I’ve baked this loaf, or some variant of it, so many times I’ve lost count. This bread was born when I first got my hands dirty with flour and water. Its parent—if you could call it that—was originally Chad Robertson’s Tartine loaf with his liquid levain, brought to life, not with intensive kneading, but rather a series of folds during bulk fermentation.
My best sourdough recipe has grown since then. It has developed a personality of its own as I’ve expanded my baking repertoire and investigated the many facets of baking naturally leavened sourdough. It’s taken on and lost traits from many great bakers out there, borrowing from their inspiration and giving me a direction to raise this bread into something of my own. This bread is one that doesn’t entirely taste like anything else I’ve had, and yet, still employs many of the same processes and ingredients.
That’s one of the greatest things about bread: it can taste and look dramatically different just by changing the two hands that create it. Calling this post “my best sourdough recipe” is a lofty claim, but honestly, I do believe this is the best bread I’ve made thus far.
I sometimes revisit a discussion I had with a few readers of this site and their comments: “bread is just bread, it’s something to be eaten and is something life-giving, isn’t that enough?” I agree, but when something becomes a passion for you it’s important to set lofty goals and get excited when breakthroughs are made. Isn’t that the definition of a craft and the relentless honing required?
I’ve taken my best sourdough recipe from its most nascent form to its current stage and can trace through the years each change to its formula or process — and I’m sure I’ll be changing things well into the future as it continues to evolve — a work-in-progress.
Yes it’s excessive in some way, but there’s an excessiveness to ambition as well.
John Mayer
Maybe the actual recipe for this bread isn’t the most important part, but rather, the lessons and insights learned along the way as I continually hone my baking proficiency. I’m not claiming this recipe will yield the perfect loaf every single time, but I dare say it comes the closest for me—and that’s exciting.
This bread is the bread that I want to make the most often, the one my family asks for the most often, and the one I share most often. I have a special place for whole wheat bread, and taste-wise, it might make me want to call that my favorite one day, but the versatility of this bread is pretty hard to beat. In fact, I bake this so often that my freezer has an entire shelf lined with pre-sliced loaves wrapped and in bags labeled pane perfetto.
While the actual formula for my best sourdough recipe is simply a mix of flour, water, salt, and levain, there are many nuances here to pay close attention to; here are a few key things to successfully making this bread:
- An active starter
- An autolyse
- A high hydration
- Sufficient dough strength
- A warm and complete bulk fermentation
- A long, cold proof
Before writing this post, I pulled out my trusty notebook (or use my free baker’s note sheet!) and paged through the handwritten (and flour-ridden) pages to find any scribbled “ah-ha” moments or little notes jotted down in the margin, along with a few curse words peppered throughout, and have bundled them up into this entry (sans curse words to keep it clean). A compendium of sorts containing my insights, breakthroughs, and ah-ha moments.
My best sourdough recipe doesn’t require an exotic blend of hard-to-find flour, a complicated multi-step levain build, or the use of a mechanical mixer. It’s built around making this bread in your home kitchen.
My best sourdough recipe is very highly hydrated and can be challenging. When mixing, be watchful for the signs and adjust the dough hydration to suit your environment and flour. If you’re not used to working with high-hydration dough, please start with hydration somewhere in the middle and slowly work up.
Flour Selection
I’ve tried a lot of flour out there (and am an avid user of freshly milled flour), indeed not everything there is, but I’ve ordered enough now that the UPS guy thinks I might have a bakery in my backyard. I have baked some great bread with Hayden Flour Mills, Central Milling, and Giusto’s. I’ve also had great success with King Arthur Baking high-protein white flour.
I have consistently made incredible loaves with Giusto’s flour; I only wish it were organic. Nevertheless, I find myself ordering a box of it here and there and enjoying the results every time. Of course, as I mentioned before, try whatever is local first (sadly, my source for local, organic flour is no longer available) and whatever you like.
When trying new flour, remember to hold back more water than you might otherwise, and then slowly add it in at the end of mixing or throughout bulk fermentation. Now, on to my best sourdough recipe.
Watch Me Make This From Start To Finish
I absolutely love this bread and make it often, but it can be challenging for first-time bakers. Be sure to watch my YouTube video below for a look at how I handle the dough and every step of the process.
If you’re brand new to baking sourdough, check out my Beginner’s Sourdough Bread recipe; it has in-depth information on every step in the baking process. Then come back and bake this!
My Best Sourdough Recipe
Vitals
| Total Dough Weight | 1,800 grams |
| Pre-fermented Flour | 6.4% |
| Levain percentage in final dough | 17.1% |
| Hydration | 85.0% |
| Yield | Two 900g loaves |
Total Formula
The target final dough temperature (FDT) is 78°F (25°C). This dough loves a warm ambient environment. Try to keep the dough at the listed temperatures if possible; use your oven with its light on inside, your microwave with a bowl of steaming water, or a proofer. I use my instant-read thermometer to check the dough temperature periodically throughout bulk.
For more information on how to calculate DDT, monitor temperature, and maintain temperature have a look at my post on The Importance of Dough Temperature in Baking.
