I was intimidated to make my first loaf of sourdough bread. I’d heard others talk about flat and dense loaves—dough that never rose. It wasn’t until I read a sourdough book cover to cover and painted it with post-it notes, highlights, and dog-eared pages that I felt ready to put my newborn sourdough starter to work. I bought flour. I filtered water. I measured. I mixed and kneaded. I folded ever-so-gently while I held my bread until, hours later, I pulled my first sourdough from the oven.
I had my wife taste it. “Pretty good,” she said. “Yeah, pretty good bread.” Only later did she fess up that it was “actually just okay, to be honest.” But all-in-all the bread had a nice rise, a crunchy and well-colored crust, and it did taste great considering it was my first loaf of any kind of bread. And you know what? We ate the entire thing.
This Beginner’s Sourdough Bread post has several videos where I walk you through each step of the sourdough bread-making process. Be sure to see the end for a complete video walkthrough of me making this recipe!
As the new obsession set in, I started making fresh sourdough bread for every meal. There was something about the whole bread-making process that I found captivating. It was–and still is–exciting to mix such elemental ingredients and to see them produce beautiful, life-giving sustenance: it is modern-day alchemy. It’s such a simple thing, and yet it brought me so much joy to see my family and friends tear into a freshly baked loaf that I wanted to bake every day of every week.
This recipe will give you confidence as you take your first steps in baking sourdough bread from your home kitchen.
Starting to make your first loaf of sourdough bread can be daunting. That’s why I’ve put together this beginner’s sourdough bread tutorial and recipe—it will give you confidence as you take your first steps in baking sourdough bread from your home kitchen. This how-to guide starts with explaining baking terms and definitions so that we will have a common vocabulary once we get to the recipe.
And then, each step of the process has lots of information to ensure you understand what is happening and what to do. But, before we go on this beginner’s sourdough bread recipe, let’s first take a look at what sourdough bread is.
What is Sourdough Bread?
Sourdough is a specific type of bread created through a natural fermentation process involving suitable bacteria and wild yeasts in the environment (i.e., the air and even a baker’s hands) and, most importantly, on the grain itself. A sourdough starter culture is used to seed fermentation in new dough when making sourdough bread.
Generally speaking, bacteria are primarily responsible for producing organic acids (lactic acid and acetic acid) that contribute to sourdough bread’s flavor, texture, and storage qualities. The wild yeasts produce carbon dioxide gas and ethanol during fermentation. When this gas becomes trapped in the dough’s airtight gluten matrix, the dough begins to rise, resulting in a final loaf of bread with a light and airy texture.
All recipes on The Perfect Loaf are naturally leavened; in other words, you won’t find any commercial yeast or instant yeast here. There’s nothing inherently wrong with commercial yeast, but I prefer to make bread this way because of the wonderful flavor and texture, the health benefits like increased bioavailability of minerals and nutrients, increased keeping quality thanks to the acids generated during natural fermentation, and the fact that it requires so few ingredients (just three!) to make something so delicious.
For a high-level look at each step of the sourdough process, read through the Beginner’s Guide to Sourdough Bread →
Creating a Sourdough Starter
It all begins with a sourdough starter. Before we look at how to make sourdough bread, you need to create a healthy sourdough starter that shows consistent signs of fermentation each day. Creating a sourdough starter is easy: mix flour and water for a few days in succession, and eventually, thanks to the bacteria and wild yeasts on the grain, natural fermentation will begin.
If you’d like to look at how I feed my starter daily, look at my sourdough starter maintenance routine. In this guide, you will see the visual and aromatic cues to look for when your starter is ready for refreshment (feeding).
While waiting for your sourdough starter, let’s look at some terms bakers often use to discuss the various parts of the bread-making process.
Baker’s Terminology
Sourdough starter
A starter is a mixture of flour and water you allow to ferment naturally. You’ll refresh (feed) the starter indefinitely to keep the fermentation active and healthy, and you will wait for it to become fully ripe before you use any of it to make bread.
When you want to make bread, you take a small amount of your starter to create an off-shoot called a levain (see below). See my post on starter creation to read more about the starter and learn how to make one.
Levain (or leaven)
A levain is made by mixing a small off-shoot of your ripe starter with water and flour and allowing it to ferment before mixing it into a dough. You can always use your starter directly to make sourdough bread, but a levain is a small off-shoot that allows you to adjust the flour, hydration, and ripening schedule (which have implications on the bacteria and wild yeast balance).
Also, unlike your sourdough starter, which lives on as its own entity, the entirety of the levain goes into the dough and has the same fate as the bread itself: to be baked in the oven. See my post on what a levain is and how it’s different from a sourdough starter for more information.
Autolyse
Some recipes utilize a step called autolyse (“auto-lease”). It occurs at the beginning of bread baking and is a step in which only flour and water are mixed together and left to rest. The goal of autolyse is to initiate enzymatic activity in the dough to help draw out sugars from the flour. Additionally, it helps increase dough extensibility (the ability for the dough to stretch out without tearing).
In most cases, increased extensibility is good as it helps the dough expand and fill with gasses, resulting in a light and airy loaf. See my in-depth post on the autolyse technique for more information.
Bulk fermentation
The dough’s first rise is called bulk fermentation. After mixing the flour, salt, and levain into a dough, you put it all into a bowl or container, cover it, and let it rest. The dough will undergo a fermentation process during this critical step. Bacteria and yeast begin to generate organic acids and alcohols and leaven the dough, which will translate to flavor and rise in your final bread.
For more on this critical step in the bread-making process, see my in-depth guide to bulk fermentation.
Proofing
The proof is the dough’s final, or second, rise after the dough has been divided and shaped and lasts until the dough is finally baked in the oven. During this time, the dough continues to ferment, further strengthening and leavening it. I typically proof at a cold temperature in the refrigerator (also called “retarding”).
In my ultimate guide to proofing, I talk about how to spot when the dough is finished rising and ready to bake, plus a whole lot more.
Final Dough Temperature
The final dough temperature (FDT) is the dough’s temperature after mixing all ingredients. The dough’s temperature is important because it’s the main factor that affects fermentation strength: a warmer dough will ferment faster than a cooler dough.
