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
Hi Maurizio!
So I just did this recipe, well, sort of. I followed the directions all the way up until after the bulk fermentation phase. The dough came out sooo sticky and wet! Not sure what I did wrong but it was impossible to form into anything. Any ideas of what went wrong or how I could’ve fixed it?
Sara
A few things could have happened. If you feel like the dough wasn’t over hydrated (it did feel cohesive at one point and then eventually just fell apart) it could be that there was not enough strength built up in the dough during bulk. Make sure you do enough sets of stretch and folds so the dough feels and looks more strong by the last set. Use the visual and tactile clues I describe in the post above to give you an idea of how the dough should look and feel.
It’s possible the dough over proofed by the end of bulk but this isn’t typical. Make sure you keep the dough around 78ºF or so for around 4 hours — if it’s significantly warmer than this it can cause the dough to overproof. Just keep an eye on the dough and it if looks like it’s starting to get overly gassy or feel weaker you need to cut bulk, no matter what amount of time has elapsed.
One last thing: try to get ahold of actual “bread” flour as it’s called here in the US. This is a good starting flour to use as it’s typically higher in protein (perhaps around 13-14%) which will strengthen up quickly.
Hope this helps for the next try!
Hi!
So I just tried again and the same thing happened … it all seemed to be going well until it was time to dump and form into a loaf. I’m so frustrated. Using bread flower, whole wheat flower, filtered water that sits out over night, the FDT is 78-79*, the stretch and folds seem to be strong, and then I dump it out of the bowl and it’s a sticky mess … can i make something out of this? I feel so wasteful to be dumping all this dough!
Thanks for your help!
Hey Sara! I bet Maurizio may have better advice but thought I’d chime in since I used to have the same problem. Have you tried baking any straight yeast doughs? I baked through a handful of the yeast-based recipes out of Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast by Ken Forkish and that really helped me to get a handle on shaping — that sort of dough is a bit easier to deal with and shape.
If you went with a lower-hydration dough that’ll be easier to shape, too…but for me it just seemed to “click” at some point so you should keep trying! With shaping, try to avoid touching the dough as much as possible, and while it’s not ideal, add as much flour to your hands and the outside of the dough as you need to get going. You’ll find over time that you need less and less with more practice.
Thanks! I’m trying Maurizio’s Tartine #33 recipe now; little bit lower hydration so we’ll see how that goes! I’ll have to look into Ken Forkish, I’m still very new to this so I love reading learning from as many resources as possible. Thanks for the advise and encouragement, it’s definitely needed!
Sorry to hear about that! Like @Kiersten suggested above you might want to try reducing hydration a bit further to see if that helps. I’d go down 10% or so and that should give you a much more workable dough. Let me know how it works out!
Hi Maurizio!
So I attempted your Tartine #33 recipe and actually got something! Haha, I honestly think I was just intimidated to work with such hydrated dough. I almost spent my whole morning watching videos of Chad Robertson and a bunch of people working with the dough, so maybe next time I can be a little more confident!
Thanks again!
Great to hear that! Confidence definitely goes a long way, especially when preshaping and shaping. Get that bench scraper and show the dough who is boss! Have fun 🙂
Thanks so much for the suggestions!
Hey Maurizio! You’ve given me some advice in comments over the last year and I wanted to let you know it’s totally paid off — seems like something clicked recently and I’ve been baking some great bread. Here are the two loaves I just pulled out of the oven, along with a crumb shot from last weekend: http://imgur.com/a/c2vIc
Thanks again for all of your help. Love your blog!
Kiersten — super glad to hear that and to see your bread, it looks fantastic! I find sometimes baking improvements do come in sudden spurts of inspiration 🙂
Happy baking and thanks again!
Hi Maurizio!
I just want to thank you for putting so much time and thought into your blog. Sourdough bread has eluded me since I started earlier this year and your simple directions are exactly what I needed! After my first attempt at this recipe, I pulled out two beautiful loaves of sourdough bread from my oven and every time I look at them (and eat them) I truly can’t believe they were made in my kitchen! So grateful! Now I can begin to actually like sourdough bread 🙂
Ahh thanks so much Rosella, really appreciate that! Happy to hear your bread is turning out great, there’s something incredible about baking fresh sourdough right at home 🙂 I hope you had a happy holidays and happy baking!
