The Library / When it goes wrong
The loaf that came out flat
A loaf that spreads into a disc has usually been fermented too far, shaped too loosely, or made too wet for its flour.
Why
Each cause leaves a clue. Overproofed dough is slack and sticky when it comes out of the basket, collapses when scored, and bakes pale with a tight, even crumb. A loosely shaped loaf has good, lively dough that simply had no tension to hold it up: the crumb is open but the loaf is low. A dough too wet for its flour never held a shape at any point.
Further down
A weak or unripe starter can give a flat loaf too, but that one is dense and gummy as well, with a few large holes: under-fermented, not over. After a bake, answer the three questions in the app and it reads them against that bake's own log to say which is most likely.
Updated 7 October 2026