Naturally, each component (levain, the flour, the water, and the ambient environment) has a temperature. While most of these are out of our control, we can easily adjust the water temperature, which enables us to change the FDT of the entire dough to meet whatever the recipe calls for.
I have a handy water temperature calculator you can use to quickly figure out what you need to warm or cool your mixing water to get the dough to the right temperature.
Or, so you don’t have to do any calculations, here’s a quick cheat sheet for this Beginner’s Sourdough bread recipe:
| If your kitchen temperature is | Warm or cool the mixing water to |
|---|---|
| 68°F (20°C) | 98°F (37°C) |
| 70°F (21°C) | 94°F (34°C) |
| 72°F (22°C) | 90°F (32°C) |
| 74°F (23°C) | 86°F (30°C) |
| 76°F (24°C) | 82°F (28°C) |
| 78°F (25°C) | 78°F (25°C) |
| 80°F (26°C) | 74°F (23°C) |
If your kitchen is outside of these temperatures, my guide on the importance of dough temperature in baking will walk you through calculating exactly what to warm (or cool) your mixing water to so your dough meets the FDT for any recipe.
Baker’s Percentages (Baker’s Math)
Baker’s math, or baker’s percentages, helps bakers adjust the actual quantity of the ingredients up or down, depending on how much bread they want to make. I write all the formulas on The Perfect Loaf in baker’s percentages, where all ingredient weights are a percentage of the total flour weight, which always adds up to 100%. Read through my introduction to baker’s percentages for a more in-depth explanation (including how to scale up and down a bread recipe).
TPL Members (the baking community here) have access to all the recipes here at The Perfect Loaf in spreadsheet form, making scaling up and down recipes as simple as changing a few numbers.
Baking Tools
There are a few necessary tools for baking your first loaf of this beginner’s sourdough bread. The following might look like a long list, but you probably already have many of these in your kitchen—There are a few tools necessary for baking this beginner’s sourdough bread. Note that one item is absolutely necessary: a kitchen scale. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, please consider buying one. Measuring flour with cups and scoops is entirely inaccurate!
- combo cooker like a Lodge 3qt. cast iron combo cooker or a Le Creuset Dutch oven that can withstand 500°F (260°C) in the oven and has a well-sealing lid
- large mixing bowl to mix your dough by hand
- two medium kitchen bowls to proof your dough
- two kitchen towels or a tea towel to line the proofing bowls
- bench knife to cut and shape the dough
- plastic or silicone bowl scraper
- kitchen scale that measures in grams
- instant-read thermometer
- white rice flour for dusting proofing bowl
- blade for scoring your dough (a “lame”), or a razor blade, sharp knife, or scissors
- fine-grain sea salt
- parchment paper
- pizza peel (or cutting board)
- heavy duty oven mitt
- the best bread knife for cutting your sourdough bread
You can find a full list of all the tools I use when baking on my baking tools page.
The Importance of Dough Temperature
When I first started baking, I didn’t quite grasp how important temperature is in the bread-making process. I always like to say: Treat temperature as an ingredient, just as flour, water, and salt are ingredients. What I mean by that, practically, is that if one day you mix with water that is 70°F (21°C) and then a week later mix with water that is 80°F (26°C), you will get drastically different outcomes.
Temperature determines the amount of fermentation activity you’ll see. Lower temperatures generally mean less activity; therefore, things will take longer. Higher temperatures generally mean more activity; therefore, things will take less time. Working with consistent temperatures will ensure consistency in your bread baking, and you’ll get the desired results in terms of flavor, rise, texture–well, everything.
Treat temperature as an ingredient, just as flour, water, and salt are ingredients.
If it’s cold where you’re baking, see my tips on how to bake sourdough bread in the winter. And conversely, if it’s warm where you are, see my post on how to bake in the summer. These guides will help ensure your loaves have the best flavor and volume.
Flour For Baking Bread
I used commonly available supermarket flour for this recipe: Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour, Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour, and Bob’s Red Mill or Arrowhead Dark Rye Flour. These are great flour choices, but any of King Arthur’s offerings are equally suitable. I chose “bread flour” as it has a higher protein percentage than all-purpose flour, which helps bring significant strength to the dough so that less mixing and kneading is required–it also makes things a bit easier for your first loaf of bread.
As you’ll hear me mention throughout this site, I do like to use as little high-protein flour in my recipes as possible as I find it leads to a slightly chewier, gummy interior—or be sure to use it in the correct way.
Baking Schedule
This beginner’s sourdough bread is a two-day-long process where the bread is mixed and prepared on day one, cold-proofed (retarded) in the fridge overnight, then baked on day two.
I love the convenience of this type of schedule: most of the work is done on the first day, then the dough can be left in the fridge until the next day, when it can be baked in the morning, afternoon, or even the evening.
The baking schedule to the right shows you a high-level view of what step takes place and when.
Beginner’s Sourdough Bread Formula
Now we get to the formula for the beginner’s sourdough bread formula. I start every recipe with two tables: Vitals and Total Formula. The Vitals table gives you a high-level view of the contents of the dough, as well as how much the recipe makes (in this case, two loaves). The Total Formula table lists the ingredients needed for the entire recipe and their respective amounts.
Vitals
| Total Dough Weight | 1,800 grams |
| Pre-fermented Flour | 7.5% |
| Levain in final dough | 20.3% |
| Hydration | 72.0% |
| Yield | Two loaves |
Total Formula
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 811g | Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour | 80.0% |
| 152g | Bob’s Red Mill Stoneground Whole Wheat Flour | 15.0% |
| 51g | Bob’s Red Mill Dark Rye Flour | 5.0% |
| 730g | Water | 72.0% |
| 18g | Fine sea salt | 1.8% |
| 38g | Ripe sourdough starter, 100% hydration | 3.8% |
Beginner’s Sourdough Bread Method
1. Levain – 8:00 a.m.
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 38g | Ripe sourdough starter (100% hydration) | 50.0% |
| 38g | Bob’s Red Mill Stoneground Whole Wheat | 50.0% |
| 38g | Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour | 50.0% |
| 76g | Water | 100.0% |
Remember: the levain is an off-shoot of your continually maintained sourdough starter and is likewise composed of bacteria and yeasts. You make this levain well before you mix the dough, so it has time to ferment, and eventually, it’s added to the dough to seed fermentation.
