I was intimidated to make my first loaf of sourdough bread. I’d heard others talk about flat and dense loaves—dough that never rose. It wasn’t until I read a sourdough book cover to cover and painted it with post-it notes, highlights, and dog-eared pages that I felt ready to put my newborn sourdough starter to work. I bought flour. I filtered water. I measured. I mixed and kneaded. I folded ever-so-gently while I held my bread until, hours later, I pulled my first sourdough from the oven.
I had my wife taste it. “Pretty good,” she said. “Yeah, pretty good bread.” Only later did she fess up that it was “actually just okay, to be honest.” But all-in-all the bread had a nice rise, a crunchy and well-colored crust, and it did taste great considering it was my first loaf of any kind of bread. And you know what? We ate the entire thing.
This Beginner’s Sourdough Bread post has several videos where I walk you through each step of the sourdough bread-making process. Be sure to see the end for a complete video walkthrough of me making this recipe!
As the new obsession set in, I started making fresh sourdough bread for every meal. There was something about the whole bread-making process that I found captivating. It was–and still is–exciting to mix such elemental ingredients and to see them produce beautiful, life-giving sustenance: it is modern-day alchemy. It’s such a simple thing, and yet it brought me so much joy to see my family and friends tear into a freshly baked loaf that I wanted to bake every day of every week.
This recipe will give you confidence as you take your first steps in baking sourdough bread from your home kitchen.
Starting to make your first loaf of sourdough bread can be daunting. That’s why I’ve put together this beginner’s sourdough bread tutorial and recipe—it will give you confidence as you take your first steps in baking sourdough bread from your home kitchen. This how-to guide starts with explaining baking terms and definitions so that we will have a common vocabulary once we get to the recipe.
And then, each step of the process has lots of information to ensure you understand what is happening and what to do. But, before we go on this beginner’s sourdough bread recipe, let’s first take a look at what sourdough bread is.
What is Sourdough Bread?
Sourdough is a specific type of bread created through a natural fermentation process involving suitable bacteria and wild yeasts in the environment (i.e., the air and even a baker’s hands) and, most importantly, on the grain itself. A sourdough starter culture is used to seed fermentation in new dough when making sourdough bread.
Generally speaking, bacteria are primarily responsible for producing organic acids (lactic acid and acetic acid) that contribute to sourdough bread’s flavor, texture, and storage qualities. The wild yeasts produce carbon dioxide gas and ethanol during fermentation. When this gas becomes trapped in the dough’s airtight gluten matrix, the dough begins to rise, resulting in a final loaf of bread with a light and airy texture.
All recipes on The Perfect Loaf are naturally leavened; in other words, you won’t find any commercial yeast or instant yeast here. There’s nothing inherently wrong with commercial yeast, but I prefer to make bread this way because of the wonderful flavor and texture, the health benefits like increased bioavailability of minerals and nutrients, increased keeping quality thanks to the acids generated during natural fermentation, and the fact that it requires so few ingredients (just three!) to make something so delicious.
For a high-level look at each step of the sourdough process, read through the Beginner’s Guide to Sourdough Bread →
Creating a Sourdough Starter
It all begins with a sourdough starter. Before we look at how to make sourdough bread, you need to create a healthy sourdough starter that shows consistent signs of fermentation each day. Creating a sourdough starter is easy: mix flour and water for a few days in succession, and eventually, thanks to the bacteria and wild yeasts on the grain, natural fermentation will begin.
If you’d like to look at how I feed my starter daily, look at my sourdough starter maintenance routine. In this guide, you will see the visual and aromatic cues to look for when your starter is ready for refreshment (feeding).
While waiting for your sourdough starter, let’s look at some terms bakers often use to discuss the various parts of the bread-making process.
Baker’s Terminology
Sourdough starter
A starter is a mixture of flour and water you allow to ferment naturally. You’ll refresh (feed) the starter indefinitely to keep the fermentation active and healthy, and you will wait for it to become fully ripe before you use any of it to make bread.
When you want to make bread, you take a small amount of your starter to create an off-shoot called a levain (see below). See my post on starter creation to read more about the starter and learn how to make one.
Levain (or leaven)
A levain is made by mixing a small off-shoot of your ripe starter with water and flour and allowing it to ferment before mixing it into a dough. You can always use your starter directly to make sourdough bread, but a levain is a small off-shoot that allows you to adjust the flour, hydration, and ripening schedule (which have implications on the bacteria and wild yeast balance).
