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
Been making sourdough for over a decade now, and this recipe finally unlocked skills I need to make the loaf I’ve been looking for this whole time. Thank you so much for these great instructions.
I’ve been using this recipe for a few years and I love it. It’s the best I’ve found, having started with the Tartine book. The only issue I continue having is that my bread is a little bit gummy and sticky after baking, and I’m not sure why. I always let my loaves cool for 2 hours, and I’ve experimented with using less water but it doesn’t seem to help much. Plus I like the high hydration bread! I have also noticed that my bread always bakes much faster than this or other recipes say it should. My loaves are usually starting to burn and are well over 210 degrees inside after just 35-40 minutes total in the oven. I’ve also tried turning down the oven to 400 or 425 and I’ve tried a different oven but that doesn’t help with the moisture issue. Any ideas about what I could do differently?
Hi!
I’m having the same issue with gummy texture, have you found of a solution?
Here’s what I think, when it’s baked and around 208F, leave it in the oven which is turned off for 30minutes to an hour.
See if that resolves gumminess.
How do I bake the bread without a dutch oven?
Just put a tray in the oven to preheat, and slide the loaf on a parchment sheet into the tray. Bake first twenty min with a steam tray filled with a few ice cubes, then remove steam tray after 20 and bake the rest of the time as stated in recipe. I just used this recipe and it’s the best loaf ever. Went in flat, came out perfect
We just cut into the second loaf from my bake yesterday and what an amazing bread! This was my first time with this recipe and, I have to say, I was nervous during the pre-shape because I couldn’t quite get it to come together. I realized that even though I only added about 1/2 of the water to the mix, my stretching with a lot of water on my hands almost pushed the hydration level to the brink. It all came together during the final shaping and baked beautifully in my DO the following morning. Next time I’ll use even less water and trust my hands when I’m mixing it. This is my new favorite recipe. Thank you for sharing your incredible knowledge, Maurizio!
So my experience with this was that after bulk fermentation the dough was way too wet to manage any shape. I was a flat sticky mass. Hydration? Too long bulk fermentation or not enough? Any ideas?
Wet hands and fold, do the bulk rise like stated. You can add a little flour extra to try and bring it back together at mixing also. Just have faith. Flour the board well when you shape. I found during the cold rise a fold after a few hours can help. But if your yeast is active even putting in a flat wet dough can result in a great loaf.
Hi! Can I use yeast to replace the starter?
Instead, I’d make a “poolish,” a preferment with the flour and water called for, and then instant yeast.
Mr. Skinner, my starter, is 3 weeks old. He triples in size each and every time I feed him. Light, airy and bubbly. He lives in a Brod & Taylor proofer with the temperature set to 78 F. He is fed with 20g of starter, 30g whole rye flour, 70g all-purpose flour, and 100g water. The levain is straight out of My “Best” Sourdough recipe as is the dough recipe. The levain, just like Mr. Skinner, triples in size, light, airy and bubbly in four to five hours. The levain as well as the dough live in the proofer. I went back to the published recipe and followed the directions precisely yesterday and today with no success…again.
If I took the resulting loaves from every time I tried this recipe, including some with my own trick and tips, and placed them in the grass in my back yard, it would resemble a cow pasture. I really don’t know what the secret is or what I have done or not done, but this recipe consistently fails to produce anything taller than a frisbee. For me, at this point, this recipe has become little more than throwing good flour after bad. Frankly, I’m at my wits end. Does anyone have any suggestions other than find a different recipe? Thank You!
Bill
Hi Bill. This recipe is called “My Best Sourdough Recipe” but it might as well have the subtitle: “and My Most Advanced Sourdough Recipe.” 85% hydration is super challenging, and like you, I usually end up with delicious but very flat loaves. I think the issue is knowing the strength of your flour, and knowing by look/feel when to ease back on adding that second dose of H20. That comes with years and years of experience – and I’m not there yet. My solution was to reduce the water until I was at around 70% hydration (using only 520 g of H20 in the autolyse stage, and only 75 g H20 in the mixing stage), and only then were the loaves able to stand up straight and tall in the oven, rather than sag like they were made of jello. And to be honest, the best of these (flat) 85% hydration loaves that I made had so much moisture and such an open crumb that I didn’t really enjoy them as much as the loaves I make using this recipe but in the 70%~75% hydration range. Maybe later I will try to add a little more water each time until I can match Mauricio’s achievements, but again – not there yet.
