Sourdough Troubleshooting

Why Is My Sourdough Bread Gummy Inside?
8 Reasons Your Loaf Looks Perfect but Isn't

Your loaf looks incredible. Golden crust. Beautiful oven spring. Gorgeous scoring. Then you cut it open...

This is the moment every sourdough baker fears.

You pull your loaf from the oven.

It's beautiful.

Golden crust.

Beautiful scoring.

Great oven spring.

You take approximately 47 pictures.

You send one to your family.

You feel like a professional artisan baker.

Then you finally cut into it.

Congratulations.

Your sourdough loaf catfished you. 😂

Don't worry.

A gummy or wet crumb doesn't necessarily mean your sourdough journey is doomed. There are several common reasons a loaf can look fantastic on the outside while the inside tells an entirely different story.

Let's figure out what happened.

Why Is My Sourdough Bread Gummy Inside?

Gummy sourdough crumb is commonly caused by some combination of underbaking, cutting the loaf too soon, excessive hydration, fermentation problems, or flour that isn't strong enough to support the dough structure.

Sometimes several things are happening at once.

1. You Cut It Too Soon

This is one of the easiest mistakes to make.

You just pulled a beautiful loaf from the oven.

It smells incredible.

The crust is singing.

And your brain says:

But the crumb is still setting as the loaf cools.

Cutting into a loaf while it's still very hot can result in a gummy or sticky interior because the crumb hasn't fully finished setting.

Give the loaf time to cool before slicing.

2. 🔥 It Wasn't Baked Long Enough

A dark, beautiful crust does not automatically mean the inside is fully baked.

This catches a lot of bakers.

The outside looks done, so out comes the loaf.

But if the interior hasn't had enough time to bake and set, the crumb can remain gummy.

Baking time can vary based on loaf size, dough hydration, oven temperature, shaping, and your particular oven.

3. Your Dough Was Very Wet

High-hydration sourdough can produce beautifully open, airy loaves.

But more water also means your dough can become harder to manage and more difficult to bake properly.

If your flour can't absorb and support the amount of water you're adding, you may end up with a loaf that spreads, struggles to hold its structure, or develops a gummy crumb.

If you're struggling with very wet dough, reducing hydration slightly can make a big difference while you're learning how your flour behaves.

4. ⏰ Your Dough Was Under-Fermented

A beautiful crust doesn't guarantee proper fermentation.

If your dough hasn't fermented enough before baking, the internal structure may not develop the way you want.

The result can be a dense or uneven crumb, sometimes with large holes near the top and heavier dough underneath.

Fermentation is influenced by starter strength, dough temperature, flour, hydration, and time. Learning to read the dough rather than relying only on the clock is an important sourdough skill.

5. You Have Giant Holes at the Top

You wanted an open crumb.

You got the Grand Canyon.

Huge tunnels near the top of the loaf can be a sign that gas has collected in certain areas rather than being distributed evenly throughout the dough.

Uneven fermentation, shaping, or trapped pockets of gas can contribute to this type of crumb structure.

6. 🌾 Your Flour Couldn't Handle the Dough

Not all flour behaves the same way.

Different flours have different protein levels and absorption characteristics.

A dough formula that works beautifully with one flour may behave very differently with another.

If you're pushing hydration higher than your flour can comfortably support, the dough may become difficult to strengthen and shape, which can contribute to a dense or gummy loaf.

7. Your Oven Temperature Isn't What You Think

You set the oven to the temperature your recipe called for.

Surely that means the oven is actually at that temperature.

Right?

Home ovens can vary considerably, and the displayed temperature isn't always a perfect representation of the actual temperature inside the oven.

An inexpensive oven thermometer can help you learn whether your oven runs hotter or cooler than its display suggests.

8. You Keep Opening the Oven

We all do it.

You put the loaf in.

Five minutes later:

Then again.

And again.

Every time you open the oven, heat escapes. Repeatedly opening the door can make it harder for the oven to maintain a consistent baking environment.

The Sourdough Crumb Investigation

Next time you cut open a loaf that isn't quite right, don't immediately declare the entire baking experiment a failure.

THE SOURDOUGH LOAF REVIEW

The Crumb Knows Everything

Never judge a sourdough loaf entirely by its crust.

The outside can be absolutely gorgeous while the inside is telling you exactly what happened during fermentation, shaping, and baking.

If your sourdough is gummy, dense, wet, or just plain weird inside, don't give up.

Look at the evidence.

Adjust one thing at a time.

And keep baking. 🥖❤️

Your next loaf might be the one. 😎

Still Troubleshooting Your Sourdough?

From gummy bread and dense crumb to starter problems, fermentation issues, and everything in between, our Sourdough Starter Troubleshooting guide can help you find the problem and get back to baking.

Continue Your Sourdough Journey

Want to understand sourdough from starter to finished loaf? Explore the Squirrelly Girl Sourdough Academy for practical guides, helpful explanations, and the sourdough fundamentals every baker should know.

READY TO BAKE BETTER SOURDOUGH?

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