Also, unlike your sourdough starter, which lives on as its own entity, the entirety of the levain goes into the dough and has the same fate as the bread itself: to be baked in the oven. See my post on what a levain is and how it’s different from a sourdough starter for more information.
Autolyse
Some recipes utilize a step called autolyse (“auto-lease”). It occurs at the beginning of bread baking and is a step in which only flour and water are mixed together and left to rest. The goal of autolyse is to initiate enzymatic activity in the dough to help draw out sugars from the flour. Additionally, it helps increase dough extensibility (the ability for the dough to stretch out without tearing).
In most cases, increased extensibility is good as it helps the dough expand and fill with gasses, resulting in a light and airy loaf. See my in-depth post on the autolyse technique for more information.
Bulk fermentation
The dough’s first rise is called bulk fermentation. After mixing the flour, salt, and levain into a dough, you put it all into a bowl or container, cover it, and let it rest. The dough will undergo a fermentation process during this critical step. Bacteria and yeast begin to generate organic acids and alcohols and leaven the dough, which will translate to flavor and rise in your final bread.
For more on this critical step in the bread-making process, see my in-depth guide to bulk fermentation.
Proofing
The proof is the dough’s final, or second, rise after the dough has been divided and shaped and lasts until the dough is finally baked in the oven. During this time, the dough continues to ferment, further strengthening and leavening it. I typically proof at a cold temperature in the refrigerator (also called “retarding”).
In my ultimate guide to proofing, I talk about how to spot when the dough is finished rising and ready to bake, plus a whole lot more.
Final Dough Temperature
The final dough temperature (FDT) is the dough’s temperature after mixing all ingredients. The dough’s temperature is important because it’s the main factor that affects fermentation strength: a warmer dough will ferment faster than a cooler dough.
Naturally, each component (levain, the flour, the water, and the ambient environment) has a temperature. While most of these are out of our control, we can easily adjust the water temperature, which enables us to change the FDT of the entire dough to meet whatever the recipe calls for.
I have a handy water temperature calculator you can use to quickly figure out what you need to warm or cool your mixing water to get the dough to the right temperature.
Or, so you don’t have to do any calculations, here’s a quick cheat sheet for this Beginner’s Sourdough bread recipe:
| If your kitchen temperature is | Warm or cool the mixing water to |
|---|---|
| 68°F (20°C) | 98°F (37°C) |
| 70°F (21°C) | 94°F (34°C) |
| 72°F (22°C) | 90°F (32°C) |
| 74°F (23°C) | 86°F (30°C) |
| 76°F (24°C) | 82°F (28°C) |
| 78°F (25°C) | 78°F (25°C) |
| 80°F (26°C) | 74°F (23°C) |
If your kitchen is outside of these temperatures, my guide on the importance of dough temperature in baking will walk you through calculating exactly what to warm (or cool) your mixing water to so your dough meets the FDT for any recipe.
Baker’s Percentages (Baker’s Math)
Baker’s math, or baker’s percentages, helps bakers adjust the actual quantity of the ingredients up or down, depending on how much bread they want to make. I write all the formulas on The Perfect Loaf in baker’s percentages, where all ingredient weights are a percentage of the total flour weight, which always adds up to 100%. Read through my introduction to baker’s percentages for a more in-depth explanation (including how to scale up and down a bread recipe).
TPL Members (the baking community here) have access to all the recipes here at The Perfect Loaf in spreadsheet form, making scaling up and down recipes as simple as changing a few numbers.
Baking Tools
There are a few necessary tools for baking your first loaf of this beginner’s sourdough bread. The following might look like a long list, but you probably already have many of these in your kitchen—There are a few tools necessary for baking this beginner’s sourdough bread. Note that one item is absolutely necessary: a kitchen scale. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, please consider buying one. Measuring flour with cups and scoops is entirely inaccurate!
- combo cooker like a Lodge 3qt. cast iron combo cooker or a Le Creuset Dutch oven that can withstand 500°F (260°C) in the oven and has a well-sealing lid
- large mixing bowl to mix your dough by hand
- two medium kitchen bowls to proof your dough
- two kitchen towels or a tea towel to line the proofing bowls
- bench knife to cut and shape the dough
- plastic or silicone bowl scraper
- kitchen scale that measures in grams
- instant-read thermometer
- white rice flour for dusting proofing bowl
- blade for scoring your dough (a “lame”), or a razor blade, sharp knife, or scissors
- fine-grain sea salt
- parchment paper
- pizza peel (or cutting board)
- heavy duty oven mitt
- the best bread knife for cutting your sourdough bread
You can find a full list of all the tools I use when baking on my baking tools page.