Thank You Jedediah. I’ll give it try. Since I give all most all of my sourdough away to friend and family, I’m a bit embarrassed to give them something that appears to have been run over by a truck. Thank You again!
Bill
I would reduce the hydration, Bill, it sounds like your flour wants less water, and that’s okay! I talk about this in the recipe, hold back a good portion of the water and add in when mixing if your dough feels cohesive.
Thank You Maurizio. I’ll give it a try this weekend.
Bill
Yup, it’s all about the flour you’re using here! This style of bread is definitely not for everyone, and it does result in a very moist crumb! Thanks for all these comments!
Jedediah and Maurizio,
I finally got around trying this recipe again at 70% hydration. This time it is working great! I still have a long way to go before I’m really happy but for now it looks good and tastes great. My brother gave me a Challenger bread pan for Christmas so I’m still trying to get the hang of that as well. Time to ship him a few loaves. Gentlemen, Thank you very much for your advice.
Bill
I have followed the recipe carefully only to find the dough after bulk fermentation impossible to hold any shape. My guess is too much hydration for my flour or perhaps bulk fermentation too long? Any ideas?
Since my previous post I have tried the recipe on page 41 of book and everything went well until the bulk rise that should have taken 4 hours has now been there for 5hrs on top of the boiler @ 25 degrees C. and isn’t making any progress.The starter looked great and I made the levain that was very bubbly and lively. I found flours with the correct % of protein. So looks like another pile of dough for the birds. Does anyone actually read and reply to these comments or am I just wasting my time? On a positive note I made some bread today using fresh yeast with the leftover starter and an heirloom flour from Shipton’s Mill and it was delicious. So why am I bothering??
Hi. My first loaf just came out of the oven and it’s beautiful. I was very worried last night because after an additional hour, my bulk fermentation looked like what you described, but it had doubled. My pre-shape was less than stellar because the dough was so wet. I kept going, though, and it all came together during the final shaping. I have not tasted, yet, and I’m finding it hard to wait! FYI: I only put about half of the water in the dough, and with my wet hands during the pulls, it only became wetter. Next time I’ll see how my flour is and won’t be afraid to add even less water. Don’t give up on this too soon.
Thanks Jennifer. I get so hung up with using the correct weight of ingredients that are often so precise that it takes confidence to just go with the flow (Sorry an unfortunate expression considering most of my loaves have ended up like pancakes!)
I just had a conversation with a friend who’s not a baker about this. She was saying that many people don’t enjoy baking because everything is so precise. I explained, yes, except for making bread, especially sourdough. We need to be flexible because each day is a new situation: is it humid out, is it raining, is it really dry, etc. We need to trust ourselves and our experience in our individual kitchens. One of the things I love most about making bread is the feel of the dough. I always knead by hand (when making with yeast) and, when making sourdough, I love feeling the changes the dough goes through. So, trust your hands! BTW, this bread tasted wonderful!
Hey John! Sorry to hear about your troubles. I promise you though, this bread is worth it once you get fermentation and the hydration dialed in! I would say, as Jennifer did below, to use let water to suit your flour. It’s also very important your starter is very ripe when you use it to make the levain, and the same for the levain.
This is definitely a challenging recipe, and takes some practice, but also adjustments to suit your flour!
Many thanks. Your book is brilliant!!
After reading what feels like squillions of different recipes and methods to making sourdough (none have fully worked!) I bought your book that arrived today so I could use one approach and get it right. After reading the recipe on page 41 it is totally different to the one above. So which should I use? I feel like giving up altogether but have bags of flour with different protein %s all over the kitchen!! I have bought all the equipment so if my next loaf is successful it will have cost me about £50 a loaf. Cheaper to go to Fortnum and Mason!
The printed recipe says to use a Dutch oven/combo cooker and cover with lid for the first 20 minutes and the video says/shows bake with steam uncovered the first 20 minutes! Since this is my first time, I printed the recipe and only looked at parts of the video as I went along. So I’m using the covered Dutch oven version RIGHT NOW. When this loaf is done, I’ll try the ice steam version on the second.