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 852g | Medium-protein bread flour (~11.5% protein, Giusto’s Artisan Bread Flour) | 90.00% |
| 94g | Whole wheat flour (Giusto’s Organic Stoneground Whole Wheat) | 10.00% |
| 710g | Water 1 | 75.00% |
| 95g | Water 2 | 10.00% |
| 17g | Salt | 1.80% |
| 30g | Ripe sourdough starter (100% hydration) | 3.20% |
As I mentioned above, my best sourdough recipe is an extremely high hydration. If this is your first time working with this recipe, reduce the total water or hold water back during mixing to ensure your dough can handle the addition. The amount of water your dough will handle will vary based on your particular flour and environment—play it safe the first few bakes and work the water up gradually once you get a feel for the dough.
My Best Sourdough Recipe Method
1. Levain – 9:00 a.m.
Build the liquid levain in the morning and store somewhere warm around 77-80°F (25-26°C) ambient for 5 hours.
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 30g | Ripe sourdough starter (100% hydration) | 50% |
| 30g | Medium-protein bread flour (~11.5% protein, Giusto’s Artisan Bread Flour) | 50% |
| 30g | Whole wheat flour (Giusto’s Organic Stoneground Whole Wheat) | 50% |
| 60g | Water | 100% |
If you haven’t yet read through my post on my sourdough starter maintenance routine, check it out for some helpful hints on what to look for when your sourdough starter and levain are ripe and ready to use.
2. Autolyse – 12:00 p.m.
This highly hydrated dough can be mixed by hand or with a mechanical mixer (like a home spiral mixer). Either one will yield great results, but here, I’ll discuss mixing this dough by hand.
Mix the flour and water in a bowl until all the dry bits are incorporated, then cover. Ensure all the dry flour is hydrated—store near levain (we want the dough’s temperature to remain warm).
| Weight | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 822g | Medium-protein bread flour |
| 64g | Whole wheat flour |
| 650g | Water 1 |
3. Mix – 2:00 p.m.
| Weight | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 95g | Water 2 |
| 17g | Fine sea salt |
| 151g | Ripe liquid levain (see above) |
Add the ingredients to your dough in the mixing bowl that underwent an autolyse. Add the water slowly, in stages, while you’re mixing, and stop adding water if the dough feels excessively wet or soupy at any point.
Perform folds for about 2-3 minutes in the bowl. Grab under one side, pull up and over to the other side, then rotate the bowl a bit and repeat. I do this probably 30 times or so (it goes fast and easy). In the end, the dough should still be shaggy, but it will be more smooth and will start to hold itself together more in the bowl.
If you’re a fan of the slap & fold mixing technique I’ve described in the past, you can do this but be aware that it is difficult at this hydration. It’s best to first slap and fold the dough without adding all the reserved water to get the dough smooth and strong. Then, return the dough to the mixing bowl and slowly add the remaining water while folding the dough.
I find that the correct level of dough strength at this point is important. You want the dough to be smooth, elastic, and strong, but it doesn’t have to be fully developed, and it will still be shaggy. We will continue to strengthen the dough through stretch and folds in bulk fermentation.
Transfer dough to a tub or thick-walled bowl for bulk fermentation.
5. Bulk Fermentation – 2:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.
At 78°F (25°C) ambient temperature, bulk fermentation should go for about 4 hours. Perform six sets of stretch and folds during the bulk. The first three are at 15-minute intervals, and the last three are at 30-minute intervals. After these folds (2 hours and 15 minutes have gone by), let the dough rest for the remainder of bulk fermentation.
I stretch and fold more vigorously at the beginning of bulk than usual since it is extraordinarily slack and extensible (due to this recipe’s high hydration and autolyse). Pick up one side of the dough with both hands and pull it up, just before tearing, and fold it over to the other side. Rotate your container and repeat 4 or 5 times. That is one set.
Above, you can see my best sourdough recipe dough halfway through bulk, after about 2 hours. There is no significant rise as of yet, but the edges are beginning to dome downward, and the dough’s texture is smoothing out slightly. We still have several more folds to do and more strength to build.
It is essential that the dough is kept near 78°F (25°C) as much as possible (minor fluctuations up and down are ok). If temperatures dip down too far, you might have to extend the bulk fermentation duration to compensate, and vice versa. Use your judgment, the signs described below, and be flexible.
At the end of bulk, your dough should look very gassy, with some bubbles here and there, and the edges where the dough meets the bowl should be slightly domed. You can see all these signs in the image above.
When you gently shake the bowl, the entire mass jiggles from side to side—very alive. You’ll also notice that compared with the photo at the beginning of bulk, the dough is smoother and holds its edges, folds, and creases more readily (most of the bumps and ridges you see are due to trapped gasses from fermentation).
6. Divide & Preshape – 6:15 p.m.
Divide the dough into two halves and gently preshape each piece of dough into a round. Then, let the dough rest for 30 minutes, uncovered. Act quickly when handling this dough and rely heavily on your bench knife. I try to use my hands as little as possible when dealing with the dough at this point.
7. Shape – 6:45 p.m.
Lightly flour the top of your dough rounds and flour the work surface. With this recipe use a little more flour on the surface than normal, the dough will be extremely sticky and wet. Flip each round and shape into a batard (see notes below) or boule, whatever your preference.
Here’s a video of how I shape a bâtard. With this dough, be sure to use the “slack dough” shaping method since the dough is such high hydration.
I prefer to shape these as batards, and my shaping method is as follows:
- Flip pre-shaped round
- Fold the bottom up to about halfway
- Fold the left side over to about 3/4 to the right
- Fold the right side over to cover left
- Stretch top up & away from the center and fold down to about half (you’ll now have a “letter”)
- Grab a little of the dough at the sides near the top and stretch it over the center, so the dough crosses. Imagine lacing up a shoe where you first grab your laces and cross them over
- Repeat three times from top to bottom (the result will look like a laced up shoe)
- Take the bottom and gently roll the dough up to the top and try to seal it slightly when done rolling
Alternatively, if the dough feels pretty strong, you could shape it by “cinching” up the dough. For more instruction on how to shape this dough as an oblong loaf, see my post on how to shape a batard (with video!).