The Importance of Dough Temperature
When I first started baking, I didn’t quite grasp how important temperature is in the bread-making process. I always like to say: Treat temperature as an ingredient, just as flour, water, and salt are ingredients. What I mean by that, practically, is that if one day you mix with water that is 70°F (21°C) and then a week later mix with water that is 80°F (26°C), you will get drastically different outcomes.
Temperature determines the amount of fermentation activity you’ll see. Lower temperatures generally mean less activity; therefore, things will take longer. Higher temperatures generally mean more activity; therefore, things will take less time. Working with consistent temperatures will ensure consistency in your bread baking, and you’ll get the desired results in terms of flavor, rise, texture–well, everything.
Treat temperature as an ingredient, just as flour, water, and salt are ingredients.
If it’s cold where you’re baking, see my tips on how to bake sourdough bread in the winter. And conversely, if it’s warm where you are, see my post on how to bake in the summer. These guides will help ensure your loaves have the best flavor and volume.
Flour For Baking Bread
I used commonly available supermarket flour for this recipe: Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour, Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour, and Bob’s Red Mill or Arrowhead Dark Rye Flour. These are great flour choices, but any of King Arthur’s offerings are equally suitable. I chose “bread flour” as it has a higher protein percentage than all-purpose flour, which helps bring significant strength to the dough so that less mixing and kneading is required–it also makes things a bit easier for your first loaf of bread.
As you’ll hear me mention throughout this site, I do like to use as little high-protein flour in my recipes as possible as I find it leads to a slightly chewier, gummy interior—or be sure to use it in the correct way.
Baking Schedule
This beginner’s sourdough bread is a two-day-long process where the bread is mixed and prepared on day one, cold-proofed (retarded) in the fridge overnight, then baked on day two.
I love the convenience of this type of schedule: most of the work is done on the first day, then the dough can be left in the fridge until the next day, when it can be baked in the morning, afternoon, or even the evening.
The baking schedule to the right shows you a high-level view of what step takes place and when.
Beginner’s Sourdough Bread Formula
Now we get to the formula for the beginner’s sourdough bread formula. I start every recipe with two tables: Vitals and Total Formula. The Vitals table gives you a high-level view of the contents of the dough, as well as how much the recipe makes (in this case, two loaves). The Total Formula table lists the ingredients needed for the entire recipe and their respective amounts.
Vitals
| Total Dough Weight | 1,800 grams |
| Pre-fermented Flour | 7.5% |
| Levain in final dough | 20.3% |
| Hydration | 72.0% |
| Yield | Two loaves |
Total Formula
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 811g | Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour | 80.0% |
| 152g | Bob’s Red Mill Stoneground Whole Wheat Flour | 15.0% |
| 51g | Bob’s Red Mill Dark Rye Flour | 5.0% |
| 730g | Water | 72.0% |
| 18g | Fine sea salt | 1.8% |
| 38g | Ripe sourdough starter, 100% hydration | 3.8% |
Beginner’s Sourdough Bread Method
1. Levain – 8:00 a.m.
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 38g | Ripe sourdough starter (100% hydration) | 50.0% |
| 38g | Bob’s Red Mill Stoneground Whole Wheat | 50.0% |
| 38g | Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour | 50.0% |
| 76g | Water | 100.0% |
Remember: the levain is an off-shoot of your continually maintained sourdough starter and is likewise composed of bacteria and yeasts. You make this levain well before you mix the dough, so it has time to ferment, and eventually, it’s added to the dough to seed fermentation.
Mix the ingredients in the table above in a clean jar (I use the same sourdough starter jars) and leave it at warm room temperature, 74-76°F (23-24°C), for 5 to 6 hours. When it’s ready, it will be expanded, bubbly on top, inside, and at the sides, and have a slightly sour aroma. The photo below shows my levain before it goes into my dough mix.
