I’ve maintained the same sourdough starter for years, refreshing it with 20g ripe starter, 100g flour (usually a mix of 50% white flour and 50% whole rye or 50% freshly milled whole wheat), and 100g water (the amount of ripe starter carried over may fluctuate based on the season) twice a day, every day.
While this maintenance routine means I have a strong and lively starter with enough to fuel my larger bakes here at home, keeping a smaller sourdough starter to reduce waste can make sense for those baking in smaller quantities or during times of conservation. This smaller sourdough starter doesn’t imply it’s any less vigorous or powerful; it’s scaled down and uses only one flour variety: all-purpose white flour.
Before we begin, I’m assuming you already have a strong sourdough starter that’s ripening properly each day. If you don’t have one, head over to my guide to creating a sourdough starter from scratch to get this going first.
This post is full of sourdough starter maintenance advice and I try to keep it practical and approachable. If you need more help with creating, maintaining, or you find yourself scratching your head, my sourdough starter frequently asked questions post is replete with information. Or, check out my list of the top 21 sourdough starter problems (with solutions).
Let’s first look at what container I like to use to keep this mini-starter alive and healthy.
The best jar to hold a sourdough starter
Finding the right container to hold this small starter had me turn to my favorite jar: Weck. If you’re a regular reader here, you’ll find them scattered on just about every page, and for good reason. They make jars of all sizes and even some much smaller than the 1/2 liter or 3/4 liter I use for my usual starter.
The Weck 900 Tall Mold Jar – 1/5 Liter jars are perfect for holding this small starter. You can see above how much smaller these jars are smaller than my usual 3/4 liter jars holding my bigger sourdough starter. Inside the jar on the left, you’ll see the small amount of ripe starter I use to keep my culture going—just 5g (more on this below).
I like these jars because they have relatively straight sides, few nooks and crannies for the dough to get stuck into, and the glass lid can rest lightly on top without sealing clamps. Resting the lid in this way lets any gasses escape but keeps unwanted air and other debris from falling inside the jar. Additionally, they’re incredibly strong and easy to clean in the dishwasher.
Read more about why I think Weck jars are the best jars for a sourdough starter →
Smaller Sourdough Starter Refreshment Recipe
I’ve been testing various quantities for this for a while, and the following smaller sourdough starter has been my preferred ratio of ingredients. To scale down your current starter find a small vessel and add the following to it:
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 5g | Ripe sourdough starter | 20% |
| 25g | Water | 100% |
| 25g | All-purpose white flour | 100% |
I keep this smaller starter on my counter at room temperature, around 70-72°F (21-22°C), and it ripens—meaning, it needs another refreshment of fresh flour and water—in about 12 hours.
Smaller Sourdough Starter Ripening
The following images show the progress of my smaller sourdough starter over the course of 12 hours (my normal refreshment interval) at about 72°F (22°C). Click on the gallery to see larger images.
Beginning: At the far left you see the beginning 5g of ripe starter, 25g flour, and 25g water mixed together—there’s not a lot in the jar! But as you see it progress through the day there’s plenty of activity with sensorial cues for when it’s ready to be used and when it needs a refreshment.
Just Before Peak Ripeness: In the third image from the left my starter is at, or very close to, its peak readiness. This was taken around 10 hours after feeding. This peak is when the starter has ample yeast and bacteria growth and is my preferred time to use some of the starter to create a levain or mix it straight into a dough (like focaccia).
Ready for Refreshment: In the last image, the starter has begun to smell very sour, has a very loose consistency, and has started to breakdown further. If you were to stir it, you’d feel the loose consistency and see signs of significant aeration. If you still wanted to bake with your starter at this point it’s still very possible, but know your result might be a bit more on the sour side, and you might see increased fermentation activity.
Be flexible: adjust the amount of ripe starter carried over to lengthen or shorten the refreshment interval (time between refreshments).
The time it takes for your starter to go from just-refreshed to very ripe will vary with the flour used, temperature, and other conditions—adjust as necessary. If it’s ripening too fast, reduce the 5g left in the jar to even less. Conversely, if it’s taking much longer than 12 hours, leave more than 5g until it ripens right when you want it.