After shaping, let the dough rest on the bench for a few minutes and then place it into a banneton that is lightly dusted with white flour. You’ll see above my bannetons give the dough plenty of room to relax and expand in the fridge overnight. If your proofing container is on the smaller side, and you find your dough almost spilling over the edges, it might be time for a larger basket.
8. Proof – 7:25 p.m. to 9:00 a.m., the next day
Cover your banneton with plastic and place it in the refrigerator at 38°F (3°C) overnight.
9. Bake – Next Morning: Preheat oven at 8:00 a.m., Bake at 9:00 a.m.
Preheat your oven to 450°F (230°C). Remove the dough from the fridge (there’s no need to let the dough come to room temperature) and uncover. I scored the dough with a single, long slash to get that dramatic opening when baked. I keep the blade at a reasonably shallow angle so the taut skin created during shaping will “peel” back as the loaf rises.
I steamed my oven in my usual way, described here in my post on how to steam your home oven for baking. But you can also bake in a pot or Dutch oven.
Bake for 20 minutes with steam, then remove your steaming pans if baking on a surface or Dutch oven/combo cooker lid. Then, bake for an additional 30 minutes until done to your liking. I like to bake rather dark, so I sometimes extend this second half of baking until I get the crust I’m looking for.
Once your loaf is done, remove and let cool on a wire rack for 1-2 hours. See my post on the best way to store the bread after it’s baked for a few tips on keeping it on the counter and freezing if you think you won’t get through both loaves in a week.
Conclusion
It’s hard to put into words just how much I enjoy this “my best sourdough recipe.” I bake it almost every week (sometimes multiple times if baking for friends and family), and yet every time I pull it from the oven, I smile. The crust color, the open and light interior, only the smallest perception of sour notes, and the way it crunches when toasted. I could go on and on.
The photos to follow are the results of scattered recent bakes that all followed this process exactly and have a slightly different outcome. You’ll notice some are a bit darker, some have more or less flour on them, some expand differently in the oven, and some are taller and some are shorter—that’s the nature of baking.
With baking, every single bake is different no matter how consistent you try to be. It’s the same with my Dad and his Italian restaurant, and the reason I’ll sometimes get a call in the middle of the afternoon: “hey, the pizza dough is incredible today, you should head over and grab some.”
Crust
As a kid, I was known to take slices of bread, cut out the center, and eat the crust. It used to anger my family because they’d reach into the breadbasket only to find slices of only the soft parts. That’s how much I love the crust! Can you blame me, though?
I enjoy bread with a chunky, chewy crust, but this bread with its delicate and cracker-like crust takes the top spot for me. Even though I bake these rather dark, the crust remains thin and brittle, crackling under the slightest pressure. I love using the “heel” (the very end) of this bread to eat soup or combined with hefty slices of cheese. It’s delicious.
Crumb
I think there’s a balance to be had with bread like this. It’s possible to let the crumb open up too much, but for me, this is just right. Scattered open areas with that translucent webbing spanning from wall-to-wall, a dynamic movement to these areas, almost show you how shaping was carried out.
Taste
This bread has an almost imperceptible hint of sour, and because of this, the wheat flavors from the flour come forward. It has an incredibly tender, soft crumb that almost dissolves in your mouth. It’s one of those rare foods whereupon taking that first bite your mouth begins to water.
In the end, bread is just bread. But it’s also the staff of life and has been for thousands of years. It’s is also more than the sum of the ingredients you add to the mixing bowl. It’s how it makes you feel when you give some to a friend, and they grin ear-to-ear as they take a big bite. It’s the knowledge that you created this thing over a few days that once was a lump on your counter and is now an incredibly delicious food meant to be shared. To me, this is real bread and my best sourdough recipe to date.
Buon appetito!
Print
My Best Sourdough Recipe
- Prep Time: 24 hours
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 24 hours 55 minutes
- Yield: 2 loaves
- Category: Sourdough, Bread
- Cuisine: American
Description
This sourdough bread is one of my favorite recipes. It’s a highly hydrated dough that results in a loaf with an open and lacey interior contrasted by a thin, crispy crust.
Ingredients
Levain
- 30g medium-protein bread flour
- 30g whole wheat flour
- 60g water
- 30g ripe sourdough starter
Main Dough
- 822g medium-protein bread flour
- 64g whole wheat flour
- 745g water
- 17g salt
- 151g ripe levain
Instructions
- Levain (9:00 a.m.)
In a small container, mix the levain ingredients and keep at 78°F (25°C) for 5 hours. - Autolyse (12:00 p.m)
In a medium mixing bowl, add 822g medium-protein bread flour, 64g whole wheat flour, 650g water, and mix until no dry bits remain. Cover the bowl and let rest for 2 hours. - Mix (2:00 p.m.)
To the mixing bowl holding your dough, add 95g water (holding back any as necessary if the dough is too wet), 17g sea salt, and the ripe levain (from step 1). Pinch and mix all the ingredients together and do folds in the bowl for 2 to 3 minutes until the dough smooths and is cohesive. Then, transfer your dough to a bulk fermentation container and cover. - Bulk Fermentation (2:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.)