Hi Maurizio,
I’ve made this sourdough twice and overall these attempts produced pretty decent results.
However the only issue I have found is that the crumb did turn out quite dense with a “gummy” texture, not quite the light and open crumb as described in the recipe.
So hopefully my simple question had a simple answer, where did I go wrong? Is the dough underproofed or overproofed?
Thanks
More often than not I see an under proofed loaf rather than over proofed. First and foremost make sure your starter is strong and that it rises and falls predictably after a feeding. Next, make sure you pay close attention to the temperature of your dough and try to meet the temps I list in the post above. If it’s too cold in your kitchen you’ll have to extend bulk fermentation time to suit, otherwise the dough will not be sufficiently fermented (and strong) to continue. This will produce a dense and gummy interior.
Hope that helps!
I have a cool house. Does anyone have recommendations for places to let the bread rise? I do know about the oven light and use that one but even then I don’t get to 77 which is what some recipes are asking for.
I personally like to use the oven with the light on but I understand that some ovens may not keep things warm enough. If you do a lot of baking you might want to consider picking up a small dough proofer. I use that one during the winter when it’s just too cold, it keeps my dough warm to exactly the temp I want!
This is the bread that I always make as per the book. You explain it even better, thank you! What combo cooker are you using? Brand and size?
Thanks so much for that feedback, I really appreciate it! I use a Lodge 3.2 qt. cast iron combo cooker — it’s amazing!
Thanks, I just ordered one. I’ve been using a 6qt enameled lodge and it I just too big, it does not keep the shape of the bread when I place the dough in the hot oven.
This was a success from the begining, i just love it l. Tho I have one issue with the parchment paper it stuck to the bread after baking idk if it was from my kind of parchment but this was my only issue. Overall amazing, thank you!
Super glad to hear that, thank you! I haven’t had any parchment stick to my bread, it could be the type you’re using. If you continue to see issues you could throw a light dusting of white rice flour on the bottom of your loaf before turning it out to the parchment to help prevent sticking.
Happy baking!
Hi Maurizio, I’m currently building my first starter and plan to do this recipe next weekend. I have some experience with baking bread using yeast bought at the grocerie store. Making this kind of bread involves a lot of kneading. You don’t seem to knead your dough beside folding it a few times in the bowl.
In your recipes, is kneading replaced by the autolyse step?
Thank you very much for sharing all your great knowledge in such details.
Carl
Some of my doughs do require some additional needing but this one it isn’t really necessary. The flour I used here has a pretty high protein level and I found it gets strong enough simply through some folds during bulk fermentation (plus the organic act of fermentation helps strengthen gluten as well). If you find the dough is overly slack and needs more strength you can certainly do some kneading up front! It all depends on the hydration, the flour used and your environment.
Hope that helps, happy baking Carl!
Hi, I am trying your recipes but the ambient temp of our house (up here in colder Canada!) is roughly 68 and very dry. What, if any, adjustments would you make to the bulk fermentation or other times? Thanks!
Hey there! That temperature is quite low, is there any way you can try to keep the dough in a warm spot in the kitchen (or in the oven with the light on periodically)? If it’s not possible you’ll have to lengthen bulk fermentation significantly until the dough looks similar to my pictures above — it’s hard to give you an exact time because there are a lot of factors in play. You want significant rise in the dough and it should jiggle when you shake the bowl a bit, the edges where the dough meet the container should be dome downward and if you tug on the dough a bit it should provide some resistance (this indicates sufficient strength).
I hope this helps!
Hi. Great site. I’ve made several attempts at this with results that are edible but not great. I dont seem to get the rise needed even though my starter looks strong. I usually get a slightly gummy tight interior. Any advise would be appreciated.
It’s most likely your dough does not have sufficient fermentation and thus the gummy interior with little rise. Pay close attention to your bulk fermentation step and make sure the dough is at the right temperature for the entire duration. Keeping the dough warm will help get sufficient fermentation in there!
Fantastic explanation!! Love your website, your photos and your recipes. Well done.
Thank you.
Thanks so much Norm, I really appreciate that. Happy baking!
Hi! I’ve been dreaming about fresh sourdough bread and finally, following your instructions, my starter is ready, levain is ready, and I’ve mixed the flours and water – quick troubleshooting question: my autolyse doesn’t seem as wet as yours in the pictures. The way I got the flours incorporated is making it into a sticky boule, but definitely not wet like yours. I converted the water to ounces (21) since I have an old-fashioned scale that only goes up to 450 g! Ack I hope it’s okay! Will update.
