Sourdough diagnosis, actually
Take a photo. Ask what's wrong. Get an answer from something that actually knows sourdough — not a Google result, not a Reddit thread you have to wait on, not a generic AI that's never heard of hooch.
Free tier included. No credit card. Cancel whenever.
Your crumb shows tight, uneven structure — consistent with underproofing at bulk, not a scoring angle problem. The tight scoring resistance you felt confirms it.
“The sourdough internet is full of people who baked one good loaf. Crumbwise is built from the science underneath every loaf — fermentation kinetics, gluten network behavior, oven spring mechanics. We answer the question your starter actually has, not the one that's easiest to Google.”
The Crumbwise Philosophy
01 — the problem
You posted your crumb shot at 11pm. By the time three strangers weigh in with conflicting advice, you've already baked twice more with the same problem. Sourdough doesn't wait for consensus.
Google answers the average baker
Search 'sourdough ear not opening' and you get the same 8 fixes regardless of your hydration, flour, or starter health. None of them are wrong. None of them are yours.
Forums have opinions, not data
r/Sourdough is warm and well-meaning. It's also 100 people with 100 different proofing setups giving advice based on your photo's lighting, not your actual dough.
Generic AI has never smelled hooch
ChatGPT knows 'sourdough' as a word. It doesn't know the difference between kahm yeast and mold, or why your 80% hydration dough tears instead of stretches at 18°C.
02 — how it works
Crumb cross-section, starter jar, collapsed loaf, suspicious crust — whatever the problem looks like, photograph it. Crumbwise reads visual evidence the way a baker with 20 years reads it.
Not 'why is my bread bad'. Ask the thing you're actually confused about: 'My bulk went 6 hours at 22°C and the dough deflated at shaping — what happened?' The more specific, the sharper the answer.
Crumbwise gives you a single, confident root cause and tells you exactly what to adjust for your next bake. Temperature. Timing. Hydration. Fold schedule. Not a list of maybes.
03 — what it knows
Crumb diagnosis
01Upload a sliced cross-section. Crumbwise reads hole size, distribution, and structure to identify gummy interiors, dense crumbs, or tunneling — and explains which fermentation stage caused it.
Starter health
02Sluggish rise, hooch on top, vinegary smell, stringy texture? Describe it or photograph it. Crumbwise distinguishes between underfeeding, temperature shock, and bacterial imbalance.
Crust & ear analysis
03Flat ear, no bloom, pale crust, or dark bottom? Crumbwise connects your oven setup — stone temp, steam method, scoring angle — to the exact bake result you got.
Hydration troubleshooting
04High-hydration doughs that won't hold shape. Stiff doughs that tear. Crumbwise accounts for your flour's protein content and absorption before telling you to add water.
Bulk fermentation timing
05Crumbwise calculates expected bulk time from your starter percentage, dough temp, and ambient conditions. Then it tells you what to look for, not just how long to wait.
Bake comparison
06Upload photos from two different bakes — 'this worked, this didn't' — and Crumbwise diffs them. It finds what changed and what you should replicate.
04 — bakers who used it
“I'd been fighting a gummy crumb for three months. Posted on Reddit twice. Crumbwise told me it was underproofing at shaping, not bulk — something no one had ever suggested. Bake two fixed it.”
Marisol T.
home baker, Mexico City
“My starter was producing hooch every 14 hours even at 100% hydration. I thought it was dying. Crumbwise told me it was actually too active for my ambient temperature and I needed to drop the hydration and slow it down. Counterintuitive, and completely right.”
Finn K.
bread hobbyist, Oslo
“The ear analysis is the thing. I upload a photo of every bake and Crumbwise tells me what changed from week to week. I've learned more in two months than in the previous two years.”
Priya A.
weekend baker, Chicago
05 — questions
Your next bake
Upload a photo. Ask the question you've been searching for. Crumbwise gives you a direct answer in under 10 seconds — then you bake.
Get early access — it's free10 diagnoses free every month. No card required.
The Crumb
A starter that refuses to rise is the #1 reason new bakers quit sourdough — but the fix is almost always simpler than you think. From hydration imbalances to the wrong flour, each cause has a specific, actionable remedy. Here's how to diagnose exactly what's going wrong in your jar.
That gray or black liquid pooling on top of your starter isn't a sign of failure — it's a sign your starter is hungry and has been producing alcohol. Understanding what hooch actually is tells you exactly how to respond, and the pour-off-vs-stir-in debate has a clear answer once you know the chemistry.
Your crust looks beautiful, but slicing into the loaf reveals a dense, wet, or gummy interior — one of the most frustrating sourdough outcomes. The crumb is actually a roadmap: its structure, color, and texture point directly to whether the problem was underproofing, overproofing, underbaking, or a hydration mismatch. Learn how to read it and course-correct for your next bake.
Starter and discard come from the same jar, but they behave very differently in a recipe — and mixing them up is one of the most common (and costly) baking mistakes. Active starter leavens; discard flavors. Knowing which one a recipe calls for, and why, will save you hours of failed fermentation and flat loaves.
Hydration is the single most controllable variable in your sourdough starter, yet most bakers just follow a recipe without understanding what the percentage actually means or how changing it shifts the flavor, rise speed, and shelf life of their culture. This guide breaks down the science and practical tradeoffs of liquid vs. stiff starters so you can tune yours with intention.