Give the dough 6 sets of stretch and folds. The first three sets are at 15-minute intervals, and the last three sets are at 30-minute intervals. - Divide and Preshape (6:15 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 30 minutes, uncovered. - Shape (6:45 p.m.)
Shape the dough into a round (boule) or oval (batard) and place it in proofing baskets. Cover the baskets with a reusable plastic bag. - Proof (7:25 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. the next day)
Cover proofing baskets with reusable plastic and seal them shut. Then, place both baskets into the refrigerator and proof overnight. - Bake (Preheat oven at 8:00 a.m., bake at 9:00 a.m.)
I steamed my oven in my usual way, described here in my post on how to steam your home oven for baking. But you can also bake in a pot or Dutch oven. Preheat your oven with a combo cooker or Dutch oven inside to 450°F (230°C). Remove your dough from the fridge, score it, and transfer it 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 2 hours on a wire rack before slicing.
Notes
This is a very highly hydrated dough. Don’t add in all the reserved water during mixing if it feels like the dough is becoming overly weak, slack, or soupy.
What’s Next?
If you want more help getting an open crumb with this bread, I’ve created a 100+ page book with step-by-step instructions. Learn the best flour to use, the right fermentation schedule, and all my tips in my Bread Baker’s Handbook.
Are you a TPL Member? If so, the handbook is free for you!
2,142 Comments
Hi Maurizio. I’m trying this recipe for the first time and I’m at the step when The loaves are in the refrigerator for the cold fermentation. My question is when should I remove the loaves from the refrigerator prior to baking. Thanks you for your efforts. Your website is a real gift.
You’re very welcome, Anthony! After the long, cold proof remove the dough right before you place them into the oven. Unless they are really lacking in fermentation there’s no need to allow them to come up to room temperature before scoring and loading into the preheated oven.
Happy baking!
Follow up. As much as you glowed over this recipe, I actually think you undersold it. It is the best bread I’ve ever eaten. Taste, texture, everything! The only recipe I’ll ever you. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Right on, Anthony! Glad to hear you enjoyed the result. I thought maybe I had over sold it, but I really do love this recipe and process — sounds like you’re sold! Happy baking 🙂
Hi Maurizio — needless to say, your blog is an incredible inspiration. I find myself wanting to make everything on it, but know I must pace myself. What are your feelings about making half recipes of some of your breads? This past weekend I made a half recipe of your high(er) hydration loaf and your cherry pecan buckwheat, both turned out with great flavor and texture — though I am still bedeviled by getting that picture-perfect open crumb. Could the recipes be negatively affected by being made on a smaller scale? Thanks much for your advice, I suspect that this will be the first of many questions.
Thanks, Madelyn! I happy to help in any way I can. It’s fine to halve any of the recipes here with a caveat: when you have a smaller overall mass of dough, fermentation isn’t quite as “stable” as it would be with larger batches. Why? It’s less thermal mass, for one, and is subject to temperature swings. If you can keep your dough at a stable temperature this can help but when I bake, I almost always at least do a two-loaf batch. Plus, it gives you a good excuse to talk to your neighbor and give them some bread if you have extra!
Hope that helps and happy baking!
Hi Mauricio! I have made your basic Sourdough with great success. I last week made the Tartine recipe for Basic Country Bread, also with some success. I am about to take on your high hydration recipe (with low expectations, as my flour options are not amazing). My weird question for you is this: why the extended pre heat time on the high hydration recipe? The Tartine recipe only suggests a 30 minute pre heat, while all of yours call for 1 hour or more. Is there a specific reason for this? Also- with a higher protein flour, do you suggest using more or less water intially? I’m using King Arthur bread and wheat flours. The protein percentage is at least 1% higher than the flours you suggest.
Thanks for your brilliant approach to baking, you make it so accessible and easy to understand!
Hey, Carmel! Glad to hear that. I typically preheat for an hour because I’ve noticed my baking stone and/or baking steel need a bit longer to get completely hot, all the way through. Do what works for you and your oven, though!
I typically find higher protein flour is able (and sometimes requires) to absorb more water overall. However, you might want to start with lower water anyways as this recipe is highly hydrated and can be challenging to start off at full water.
I’m glad you’re enjoying my site, thanks for the comments and happy baking!
Hi Maurizio! I stumbled across your website a few weeks ago. Really awesome stuff. I’ve been experimenting with sourdoughs for the past couple of months, and have had good success with beginner recipes. I decided to try out this recipe this past weekend. I used different flours due to limitations on what is available near me. I scaled back the water slightly, but I think I need to scale back even more. The dough looked great during bulk. But after being proofed in the fridge for 15 hours, I transferred the dough to parchment. It started to spread out slightly. I baked it in a dutch oven. The loaf tasted great, but lacked on the visual aspects. I’ve been trying out different scoring techniques. I’ve had success with the cross or box shaped slashes on previous loafs. The few loafs that I’ve done the side slash haven’t opened up as dramatically as your loafs. They open a couple of inches, but no where near what your able to achieve. Do you have any tips on achieving that dramatic peel? I’ve been using a straight blade. I’m wondering if a curved lame will help. Or if perhaps the dough being over hydrated limits the peel. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks, Sean! Yes, if the dough is very highly hydrated, and definitely if on the weaker side (meaning it wasn’t strengthened fully), you won’t get much of a dramatic opening when bake. Additionally, the farther the proof is pushed the less rise you’ll typically see.