Hmm. Mixed the rest of the ingredients in and now it looks wetter than it does in your pics. The experiment continues.
I replied to your email!
I have the same experience – my dough for bulk fermentation seems a lot wetter than your pic. I’m not sure if I can stretch and fold with that wettness. Let’s see.
Reduce hydration next time, it’s very possible your flour just can’t take the same water level as what I used — totally normal as each flour is different!
Despite the slack dough, I’ve managed to do 3 sets of folds with wet hands although it’s very sticky to the bottom of mixing bowl after bulk fermentation. Should I do more sets of fold? It stay intact after proofing in the fridge, but slack again once I scored it. You can have a look at the pic and please comment. I was using a 9′ proof basket but you can see the end product was a bit flatten. Otherwise taste is good. http://carolinatsang.blogspot.com.au/2017/01/sour-dough.html
I did do a bit different from the beginner’s dough, mainly halved the dough but leaven remain the same as suggested. I also replace the whole wheat flour with rye flour in the dough, might be wheat flour in your recipe able to take in more water than my rye (and the white) flour as your comment. I already reduced 15g water but will take out more next time (or half the leaven as per half the dough). I also find using as much water during Autolyse stage is better than mixing at a later stage in my case. Lastly I found an excellent method to proof dough in fridge to share – by using a cake snapware. In this case, I don’t need plastic bag nor worry about the dough sticking to the plastic bag! Thank you very much for your blog – I can finally make my own sour dough starter and bread – not perfect and definitely edible!
Your bread looks great! Usually rye flour can absorb more water than whole wheat, but of course that is a relative thing as each flour has different absorption levels. I would say your dough probably could have used one or two more sets of stretch and folds if it was overly sticky by the end of bulk. I usually will add another set until the dough really starts to look like it holds its shape in the bowl after I fold it. You definitely want sufficient strength in the dough before preshaping.
I’d try to keep everything the same and add in another set of stretch and folds to see if that helps!
Great idea with the cake container, I’ll have to look for one big enough!
Really glad to see your loaf, it looks awesome. Keep at it and you’ll see your bread will improve more and more with each bake. Happy baking Carolina!
This may be here somewhere, but I haven’t found it. I have my sourdough starter and put it in the fridge when I’m not using it (typically use once a week). When I start the levain, should I be using cold starter or should I let it warm up or feed it prior to using?
You definitely need to let your starter warm up before using it to build a levain. I like to take it out a day, preferably two, before I plan to use it in a mix and feed it regularly so it gets back up to full strength. My typical process is to take it out two days before and feed it twice each day leading up to a bake.
Hope that helps!
I did my first bake on sunday after prepping on saturday. We had a storm and my power went out 30 mins into warming up the oven so I fired up my kamado and used my heat deflector and pizza stone under the combo cooker. When it was time to remove the lid, I placed the lid open side up on my pizza stone and placed the short side with the loaf on top to remove it further from the heat and not overcook the bread. It worked a treat… The only downside to it all was my loaf had very little sourness and I love sour bread. I’m going to try keeping the dough in the fridge longer next time. Maybe another 3 or 4 hours? I’m not sure. I also noticed that my dough didn’t have as many bubbles and hadn’t risen as much as yours after bulk fermentation. Are there any tricks to improving this?
Here are some images from my first bake if anyone is interested:
http://imgur.com/a/riNS8
http://imgur.com/a/PFNzH
Your bread looks great! Nice work with the quick alternative baking method. You can increase sourness by lengthening the proof in the fridge, as you indicated. Another way is to work in a percentage of whole grain rye flour into this recipe, even just 5%, as rye will help increase acidity production in the dough. This is typically the approach I’ll take.
Your crumb looks nice to me, as does your rise. There are may things that go into this so it’s hard to pinpoint a single thing that could be wrong. I’d say the level of fermentation in your dough looks great but you might be able to push it a little longer — that 3 hours or so more in the fridge might be exactly spot on for sourness and improved interior.
Happy baking!
Thanks. The second loaf definitely turned out better and I think that may have been the extra hour in the fridge that helped. I’ll increase my rye flour and see how I go. My partner also works at a distillery so might get in there to do some fresh flour milling with the mill they use for barley if they will let me.