Why the difference and am I missing something?
You can use either. He gives directions for both. Happy baking!
Either way will work, Patricia. I’ll update the post to reflect this more clearly! Hope your loaf turned out great, the DO is a great way to bake this dough.
Hi wondering if you can use this recipe with freshly milled flour?
You can definitely use the fresh flour in place of the whole wheat. For the white flour, you’d have to sift the flour, and I would be cautious with this much water unless it feels like the flour can handle it! Check out my recipes page, there’s a bunch of freshly milled flour recipes there, too.
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/recipes/
Thanks for the recipe but I have a question though. Since the recipe is for two loaves and I only need one should I half the Levian mix or just use the same amount?
You can divide everything in half, even the levain.
Have had trouble with making just 1 loaf. Not as much rise and gooey in the center after baking. My last attempt was better, withheld the additional water and did the last 2 stretches with floured hands. Much better. Theory: my (big) hands, dipped in water to do the stretches just adds too much water to the half recipe. But would love to hear other thoughts.
Hi @maurizioleo:disqus , can I use King Arthur organic bread flour for this recipe? If I try, do I need to adjust in some how?
Yes, that flour will work well!
Hi @maurizioleo:disqus , can I use King Arthur organic bread flour for this recipe? If I try, do I need to adjust in some how?
hi, does anyone have thoughts about scaling this down? my baskets are 10 inches, not 14 (so that’s 72%-ish) and the recipe i normally use is a total weight of 1,365g, which is about 75%-ish. so should i just use the recipe but cut everything by 25%? or is that a bad idea? thanks
I tried making a half recipe & best success so far was tho scale all the ingredients but withhold the added water and final stretches with floured hands.
i ended up just making three loaves, 600g each. (more crust!) i screwed up in several ways: stater wasn’t all that potent. forgot to add the salt, so i had to mix it in during the second fold, which required adding more water, which made a soupy mess. bulk ferment probably didn’t go on long enough (temperature issues). horrible shaping on my part. experimented with steam oven settings on the bake.
and it still came out bakery quality. easily the best loaves i’ve ever made. incredibe recipe/technique. 12/10.
I followed your instructions exactly I had every burner on my stove ob to keep it at 78• I stretched and folded on time every time I overnight in the frig! my started was fresh and bubly I had worked for a week to get in shape??? exact ingredients.
I ended up with 2 big rocks? I’ve made sour dough about 10 -12 times with 1 success ? its not my starter?
Hi June. I am relatively new to bread making myself. Some successes, some failures. Have you tried changing up your flour, or trying Maurizio’s Beginner recipe? I think the recipes with the Levain/Autolyse can be a bit confusing in the beginning. I live in AK and it’s hard to get certain flours up here, so lately I have be using Bob’s Red Mill Bread flour and Red Wheat Flour, we also have cooler, dry air in the winter and rainy, humid air in the summer, so that affects the way I proof my bread. Also, I bought a sour dough starter, Frontiersman Sourdough, a local brand that you might be able to find online, not pushing this, but maybe getting a starter from a friend might help? Another thing to check is your oven temp. I bought a house with an oven that runs a bit cooler, so a temp gauge in the oven to check might be necessary, maybe yours runs a bit hot? And last, make sure to give the bread enough time to cool. I get really excited to eat that warm bread, and not letting cool long enough can really affect the way the bread feels. I hope this helps!
Hi Maurizio I’ve been on sourdough journey for a few years and by far I love your recipes the best. Love the cook book. I’m also big into fresh milled flour and have made all your fresh milled flour recipes. To my question on flour for your best sourdough bread recipe if you were using Central mill or Cairnspring mill flour which one of these would you use in place of Giustos?
Hi – I’m new to sourdough and finally got my starter ready to bake anything recently (nice and active and bubbly). I tried your recipe yesterday with the only change that I used all King Arthur Bread Flour instead of a mix of flours. The dough looked and felt amazing prior to placing the “proving baskets” (I had to do a homemade version) in the fridge. They stayed in the fridge for the required amount of time, but when I removed them, both doughs looked small, dense, and very cold with no air bubbles. They seemed like they had actually lost any rise they had gotten prior to going in. I decided to go ahead with one right away, as your video says it can be ok that it looks this way. The other I left on the counter to warm up prior to baking. Both loaves came out of the oven under-fermented. They had extremely tight crumbs with irregular large holes, little rise, and not as much color as you get on yours. I’m so bummed after spending all the time on the process for the last 2 days. Can you offer any help on making sure this doesn’t happen? What step to pause at if the dough needs more time? What to look for? I realize how important temperature is and I do think the fridge I used runs a little colder than the temperature you set it at.
