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
Is there a trick to keeping the starter/levain at the temperature you suggested for the 5 hours (I think it is somewhere around 75 degrees F)? I have not attempted to make your sourdough with the autolyse yet but I have some starter thawing right now and I am thinking about it, but I would rather just let the starter rise over night (for 7 hours or so). Also, I have organic bread flour and einkorn. Einkorn is apparently high in protein and I think bread flour is not. I might just give it a whirl and see. But please do let me know if there is a trick for the temperature and if letting the starter rise a bit longer than 5 hours (if that is okay). Thanks! I really like your site! I will have to check out your book!!
If you warm/cool the water you use to make the levain, that'll help get it started on the right foot. If it's very warm in your kitchen right now, try cooling it a bit below room temp, then measure the temp when it's ripe so you have an idea whether you'd need to cool more next time.
I also use my sourdough home , which is a game changer for all of this 🙂
I put my levin in an instant pot, raised on the skillet and put about an inch of water in, then set the instant pot for Sous Vide at 28c for 5 hours. The levain was perfect. Also this recipe has been great, I have struggled to get it right in the past, often the bread is too firm, doesn't rise, is too sour, this recipe made an awesome loaf!
Does the recipe still work if halved? So I make one loaf rather than 2?
Maurizio, I sm new to sourdough baking and trying to make all of your recipes! This recipe is delicious, however my bread rose beautifully but one thing I noticed is the inside feel damp to the touch. Did I not bake it long enough, or not make a deep enough score? My loaf before baking looked wetter than it shows for yours on my monitor. Also , I didn't have and can't find 11.5% flour, I used KA bread flour 12.7%.and did not use all of the 2 water. I probably had 40ml left. Please help!
If the hydration is too high for your dough it can lead to an overly wet or gummy interior. If the dough feels "soupy" or very "slack" then try pulling back the water percentage by 5% and see if that helps.
Make sure to bake your loaves completely. The interior should register around 204-206°F (95-96°C) or higher.
If your loaf is under proofed then this will typically lead to a gummy or "wet" textured interior. Make sure your starter and levain are very vigorous and strong when you use them. This is very important! From there, make sure to bulk ferment your dough fully (use the images you see in my posts to guide you on what the dough should look/feel like). You want the dough to be alive and aerated before you divide and shape. From there, a full and complete proof is also very important.
It may be that they cut the loaf too early, I find that the cause of gumminess.
I make this bread all the time. It comes out delicious and wonderful, no doubt. However, I just cannot achieve as open of a crumb as you do. My shaping needs work, but there has to be something else I’m not doing “right.” I have some smaller holes, but I desire the more open ones. Not too many, but just enough like yours is. One day I hope I can achieve the crumb you have. Delicious nonetheless.
Hey Carol! It sounds like you're probably doing everything right, but those larger holes do come down to the flour you're using and all the little steps in the process… Almost everything needs to be done just right. If you want to shoot me over a photo of the interior, I might be able to give you some pointers, too. My email is on the About page!
I think you are missing some detail at step 9:
you jump from:
"Remove the dough from the fridge … and uncover."
directly to
"I scored the dough "
with dough this wet I was hoping to find some tips on dough handling – inverting the dough onto parchment paper without it oozing out
but i guess there is nothing much one can do at this point. But Go For It
Ah yes, I'll add those bits back in, Peter. I hope it turned out well for ya! And yes, GO for it!
Hi Maurizio.
I've tried this recipe two or three times and on each occasion I'm getting a sticky flat result.
To address this, I've tried the following:
– changed my White bread flour to Marriages finest strong white bread flour
– bought a Brod & Taylor proofer to keep the temp solid and consistent
– reduced the water to 75% hydration
– slap and folded before final mix
I found that my slap and fold improved from shaggy dough but nothing like as smooth as yours. Also, I spent a good 20 mins on it before leaving the dough to bulk ferment.
I had a similar experience last week with the Beginners bread.