Mix the ingredients in the table above in a clean jar (I use the same sourdough starter jars) and leave it at warm room temperature, 74-76°F (23-24°C), for 5 to 6 hours. When it’s ready, it will be expanded, bubbly on top, inside, and at the sides, and have a slightly sour aroma. The photo below shows my levain before it goes into my dough mix.
2. Autolyse – 12:00 p.m.
| Weight | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 773g | Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour |
| 114g | Bob’s Red Mill Stoneground Whole Wheat Flour |
| 51g | Bob’s Red Mill Dark Rye Flour |
| 603g | Water (this has 50g less than the overall formula, reserved for Mix step below) |
The desired dough temperature (DDT) for this dough is 78°F (25°C). As described in the temperature section above, we will try to get the dough to this temperature right at the end of mixing (which is also at the beginning of bulk fermentation).
Warm or cool the autolyse water so the mixed dough reaches the FDT for this recipe. Place the flour and the water called for in the table above in a large bowl. Use wet hands to mix until no dry bits remain; the dough will be shaggy and loose. Use a bowl scraper to scrape down the sides of the bowl, keeping all the dough in one area at the bottom. Cover the bowl and place it near your levain for 1 hour.
Note that the autolyse stage does not incorporate salt or the levain in any way since the autolyse is a long one hour. Adding the levain to the autolyse would mean fermentation would begin, which could end up overproofing the dough. Salt is rarely added to an autolyse because the salt would diminish enzymatic activity during this time, which is precisely why we are doing an autolyse. The autolyse and levain are two separate entities that will be mixed together later in the process.
3. Mix – 1:00 p.m.
| Weight | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 50g | Reserved water (this water was held back in the Autolyse step) |
| 18g | Fine sea salt |
| 190g | Ripe, 100% hydration levain (from Levain, above) |
Use your instant-read thermometer to take the dough’s temperature and compare it to the FDT for this recipe. If it is higher, use cold water for the reserved water; if it is lower, use warm water.
At this point, your autolyse is complete and your levain is ready—it’s time to mix and strengthen the dough. If the dough feels very wet and shaggy, do not use all of the reserved 50g of water; use only a splash to help incorporate the salt and levain. If the dough feels good to you, use all the reserved water.
To the autolyse, add the ingredients in the table above (salt, reserved water to help adjust dough hydration and consistency, and levain). I like to spread everything on top of the dough and use wet hands to pinch all the ingredients together. Transfer the dough to a container or thick-walled bowl for bulk fermentation.
Take the temperature of the dough to get your final dough temperature. If your FDT is below 78°F (25°C), next time use warmer water, and conversely, if it’s above 78°F (25°C), use cooler water. Cover the dough.
4. Bulk Fermentation – 1:10 p.m. to 5:10 p.m.
At 74-76°F (23-24°C) ambient temperature, bulk fermentation should go for about 4 hours. Perform 3 sets of stretches and folds during bulk fermentation, spaced out by 30 minutes.
Each set of stretches and folds consists of 4 folds: one each at the North, South, East, and West sides. Wet your hands with a little water to prevent sticking, and then lift one side (North) of the dough with two hands. Stretch the dough high enough so you can fold it completely over to the other side. Rotate the bowl 180° and do the other side (South). Finish the other two sides (East and West) to complete the set. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes, covered, between sets.
In the video below, you can see how I stretch and fold this dough during bulk fermentation.
After the third set of stretch and folds, let the dough rest for the remainder of bulk fermentation. During this time, fermentation aerates the dough (making it rise), continues to strengthen it, and further develops its flavor.
At the end of bulk fermentation, your dough should have risen by 20% to 50%. It should show some bubbles on the top and sides, and the edge of the dough where it meets the bowl should be slightly domed, which indicates strength. In the photo above, you can see all these signs. If you don’t see these signs, leave it for another 15 minutes in bulk fermentation and check again.
5. Divide and preshape – 5:15 p.m.
Lightly flour a work surface. Using a bowl scraper, gently scrape the dough onto the work surface and use your bench knife to divide the dough directly in half. Using your bench knife in your dominant hand, and the other hand wet (or floured, if you prefer) to reduce sticking, turn each half of the dough on the counter while lightly pulling the dough towards you. This gentle turning and pulling motion will develop tension on the dough’s top, forming a circle.
Preshaping bread dough is an often overlooked step, but it sets the stage for successful shaping later. See my guide to preshaping bread dough for more information.
Let the dough rest for 25 minutes, uncovered.
In the video below, you can see how I preshape this beginner’s sourdough bread dough:
6. Shape – 5:35 p.m.
If you’re new to shaping bread dough, check out my guide to shaping a boule (a round) in addition to the steps below.
Lightly flour the top of your dough rounds and the work surface. Working with one round at a time, flip the round so the floured top is now down on the floured work surface.
As seen in the image below, with lightly floured hands, grab the bottom of the round and stretch it lightly downward towards your body, and then up and over about 2/3 of the way to the top.
Then, grab the left and right sides of the dough and stretch them away from each other. Fold one side over toward the other and repeat with the other side.
Then, grab the top of the circle, stretch it away from your body, and then fold it down to the bottom of the dough. You’ll now have a tight package that resembles a letter.
Finally, flip or roll down the dough so the seams are all on the bottom. Using both hands, cup the top part of the round and drag the dough gently towards your body to create surface tension on the dough. The angle of your hands will gently press the dough’s bottom on the counter. This dragging helps create surface tension on the dough, which helps keep it in shape during proofing.
Let the dough rest on the bench for a few minutes to help the bottom seam seal.
In the video below, you can see how I shape bread dough into a boule shape.
Meanwhile, prepare your proofing baskets. Line two proofing baskets, kitchen bowls, or bannetons with clean kitchen towels. Dust lightly and evenly with plain white flour or white rice flour. Gently transfer each piece of shaped dough to a proofing basket, seam-side-up.
You can also top this dough with sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pepitas, and much more—see my guide to topping bread dough for more ideas and instructions.