Another thought I had; is there a possible weeknight only schedule you could do with baking sourdough? It would be great to work around my work schedule which is up at 5:30/6am, leaving home at 7:30am and getting back home at about 6pm. It might not be possible, but any thoughts on this?
That’s great to hear!
Have you had a chance to check out my Sourdough Starter FAQ? I have some sample timetables in there that give you a good idea for how you can work around a typical work schedule.
I changed a few things in my method this weekend. Firstly, I increased the rye content to 10% and decreased the “bread flour” content by 5%. Secondly, I left the loaves in the fridge until 5pm on sunday so they had an extra 9 hours in the fridge. They turned out just as good as my last loaves, but not much sourness and the crumb hadn’t opened up as much as yours. I think it’s my levain that is the problem as the temp here is often 15 or 16c until the 2 or 3 pm when it heats up. Might have to get or build a proofing box.
Those sound like good changes. Temperature is extremely important, a proof box is definitely a handy thing to have. If you haven’t seen this proof box before I highly recommend it, it is what I use during the winter and it’s large enough to hold enough dough for 2 large loaves pretty easily.
Hi Maurizio, really enjoying your blog and many thanks for your work here! One issue for you — I tried this Beginner recipe for Thanksgiving and got a decent result, but was too dense for my taste and did not have an airy crumb. My starter was bubbling and very airy, but my levain never quite got to the same vigor, which I think may have been the issue (I even gave it about 1.5 hours longer than indicated).
However I’ve noticed a few other videos recipes where the levain is mixed into a bowl of water in order to ‘disperse’ it, after which the dry flour is added to the now watery levain (so seems to preclude an autolyse). What’s your experience with this step? What I did, I believe consistently with the recipe, was to mix the autolysed dough with the levain and water, but perhaps I did not incorporate the levain throughout the dough well enough (which may have been why my final crumb had some air pockets but also some denser sections).
Is it possible to use both an autolyse and a water-dispersed levain in the same recipe? Many thanks again!!
Glad to hear that, you’re very welcome! You can certainly disperse your levain in the water used in mixing if you’d like. However, if you mixed your dough very thoroughly I don’t think there should be a problem at all. Once mixed in your levain will get distributed throughout, especially if you mix for several minutes by hand and perform stretch and folds during bulk — this should suffice.
Make sure you keep your dough at a pretty warm temperature throughout bulk. I like to say around 78ºF to 82ºF. Most of the time when people report a tight crumb it’s because their dough did not undergo enough fermentation and keeping things at a warm temperature will help dramatically with this.
You can perform an autolyse and disperse the levain in the same recipe. Just withhold some of the water, say 15%, from the autolyse and use that water to disperse the levain when you want to mix it in.
Happy baking!
Ciao Mauro, I took your advice and made two new loafs this weekend, with much better results! The crumb is more open, but if we’re being picky, the air pockets are not evenly dispersed and there are some caverns. First loaf, I proofed about 7-8 hrs in a plastic bag but near a drafty window so colder than room temp, approx. 55-60 degrees. There were some caverns in the center of the loaf. Second loaf, I proofed 13 hrs in the fridge, approx. 40 degrees. Second loaf had some caverns directly under the crust. Both were very tasty, less dense but perhaps a bit gummy. When placing in the DO, I sprayed 2-3 times with a mister bottle and this seemed to give a nice softer crust that is not quite as hard crunchy (my preference). I think I could add 5 min cooking time since the mist keeps it from getting too brown and crunchy outside.
Any ideas as to whether caverns in the center or under crust suggest under/over proofing? I bulk fermented both about 4 hrs in the oven with light on, and both seemed much more bubbly than before, and during shaping both felt very nice and supple. Overall getting better! I will try your “Best Sourdough” recipe next. I’m on the bread train in part thanks to you!
Glad I could help! Usually caverns underneath the top crust like that are due to underproofing. Make sure your starter and levain are very strong going into your bake, you can use the “float test” to make sure a little bit of your levain floats in water to indicate it’s most likely ready to use. You want quite a bit of activity in the levain. After that, and like I said above, you need to ensure your bulk is full and complete. Keep it at a warm temp and go that full 4 hours (or more if needed) until the dough looks like my photos. You want to see strength in the dough and activity, it should love “alive”.