Stretching the Refreshment Interval Even Longer
Reducing a starter down quite low helps conserve flour and reduce waste, but using 100% all-purpose flour also helps reduce activity and keep that lengthy interval. If you’re looking to stretch things even farther, reduce the amount of ripe starter left in the jar at each refreshment, all the way down to 1-2g if necessary. If you find your starter is still ripening too fast, keep it in a cooler spot in your kitchen to reduce activity further.
Scaling up: Preparing for Baking
Due to the small quantity of this starter, if the recipe you’re going to bake requires more starter to create a levain or mix directly into a dough, you’ll have to scale up your starter to cover the requirement. Many of the recipes here at my site require very little starter because I typically create a levain (which essentially scales up the pre-ferment, see more on what a levain is here). But in the case where you need a large pre-ferment, let’s look at an example to see how this is done.
Let’s say you wanted to make my sourdough fougasse, which calls for 173g of ripe sourdough starter. When your smaller sourdough starter is ripe it will produce about 55g of starter. You need to scale up your starter at the next refreshment to cover, let’s say, 190g (this way you have a little leftover starter to keep in the jar to keep your culture going with a little buffer).
Add the following to your starter jar (making sure it will hold 190g without overflowing!):
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 17g | Ripe sourdough starter (carryover) | 20% |
| 85g | Water | 100% |
| 85g | All-purpose white flour | 100% |
The above will yield around 187g of ripe starter after 12 hours kept at room temperature.
The key is to keep the same ratio of ingredients in baker’s percentages: 20% starter, 100% water, and as always, 100% flour. In this way, you should expect the same level of activity, time to ripe, and signs for when it’s ready (assuming you’re using the same flour and it’s kept at the same temperature as before), all the while attempting to keep the same balance of bacteria and wild yeast.
Why Not Use the Refrigerator?
A refrigerator is a great tool for slowing your starter’s activity, and it’s sometimes an approach I’ll take for a week or less, but I don’t like to keep my starter in the fridge longer than a week if I’m not traveling. When I take my starter out of the fridge, it takes a day or two to get back up to full strength, and generally, the health of my starter starts to suffer if left unattended for more than a week.
The benefit of maintaining a smaller sourdough starter is the discard at each refreshment is minimal, and my starter is ready—and at full strength—to make bread every day.
When I turn to the fridge, I use my weekend baking schedule to keep feedings to a minimum during the week, but then take it out a few days before baking to ramp it back up and prepare for baking.
The benefit of maintaining a smaller sourdough starter is the discard at each refreshment is minimal, and my starter is ready—and at full strength—to make bread every day.
Why Maintain a Larger Starter?
So with all this, why would one ever maintain a larger sourdough starter instead of just keeping a smaller one to reduce waste?
Over the years, I’ve found keeping around 200g of starter ready to go at any time ideal for the amount of baking I do here at home. In addition, I regularly make sourdough pancakes, sourdough waffles (see the next section), and even a sourdough galette from time-to-time. Having that excess starter almost always gets used in some way, and if it doesn’t directly go into a baked good, the excess sourdough starter goes in my compost pile.
My typical feeding schedule means my starter is at full power and ready to go when I need it for the amount of baking I typically do—but sometimes scaling things back to “maintenance mode” is the right option to ensure I can still bake but in a reduced capacity.
What to do With Starter Discard?
Maintaining this small sourdough starter means much less discard than maintaining a larger starter, but there will always be some discard. One approach is to save up all this discard in one container in the fridge in what I like to call a sourdough starter cache. Then, use all this at once in a starter discard recipe or my sourdough waffles, pancakes, or banana bread at the end of the week.
What’s Next?
If you haven’t tried my simple weekday sourdough bread that’s the next place to turn; with this starter, you can make two loaves of sourdough during the busy work week without having to scale up the starter refreshments. This smaller sourdough starter maintenance routine and that weekday recipe are an effective team: minimal waste, minimal fuss, and healthy sourdough bread any day of the week.
Happy baking!
If you try this smaller sourdough starter, I’d love to see how you use it! Tag @maurizio on Instagram and hashtag your photo #theperfectloaf so I can take a look.
188 Comments
Would you show or describe how pourable your waffle batter is?
I’ll have to remember to do this! It’s not super loose but not very thick either, somewhere in the middle. I’d say somewhere like honey: it pours eventually, but takes a bit to get moving. I also adjust this based on the flour when making the waffles. The good thing about that batter, though, is the waffle iron will contain just about any viscosity, so there’s room for going more dry or more wet!
Hello!