7. Rest and proof – 5:40 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. (next day)
To prevent your dough from drying out overnight, place your bowls containing your shaped dough into reusable plastic bags and seal. I usually puff up the plastic bag around the bowl by opening it wide and then quickly closing it.
Let the dough rest on the counter for 20 minutes. Then, retard (a baker’s term meaning place into a cold area to proof) in the refrigerator at 38°F (3°C) for 16 hours (overnight).
During this time, overall fermentation will slow (especially yeast activity), but bacterial activity will continue at a reduced rate, resulting in a more complex flavor and, ultimately, deeper crust coloring.
8. Bake – Next morning: preheat oven at 8:30 a.m., bake at 9:30 a.m.
Now, it’s time to bake your sourdough bread. It’s not a difficult step, but there are some things to know. The oven needs steam for the best crust and tallest rise. I like to use a Dutch oven or combo cooker, which is very easy. These pots trap the steam released from the dough and provide the right environment for it to rise optimally.
See my full guide to baking sourdough bread for tips on scoring your dough, pots, and steaming.
Place an oven rack in the bottom third of the oven with no rack above it. Put your combo cooker or Dutch oven on the oven rack, and preheat the oven to 450°F (232°C) for at least 30 minutes. If you’re using a combo cooker, place the shallow side face up on one side and the heavier, deep side face down on the other.
When your oven is preheated, remove one of the proofing baskets from the fridge, uncover it, and place a piece of parchment paper over it. Place a pizza peel, cutting board, or inverted baking sheet on top of the parchment and, using both hands, flip everything over. Gently remove the basket; your dough should rest on the parchment.
Using a razor blade, sharp knife, or baker’s lame, score the dough at a 90° angle between the blade and the dough. I chose to make a “box” pattern. If using scissors, snip the dough a few times at a very shallow angle between the scissors and the dough, forming a set of ridges down the dough’s center.
While wearing your heavy-duty oven mitt, and with caution, pull out your shallow side of the combo cooker and place it on a heat-safe rack or stovetop. Slide the dough into the combo cooker or Dutch oven. Place it back into the oven and cover the shallow side with the deep side, or put the lid on the Dutch oven. This sealed environment helps trap the moisture (escaping steam) from your dough to steam the loaf exterior as it bakes, which encourages maximal rise and a crunchy, shiny crust.
Bake for 20 minutes. Vent the oven of steam: use your oven mitt to very carefully remove the top of the combo cooker or Dutch oven. Leave the large side of the combo cooker in the oven to the side. Close the oven door and bake for 30 minutes more. When done, the loaf should have an internal temperature of around 208°F (97°C), and the crust should be a deep mahogany color and crackle/crunch when squeezed.
Use your oven mitt to transfer the bread to a wire rack carefully. Cool for 1 to 2 hours before slicing into your beginner’s sourdough bread. For the second loaf, preheat the combo cooker or Dutch oven for 15 minutes and repeat.
Follow my guide to storing bread to keep your loaves fresh for as long as possible.
Once you get the hang of this beginner’s sourdough bread process and formula, you can endlessly modify it with add-ins like walnuts, cranberries, seeds, and a host of other ingredients bound only by your imagination. But the most important thing is to bake and have fun. Remember that sometimes bread doesn’t come out as you intended–but stick with it, and you’ll be rewarded time and time again.
And of course, buon appetito!
Watch me make this Beginner’s Sourdough Bread from start to finish
In my YouTube video below, you can see how I make my Beginner’s Sourdough Bread, from creating the levain to slicing the final loaves.
Beginner’s Sourdough Bread Recipe
- Prep Time: 23 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 24 hours
- Yield: 2 loaves
- Category: Main course
- Cuisine: American
Description
The perfect bread to get started baking sourdough bread at home. This crusty, crunchy, and absolutely delicious loaf of bread is perfect for any lunch or dinner table.
Ingredients
Levain
- 38 grams stoneground whole wheat flour
- 38 grams bread flour
- 76 grams water
- 38 grams ripe sourdough starter
Main dough
- 773 grams bread flour
- 114 grams whole wheat flour
- 51 grams whole grain rye flour
- 653 grams water
- 18 grams fine sea salt
Instructions
- Levain (8:00 a.m.)
In a small container, mix the levain ingredients and keep at 74-76°F (23-24°C) for 5 to 6 hours. - Autolyse (12:00 p.m)
In a medium mixing bowl, mix the flour and 603 grams of water (reserve 50 grams until the next step). Cover and let rest for 1 hour. - Mix (1:00 p.m.)
To the mixing bowl holding your dough, add the salt, ripe levain (from step 1), and reserved 50 grams water. Mix by hand or with a dough whisk until incorporated. Transfer your dough to a bulk fermentation container and cover. - Bulk Fermentation (1:10 p.m. to 5:10 p.m.)
Give the dough 3 sets of stretch and folds at 30-minute intervals, where the first set starts 30 minutes after the start of bulk fermentation. - Divide and Preshape (5:10 p.m.)
Lightly flour your work surface and scrape out your dough. Using your bench knife, divide the dough in half. Lightly shape each half into a round shape. Let the dough rest for 25 minutes, uncovered. - Shape (5:35 p.m.)
Shape the dough into a round (boule) or oval (batard)—place in proofing baskets. - Rest and Proof (5:40 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. the next day)
Cover proofing baskets with reusable plastic and seal shut. Let the dough sit out on the counter for 20 minutes. Then, place both baskets into the refrigerator and proof overnight. - Bake (Preheat oven at 8:30 a.m., bake at 9:30 a.m.)
Preheat your oven with a combo cooker or Dutch oven inside to 450°F (230°C). When the oven is preheated, remove your dough from the fridge, score it, and transfer to the preheated combo cooker. Place the cooker in the oven, cover with the lid, and bake for 20 minutes. After this time, remove the lid (you can keep it in the oven or remove it) and continue to bake for 30 minutes longer. When done, the internal temperature should be around 208°F (97°C). Let the loaves cool for 1 to 2 hours on a wire rack before slicing.
Notes
While the recipe calls for 16 hours of total proof time, you could extend this time and bake the loaves in the morning, afternoon, or even the evening on day two. Leave the proofing dough in the fridge until ready to bake.
