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
I am a brand new baker with a 2 week old starter. 100% hydration with rye/AP.
Can I substitute the whole wheat for AP or whole rye? I don’t have any wheat available. I am trying to get that airy loaf and am not having any success. Thanks!
Can I substitute whole rye for the whole wheat or just use all white? I am a brand new baker and trying to get that airy loaf but don’t have any whole wheat available.
When you mix the autolyse with the levain, do you do mix by hand or with a mixer/dough hook? If you mix by hand, how would you adjust the stretch and folds to mix with a dough hook?
Great suggestions here, Andrea. For you and your flour, a slight reduction in water should help make your doughs look similar to mine in the USA (our flour is thirsty!).
Ive done this recipe both ways. If you mix less upfront (as tends to happen when mixing by hand), I will add in more sets of stretches and folds as necessary to ensure the dough is strong enough.
Of all the loaves I make regularly from your site, this is my absolute favorite. It never fails me, even when I have to tweak the process to accommodate my ever-changing schedule. It is a consistent favorite with my family and neighbors. The dough is silky and easy to manipulate, and the finished crust and crumb is unbeatable. I always use KA bread flour, but I rotate between fresh ground spelt, white whole wheat, and red whole wheat for the whole grain flour. They are all equally superb.
I’m not sure if I ever thanked you for this recipe, but I figured it was high time!
I am always offended when other friends (aka sourdough aficionados) have their “tried and true recipe” that does not come from your website!
Amazing. Thank you so much Emily, so glad you like this one!! I love having you in my corner, too 🙂 I’m working on a video of me making this loaf, will post it soon.
Could I let it sit in the fridge until 2 or 3 pm the next day if I need to?? I won’t be able to bake at 9am
Should be okay with this dough!
Hi Maurizio,
First wanted to say thank you so much for your reply on my other post regarding your Honey Whole Wheat Loaf. Still working to get my starter where it needs to be.
I was wondering if you have any recommendations for creating an overnight levain instead of one in the morning. I feed mine nightly using your books recommended hydration and flour types. I’m assuming I should just drop the temp of the water by maybe 10 degrees so that it’s ready.
Thank you!!!
You’re welcome, Brandon. Sorry for the late reply here. If you want to do an overnight levain, you can drop the water temp, yes, but I would reduce the amount of ripe starter you add to the dough. Instead of doing 50% starter to total levain flour (for one that ripens in 5 hours), do 10% starter.
Hi Maurizio
When you make the dough for the 50-50 bread you mix by hand and make folds. When I use an electric kneader is it still necessaire to do all the folds ?
The more you mix in the mixer, the less you’ll need to stretch and fold. Check out my guide to that, where I discuss this: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/guides/how-to-stretch-and-fold-sourdough/
Your levain percentage is 15.9%, not 17.1%, based on the current recipe.
Hi Maurizio,
Delicious recipe! I’m just getting into the sourdough world and after half a dozen recipes, this is the first one that turned out like “real sourdough”. I made my own starter from a sprouted, organic whole wheat flour, so I am assuming this recipe works so well for me, because the high hydration is good for a whole wheat starter. I do have one question – I’ve made this recipe twice and both times, the loaf comes out very oddly shaped. After baking, the first loaf looked more like a football, than a loaf of bread and the second loaf exploded on one side. When I dump the dough from the banneton onto baking sheet, it immediately starts spreading and losing shape. Do you think I need to decrease the water a bit, when adding the 95g measurement to the dough? Or am I not scoring my dough deeply enough to give the air and gases a place to escape? The bread is delicious, just looking for a better shape. Thank you for your time! -Eva
It sounds like your crust might be forming too quickly. Have you tried baking covered for longer, or adding a cookie sheet with some water to give the dough time to finish rising before the crust forms?
It sounds like your dough is most likely over hydrated—your flour likely isn’t able to take on quite a much water, and that’s ok! Try reducing the hydration by 5% and give it another go—the reduced water should bring strength to the dough and you’ll feel it immediately. Once you find a suitable hydration, you can try to push it back up (if desired), but as you do, take note of how the consistency of the dough changes: the dough will start to slacken out as you add more and more water, this means you’ll likely have to mix more upfront or add another set or two of stretch and folds during bulk fermentation.