Not sure if this relates to maintenance, but a couple of weeks ago I put my starter in the fridge for about a week while I was out of town to slow down the the activity. However, I’ve been feeding it daily (twice) and it doesn’t seem to be as active as it was before I put it in the fridge. What can I do to get it to be active again?
It should eventually spring back with regular maintenance. Try adding a bit of rye flour to the feeds for a bit to see if that helps bring it back.
So I’m fairly new to this whole process, so probably a dumb question but here goes. I keep my starter on the counter and feed 2x per day, 12 hour intervals. Typically my maintenance feed is 5g starter, 20 g four (90% Bread Flour, 10% Rye) and 20 g water. When I am ready to make Levain, how do I speed up the “peak” time so that I am not starting my bread in the evening? Thanks in advance!
Maurizio, I hate tossing discard, but my waistline cannot tolerate all the “discard” sweets and crackers. I used to do 3-4 wake up feeds, but even that was hard to remember and wasteful. I find that if I do one wake up feed with a more generous ratio (1:2:2) then I am good to go to make the levain after that. I then refeed what is left in the original jar, let it sit at room temp for 3 or 4 hours, then repeat the next weekend. My starter may not be entirely as active as one fed daily. To compensate I adjust recipes to 20-25% starter and use a proofer set at 78. With that my bulk times are totally comparable to your recipes. I usually do this Friday AM, Make the levain Friday night and mix Saturday AM.
Hello Maurizio. I’ve been reading everything on your blog and it’s been very helpful! Thank you! I’ve been comparing feeding ratios for smaller starters To find what’s best for my schedule and have noticed that while you have 20% starter in a 12 hour refreshment and King Arthur Flour suggest a 100% starter refreshment also every 12 hours. That’s a really big difference, so why do they get refreshed at the same time? Is that because the flour is a mix with whole wheat or rye or because it is building?
Adding whole grains definitely speeds up the fermentation process and, in my experience, necessitates an earlier refreshment. However, it really depends on many conditions in your kitchen, and most importantly, temperature. I keep my starter quite warm (it’s hot here in the desert!) and with only 20% seed, it’s ready to go after about 12 hours, especially when I use 20-50% whole grains in the refreshment regiment.
In the end there’s no right way or wrong way to refresh your starter, you will almost surely need to adjust yours — timing, flour, temperature — to your own kitchen. I think in general most bakers follow a 12 or 24 hour refreshment cycle, this is convenient for home bakers especially, so the key is to begin refreshing your starter and adjust as necessary for your kitchen. If you find it’s too ripe and broken down after 12 hours, reduce the seed or keep it cooler, and conversely, if it’s not ripe enough after 12 hours, keep more seed around or keep it warmer.
Maurizio, pardon a dumb question. I really like this concept of maintaining a small starter. Can I maintain a small starter and at the same time follow your Weekend Baking Schedule? In other words, is it ok to keep such a small quantity of starter in the refrigerator from Sunday to Thursday? Do I continue to use the same small quantity 5:25:25 when refreshing the starter Thursday night or should I size up as in 10:50:50 or 20:100:100? Thanks in advance.
Not a dumb question at all. If I were refrigerating my starter, I’d likely keep a bit more in the fridge just as insurance — especially since you won’t be refreshing it during that time, it won’t be a waste of flour. You don’t have to size up when coming back to the counter, just be sure you see signs of fermentation in the mixture when you go to refresh.
My start is consistently growing in size every feeding (usually 3x) – Im wondering how come it does not have the same amount of bubbles and holes on the side of the jar as yours? Some but not as beautifully alive as in the photos above.
Sounds like your starter is working just fine! Each starter will ultimately look different unless the refreshment conditions — especially the flour — are identical. As long as you’re seeing the same consistent signs of fermentation each day you’re starter is all well!
Funny. My started has a LOT of bubbles and air but doesn’t rise as much.
That’s not a problem, it just means it’s likely the flour you’re using isn’t able to take on as much water (which is fine!). If you decrease the water added you’ll see more rise. BUT! That’s not so important, what’s important is to see the same consistent activity each day.
Thank you Maurizio!
I’m new to sourdough I was gifted a starter about 6 weeks ago. It appears very healthy. I have a hard time stretching it out to 12hr feeds even with refrigerated water at 41.5F and all ap flour at the 20% MS 100% AP flour & 100% water. If I reduce to 10% ratio would it stay healthy and strong enough to to levain bread? Or is there some other way to slow it down? Thanks for sharing your knowledge and skills.
