Hi Alison, because this recipe also contains yeast and has a fairly traditional timeline for making a regular yeast-raised sandwich bread, the sourdough starter doesn't really have an opportunity to ferment fully and won't contribute a whole lot to browning or rising. In addition, you are likely to see more browning in a bread recipe that calls for baking at a higher temperature with added steam. As far as the stickiness of the dough goes, if you happened to substitute another brand of all-purpose flour for the flour called for in the recipe, this could result in a wetter, stickier dough. This is because most other brands of flour are lower in protein as compared to our flour, which means they won't develop as much gluten or absorb as much water as our flour does. This could contribute to a stickier dough that doesn't rise as well as expected. If this doesn't sound like what happened with your bread, please don't hesitate to call our Baker's Hotline. We're here M-F from 9am-9pm EST, and Saturday and Sunday from 9am-5pm EST, and the number to call is 855-371-BAKE (2253). We'd be happy to troubleshoot this recipe with you! 

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