2. Autolyse – 12:00 p.m.
| Weight | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 773g | Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour |
| 114g | Bob’s Red Mill Stoneground Whole Wheat Flour |
| 51g | Bob’s Red Mill Dark Rye Flour |
| 603g | Water (this has 50g less than the overall formula, reserved for Mix step below) |
The desired dough temperature (DDT) for this dough is 78°F (25°C). As described in the temperature section above, we will try to get the dough to this temperature right at the end of mixing (which is also at the beginning of bulk fermentation).
Warm or cool the autolyse water so the mixed dough reaches the FDT for this recipe. Place the flour and the water called for in the table above in a large bowl. Use wet hands to mix until no dry bits remain; the dough will be shaggy and loose. Use a bowl scraper to scrape down the sides of the bowl, keeping all the dough in one area at the bottom. Cover the bowl and place it near your levain for 1 hour.
Note that the autolyse stage does not incorporate salt or the levain in any way since the autolyse is a long one hour. Adding the levain to the autolyse would mean fermentation would begin, which could end up overproofing the dough. Salt is rarely added to an autolyse because the salt would diminish enzymatic activity during this time, which is precisely why we are doing an autolyse. The autolyse and levain are two separate entities that will be mixed together later in the process.
3. Mix – 1:00 p.m.
| Weight | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 50g | Reserved water (this water was held back in the Autolyse step) |
| 18g | Fine sea salt |
| 190g | Ripe, 100% hydration levain (from Levain, above) |
Use your instant-read thermometer to take the dough’s temperature and compare it to the FDT for this recipe. If it is higher, use cold water for the reserved water; if it is lower, use warm water.
At this point, your autolyse is complete and your levain is ready—it’s time to mix and strengthen the dough. If the dough feels very wet and shaggy, do not use all of the reserved 50g of water; use only a splash to help incorporate the salt and levain. If the dough feels good to you, use all the reserved water.
To the autolyse, add the ingredients in the table above (salt, reserved water to help adjust dough hydration and consistency, and levain). I like to spread everything on top of the dough and use wet hands to pinch all the ingredients together. Transfer the dough to a container or thick-walled bowl for bulk fermentation.
Take the temperature of the dough to get your final dough temperature. If your FDT is below 78°F (25°C), next time use warmer water, and conversely, if it’s above 78°F (25°C), use cooler water. Cover the dough.
4. Bulk Fermentation – 1:10 p.m. to 5:10 p.m.
At 74-76°F (23-24°C) ambient temperature, bulk fermentation should go for about 4 hours. Perform 3 sets of stretches and folds during bulk fermentation, spaced out by 30 minutes.
Each set of stretches and folds consists of 4 folds: one each at the North, South, East, and West sides. Wet your hands with a little water to prevent sticking, and then lift one side (North) of the dough with two hands. Stretch the dough high enough so you can fold it completely over to the other side. Rotate the bowl 180° and do the other side (South). Finish the other two sides (East and West) to complete the set. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes, covered, between sets.
In the video below, you can see how I stretch and fold this dough during bulk fermentation.
After the third set of stretch and folds, let the dough rest for the remainder of bulk fermentation. During this time, fermentation aerates the dough (making it rise), continues to strengthen it, and further develops its flavor.
At the end of bulk fermentation, your dough should have risen by 20% to 50%. It should show some bubbles on the top and sides, and the edge of the dough where it meets the bowl should be slightly domed, which indicates strength. In the photo above, you can see all these signs. If you don’t see these signs, leave it for another 15 minutes in bulk fermentation and check again.
5. Divide and preshape – 5:15 p.m.
Lightly flour a work surface. Using a bowl scraper, gently scrape the dough onto the work surface and use your bench knife to divide the dough directly in half. Using your bench knife in your dominant hand, and the other hand wet (or floured, if you prefer) to reduce sticking, turn each half of the dough on the counter while lightly pulling the dough towards you. This gentle turning and pulling motion will develop tension on the dough’s top, forming a circle.
Preshaping bread dough is an often overlooked step, but it sets the stage for successful shaping later. See my guide to preshaping bread dough for more information.
Let the dough rest for 25 minutes, uncovered.
In the video below, you can see how I preshape this beginner’s sourdough bread dough:
6. Shape – 5:35 p.m.
If you’re new to shaping bread dough, check out my guide to shaping a boule (a round) in addition to the steps below.
Lightly flour the top of your dough rounds and the work surface. Working with one round at a time, flip the round so the floured top is now down on the floured work surface.
As seen in the image below, with lightly floured hands, grab the bottom of the round and stretch it lightly downward towards your body, and then up and over about 2/3 of the way to the top.