Generally, with an increased hydration, you need to mix longer to develop the gluten in the dough to sufficiently support the water added, but this only goes so far. At some point, the flour you’re using just isn’t able to take on any more water and you’ll essentially have a weak and slack dough. It’s always best to start conservatively and work your way up with hydration as you feel out your flour. This is typically why I recommend holding back water during mixing, adding it in as the dough handles it.
Try to keep everything else as consistent as possible and let me know how the next attempt goes!
Hi Maurizio,
Apologies if this has been asked. To bake a single loaf using thus recipe, I assume I’d just halve all ingredients? Thanks in advance.
That’s right, just halve everything.
Hey there! This was the recipe I used for my first ever loaf, and man, what a pancake! Lol. I went by all of your times, but with more practice, I have realized that my times will drastically differ from the majority of the recipes I find, as I bake in a kitchen that is around 69-70°F. I have gotten to a point where my starter is used at the perfect time, each step of the dough looks nice, the bulk fermination is just barely pushed to the max, my loaves have great oven spring and even beautiful ears, but the interior texture is often relatively gummy. I usually wait four hours to cut into it- sometimes even up to the next day to take a look at the crumb. Is it my oven temp and bake time? I have tried several different combinations of temperatures/bake times without a real definitive outcome I like. Thanks!
Hi Maurizio,
Love the recipies but really fancy larger loaves than the recipe recommends (2 loaves)
Any issues making 1 large loaf from the same amount of dough?
I assume not but how would the cook time differ?
Would it just be till loaf hits 95 degrees?
You can definitely do this, but yes, you’ll need to bake the dough much longer. Target an interior temp of 94-95C and make sure to let it cool *completely*.
Hi Maurizio. I’ve been enjoying the book as it has filled in a few blanks missing from some of the other books out there. I’ve made about 20 Tartine country loaves that have come out pretty good and wanted to try a higher hydration. I was able to do well enough with this recipe until baking. Essentially, I shaped the dough as a batard, had it in the banneton on the bench. I did not refrigerate. It passed the proof poke test, springing back slowly. When I placed it onto the preheated baking pan, the dough got stuck and essentially fell apart, losing it’s entire structure. There was virtually no rise. It was a shame as it tasted great. Any thoughts as to why this may have happened?
Refrigerating the dough is part of the process that would help your dough hold its shape in the oven along with enhancing the sour flavor as well. As it’s cools it’s forms a harder exterior to hold itself together.
Doing a “direct” dough like that with high hydration is tricky. As @disqus_CvM1jMj4Wv:disqus said, the cold temps help keep the highly hydrated dough in shape all the way to bake time. If you want to do this without cold proofing, you need to mix a little longer for more strength and shape much tighter!
Hi Maurizio! First off, want to thank you for your recipe. It’s outstanding. I started baking sourdough in January this year and have made dozens of loaves. I found your recipe about 6 weeks ago and have made it too many times to count since– it is our family’s favorite recipe we’ve tried. Perfect pillowy crumb, beautiful crust that shatters in your mouth and is so flavorful, and a delicious, classic sourdough flavor profile. Additionally, the recipe is extremely well written and easy to follow. It’s a masterpiece through and through. I can’t thank you enough for your work! I am a passionate baker and get immense value and pleasure from excellent recipes that yield consistently excellent results.
Here’s my big question for you: How can I adjust for altitude and humidity so that this loaf turns out perfectly near the coast? I currently live in Salt Lake City, altitude ~4,500 ft, and your website says you bake in Albuquerque, which is at ~5,300 ft. Salt Lake is extremely dry, and I’m pretty sure Albuquerque is too. When I recently visited my mom in Orange County, CA I made this recipe twice and both times the crumb turned out tight and tough and the crust was not flaky but rather dense and chewy/soft ish. My sister who lives in NYC (similar low-altitude, high humidity situation as Orange County) baked this recipe this morning and had very similar results to the ones I had in CA. Help!!! What adjustments do you suggest so that we can get the same beautiful results at the coast that the high-altitude, low humidity environments yield!? I am about to move back to southern california, so I am very invested in getting to the bottom of what tweaks need to be made in order to bake up this perfect loaf once there!