Focus on those things for this next bake and really push that fermentation!
If I was to use Spelt flour instead of Whole Wheat flour, would you suggest keeping the same hydration ratio?
I find that spelt is not able to take on as much water as traditional whole wheat. I would be cautious to add too much water in the dough when using spelt. Try reducing the hydration a few percentage points and work it up if the dough feels like it can handle it!
Thank you so much for your blog. It was a huge help in demystifying the whole process — from growing my own starter to baking my first loaf! Quick question about the “envelope” folding section — do the east/west sides of the dough need to overlap completely or just meet at the middle?
Super glad to hear that, thanks for the message! If you are referring to bulk fermentation then the folds need to go all the way over the dough to the other side. If you are referring to the final shaping of the dough, fold the bottom part of the round up to the middle, the left side up and over about 2/3 to the right side, the right side up and over about 2/3 to the left side, and the top up and down to about the middle.
Hope that helps and happy baking!
Hey Maruizio,
I have baked this bread over the weekend and although it came out very delicious there were a few flaws I wanted to get your advise on.
1. The crust was very (very) tough
2. I didn’t get a beautiful oven spring (I suspected the bread to be under-proofed)
3. The bread had very large holes and inconsistent holes and was overall quite dense (in contradict to the above, this is normally a sign of over proofing?)
Things to note:
1. I replaced the Rye with Spelt (last minutes I realised I was out of Rye)
2. The 100% hydration starter was very liquid (I normally use 66% hydration starter) so my end result mature starter didn’t reassemble your starter (in the picture)
3. In the morning, the refrigerated proofed loafs didn’t seem to raise at all, as I let them sit for another 1-2 hours in room temperature
4. When I engraved into the proofed loaf before baking, I noticed that I completely lacked the interact web structure as seen in your pictures.
I will try the same recipe next week again (with Rye this time) and let you know how I get along, but if you have any ideas how I can improve I would greatly appreciate your input.
Thanks for your awesome blog.
Daniel
Daniel,
Scattered, few large holes usually is an indicator of underproofing. Make sure your bulk fermentation step is complete, the dough should look similar to my photos above. You want to really see activity in that dough by the time you divide — keeping things at a warm temperature (as listed above) really helps with this step.
You can certainly reduce the hydration of the starter/levain a few percentage points if it helps. Just keep in mind if you use your stiff starter (66% hydration) your dough might require additional water than what I list here because your starter is on the drier side. Not a problem, just adjust the quantities to suit.
Let me know how that next bake goes!
Hi Maruizio,
Thanks for all of the great details on your site!
I’ve been baking for one month now and feel like things are going well in several areas but I’m having an issue with the bottom crust being way too thick. Like, afraid I might break a tooth thick…
I use a quality Dutch oven and following the baking temp:times closely. Wondering if I’m not kneading or creating tension properly in earlier steps?
Any thoughts/ideas you have would be most appreciated!!
Anthony
Anthony — you’re very welcome, glad you’re finding it useful! I find that my bottom crust is always significantly thicker when I use a Dutch oven versus my method for baking on a baking stone / baking steel. One thing you can try to do to help alleviate the problem is to reduce the preheat time of your Dutch oven (put it in halfway during your preheat, or less). Additionally, you could coat the bottom of the pan lightly with coarse wheat germ or cornmeal to help create a barrier between the dough and the pan. And finally, you could place a rack below the Dutch oven with a baking sheet to help insulate the bottom of the pan just a bit so it doesn’t get too hot during the bake.
Hope this helps and happy baking Anthony!
Hi Maruizio,
Love the site. Thanks for sharing all this knowledge. I also bought Tartine Bread on iBooks for $3 and have a combo cooker on order and have bought my thermometers. I have a few questions though as I am totally new at this.
Firstly, I have 100% rainwater at home which is untreated apart from a leaf strainer and finer non-chemical filters at a few stages. Do you think I’ll need to treat this water in any way, e.g. the resting you mentioned for chlorinated tap water?
Secondly, I am thinking about trying out a loaf using a cast iron pan I have and a tagine top which perfectly fits on it until my combo cooker arrives from the US to Australia. I may have to reduce the loaf size as there is not as much room in the tagine top compared to a combo cooker. Have you heard of anyone trying this?