My advice would be to scale back the water some more, as you said, and also keep an eye on the dough during proof. You could cut the proof by and hour or two and see if that, in combination with less water, helps you achieve the rise you’re after.
Keep me posted!
Thanks for the tips! I’ve adjusted hydration slightly to about 83%. By doing so, and by bumping up the strength a little more during bulk, I’ve gotten much better results. My next question for you has to do with flour selection. I’ve been working primarily with King Arthur Bread and Arrowhead Mills Whole Wheat flour in my recipes. But I want to branch out more. I’ve looked up your favorite flours, Giusto’s and CM. However, the cost to ship out here is far greater than the cost of the flour itself. So I’m looking for some other options. Do you have any other favorite flours that might be more readily available? I’m on the hunt for a local source, but no luck as of yet. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
Glad to hear that, Sean! You could try looking locally to see if you have any mills nearby. This would not only save drastically with shipping but also support local farmers and millers! I’m not sure where you live but there are so many great places to source flour from these days… I’m going to assume you might be on the east coast (since Central Milling is west), in which case you could look into Carolina Ground, Maine Grains, Farmer Ground, and Anson Mills. Hope that helps!
Thanks! I live in Indiana. And while I’m still on the hunt for some mills nearby, I was recommended by someone to check out Heartland Mills. I believe they are based in Kansas. Their organic UBAP Malted flour comes in at about 11.3% protein. I’m wondering if you have any experience with their flour? The shipping costs are very reasonable, slightly better than some of the east cost mills I looked up. But I wanted to see if you had an opinion before trying them out. I’m also going to try out some stuff from Anson Mills while I continue my search more locally. Thanks again!
Anson Mills has a fantastic reputation and I do keep meaning to try their flour and grain but haven’t gotten around to it just yet. I don’t have any experience with Heartland but it sounds like a great option for you! Between those two I’d say you’re set.
Hi Maurizio! i have been using this recipe for a couple of moths now. i have discovered that the hydration is to high for me. when i usually bake it i use about 100g less water and i get pretty great results most of the time. i decided to give it a try this time with the the 100g of water that i usually take out. The dough holds it shape and everything but right when i score it to put it in the oven it just fell apart. i got a great tasting bread that was very airy but its pretty flat.
something else that has been bothering me thati wanted to check with you on is that i have a large vent hole in the back of the oven. baking the brad with steam is very hard for me. is this something that you have encountered previously?
Best regards
It sounds like you’re pushing the limits of the flour you’re using — you probably should keep that 100g out, and that’s fine! Each flour is different and the capacity for hydration varies and this is normal and to be expected. Just because that 100g isn’t in the mix doesn’t mean your bread won’t taste as good, it just means the flour is different.
I have a double oven at home and I choose not to use the side that has the convection fan hole because I was always worried about excessive steam loss through there. I honestly dont know where that hole leads to but I’ve always felt that it shouldn’t be a vent or anything, it should be pulling hot air from the oven and re-circulating it. In other words, as long as your steaming fully I don’t believe it should be a problem.
I hope that helps!
Hi Maurizio! I’ve discovered your amazing blog six months ago and since then I’m totally obsessed with it, you did an incredible work not only showing recipes but also inspiring people with your unique passion so thanks a lot for all of this! (It’s mainly because of this blog that I’ve started to work in order to became a baker) I started myself working on sourdough loaves and I’ve achieved some pretty good results but not nearly as good as I want them to be, so, if you have time, I wanted to ask you some questions in order to get better 🙂 I have three main problems: 1) After proofing in the fridge and taking it out of the basket, my loaf is not as firm as I think it should be, it always flattens a little; 2) I always get a very uneven crumb, I get some very big holes in the middle and a slightly dense crumb at the bottom and at the top; 3) After the oven spring my loaves never develope a proper “ear”. (I work at 80% hydration with a mix of flours that have 12.7% of protein content and cook the loaves in a cast iron pan beacuse I still don’t own a proper dutch oven).
Do you have any tip to improve my situation? 🙂 Thank you in advance!
You’re very welcome, Alessio, thanks so much for the kind words. It sounds to me like all three of your issues might be related to two things: insufficient fermentation in your dough, and insufficient strength in the dough. Make sure your starter is rising and falling predictably and very strong before using.
From there, ensure your bulk fermentation is full and complete: the dough should rise by some percent, be visually smoother than when bulk started, and it should jiggle in the bowl when you slightly shake it. You really want to see the dough alive. A full and complete bulk also brings a lot of organic strength to the dough and sets you up for an easier time when shaping.
Aside from fermentation strengthening your dough, it will need to be strengthened by either kneading upfront or stretch and folds in the bowl. I would suggest you try to reduce the hydration of this recipe by 5% (reducing water will bring strength to the dough) and give it another set of stretch and folds during bulk to see if it helps hold its shape when you go to bake.
I hope this helps!
Hi Maurizio, Do you have a book? I’d love to buy your book, if you had one. Thanks.
No book at the moment, Ana! Perhaps one day 🙂
Hi again. Just posted a messaged in Instagram. Can you please post a video, if you have any, of the pre-shaping? This is the highest hydration I’ve worked with and I was afraid to over work out at this stage. How do I know if I’ve over-worked it? I was a bit hesitant and I think I under worked ou. Hahahahaha
Hey there! Yes, I’m working on videos but it’s taking me quite a while, sorry for the delay on that. I have a somewhat older video of me preshaping up on Instagram — that is lower hydration but I use the same technique!