So glad this has worked well for you, Sarah! When changing from high alt to lower alt, pretty much reverse all the suggestions, here:
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/how-to-bake-sourdough-bread-at-high-altitude/
I’m getting ready to try this in a couple of days but the 2 :15 to 6:15 time period makes no sense if you’re doing the 1st 3 Sets of stretch and folds at 15 minute intervals and the next 3 at 30 minute intervals You would be finished at 4:30 it says 6:15 Somebody help please before I start my bread In two days
you do the stretch and folds and then you leave it covered until 6:15 to continue bulk fermentation.
After the last set of S&F, leave the dough to rest until ready to divide.
When I started making sourdough during the pandemic, I started with the simple sourdough recipe and had pretty satisfactory results for about a year and then stopped baking for about a year. Then decided to try the multiseeded sourdough loaf of bread a couple times and back with this best sourdough recipe and wow the high hydration is tough to work with. I’ve always avoided this recipe as I feared the high hydration and nearly all the comments talk about failure.
As you’ve described, the slap and fold method can’t work in the beginning because it’s too wet and the dough breaks so easily. After stretching and folding about 15-20 times, I then slapped and folded to really strengthen the dough.
Everything seemed right until it was time to preshape and after I pre-shaped, it was flattening more than expected and the center of the dough was concaved in which worried me but continued onward. After a cold proof and the bake, looked and tasted amazing. Really enjoyed this recipe, thanks Maurizio!
Yea, high hydration is definitely challenging and takes practice. It’s always best to work up the hydration over the course of a few test bakes so you don’t over hydrate! Glad this worked for you in the end, Abe 🙂
Hi, going to try your recipe but was just wondering about the proof and how long you would leave it proofing if you didn’t put it in the fridge. maybe 2/ 3 hours?
2-4 hours, then use the poke test to determine when it’s ready to bake.
Since this makes 2 loaves should I bake them 1 at a time in my Dutch oven or can I bake 1 or both on a baking sheet or 1 in an open iron skillet?
I do an open bake with a tinfoil tent!
Thank you for the suggestion but I have another heavy bottom pot that I can use for my other loaf!
You can keep one of them in the fridge while the first is baking.
Hi Maurizio, I’ve tried this loaf a couple of times now and it seems to not get the oven spring that I was getting with the beginner sourdough recipe. The flour I’m using is 11.5% bakers flour so after reading the comments below I’m thinking it’s just not strong enough for the amount of water specified? My starter is pretty robust and I have the proofing box so I’m controlling the environment and the time. Is my first action to reduce the amount of water used and keep everything else the same? Thanks for any advice.
It sounds like your dough is most likely over hydrated—your flour likely isn’t able to take on quite a much water, and that’s ok! Try reducing the hydration by 5% and give it another go—the reduced water should bring strength to the dough and you’ll feel it immediately. Once you find a suitable hydration, you can try to push it back up (if desired), but as you do, take note of how the consistency of the dough changes: the dough will start to slacken out as you add more and more water, this means you’ll likely have to mix more upfront or add another set or two of stretch and folds during bulk fermentation.
Generally, with an increased hydration, you need to mix longer to develop the gluten in the dough to sufficiently support the water added, but this only goes so far. At some point, the flour you’re using just isn’t able to take on any more water and you’ll essentially have a weak and slack dough. It’s always best to start conservatively and work your way up with hydration as you feel out your flour. This is typically why I recommend holding back water during mixing, adding it in as the dough handles it.
Try to keep everything else as consistent as possible and let me know how the next attempt goes!
I started getting into sourdough baking in January. I had success with beginner recipes but wanted to give something a bit more difficult a shot.
I’ve been trying this about once a week for the last month as it looks so delicious but my results were lackluster.
My first attempt I definitely over hydrated it with the water from water 2. The dough was not able to handle it and it was soupy. When I baked it the oven spring was ok but texture of crumb was dense and gummy. Also I cut into it way too early!
Tried this again 2 weeks ago and results were better. Easier to handle and shaping went better. First loaf had a massive oven spring but interior again was dense and gummy.