Looking for some wisdom please 🙂
It sounds like it's overhydrated still… I would drop down to 70% hydration to better suit your flour. You'll find it'll smooth out much more!
Thanks. I've dropped to 70% hydration and although it's smoother, it still hasn't notably risen and is still quite sticky.
I have switched to an overnight levain at 10% starter to flour (it had doubled but had not risen as much as my regular starter refresh), I'll increase that to 15/20% for the next effort to see if I get more rise during bulk.
Hello Maurizio!
After trying your Beginner Sourdough Bread recipe with a great success I decided to give this one a try. I have a question about flour – why does this recipe call for medium protein flour over high protein? I use bread flour from a local mill that has 14% protein. Will it be okay for this one? Do I have to adjust something in the recipe?
Thank you for help and for great recipes!
You can definitely use your higher protein flour, no problem. I like med protein for textural reasons, but this IS a high hydration recipe, and a stronger flour can definitely help.
I talk about it more, here:
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/sourdough-bread-high-protein-white-bread-flour/
I'm having huge problems with this recipe – I just can't stop it coming out completely flat! No idea what I'm doing wrong at this point.
Is the dough very wet and hard to handle? It might be too much water for your flour!
One thing I've figured out, is with very wet dough, you have to get it cold in the fridge to handle better….warm wet dough is nearly impossible to shape.
First attempt at this and my loaf came out of the bannington quite loose. Which has resulted in a rather “flat” loaf. I think this is because I didn’t get the dough strong enough with ample stretch and folds. Does that sound right?
Yup, you called it, Carl! Hope the next attempt went well!
Thank you Maurizio this has made the best Sourdough bread method, just follow it and the results will be amazing. Make sure your Levian is in good shape before you start, but that is always the way with Levian, have patience you will be rewarded.
Thank you Lino, you called it!
What housetops flour do you use for this? I can’t find something on their website with the same name as what you list. Is the linked one correct? Thanks!
http://giustos.com/home_baker/flours/bread-flours/high-performer-high-protein-unbleached-white-flour.html
I use their main white flour, Artisan Unbleached, but any medium protein white flour will work!
I've made this recipe once (with my oven currently pre-heating for another go at it) after having made several of your beginner loaves with moderate (but increasing) success — I'm new at this and the "moderate" part I attribute 100% to my skills. When I wanted to try a higher hydration bread I immediately went to your recipes. I'm not having great success. I want to try a different flour for a few bakes to see if that makes a difference (I've been using KA Bread Flour, as it's what I have on hand and I had no success finding bread flour that I think qualifies as "medium protein.") Which brings me, finally, to my question: the Giustos flour that you use, is that their "Artisan Malted Unbleached Bread Flour?" I can't find info on its protein content, which is why I'm bothering you — sorry!
It seems that every "bread flour" I can find in the US is fairly high protein.
I’ve been doing the beginner recipe for a while and am ready to try this one. Should I use KA all purpose 11.5 protein or their bread flour which is 12.7?
With King Arthur, I'd probably go with their Bread Flour.
hi, I’m ready to go with this recipe, but I only want to do a single loaf. I understand that I half the ingredients, but do I still half the Levian including the starter which would be 15g of starter to help form the Levian. That’s seems a little short to me.
Yup, halve the levain as well! It is very small. You could make the same levain, but only add half of it in (use the rest in a discard recipe !).
If the proofed loaf seems flat out of the fridge, should I leave it out at room temperature (while preheating the Dutch oven)?
Maurizio, what percentage of hydration are you aiming for in this recipe? I calculate about 86% using your recipe numbers (assuming all 745 grams of water are used per the Main Dough specs above). Is that correct? I've made high hydration doughs before, (typically pizza dough which doesn't require much shaping) but rarely do they go above 70%…even at 70% the dough is quite wet and sticky….at 86% I don't think I could shape it without it turning into pancake batter…..let me know…cheers!
It took me a while to learn how to handle the dough with such high hydration l, but once you do the results are next level!!!! If you’re just starting out this is a difficult beginner recipe.
