree with some of your suggestions for high altitude. For your recipes I do not increase the oven temperature, and I bake them for a little less time than your recipes indicate. If I bake them too hot or for too long, they get burned or dry.
Because water boils at a lower temperature, I cannot expect my breads to reach as high a temperature as you would for your 5,000′ elevation. I shoot for about 190-195 degrees F, and the breads turn out great. Different altitudes will require a different target temperature, which I believe should be just less than the temperature at which water boils. (Here, water boils at about 195-196 deg. F.) Do you think this is a fair assessment to determine the target temperature?
Also, I have not found a need to use less levain due to high altitude, and my fermentation time is usually about the same as yours, even though I am 4,000′ higher in elevation.
I’m so accustomed to baking here, I pretty much go by “feel”, adding a bit more water or flour if I feel my bread is too stiff or too slack.
That said, thanks for all the great recipes.

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By: marinambh

marinambh — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 19:31:14 +0000

Do you have any guidelines for baking gluten free sourdough at 7500′ in the desert SW Colorado USA

By: Maurizio Leo

Maurizio Leo — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 21:58:25 +0000

In reply to Liza Martin Newman Shaw. Hey, Liza! It really should be just about the opposite of the information you read up in my post. You can expect slightly longer fermentation times, if it's humid a reduction in hydration, and shorter bake times.

By: Liza Martin Newman Shaw

Liza Martin Newman Shaw — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 09:59:09 +0000

I’ve searched hither and yon for information about how being at sea level impacts sourdough baking, as we moved to the beach in December and the way my dough is behaving is crazy and totally not how it was when I lived in the foothills of the blue ridge mountains (at about 900 feet above sea level). My dough seems to want to more than quadruple before it is ready to shape and bake. But all I can find on the interwebs is information on baking it at high altitude. Do you know anything about being right at the ocean and how it impacts the dough?

Thanks!
Liza

By: Jean-Robert Strele

Jean-Robert Strele — Sat, 24 Jun 2023 11:12:39 +0000

In reply to Maurizio Leo.

Thanks for the tips on increasing bubbles Maurizio and thanks to Michael for bringing it up in the first place.

Although at an altitude of 2,100m (7,000’+), we’re just a few hundred kilometers north of the Equator, putting our climate squarely into cool tropical. Daytime temps hardly deviate from 23°C regardless of the time of year and humidity is around 70%. Nighttime dips into high teens.

There was enough variation there that I built a proofing box with a Sonoff temperature controlled switch and a growing mat (and a web cam, of course, all controlled front ye same ewelink app)).. Now my temps rarely move outside a range of 23-25°.

That has yet to result in bigger bubbles, but your tips will help me experiment further!

Cheers.