I know now that means it was underproofed. So yesterday I took the afternoon off of work to attempt this again. I’m so happy to say that my results on my 3rd attempt were much better – more even crumb, nice oven spring, beautiful browning and blistering and a wonderfully soft interior. There is still work to do but I’m excited to have made the progress.
Thanks for the great blog, book and really enjoyed your interview on Pastry Arts!
Thank you Jes! Sounds like your modifications and instinct are spot on from here. This recipe really does take quite a bit of practice, the high hydration is challenging!
Hi Maurizio,
Your cookbook is awesome..congrats!! Love the Rustico recipe the best so far. Regarding flour…can I substitute KA Special Patent flour for the AP flour in your recipes and just use a little less water? Also, is it ok to use AP and bread flour mixed and a little extra water if I want a little more height in the loaf? Thank you for this amazing site.
Thank you so much! Yes, you can def. use that KA flour.
Maurizio, I’ve enjoyed your book so far. Thanks for getting me started on the sourdough journey! I’d love to see if you could diagnose my loaves if you have a chance to.
I’ve made this recipe probably 6 or 7 times now. I consistently have good tasting bread that my wife and I love, but the same problems arise each time. A few observations: every time I remove the lid of the Dutch oven after 20 mins the loaf has practically no oven spring, but it springs up a bit in the remaining 30 mins with the lid off, leaving me with a loaf that has maybe half the height it should have. Also the crumb always has several large holes in the middle and it’s dense throughout the rest of the crumb.
I thought maybe it was under fermented or over hydrated, so I tried pushing bulk to almost 6hrs at around 76 F and lowered total water by 5%, but the exact same problems happened. I’m perplexed. Perhaps you have some insight to offer. Thank you so much!
For context: my starter is only 2 months old at this point and I had a few successful bakes with your beginners loaf.
If you final shape at 6:45 p.m., why do you first put it in the fridge at 7:25 p.m.? In step 6 it says:
“After shaping, let the dough rest on the bench for a few minutes and then place it into a banneton”
and also in your shaping video you say to put the dough in the fridge after putting it in the banneton. I dont think it takes 40 minutes to do the final shaping of the dough, so should I put it in the fridge just after it has been put into bannetons or wait the 40 minutes?
best regards, Nikolaj
Dough into fridge right after shaping!
I tried this recipe for the first time and wow an epic fail!! Definitely user error, I would like to give the recipe and other try because I love how much love goes into making the bread. I’m so new to the sour dough world and I think I bit off more than I could chew. Mine end results came out incredibly dense. And I’m trying to figure out where I went wrong. Was I stretch and folding too much? Also it didn’t really rise when in the oven; should I have let it sit on the counter while I was preheating my oven? Also, I’m very confused why we have to let our flour mixture sit with the levin? I feel like the process of mixing the already mixed flour with the levin and water maybe contributed to the toughness of the cooked bread. It took a while for it to come together. Any advice is much appreciated!
I would say try reducing the water in the mix!
After several successful bakes of the Beginner’s Sourdough recipe, I have decided to give this one a try.
I am using Giusto’s Organic Ultimate Performer High Protein as the main flour. I use the whole amount of water when mixing as it seems like the dough can handle it.
But looking at your pictures, it seems like my dough is slacker than yours. Are the pictures in this article from this very recipe or taken from another for illustration?
When I reach the shaping phase, the dough seems to lack strength. When I make the “package”, it doesn’t hold really well and I can’t try to strengthen it by moving my pinkies below the boule and rotating it as you describe in your video: it’s way too sticky, despite flour on my hands!
The result is as you would expect after retard: when I put the dough into the dutch oven, it spreads out and doesn’t have a beautiful oven spring.
Any recommandations ? Should I try to build more strength during the bulk fermentation and shaping phases? Try a different flour? Reduce water? I will obviously try these variations but a hint would really be helpful!
Thanks!
Last iteration actually turned out to be pretty great, with still the same amount of water. I added one hour of bulk and it went well. I could still have more oven spring though. Also a few larger holes remaining, which I assume means it’s slightly underproofed.
I also spent more time to built surface tension during shaping. But dough remains way too sticky and I have to use my bench knife. What would be a solution to this?
Definitely reduce the hydration next try!