Thirdly, I have a lump charcoal BBQ called a kamado joe – similar to a big green egg. We have had great results cooking pizza in this as the heat from underneath is great, and we have a heat deflector. I am thinking of trying this out after doing a few oven bakes, as the inside house temperature gets up to 40C in our part of the world and cooking outside is how we live in summer. The Kamado can also be closed off completely, so I might be able to get the steam effect you talk about without using the combo cooker. Any thoughts on this?
Thank you! I’m not 100% sure on the rainwater, but I would imagine the water would be totally fine to use for baking. I usually like to say if the water is safe to drink then it’s safe to bake with. I don’t think it’ll need any additional treatment (also, if you’re feeding your starter with this water and it’s doing well then you can be sure you won’t have any problems).
I have not heard of anyone using a tagine to enclose the pan, but really anything that will trap steam will work really well. I believe this is exactly what a tagine is used for, so it should work really well.
Your Kamado should work very well. The key will be trapping steam in some way and also regulating temperature well enough so it doesn’t get too hot at any point in the bake. To me this would be just like using a wood fired oven which has been used for a long, long time to bake bread!
In short I think all your proposed ideas will work very well! Happy baking and hello from across the globe 🙂
Hi Maruizio,
I made this bread over the weekend and it turned out beautifully! Thank you for such detailed instructions. One question: I’d like the flavor of my bread to be a bit more sour (the loaf I made was slightly sour, but I like a good punch). How would you approach that? Longer ferment time for the levain? Increase the amount of starter used?
Thanks so much!
Erin
Eric — awesome! Glad to hear it. You can increase the sourness in your bread a few ways: you can let it proof longer in the fridge at cold temperature (to increase the acidity in your dough). You can increase the whole grains in your dough, say 5% rye flour, as this increases the acidity produced as well. You can also increase the amount of levain in your dough but this also effects the overall fermentation time (speeds it up) so be aware of that.
For me, I usually push the amount of time the dough is in the fridge. Hope that helps!
Hi Maurizio,
Like everyone else here, I’d like to start by thanking you–such a useful site for beginning sourdough bakers! I’m curious, why is one supposed to leave the top of the combo cooker in the oven? My oven doesn’t have room for top and bottom next to each other, and I wonder if it’s affecting the quality of the bread.
Thanks again for all the thought, detail, and guidance you put into this site!
Elizabeth
You’re very welcome Elizabeth! You don’t have to leave the other side of the combo cooker in the oven, I do just because it’s easy and also perhaps it provides a little extra “masonry mass” in there (helps retain some heat in the oven to offset the need for us to open and close it so often). You can definitely carefully take it out.
Thanks for the message and happy baking!
I am so new to sourdough baking, and this tutorial was exactly what I needed! I have a homemade starter that I have been nurturing for about 7 weeks and last weekend I tried my first bread bake with a different recipe (not one of yours). It was an absolute flop, but I wasn’t discouraged because I have read that your first one is pretty sure to fail. I believed that until I found your site and I truly believe that if I had started here with you I would have had wild success! I didn’t feel like I was just following a recipe I really felt like you were teaching how to see, smell, hear, and just experience the process of making sourdough bread. By the time I moved on to bulk fermentation I could tell just by using all my senses that this was absolutely different from what I had attempted last weekend. I, and my 5 kiddos who have been sharing this journey with me, yelled with delight and did our new “happy sourdough” dance when we took the lid off the dutch oven and it looked like bread! The crust even continued to crackle when we took it out to let it cool on the racks. I have found my culinary calling! Thank you so so much for this tutorial! I’m sticking to it and already have two more loaves bulk fermenting with the first two loaves barely out of the oven! This is so much fun! I will definitely recommend this to other sourdough newbies.
Right on Melissa, super happy to hear that! Thanks so much 🙂 When I first started baking sourdough so long ago I felt like there was so much to learn and I found that the dough really talks to you, in a way, and if you have all your sense open to what it’s saying you can really learn a lot about how it’s progressing. Sounds like you did just that 🙂
Really glad to hear you baked your own sourdough right at home with your family — love that! Thanks for recommending my site to others as well, really appreciate it.
Happy baking!
An amazing step by step illustrated process. I have used it often and love the bread it creates. I have slightly modified the recipe to suite my taste, a little less whole wheat a little more bread flour. I use my cast iron dutch oven to bake in. I really do appreciate the time and effort put forth creating this. Many thanks.