I only have bleached AP white flour. Can this be used to feed the starter? Can it be used for baking the sourdough bread?
Hi Pauline,
Although I’m in the UK, (and we use different terminology for flour types from other countries) – I believe that your AP White flour is of a protein level at about or above 11.8% (it should describe this on the side of your flour packaging) – this means it will be absolutely fine for making bread dough. The fact that it’s bleached flour will not make any difference to your ability to use it for a starter, or your finished mixes, (though there are many many different types of flour that you may enjoy experimenting with when we all return to more normal times.
Hope this helps
John
Hi Maurizio, awesome website! My main question: Is keeping your starter at a cooler room temp detrimental to its overall health?
My starter doubles (or a bit more, say 2.5x) predictably every 12 hours with a 1 : 1.5 : 1:5 feeding (I’ve found 1.1.1 peaks to early and 1.2.2 peaks too late for 12 hour feedings). The starter is kept in the kitchen at 19-20C = 66-68F, but drops to about 15C = 59F overnight. I’ve had real issues getting rise from the dough during Bulk fermentation… there’s no way I’m getting a 30% rise, let alone a 50%! (despite using starter/levain at peak, and maintaining bulk Fermentation at 24C), all my loaves have come out underproofed.
Is it a weak starter that’s the issue? Or do I need to be feeding 1:5:5 every 12 hours and keep it in a warm spot to keep it properly healthy?
Hi Laura! I live in the Midwest, where is still pretty cool most nights. I don’t control the temperature of my starter (I don’t have a good spot to keep it warm consistently). I still get a good rise. I will use lukewarm water for my levain & warm water for the dough (I vary the temperature depending on how cool it is in my kitchen). I also keep the dough warm through the bulk fermentation.
How does your starter look & smell at its peak? Are there lots of bubbles? Does it smell yeasty?
If not, you might keep it in the oven with the light on (oven off) for a few days between feedings to see if that makes a difference.
Good luck!
I actually had my first perfect fluffy sourdough yesterday from Maurizio’s Basic sourdough recipe, and only because I pushed bulk fermentation for a full 5.5 hours and had the dough at 24-25 degrees all the way through. So I’ve come to the conclusion that the starter is fine, maybe just needs a bit more time..??
(Originally I was trying to stick to all the temperature vs time guides you see online but it kept coming out under fermented). Now I think I vaguley know what I’m looking for!
Sorry, another question as I read through more: is this starter 100% hydration? For instance, can it be used at the same percentages directly to build the levain in the 50% whole wheat bread, which calls for 100% hydration starter. Thanks!
Hello! Thank you for this website! I discovered your excellent cinnamon roll recipe last fall & have been reading the website ever since!
I’m not exactly a newbie but I am newly interested in the details of hydration levels, etc. And since quarantine has limited my access to a regular supply of flour, I was really excited to try a smaller starter! So, thank you!!
My issue is, since starting to keep a smaller starter, I’ve noticed my starter is tackier & in the past few days it appears to be less active (not as many bubbles). My last loaves were gummier than usual (though pleasantly so) with a softer crust.
I’ve been using the proportions you suggest. I’m thinking I should up the amount of starter I am using (something more than 5 grams) but I’m not sure if that adds hydration or if it will make the starter over-active, if that’s possible.
Previously I had been feeding about 1/2-cup water & 1 cup whole wheat. I’m now using at least half all-purpose.
I’d appreciate any ideas you (or your community) have! Thanks again!
I’ve been playing around & for whatever reason, my small starter is responding better when I start with 10 g of starter, keeping the ratio of flour & water the same (25 g each). It is much less gummy (as is my bread, though I’ve also played with the ratios on the types of flours there).