Beginner’s Sourdough Bread Frequently Asked Questions
Why is sourdough bread good for you?
Sourdough, and its lengthy natural fermentation process, can help break down the gluten in grain, which helps aid in the body’s digestion. Additionally, fermentation helps “unlock” the nutrition inherent in the grain, allowing for better absorption.
Is sourdough bread sour?
Sourdough isn’t super sour in the traditional sense—it’s not sour like taking a bit of a lemon. But it does have tanginess which is the byproduct of lactic acid fermentation. Sourdough bread will have more sourness than one made with 100% commercial yeast due to the acids created by natural fermentation.
How can I make sourdough bread more sour?
To increase the sour flavor of this sourdough bread, add more whole grains (both to your sourdough starter and the dough itself), keep the dough warm (78°F/25°C or warmer), and lengthen the total fermentation time by keeping the dough in the fridge to proof even longer than the 16 hours specified in the recipe—24 hours is a good starting point.
How can I get a more open crumb with my bread?
First, focus on your sourdough starter to get a more open crumb for this sourdough bread: it should be refreshed (fed) often, kept warm, and used when ripe. Next, strengthen the dough sufficiently during mixing and bulk fermentation by using stretches and folds. Finally, your dough must be fully proofed so that when you press a finger into the dough, it slowly springs back about halfway (if it springs back quickly, let it proof longer; if the finger indentation stays, bake immediately).
What’s Next?
After baking this beginner’s sourdough bread, check out my Baking Guides for more in-depth discussions on all parts of the sourdough bread-making process. If you’re looking to add mix-ins to your bread, have a look at my walnut cranberry sourdough bread—it’s one of the most popular recipes here at The Perfect Loaf—and for good reason! Or, have a look at my Simple Weekday Sourdough Bread for a way to squeeze sourdough bread baking into a busy workday.
Finally, now that you have your sourdough starter bubbling away on your counter check out my sourdough starter discard recipes for ideas on how to use leftovers!
3,324 Comments
@maurizioleo:disqus , first off – thanks very much for this site and your efforts.
Two comments/questions:
With regards to your proofing step. When I think of a large plastic bag I imagine a thick airtight material. I am trying to reduce use of plastic wrap and resealable bags (ZipLocs) as much as possible. I have been resting my dough, wrapped in towels, in a glass bowl and covering that bowl with a glass pyrex pie plate. Is this combo providing too much air restriction? I am afraid my method might be impacting my proof.
You have addressed this in other comments, but; In the Beginner’s Sourdough, instructions say preheat oven to 450. At the end of the recipe a reference is made to bring the temp back up to 450, the instruction to reduce the heat has been removed. If one is going from memory or using a saved version of the recipe this can be confusing, indicating that we forgot a temperature change. so i am making a suggestion that you update that part of the instruction.
I have the same question about temperature
Hi Maurizio: I have the same question; I hope all these questions don’t take you away from your beloved baking, but I’m a little confused. I saw in another post elsewhere where you’re adjusting your recommended baking temperatures. This recipe (which I’ve now used and turned out awesome-thank you!) used to recommend lowering the pre-heated temp of 500 degrees twice, once by 25 degrees when first putting dough into covered dutch oven, and again another 25 degrees once uncovering. I realize you’ve lowered the initial temp to 450, but there’s no mention of the 2 further decreases, even though at one point above, your instructions say “Place the combo cooker back in the oven and bring the temperature back up to 450°F”. Thank you and take care!
Sorry about the confusion — I did change the temperature down to 450F which I have found works better all around. I’ll fix the wording here!
I just put it in a basic supermarket plastic bag (which I reuse), tie it in a really bad knot and put in the fridge. It’s not airtight (neither is Maurizio’s) and I doubt your method is airtight either. If the dough doesn’t dry on top, you’re fine! And the microbes need sugars, not oxygen. It doesn’t have to be NASA level of precision this stuff.
Hey! That covering step works just fine. I also have reusable plastic bags linked in this post, I keep a few of them and just use them over and over and over — rarely do I recycle them!
Sorry about the confusion — I did change the temperature down to 450F which I have found works better all around. I’ll fix the wording here!
When I add my levain, it’s somehow “lost weight” every time. Usually to the tune of 5 to 10g. I keep it in a lidded bowl, so is this just evaporation? I add starter to make up the difference, but is there something else I’m possibly doing wrong?
I saw he said in another comment (I think on this post) that losing a few grams while your levain is fermenting is fine.
As @philipj:disqus said below, losing a few grams is ok (and seems to always happen no matter the diligence). What you did is a good approach, though, add a bit of starter to make up the difference!
Hey! So it seems something went wrong with my dough. When I turned it out onto the parchment to bake, it did not hold its shape at all and just spread out. It seemed really soupy. Any thoughts as to what went wrong? Thanks!
Flour overhydrated. In my post I mentioned care with water addition. When you add it to the flour first pass, only use what you need to get the dough looking and feeling just right. By the same token, when you add the leaven and water, add the leaven first and work till incorporated. If the dough seems to dry after that, add a tbs at a time till it is ready. Cover and let it rest the first 30 minutes and then start folding it.. 4 times.
Awesome. Will do. Thanks!
I disagree. This is not a crazy high hydration bread. Though I do think decreasing your water % is helpful when you’re getting used to making bread, I would still suggest measuring it out in grams so that you have a benchmark for where to work from on your next bake. Regardless, the hydration in this recipe is not the definitive answer to your problems, and I would really only decrease hydration if you’re having a really tough time getting a handle on your dough.
A few of my suggestions for why your dough might be coming out soupy:
1) Not enough tension built during bulk fermentation. Try increasing the strength you put into your folds during this process
2) Not enough tension during the final shape. My best advice is to just watch as many YouTube videos on this part of the process and keep practicing.
3) Your bread fermented too long and over proofed.