Thanks so much Mario, I really appreciate that! Really glad to hear your bakes have been going so well and that was the point of this post: to give readers a starting point from which to modify and make the bread they enjoy. Happy baking!
Hi Maurizio,
Thanks for this guide. I tried following it over the weekend and my resulting loaf is a bit flat, and I was wondering where I might have had an error it. My starter was pretty active (bubbles throughout the jar) when I started the levain. Since it’s colder now (around 68-70 degrees room temp), I fermented the levain and dough in the oven with the light bulb on. At the end of bulk fermentation, i see a few large bubbles at top, which i think is usually the sign that it is ready (volume also increased). After shaping, this was proof in the fridge for 12 hours and baked after scoring.
The loaf once baked has very little oven spring so I’m wondering did I overproof or underproof. During bulk fermentation, when I do feel the bowl that the dough is fermenting on is on the warmer side when I touched it. I wonder if perhaps the resting temperature is too high, and resulted in too much fermentation within the four hours? Between beginning and ending of proof, there was no change in size of the dough. Do you happen to have any insights as to what might have gone wrong?
Thanks!
Hi, Jackie! There are several places where things could have gone wrong and it’s hard to diagnose exactly without more details and some photos of the interior. Depending on the ambient temperature during bulk it’s possible you over proofed the dough but that is rarely the case. I bulk my dough at 80ºF or so and can take it for 4 hours (for a mostly white loaf with this much levain) typically. If you have an ambient thermometer stick it into the oven so you can monitor the dough temperature periodically during bulk — this will help eliminate guessing at that step.
However, if the interior of your bread has lots of little holes with no gummy spots anywhere and the dough didn’t rise much in the oven then this is usually a sign of over proofing. Conversely, if your dough had perhaps a few larger holes with areas that were much more dense and closed then this is a sign of underproofing.
It’s likely also that your dough just wasn’t shaped tight enough and so it spread when baked instead of rising to its potential. Make sure when you shape you round the dough enough so it has a nice and tight surface on it, this is what holds the dough in shape as it rises in the oven.
I hope this helps! If you are still having issues try to take a few photos at each step next time and shoot them over to me in email (Contact link at the top) and I’ll help you diagnose further! Happy baking 🙂
Thanks Maurizio! As you described, the loaf was underproof. There were excessively large holes towards the top of the boule while bottom was dense. Some parts were gummy and it looks like the rim around the boule may have been under baked as well. This was surprising to me considering the fact that it bulk fermented at a rather warm environment for at least 4 hours. I’m assuming next time I can either increase the bulk fermentation time or increase the hours the fridge (maybe from 12 to 16 hours)? Does it make a difference as to whether I increase bulk fermentation time or proof time?
You can elongate bulk or proof, or both. It’s very important to get to a full and complete bulk fermentation of the dough, you can only sacrifice so much time at that step before things fail to progress properly in later stages. Anywhere between 3.5-4.5 is usually a good rule of thumb but this depends on the amount of levain used, ambient temperature and starter/levain activity. Look for the signs I talk about in this post on when to cut bulk fermentation, then you can extend your proof time as long as necessary to get the dough to the correct level of proof. One thing you can try is to let the dough sit out for 30 minutes to 1 hour before placing into the fridge (once they are shaped and into their baskets, covered). This gives them some more “floor time” before slowing things down significantly in the fridge.
Thanks for your tips Maurizio. I baked again over the weekend and the result was much better with longer fermentation time. I had a 13 hour autolyse (overnight) and 5 hours of bulk fermentation followed by 3 hours of proof (I did not retard the dough). I got the oven spring I wanted and the crumbs have scattered semi-large holes. The holes are mainly located in outer edges of the bread whereas certain areas (although less now than before) can be a bit densed. It seems maybe I should either proof longer or maybe more S&F to develop additional strength. I had to pre-round twice because the dough was flat after the first pre-round. I will continue to experiment this weekend.
Sounds like you’re on the right track! I’d definitely try to increase the proof time based on your description. Go for another hour proof and see if that helps. You might also want to reduce the autolyse time as that will increase the slackness (extensibility) in your dough quite a bit, this means you’ll have to do more kneading, stretch and folds, or as you did, pre-shapes, to get the dough strong enough. Happy baking!