The Sourdough Baker's Science Log: A systematic logbook for tracking and improving your bakes

You track your ingredients. Your temperatures. Your timing. So why are you still guessing why your bread came out the way it did?

Most sourdough logbooks let you record what happened. This one is built to help you understand why — and bake measurably better every time.

The Sourdough Baker's Science Log is a 120-page systematic logbook designed for serious home bakers who want to move beyond trial and error. Every field, every section, and every page was engineered around the variables that actually determine your results.

What's inside:

Starter Health Log (12 dedicated entries, separate from your bakes) — track peak rise times, float test results, hydration, smell, and bake-readiness so you always know what your starter is doing before you commit to a bake.

35 Full Bake Log Spreads — each bake gets two pages. The left page captures your complete process data: formula with baker's percentages, ambient temperature during bulk (the most overlooked variable in sourdough), fermentation times, shaping notes, and oven setup. The right page captures a crumb photo or sketch, five-dimension ratings (crust, crumb, flavor, rise, overall), written analysis, and a direct comparison to your last bake.

Bake Comparison Tracker — after every 10 bakes, transfer key variables onto a single comparison grid. This is where patterns emerge, and your best conditions become visible at a glance.

Troubleshooting Guide — 8 common sourdough problems (dense crumb, no oven spring, spreading, sourness imbalance, and more) mapped to their likely causes and the specific log fields to investigate. Turn failures into data.

Flour & Ingredient Notes — document the protein content, absorption behavior, and flavor characteristics of flours you use so you're not re-learning them with every new bag.

Favourite Bakes & Keepers — a dedicated section to capture your greatest hits with enough detail to reproduce them reliably.

Whether you're chasing a more open crumb, dialing in your fermentation timing, or just tired of having no record of why last Saturday's bake was perfect, this log gives you the structure to figure it out, bake by bake.

8.5 × 11 inches · 120 pages · Black & white interior · Lays flat for countertop use