Such a simple, easy to follow method. Ive been doing breads for a long while and I always like trying new things. This came together perfectly. Just pulled it out of the oven and it was just about perfect. I need to upgrade my ecorating skills a bit. Use that lame to make the loaves very esthetically pleasing. Not that it isnt. Just need to kick it up a notch. Looking forward to doing more. For those having issues, a couple things. 1. Patience. It takes time. 2. Hydration. When you make up the autolyse dough, be sure to use enough hydration to ensure the dough doesnt crack or become lumpy. You do this by first, following the recipe and then… see if the dough came together right. It may take a bit more before it does. I measure out the “called for” amount and then added about a tbs at a time till it picked up all the bits easily. Then, no more. Thats a big one as it sets the pace for the whole dough build. Water is your friend, or your enemy if you dont know how to control it. Sticky dough sucks. Dry dough wont rise right. I think that is probably where most go wrong. In the second phase, you will see a huge difference when you do the final build with the leaven. You will see the dough come together nicely without being too sticky. Careful with the last bit of water. Add a little at a time till it looks and feels right. Good luck
Glad to hear this and thanks for all the tips, Robert!
This is such great information, but all your posts are so long to read! It would be nice to have something more concise at the bottom.
Working on this…
Maurizio, I just tried to make your beginner sourdough. Everything was going great; active avian, easy to mix, dough looked like your photos when I was stretching and folding for bulk ferment, after the bulk ferment there were bubbles at the top and it has risen 50%. When I dumped the dough it was so wet it would not hold a ball shape. I used flour just on the outside to counter the stickiness but couldn’t keep the shape, they kept spreading. I split the dough in 2 (even though I reduced your recipe to make 1 loaf) for easier handling. They are now in the fridge overnight. We’lll see what happens. Question, I deviated from your flours and used KAF all purpose 80% and KAF whole wheat remaining 20%. Perhaps the dough was wet because my all purpose isn’t as thirsty as your Artisan Bread Flour + Dark Rye + Whole wheat combo? Any suggestions?
Also, how did you arrive at the pre-fermented flour percentage? If you take the levain amount as a percentage of total loaf weight, it doesn’t equal 7.50%…
Check out my guide to baker’s percentages where I go deep on the topic. In short: it’s the total flour in the preferment divided by the total flour in the formula.
Hi there!
I just made this recipe and I had fairly good results. I had a good crumb, good rise, and it tasted good. However, it didn’t taste like sourdough bread, it just tasted like regular whole wheat bread. I created the levain in the morning and after 6 hours, there seemed to be quite a bit of bubbles and activity in the starter to use it. it seemed like it was at its peak after 6 hours but given that my bread really didn’t have a sourdough taste, maybe i didn’t ferment it long enough? Every time i feed my starter I use 40g mature starter, 100g water, and 100 grams of flour (half bread half whole wheat)
I’m no expert, but I feed my starter 1 x 1 x 1
So if its 50g starter, it’s 50g flour and 50ml water.
Just my advice.
Best!
How long should the dough be out -of the refrigerator before it goes ion the oven?
Straight from fridge to oven.
Hi, Maurizio! I love your recipes! I’ve been baking sourdough lately but I can’t solve my pale crust problem. What am I doing wrong? My starter is active, I follow instructions. The crumb is moist, delicious but the crust is pale, uncaramelized. And, without a container, it will expand and remain nice but a couple of inches high. Always pale.
Thanks for your help!
Just FYI, there’s a discrepancy with total levain amounts. In the Dough Mix section it’s listed as 184g; if you add up the amounts in the Levain Build section, it equals 185g.
I have a feeling that 1 missing gram is for the scant amount you inevitably can’t scrape off from the Levain container!
Hi Maurizio,
I’ve done another comment 8 days ago that was tagged as a spam, where I made sure to thank you for the amazing inspirational job you do here. I would probably have given up out sourdough now if it weren’t for it. So here I am with new questions as I keep failing my breads…
I’ve scouted all online shops I could find delivering organic flour here in Germany and haven’t found a single rye flour with more than 9,5g of protein per 100g (versus the 13,5g/100g you have listed above). Same goes to what you listed as bread flour (15,5g) and whole grain (13,5g). The highest I’ve found is 12,4g and only for whole wheat, the white flour protein (1050, 550 or 405) share would be at maximum 11g. If I minimally understand the impact, I get I should reduce the hidration, right? I’ve tried 65% (really wanted to get a proper bread, even if the crumble would be the cost) and the dough was very hard, so I went up to 72%. Until shaping it all felt good, but when removing from the banneton I got a flat disc again. QUestions are:
1. Could this somehow be related to proofing (over or under) instead of hidration?
2. Besides, can the dough be overworked? Somewhere in a different blog I saw the instruction of doing stretch and fold on the step of mixing the levain to the autolysed dough until it gets smooth, which for me usually taked 5-10 min of S&F. Am I ruining my bread here already?
Thank you!
Good Morning! I have finally been having some consistent sourdough loaves, but I just have a couple problems.
The first one is, my crust keeps on getting very dark, but not burnt tasting. How can I fix this? I am not using a Dutch oven. I bake for 20 mins at 500 degrees and reduce to 450 for another 20 mins.
The second one is, I am not getting as much oven spring. How can I get more?
The third one is, my bread is really hard to cut through, especially the crust.
Lastly, the flour that I use seems to come out yellowish after the oven.
Thank you for your help.
For the heat and hard/dark crust, you may need to adjust temperature slightly! Maurizio is baking at ~5,000ft above sea level. If you’re considerably lower (or higher) you might have to play around with temp- I did so for the last batch I made (I am at sea level). Also, the Dutch oven helps steam the bread the first 20m, are you steaming the oven during this time instead? The initial steam should help with oven spring.
I am creating steam in my oven. Also, I live very close to sea level. How do you suggest I adjust the temperature?
There are some good resources out there to figure out altitude difference baking. I tried reducing temperature by 15 and 25 degrees Fahrenheit. I personally still like a good crunchy crust so will probably stick to reducing by ~15 degrees F. 25 degrees was a little too soft on top and gummy in the middle.
Source:
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking
Hey Alex, I’m baking this again this weekend and I noticed the baking temp was changed in the recipe to be 450 degrees F all the way through. With this edit you won’t need to adjust the temperature. Hopefully this helps, cheers!