Hey Maurizio! Per our comments on the baking tools page, I’m following up here as I just tried this recipe yesterday and baked the first sourdough batch today. My baking pan actually worked while using your steam oven setup, thanks for the tips! I’ll keep this going until I can purchase the stone or steel. I shaped the dough into 2 boules and was able to achieve a nice thin crust and good taste. However, the crumb was lacking….there were some small pockets but not as open as I’d like. I checked the temp yesterday consistently during the whole process, so that seemed stable. I followed your advice of reducing the hydration for this first attempt, using a total of 518g this time around. I’m wondering what could have prevented it from opening up more….the levain, bulk time (I think I could go longer here), shaping or reducing the proof? Any thoughts, or perhaps all of the above? 😉
Great to hear that, Kristin! Unfortunately it could be any of the things you listed — they all contribute to the end loaf! Usually the issue is with fermentation, however. Focus on that starter and your levain to make sure they are both strong and mature when they’re used. It sounds like you’re keeping a close eye on the dough through bulk but make sure the dough is kept warm (as specified in the post) and you want to see lots of activity when you go to divide and preshape. This is key!
I hope that helps — stick to it and you’ll see your bread improving more and more each bake. Have fun!
Thanks Maurizio! Will keep those points in mind, especially lengthening the bulk time for further fermentation!
I have discovered your website and being fairly new to sour dough, I’m sure I can learn a lot here. I am using rye starter which is 9 months old now and I have been baking a fairly consistent loaf but want to experiment more. Can I use rye starter in any sour dough recipe? The loaf I make at the moment only uses 15g rye starter. Some recipes I see use up to 1 cup “normal” starter. If I made that recipe would I use a cup of rye starter? Or, how do I adjust a recipe to suit rye starter? Will appreciate any advice.
Sure, you can definitely use your rye starter in place of any other. Your starter will really be a pretty small percentage in the end recipe/formula anyways, since you’ll be using it to make a levain (or leaven) which will be a larger part of the end result. If you want to stick to the recipe author’s intended result for a bread, sticking to the flour and hydration of the levain will be best.
Note that you might have some hydration difference in your rye starter than, say, an all-white flour starter. It should be somewhat minimal but it’s something to keep in mind when you’re mixing up a levain and it might feel more or less dry.
Hope that helps!
Thank you – most helpful. I will also get back to your beginner sour dough recipe and refresh all the information there.
Dear Maurizio, thank you for sharing your experience, the website is fantastic! I backed may be 10 breads already following the recipe and all the steps. My bread raises very little. I score bread before the backing and the score just disappear. The bread is very tasty but never looks even closer like from the photos of yours. Would you have an idea, why it could happened?
It could be that either your dough is over hydrated, not strong enough, or over proofed. My first suggestion is to always try reducing the water in this recipe first (since it is quite high). Try reducing by 5-10% and see if that helps your dough retain more strength during that first part of baking. If that doesn’t help, it could be that your dough is over proofed. Reduce the proof time a few hours from the fridge and see how that goes.
Hope this helps!
Dear Maurizio, thank you for your advice. I added 10% less water and reduced proofing time. It helped that the crumb is now equal and bread raises a bit more. Do you think if I add more of a starter could help the dough rise during the first part of baking? But anyway I am very happy with the result and never will buy bread from the supermarket!
More starter will definitely speed things along but more starter doesn’t mean more rise. It’s likely the reduced water helped the rise of your dough (less water means stronger dough, which could have helped) but the reduce proof time was likely the reason for the increased rise. I have a feeling you were on the edge of over proofing, which can cause a more squat loaf.
Keep practicing and you’ll get closer and closer to your ideal loaf!
thank you for the guidance!
Hey Maurizio, I don’t get it: you put more levain in this one than in most of your other recipes, but you still get to keep the dough in retard much longer than in those other recipes. What am I missing here?
There are many factors that go into the duration of the final proof, not just the levain percentage. This recipe has a relatively small amount of whole grains, has no fresh milled flour, and the levain is used slightly more on the younger side (due to the temperature of the levain when it’s made) than I typically do with other loaves. The fermentation level in the dough is a continuum — if you cut bulk a little short you’ll be able to extend the proof a little longer as well.
This formula really, really pushes that final proof and this is evident in the final bake: a fully fermented dough with no dense areas, uniform openness and a slightly more pronounced sour flavor. All that said, it really depends on how your dough is doing; adjust each part of the timetable in this formula to suit how your dough is looking/feeling/smelling that day. If it looks like it’s very well fermented by the time you retard it, you might need to cut that final proof a little short. If it looks like the dough is doing fine, or even sluggish, extend the proof.
I hope that helps!
Thx a lot. Any tips on how to judge if it retarded long enough? It seems that they are not expanding that much once in the fridge, so size nor feel are a reliable indicator if the dough needs another hour or too to proof…
It’s pretty normal not to see much expansion in the fridge, especially a typical home fridge at 39°F – 40°F. And you’re right, size and feel don’t really apply. The best suggestion I have to really experiment with time changes each bake. Typically what I’ll do is assess the dough when I put it in overnight: is it super puffy and weak feeling when I shaped it? If so cut the proof shorter than last time.
The key to this is to try and bake the same recipe multiple times, adjusting that proof time each time to help you build up a sense for when the dough should be done proofing.