I lowered the hydration to 75ish…results were great, I'll try the higher hydration soon.
In the flour ingredients you list the Giusto’s Artisan Bread Flour as a favorite of yours for this recipe. I found a “malted” version of this on the Giusto’s site (Artisan Unbleached Malted Bread Flour), but not a non-malted version. Is the malted flour suitable for this recipe or do you recommend not using malted flour. P.S. As a first time SD baker, I have had 100% success with your recipes so far. Thank you for the detail in your book and website. Cheers!
I have made this wonderful recipe 3 times. The bread is fabulous. Airy, with crisp crunchy crust, and great flavor. I have one question about the recipe, however. The cooking time seems excessively long. After 30 mins in the 450 degree oven, the crust is dark brown and the internal temp of the bread is 205, which is the desired temp from all I read. Why is the recommended time so much longer?
Didn’t rise at all. Followed it almost exactly.
Was the starter and levain ripe when you used it? Another possible issue is if the dough was too wet (overyhydrated) it’ll have trouble showing any rise.
I dont have a proofing basket, what can I use?
I just use a suitably sized bowl lined with thin fine fabric (I use a torn up old sheet) dusted with flour.
works fine.
when I haven't had a piece of fine fabric I have even used paper coffee filters (not the cone shaped ones, the more flat bottomed style.) dusted with flour
also works fine
People tend to over complicate things. I just do whatever. The first time I made it I didn’t have rattan baskets and just used whatever to help it poof. I had used all the water and it was super sloppy. I couldn’t even really shape it, but it still turned out great. Does every time. Just relax and let the beast cook.
yea fuck recipes altogether. just do anything, any time. it’ll turn out fine
Love all the learning I’m able to do with this website 🙂 I have a question though: I used this recipe, almost exactly. I started with 650 grams of water, and it was actually a bit too much. The dough never strengthened as much as it should, it stayed relatively shaggy all along. Never added any more water. Yesterday in South Central Texas had 12% humidity, my flour is kept in a tightly sealed container. This seems strange, other recipes I always reduce the amount of water added, but not generally anywhere near this much. Does anyone have a thought here?
I have made this 4 times, adjusting something new each time and I still get less rise than I should and sticky dough at the end. Have used 1/4 of water, used specific temp water to adjust for temp in room, allowed for longer fermentation, given more folds. This last time, I was not able to split dough ‘on time’ and let it ferment for 2 hrs longer, which allowed it to rise much more, but still sticky. Any suggestions?
Hi!! I’m in Florida, any recommendations on how much water to cut back on?
I used this recipe for my first attempt at high hydration sd bread and it came out great! My only question is, should I take my loaf out of the oven once it hits 210°? Mine was 212 at the 30 minute mark. Thanks so much for a wonderful recipe and your feedback.
Hi, stupid question, sorry in advance. What is 30g ripe sourdough starter?
Where do I buy that or how do I make it?
Sourdough starter is a mixture of flour and water that has been left to ferment, which provides the leavening for the bread. It’s a live organism that you “feed” with flour and water periodically to keep the yeast and bacteria alive. There are lots of videos online on how to make one! I would assume he has a video on how to make one too, but haven’t looked. Foodbod Sourdough has helpful videos on how to do it, too.
Hi – I’ve made this recipe a half-dozen times or so and I think my process matches your pictures, but it takes 6-7 hours of bulk fermentation at 86F to get to your pictures. I’m using KA bread flour and only 45g of the 95g during mixing. And, the really weird thing is that when I turn my dough out to shape, it’s so soft and almost foamy? It’s so fluffy, it really doesn’t want to hold a form. Am I over-fermenting? It also takes around 14 hours to cold proof. I’m almost certain the starter/levain is not an issue – always doubles by 4 hours with major activity – 8 months old. I also do an extra set or sometimes two of stretches and it still takes awhile before the dough wants to pull away from the bowl. The oven spring is not enough and the crumb is not as open as yours. Thanks for your advice. It tastes really good though!