Thanks for the tips Sara! We ate the bread anyway and in general I didn’t mind the extra chewiness, but that doesn’t mean I’m not striving for a better expected result, and clearly after all your tries, you feel the same. I’ll attempt it again soon with some tweaks, but like you, I was waiting for some help here and researching how to avoid that underproved dough. I’m probably going to attempt some adjustments to the starter/levain timing that people have talked about here too because I find mine are ripe when they want to be, and not on the “expected timeline” others seem to be luckier with
Would King Arthur AP flour (11.7% protein) work well instead of the Medium-protein bread flour (~11.5% protein) called for in the recipe? I’m not sure if there are any other differences between bread and AP flour aside from protein.
I use KA flour all the time with Maurizios recipes and it works great 👍. I’m in the northeast US and hold back 10-15% of the water and get super results.
I’m getting so frustrated with sourdough! I tried your recipe yesterday and baked today. I held back some water as it would have been too wet per instructions followed the rest to a T, kept checking the dough temp before each s+f was a little warmer (82) got it down to 78. Let it BF for 4-5 hrs, had bubbles on the surface and around the edges started to dome before I shaped and put in the fridge. I ended up with two loaves that are only maybe 2.5 inches tall. Any idea what I could be doing wrong? 🤦🏼♀️
Hi there. I was too. I dumped out a couple wasted loaves but held back 70 to 75 percent. Of the remaining water that was to be added after autolyse. I added the sourdough starter(after I fed the night before and it tripled) last after the salt and water. This should do the trick. But yes my bread was like yours. Four loaves worth. I made focaccia out of one of the loaves and it turned out great. Chas
I was there too, depends on the flour and relative humidity of your area. I use KA flour with Maurizios recipes and it works great holding back the H2O👍. I’m in the northeast US and hold back 10-15% of the water and get super results.
Why 900g loaves vs Tartine 1000?
Wondering if anyone has any thoughts on extending cold proofing time to suit other schedules, and what the limit is? More specifically, I’m wondering if it’s possible to cold proof for up to 36 hours. Would love any input. Thanks!
I cold proofed two loaves for 24 hours the other day and they were AMAZING!! I’ve cold proofed sourdough pizza dough for 36 hours and it turned out great. Haven’t done bread loaves that long but would based on my experiences 🙂
Would be really interested in what Maurizio has to say bout this… I have read somewhere where he mentions baking in the evening, but no details about the extended cold proofing times anywhere.
I am following this recipe for the first time. It is similar to what I have done in the past with a bit more precision around levain building, temps, and times. Usually I use a combo of bread flour, einkorn, and hard white wheat something around 50/40/10 respectively. I grind the einkorn and hard white wheat berries in a Vitamix grain grinder. My results are typically good but not fantastic with my best results using a loaf pan baked inside a cast iron dutch oven. My artisan style loaves tend to flatten out while the bread pan loaves have better crumb.
Question – I ran out of the King Arthur Bread flour but have Caputo Tipo 00 flour, and the Vitamix ground Einkorn and Hard White on hand. The Perfect loaf recipe calls for 90% Medium-protein bread flour (~11.5% protein) and 10% Whole Wheat. I was thinking of using 50/50 the Tipo 00 and the Vitamix ground Hard White. Anyone have experience mixing and matching these types of flour and have a recommendation?
I was up against a time constraint waiting for an answer so bought more King Arthur Bread flour and am using that 80/20 with Vitamix ground/hand-sifted Ancient Grain Hard White wheat berries. fingers crossed!
I made this today! I am brand new to sourdough, tried two other recipes and methods from others but this here reigns supreme!
You made me feel like a total professional, I can’t get over this gorgeous crust! Thanks for providing such helpful video tutorials and the schedule, to help me plan and succeed! Cannot wait to keep on improving!