Hey Maurizio,
Did you change the Baking temperature recently? I had the impression that it preheat was 260C, with lid was 245C, remove the lid and reduce to 232C and now all the 3 phases are 232C. 😉
Thank you so very much for sharing this knowledge. I have tried a few other bloggers recipes for sourdough bread that were quicker from start to finish but they did not come out as tasty. I made 2 loaves on Saturday and another batch of 2 that baked today. The 2nd set came out even better than the first set. I can’t wait to try one of your other sourdough breads.
Hi, Maurizio,
I posted a question and then answered it myself. Thank you a million times for making this recipe and the instructions available! I’ve had great success with your guidance.
Well, my first attempt (baked this morning) resulted in a discus worthy of the Ancient Greek Olympics. My levain was at least doubled by the time I incorporated it into my autolysed dough, but I didn’t see as much development during the bulk fermentation than I think I should have. There were a few bubbles around the edges but it had barely increased in volume – maybe 15-20%. I’m trying again today and plan to extend the bulk fermentation/ferment slightly warmer and potentially give it a little more time on the countertop before refrigerating overnight.
Any other tips are appreciated. I’ll keep at it until I get a proper loaf, either way.
Some follow-ups. Yesterday’s loaf was significantly better after a longer bulk fermentation and a short time on the counter in the morning (45 minutes). Today’s loaf is even better – I dropped the rye flour from the mix merely because I wanted a cleaner flavor profile, and adjusted my bread and wheat flour up to compensate. I increased hydration to 79.5% and added two more stretch-and-folds. The boule rose much higher despite the slight increase in hydration, and had a more open crumb. I’m doing it again today for tomorrow, but I feel like I’ve gotten a feel for this recipe in just a few days.
Thanks, Maurizio.
I’m very interested to hear even further improves, and what did it for you. I’m going to attempt this bread today/tomorrow and see what happens.
Hi Maurizio! First, I wanted to say thank you for your generosity in answering all of the questions on here week in and week out. It is such a great resource.
I’ve been baking this recipe (now a slightly modified version of it) for a few months now and I’ve had reasonably good results typically. I’ve never gotten the crumb to look like your photos, but I’ve typically had super delicious bread with good oven rise. The first few bakes, my loaves were very gummy (I’m using flour from a local mill) so I replaced half of the bread flour in the recipe with their version of all purpose and I’ve had my best bakes after making that change. The past few weeks, I’ve noticed that my loaves are spreading a bit when I score them in the morning.
This week, my first loaf spread very slightly but still had good oven rise however, my second loaf spread more significantly and was very flat once done. Do you have any thoughts as to what could have caused that? I let the bulk fermentation go about 30 minutes longer than normal because I didn’t quite see as much strength as I normally would at that point and the loaves were in the oven for 16 and 17 hrs, respectively. I think I spent a little longer pre-shaping the first loaf as it was pretty sticky. It also stuck to the basket a bit in the morning whereas the other loaf came straight out. Could I be overworking it too much, or might it be something else? Thanks so much for your time!
Greetings from Argentina!
First of all, thanks for sharing. I baked the Beginner’s Sourdough Bread and got two great loaves, both in looks and in taste. Only thing is that the parchment paper got stuck to the bottom of the bread, and it’s almost impossible to remove it. Do you have any tips to avoid that? The dough was a bit sticky all the way through the process, should I use a little bit less water during autolyse?
Thanks in advance.
Hola, Hernan. Soy de argentina. No hay papel manteca que no se pegue acá. Tenés que aceitarlos o enmantecarlos. Cuando viajo me compro los de Reynolds. No se pegan por nada.
Ana, gracias por el dato! Por un lado es una buena noticia porque me va a ahorrar pruebas y tiempo. Por otro lado, que depresion que no exista papel manteca decente en el pais…
Con respecto a las harinas, sabes en donde se puede comprar algo diferente a lo que se tipicamente hay en los supermercados?
Si, una depresión. si te hace sentir mejor, en Chile también tenía que comprar Reynolds, pero allá se conseguía. El aluminio igual, grueso como el capot de un auto.
Me dijeron que la marca Federación es buena, no la probé porque las bolsas son enormes. Lei en el chat de esta receta de reforzar con gluten, voy a probar. Alla la king arthur tiene como 13g de proteina (no recuerdo exacto) pero acá no vi que tuviera más de 10g.
Consulta, probaste con alguno de los rollos grandes de papel manteca que venden en Mercado Libre que supuestamente son para reposteria y “profesionales”?
No, sólo los del super y alguna vez de pie vieja que compra en papeleras y también se pegaba. para salir del paso.
Probe enmantecar y enharinar el papel manteca, y no se pego nada. Una fiaca, pero funciona.
Hernan, I find it really depends on the brand of the parchment paper. If I use Reynolds or another (usually more expensive) brand like this, I do not get any sticking. The Kirkland Signature brand at Costco also works well!
Hi Maurizio,
My levain rose nicely and had fermentation/bubbles but when I did a float test it just sunk to the bottom. Is this okay to use? What do I do if not?
I baked my first loaf from my starter of Beginner’s Sourdough Bread this morning using the cast iron combo cooker, and it turned out great! I got a really nice rise on it, and it’s beautiful inside and out – I’m so happy! Thank you for providing such excellent instructions!!
hi there – I tried this recipe, and all was going well until I was shaping – I think i must’ve shaped too aggressively, because I tore the skin and the moister part on the inside started spilling out. I tried pinching it together as best as I could (it’s currently in the fridge so we will see how it comes out tomorrow) but I was just wondering if you have any other suggestions on how you would have tried to fix this if it happens again in the future. Also, just to prevent this from happening – how can you tell when you are done shaping?
Greetings!
When you are developing your levain do you keep the lid on your Weck jar or leave it off?
Thanks so much for all of the fantastic information!
Greetings from Poland, Maurizio!
I have a slight strange difference in two situations: when I mix the flour and water, I need to mix it quite thoroughly to the point of kneading it for a few minutes to get all the loose flour into the ball. This results in dough that is considerably less sticky and watery than the one in your pictures.
Secondly, after adding levain, salt and remaining water (measured exactly on a scale) the dough becomes quite wet and sticky through folding, bulk fermentation, pre-shaping, shaping and later transfer and scoring. This makes it hard not to ruin the internal structure of the dough during pre-shaping and shaping. Also, the dough is pretty runny and spreads quite a lot while laying for the recommended 25 minutes. Should I add less water in the mixing phase, more in the autolyse phase but less overall?