I know this is very nebulous but it can be hard when the dough is cold! I find these days my experience and intuition helps guide me to when the dough should be baked (but even then sometimes I’m off), more so than how the dough looks or feels in the morning. When you do a room-temp proof, things are much easier in this regard, IMO.
hello Maurizio,
since this will be my first attempt at making sourdough bread I am doing all the research I can so that my first attempt is a success. I wanted to know if it would be ok to use a combination of King Arthur bread flour and whole wheat flour instead of the flour you used. I know that the King Arthur bread flour has a protein content of 12.7% and was wondering if that would be too high or if it would be ok.
thanks in advance
Hey! That would work really well. KA Bread Flour is a nice flour to use and it’ll yield a great result. I’d suggest you start with beginner’s sourdough recipe — it has detailed explanations on all parts of this process and also uses flour similar to what you’ll be using. Have fun and enjoy!
My boules flattened almost like pancakes after I took them from the bannetons. I was being cautious not to work the dough too much at the beginning, but wonder if I didn’t develop the dough enough. I have trouble with these high hydration recipes, but am determined to get past these failures. Any thoughts?
Too long proof, poor shaping or underdeveloped dough. Try to get better at shaping and experiment with development and proofing time 🙂
The dough could have been over proofed, as @lucjansuski:disqus suggested below. It could also be that it was simply over hydrated (and therefore also not strengthened enough). I’d suggest reducing hydration the next attempt and see how that goes!
I wrote my original post right after I put the loaves in the oven. While they did flatten out significantly, they also had a great deal of oven spring. All in all, this was a fantastic bread with a terrific open crumb. I’m going to try my second attempt this weekend, and will make just a few changes. I’m going to reduce the water by about 20 g and work the dough just a bit longer during the mixing phase. Also, my oven temperature must be incorrect because I burned the bottom of the crusts on my stone after just 35 minutes of baking, so I will preheat at 500 F, but reduce the baking temperature by 25 to 50 degrees and see how it goes. Overall though, this is a remarkable bread.
Super glad to hear that, Jeff! I think reducing the water is a good idea. I hope it turned out well — happy baking.
This is a good recipe, but the water content given is way too high for the pictures provided. I have made the recipe numerous times with many different kinds of flour, including the exact flour specified, and it never looks the way it does in the photos. Today I am cutting down the initial water by 100 mls., to about 650 mls. total. I am a scientist and am a very careful cook. The bread is excellent, but there is too much water in the recipe. I cannot help but think that there is flour added in with the kneading (when we say we don’t knead at all). Sorry if this sounds like a complaint. It isn’t. It’s just a final push to get Tartine like bread exactly right for the home cook. And, feeling the ‘right consistency’ is not a recipe appropriate to truly explaining the process. Bert Gold, Ph.D., San Mateo
This recipe definitely does have a high hydration, and I do note that to readers — adjust by holding back water during mixing and only add more as it looks like the dough can handle it. The amount of water listed here is exactly what was used for the formula; it’s just that the flour, and environment, ultimately dictate how much hydration a dough can handle.
I think your approach is solid. Reduce the water until the dough feels manageable, bake it and see the results. From there, increase in small increments — if even desired.
Good luck on the next go, let me know how it works out!
I am cutting down yet again, to 625 milliliters total. I don’t have quite enough Giusto’s Barley Malt flour to go the whole 804 grams today, so that will be a mixture with some other Artisan flour, but otherwise, I found that even 650 mls total was too much for the pictures you show. I will keep trying.
This recipe works really well for Colorado bakers– it’s so dry here!! Do you live in a particularly humid climate?
I don’t, I live just a bit South of you in New Mexico — very high altitude here and dry as well!
i have the same experience, i have to cut the water 100ml to get the dough looking like from the picture on the website.
Hi Maurizio,
i’m having a lot of trouble lately getting consistent results. I’ve baked this recipe approx 40 times and recently have been having a lot of trouble with blowouts in my batards. I was getting some nice ears on my previous bakes but am having trouble now. Could this be a proofing issue, scoring issue or shaping? Maybe its a combo of all three. I moved house a few weeks ago and in the new place i managed to bake one nice loaf, but since then they have all been fails. I bake every second day.
Thanks!
Bonnie — hmm, that’s interesting. I would try reducing the hydration a bit and make sure to shape the dough nice and tight during preshape and shape. It’s possible also that your dough is slightly under proofed and thus the blowout. If the score on top isn’t sufficient to allow for optimal expansion, and the dough is under proofed, it will find any weak spot possible to burst out from.
I hope this helps and keep me posted!
Hi Maurizio, would it be ruined if left out overnight to rise in a cool kitchen?
thanks, Natalie.
No, absolutely not. Just be mindful of the ambient temperature and if it’s warmer than a home fridge it might need less proof time overall. Conversely, if it’s cooler, it might need a bit more time. Adjust the time to suit your conditions. Hope that helps!
Thanks, I did fridge it in the end, when I cooked it the top rose with loads of space under the crust and the base of the loaf was more dense, but it was a great learning curve and now I’m trying your 50-50 wholewheat beginners bread. Today I mixed the levain into the autolyse at 4pm but there are still no bubbles 6 hours later… I guess my house is quite cold. Thank you for all your instructions and help!
For try #2 with this recipe, I pushed the fresh-milled whole grain wheat percentage up to roughly 33%. It still came out beautiful. Blogged over at Fresh Loaf. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/54706/perfectloaf-sourdough-bake-more-whole-grain-wheat-added
That sure does look beautiful! I’d say the added fresh milled flour was perfect — nice crumb and crust. I’m sure that one was even more delicious than the first! Thanks again for sharing and happy baking.