Also, thanks for the tip on collecting discard in a container in the fridge. It makes excellent waffles & muffins!! So much less pressure to use it up day to day. 😊
I actually LOVE having discard. I bake a lot of treats with it. Mostly sourdough waffles for my ever growing 9 yr old son. He loves them. A batch every few days. I like the baking too with the tang from the sourdough
I’m right there with you 🙂
I’ve totally given up on sourdough starter. I believe my house is poison to it. I’ve tried more than a dozen times and it dies after a few days. I tried various methods, an established baker gave me some of his starter – it died. I once started 3 batches at once, each with different water, flour, ambient temperatures, different feeding regimes. Only one lasted more than 5 days before it gave up. I can bake numerous other kinds of bread almost with my eyes closed but sourdough: no chance. What else can it be but a starter-poisonous house?
there will be a day or so of no action, it almost goes dormant, then livens up again. I could try to help you if you want to try again. Could it be a water issue? I use tap water, but I boil it, and let it cool in a 1 liter glass jar, then I put a lid on it and store it on the floor in the pantry. I usually start mine with a combo of rye, whole wheat and unbleached all purpose flours. It really loves rye……I’ve run out, but my whole wheat/ap seem to be working.
Look for bakeries in your area selling starter. Some are, here, and for a few dollars you get starter that is ready to go.
I am making the beginner sourdough loaf on your site, but halving the recipe for one loaf. When I make the levain, which is a 1:2:2 ratio, would I do it after the 3rd feeding (coming from a refrigerated source)? I know the refreshing ratio for this mini starter is 1:5:5 so in general confused on what the difference in the final product if the levain is built with a 1:2:2 ratio vs 1:5:5.
Hey, Erin! You can switch to whatever flour you’d like, really. You can do it over the course of a few feedings or do it all in one go, as I likely would. If you want to feed less, keep less of the starter in the jar each time you feed, this will lengthen the timeline. Hope that helps!
Is it OK to use a jar that seals completely, air tight?
Hi Dave,
I’d strongly suggest that you do not tighten the lid, as the bacterial process gives off a number of natural gasses, and if the jar is sealed it would slow down the fermentation (which makes the whole exercise pointless of course!), and build up a pressure in the jar, creating a very slight risk of breakage.
What you could do if the jar is one you wish to use, is simply lay the lid loosely on the top, or instead, cover the jar with a piece of light cloth (such as muslin or cotton) held on with an elastic band
As @John said below, I wouldn’t suggest closing tightly. Just lay the lid on top so air (and other stuff) cant get in, but gasses generated through fermentation can still escape.
Is it better to keep the same jar for the starter or to carry over to a new jar each time? I find that weighing, say, 20g is easier if I just carry this to a new jar, but I suspect that there’s more residual bacteria that would make for an overall stronger starter if I keep the same jar going and leave the right amount in it, rather than take the right amount from it. Are my suspicions right or no difference?
I actually have the same question. I’ve always used a clean bowl to mix and then a clean jar to incubate for each and every feed, but I just read that for the first time in Maurizio’s FAQ. But it does make perfect sense to use the same container to take advantage of the wild yeasts in the jar. I’m even thinking that at least keeping the same lid (when the jar gets too messy and needs to be changed) would help. I’m going to try using the same jar and lid for awhile. But I need to use a bowl to mix, so I’m thinking that the process is: take from the jar the amount of starter needed, put in a bowl and mix the refreshed starter; remove the remaining starter from the jar (except for a little residue? he refers to refers to residual starter, so not sure if the intent is to leave some residue behind) and either use remainder for bread or discard; put the newly mixed refreshed starter in the original jar; and scrape down any residue left to meet up with the refreshed starter. Hopefully I understand this process correctly? (Note: The reason that I need to mix in a separate bowl is that I made a dough-like (vs wet) starter using 60g einkorn and 30g water.)
What did you read in the FAQ? The practice of using a clean bowl or vessel each time? For me, at some point the inevitable residual starter on the sides higher up in the jar (either from scooping out or stirring) may be more of an detriment as it may not be a positive contribution. I don’t know. For me it’s also the additional washing up of using extra vessels. But if I take the starter jar and remove the weight required to leave, say 20g, I don’t have enough in one place that can be easily incorporated into the refreshment with new flour and water as well as if i start it in a whole new jar. But maybe there is bacteria enough in that residue and “air” of the jar that renders it more beneficial than to start in a brand new jar each time. I must say, I haven’t noticed a major difference, but then I don’t know what’s really going on behind the scenes. I suspect the same jar and lid method creates a more robust starter over time, but I’d be interest to see what the more experienced bakers think! Thanks, Ginger.
I just read the FAQ so ignore that bit!