Now, I’m using 3 types of flours (in german scale): 750 type organic wheat flour (13g of protein) 700 type organic spelt flour (13 g protein) and what I’m fairly certain is wholemeal rye flour (approx. 1600 type). I’m doing half but in the context of the recipe I used 748g 750 type wheat, 110 of 700 type spelt and 49 of the wholemeal rye. As this is my second try, I previously used 748 of 750 type wheat and 159 of the wholemeal rye. Am I having trouble because of the types of flours?
Speaking of, sorry for the long post btw., I have no idea what specific type of flour the ones you listed are. I googled them but couldn’t find any conversion to 00 type. In general I used bread flour that had types from 700 to 820 and wholemeal that was 1600 to 2000. Could you go into a bit more specifics on flour types and which ones you recommend using and the ones you used?
Hi! What is the Absolute longest time and the shortest time that I can let it ferment in the fridge for? And at what temp?
I don’t have a Dutch oven so I will be cooking this free-form on a pizza stone. Would putting a pan of boiling water in the bottom of the oven help the crust or is there a better way? Also, would using convection at 425F be advised or should I stick with standard at 450F?
Thanks for a great site that has everything I need to be usccessful.
I cooked it in a standard oven at 450F on a pizzza stone. I covered it with a metal bowl for the first 20 minutes and the crust couldn’t have been better. The only problem I have is that I don’t get much oven spring. Any ideas on how to improve that?
Hey Maurizio, At the end of the mixing step, my dough is not sticky and well hyrated. However, after the first fold during the bulk fermantation process, the dough is getting sticky and sloppy. What the reason for it?
Yes, absolutely. Just leave everything in auto until the levain is ready (it can be hard to synch those up sometimes). I adjust hydration after auto, that’s why I recommend holding back water during mixing. Just leave out any reserved water as necessary. Hard to say on temperatures, you want to cool/warm the mixing water to get your dough close to the Final Dough Temp outlined in the post. Check out my guide to dough temperatures for more info!
Hey Maurizio – what are your thoughts on adding gluten to AP flour? I read on the Google that to make bread flour from AP add 4gr gluten to 130gr AP flour.
Definitely possible, but I’ve never done this. I find AP flour (at least here in the USA) to usually be plenty strong.
Hey there! When transferring my dough to parchment, it stuck to the floured dish towel and went pretty slack, making scoring difficult. I had no problem shaping it into a tight ball before proofing, so what do you think happened? Too much water, or too long a proof?
Could have been over hydrated but if you had no trouble shaping it into a tight round that’s likely not the case. Be sure you do shape tightly, the dough should have a smooth, uniform surface to it when you place it in the proofing basket. Also, flour the dish towel liberally to ensure it removes cleanly. I find using tightly woven towels (like these) really help with sticking.
Hi Maurizio, I want to start the levain for this bread at night, or late afternoon, so I can start the process earlier in the day. I notice that for your Weekday Sourdough where this is done it’s a smaller amount of starter. Should I make an adjustment with this one if I’m going to leave it overnight? Thanks!
Yes, that’s right. Reduce the amount of starter in the levain so it takes longer to mature, lasting overnight.
Bulk fermentation vessel? I have made two batches of this recipe, not bad but not totally right. I think my kitchen is too cold when I’m doing bulk fermentation so I am under proofing, going to adjust this. I cut your recipe in half to do 1 loaf but I am using the same Heath bowls you are using for 2 loaves. Should I be using a smaller vessel when bulk fermenting for only 1 loaf? Does the container for bulk fermentation have an impact on results? If so, how? Thank you for this incredible site and your knowledge!
Finding that right vessel is important, as I’ve found over the years. However, that Heath bowl is perfect for one or two loaves, it’s just fine for both.
Trying this recipe for the first time– I’ve been making sourdough bread for years (decades) but without the benefit of instruction or a recipe. Thought it was time to try something new. Dough so far is stickier than I’d make it, so we’ll see whether I”m making a boule or a pancake!
Have you shared the recipe for the “too sour” bread you describe at the beginning? I’ve never had bread that is “too sour” and would like to try. Best I’ve ever gotten approximated the “extra sour” from some of the smaller San Francisco bakeries, but that’s a long way from “too sour” for us!
I hope your bread turned out great, Roger! I’ve been meaning to post a recipe that has a high level of sourness, I’ll keep working on this for a future post 🙂
# combining proofing methods: if we end up shaping bread very late in the evening with a desire to bake early in the AM , any potential advantages to combining proofing methods ie. proofing initially in the fridge then at “room temperature” vis a vis flavour development/efficiency
# cleaning up starter residue: wondering about clogging up my plumbing with residual starter – I try to save as much starter discard as I can for pancakes etc but some inevitably ends up down the drain during cleanup of utensils etc Any tips for how to clean up both the gooey starter and the dried remains
You can definitely split the proof like that, in fact that’s my approach if I find my dough isn’t where I want it (in terms of fermentation progress) in the morning: I’ll leave it out on the counter to get more room temp fermentation time.
I like to put as much of my starter discard in the compost/trash as possible and reduce the amount that goes down the drain. However, I’ve never actually heard anyone having problems with clogged drains from all of this, but I suppose it would be possible… I’m working on a post on my process for all of this, hope to have it up soon 🙂
Hi! I used this recipe to make sourdough bread twice already, and it turned out very well both times, although much better — to my taste — on my latest attempt, probably because I made it with half white flour and half spelt flour and baked it at a slightly lower temperature once uncovered … and/or other mysterious bread chemistry reasons.
I do have one question: when I take the dough out of the fridge and turn it out onto the parchment-lined board, it “spreads out” / flattens quite a bit and does not look as domed as in your pictures; it does rise in the oven and the loaves look great (really), but I was wondering what this might be due to? Maybe my dough isn’t “strong” enough, should I do another turn of stretch and fold? Or is it my “tension building” step that might be lacking?
Thank you for this and all your other guides, I’m having a great time baking bread thanks to you!