Hello Maurizio!!! Happy holidays!!!
Thank you for the article! Every time I read your article I get so much useful and precious information!!!
You mentioned “Total pre-fermented flour: 6.4%” – how did you calculate that?
And about photos. You said you typically try to avoid adding photos, but your photos are amazing!!!! And it is great that you insert them! It helps to understand the process better. So, please, add photos to your articles 🙂
So glad to hear that, Elena! You can find a clear breakdown of how to calculate all things bread here at the BBGA technical article — it’s very helpful!
I try to add just enough photos to be informative but not so many as to bog down the article and reading 🙂
Thanks again and happy holidays!
thank you for the link Maurizio and for your reply! best wishes! 🙂
Help! I followed this to a t and my dough after the retard was perfect looking then when transferring it to my stone it was nearly impossible to move and super duper sticky. How do you go from the banneton to your baking surface without all * breaking loose 😉 ?
It sounds like you might want to try and reduce the hydration next go — it might be too much for the flour you’re using and/or your environment. Try reducing by 10% and see if that helps!
If the dough is properly hydrated and strong enough (from kneading and/or stretch and folds) it should cleanly remove from your baskets, assuming they are sufficiently dusted with white rice flour. You can also line the baskets with a clean tea towel to help!
I just wanted to say thanks for this recipe! I just did my first try of it, and am really happy with how it came out. I want to work on increasing the amount of whole grain flour in it going forward. I blogged it over on Fresh Loaf, with a link back to this page.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/54656/new-sourdough-starter-first-bake
It came out wonderful! Thanks for the update and for the shout out over at TFL. I love seeing bread like this!
I tried to make 3 smaller loaves from this recipe and all three collapsed when I transferred them To the oven. The dough seems too wet. Could it be my starter? Suggestions?
Sounds like the dough was probably over hydrated. Reduce the water in this recipe by 10-15% and see if that helps the next attempt!
THANKS!
Dear Maurizio,
Thank you so much for the detailed descriptions. Could the dough stay less than 15-16 hours in the fridge to retard? and whats the minimum number of hours?
Thank you
It all depends on how long you take bulk and how much fermentation is in the dough. If you want to cut down that final proof time you could let the dough sit out longer on the counter (after it’s shaped and in a basket) to speed things along before slowing it down in the fridge.
Hi Maurizio, thanks for such a great recipe and wonderful site! I baked this for the first time today – the dough felt really fantastic and I’m overall happy with the loaf, but one odd thing that happened is that the top half of the crust is really holey and puffed up, but the bottom half is denser. I baked on a stone rather than in a dutch oven, but otherwise I think I followed the recipe closely.
You’re very welcome! It could be that your dough is a little on the under proofed side. Make sure to keep the dough warm during bulk fermentation and let it go as long as needed to get to a point where it looks very well fermented (like you see in my pictures above). You want it to look alive and jiggly. This fermentation will not only lighten up the interior but it will also strengthen the dough some and make it a little more manageable in handling as well 🙂
Maurizio,
You mention that you freeze your loaves. Do you have guidance you can share about freezing and maybe freezing partially baked loaves. Thanks. Sean
When freezing, I’ll wrap an entire loaf several times in plastic wrap and then place it into a freezer ziplock. When I want to eat it I’ll take it out the night before and let it thaw in the fridge. Then, you could pop it into the oven to warm up the next day or slice and toast the slices.
If you plan to eat it somewhat in the near term, you could slice the entire loaf then place the slices in a freezer ziplock back. Using a toaster (like this awesome toaster from Breville) you can thaw and toast the slices in one step and they come out fantastic.
I hope that helps!
Hi Maurizio!
Hope you’ve been doing well. I’ve been baking this recipe consistently well (even with minor changes such as using spelt flour, or adding in rosemary). Thanks to you, I’ve developed quite a reputation for being a baker! 🙂
However, I have come across a consistent problem – hard/thick crust. The crust on top is just hard but on the bottom it is both hard and thick. Lately it’s been so hard that after I toast from frozen, I can barely eat the crust!
Just to give you a bit more info about my baking…I bake in a Dutch oven, lately I’ve noticed my oven tends to run hot by 25 degrees so I’ve been turning down my temperatures (after preheating to 500 degrees) to bake at 450 covered for 20 minutes and then bake at 425 uncovered for 35 minutes. My usual hydration level is 80-81%. I wonder if my hard crust is caused by either 1) baking too long (I fear sticky underbaked crumb so tend to bake longer), 2) baking at the lower adjusted temperatures, 3) other factors I’m unaware of, for example using spelt flour in lieu of whole wheat.
I’ve read online to try baking covered for longer (so like baking 30 minutes covered and then 25 uncovered), or reducing the bake time overall.
Any thoughts/recommendations? Thank you so much!
Hey, Diana! Hope you had a great weekend. Happy to hear I’ve helped up your baker status 😃
I have to say that my experience with baking in a Dutch oven is that the crust is almost always a bit thicker than when I bake directly on baking stones. I think it has something to do with the radiated heat from the cast iron and the prolonged exposure. I’ve found that I can ameliorate the problem somewhat by reducing the bake time (as you found), but still, the crust will be thicker than when not using a DO.
I’d suggest trying to reduce the bake time and if that still gives you some issues, try reducing the time you preheat your DO from 1 hour to perhaps 30 minutes. The lower starting temperature might help!