Hi Maurizio! I’m only on day 5 of my sourdough starter and I’m about to refresh it. I’d like to use the discarded starter today as an addition to a 100% einkorn whole grain bread made with yeast that I’m about to make. The yeast bread recipe is a Jovial recipe where you start with 236g water, 1 cup of einkorn flour (about 90g), 1 3/4 t yeast and 2 T honey, blend and then rest for 15 mins. Then you add all of the remaining flour and butter and let it rise, then shape and bake. I have 2 questions: 1) Do I need to reduce the amount of water in my yeast mixture to compensate for the wetness of the discarded starter? 2) When do I add the starter — I’m assuming when I make the wet yeast mixture right, just like I would do for a levain (except that this is like a fast track levain at only 15 mins). 3) How much discarded starter can i use in it — all of it, hopefully? (The starter is the recommended 60g flour/30g water, less about 14g of starter that I’ll use for refreshing and also less the grey layer on top.)
When you bake a bread, do you use the sour dough right after feeding or before feeding?
Also, if I wanted to start my sour dough from scratch and make a small one could i just cut all the ingredients by 1/3 from your original sour dough starter recipe?
Hi Maurizio!
This quarantine (& your website!) have been great for my Sourdough education! I wanted to ask about the scale up side of this post – if hypotethically you need to scale up by more starter than you have available, would you just repeat this process with the relevant amounts over 2 days, maintaining the right ratios each time?
Hello Maurizio-
I have been feeding my sourdough one time daily with the formula of 100 g of flour (75 g AP, 25 g whole wheat), 100 g of water, 50 g starter. Do you think I would get a better results if I went to the smaller feeding that you described above and fed it twice a day? Normally twice a day would be too much of a commitment for me, but I am working from home these days. Thanks for any guidance you can provide!
Good call, will do this!
Exactly the info I need! One question, though. Are the proportions you list above good for any mature starter, or are they specific to the starter you have on this website? Thanks in advance!
They’re just fine for any starter, really! The important thing will be the flour you’re using for refreshments, though. If you’re using more whole grains you’ll likely have to adjust things because it’ll need a refreshment sooner.
As a newbie, curious about the ratios to maintain an active starter. I have been using the ratio of 1:1:1 – 20g starter, 20g flour mix (1/2 bread flour, 1/4 wheat flour and 1/4 rye), and 20g room temp water. I usually refresh 2-3 times a day. Is there any reason to move to a different ratio if I just want to bake 2-4 loaves a week?
Hi Judy – Like you, I bake about 4 loaves per week, I also use the same ratio of 1:1:1 (x.g of each starter, flours, water)
I also refresh my starter 3 times per 24 hours, and this way I maintain a wonderfully active starter.
It does mean, of course, that every time I refresh – I discard 2/3rds of ‘old’ starter). (until I start building a levain of course)
I actually work with 15gm weights in my ratio – (I have found that less than this is just too fiddly!) – I’ve also worked with 50gm portion weights, and found the resulting starter no more effective.
I can see no benefit of working to a different ratio, for the importance of the requirement of fresh ‘food’ (flour) for the starter does not diminish because of the number of loaves you intend to bake.
You could keep your starter in a refrigerator, and thus slow the fermentation, but I have found that it takes two days at room temperature at least to bring the starter back to a reasonable activity – and as I bake at least twice per week, there’s absolutely no advantage for me to do so.
Does that answer your question?
Yes! Thank you so much!
Good advice from @disqus_FPNWkRuGEf:disqus , below!
I bake 4 loaves daily Tuesday thru Saturday, and make dough Monday thru Friday. In my 4 loaves I use 400 grams of starter. So, in the morning I feed my starter 200 grams of water and 200 grams of flour. It takes about 5 hours to double in size. After removing the stater for todays dough making, I leave the jar alone on the counter until tomorrow morning when again I add 200 grams flour and 200 grams of water. Each day after removing 400 grams of starter, about 50 – 100 grams of starter remain in the jar.
Hey Ronnie, I can’t help but ask – what do you do with four loaves of bread a day? Also, how do you bake 4…one at a time or more than one? I’m fascinated!
I give the loaves to neighbors. I bake two at a time. I have two lodge dutch ovens. I bake the bread with lid on for 30 minutes at 450′, and 8 minutes at 400′ with lid off. The bread comes out between 200′ – 205′, and slightly deep golden brown.
That’s awesome! They must really love it. Thank you for the degrees and times! I am excited about my next loaves and the tinkering (#3 & 4, haha just starting here). The last two were a bit damp. Dialing back the water this time.