Then, grab the left and right sides of the dough and stretch them away from each other. Fold one side over toward the other and repeat with the other side.
Then, grab the top of the circle, stretch it away from your body, and then fold it down to the bottom of the dough. You’ll now have a tight package that resembles a letter.
Finally, flip or roll down the dough so the seams are all on the bottom. Using both hands, cup the top part of the round and drag the dough gently towards your body to create surface tension on the dough. The angle of your hands will gently press the dough’s bottom on the counter. This dragging helps create surface tension on the dough, which helps keep it in shape during proofing.
Let the dough rest on the bench for a few minutes to help the bottom seam seal.
In the video below, you can see how I shape bread dough into a boule shape.
Meanwhile, prepare your proofing baskets. Line two proofing baskets, kitchen bowls, or bannetons with clean kitchen towels. Dust lightly and evenly with plain white flour or white rice flour. Gently transfer each piece of shaped dough to a proofing basket, seam-side-up.
You can also top this dough with sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pepitas, and much more—see my guide to topping bread dough for more ideas and instructions.
7. Rest and proof – 5:40 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. (next day)
To prevent your dough from drying out overnight, place your bowls containing your shaped dough into reusable plastic bags and seal. I usually puff up the plastic bag around the bowl by opening it wide and then quickly closing it.
Let the dough rest on the counter for 20 minutes. Then, retard (a baker’s term meaning place into a cold area to proof) in the refrigerator at 38°F (3°C) for 16 hours (overnight).
During this time, overall fermentation will slow (especially yeast activity), but bacterial activity will continue at a reduced rate, resulting in a more complex flavor and, ultimately, deeper crust coloring.
8. Bake – Next morning: preheat oven at 8:30 a.m., bake at 9:30 a.m.
Now, it’s time to bake your sourdough bread. It’s not a difficult step, but there are some things to know. The oven needs steam for the best crust and tallest rise. I like to use a Dutch oven or combo cooker, which is very easy. These pots trap the steam released from the dough and provide the right environment for it to rise optimally.
See my full guide to baking sourdough bread for tips on scoring your dough, pots, and steaming.
Place an oven rack in the bottom third of the oven with no rack above it. Put your combo cooker or Dutch oven on the oven rack, and preheat the oven to 450°F (232°C) for at least 30 minutes. If you’re using a combo cooker, place the shallow side face up on one side and the heavier, deep side face down on the other.
When your oven is preheated, remove one of the proofing baskets from the fridge, uncover it, and place a piece of parchment paper over it. Place a pizza peel, cutting board, or inverted baking sheet on top of the parchment and, using both hands, flip everything over. Gently remove the basket; your dough should rest on the parchment.
Using a razor blade, sharp knife, or baker’s lame, score the dough at a 90° angle between the blade and the dough. I chose to make a “box” pattern. If using scissors, snip the dough a few times at a very shallow angle between the scissors and the dough, forming a set of ridges down the dough’s center.
While wearing your heavy-duty oven mitt, and with caution, pull out your shallow side of the combo cooker and place it on a heat-safe rack or stovetop. Slide the dough into the combo cooker or Dutch oven. Place it back into the oven and cover the shallow side with the deep side, or put the lid on the Dutch oven. This sealed environment helps trap the moisture (escaping steam) from your dough to steam the loaf exterior as it bakes, which encourages maximal rise and a crunchy, shiny crust.
Bake for 20 minutes. Vent the oven of steam: use your oven mitt to very carefully remove the top of the combo cooker or Dutch oven. Leave the large side of the combo cooker in the oven to the side. Close the oven door and bake for 30 minutes more. When done, the loaf should have an internal temperature of around 208°F (97°C), and the crust should be a deep mahogany color and crackle/crunch when squeezed.
Use your oven mitt to transfer the bread to a wire rack carefully. Cool for 1 to 2 hours before slicing into your beginner’s sourdough bread. For the second loaf, preheat the combo cooker or Dutch oven for 15 minutes and repeat.
Follow my guide to storing bread to keep your loaves fresh for as long as possible.
Once you get the hang of this beginner’s sourdough bread process and formula, you can endlessly modify it with add-ins like walnuts, cranberries, seeds, and a host of other ingredients bound only by your imagination. But the most important thing is to bake and have fun. Remember that sometimes bread doesn’t come out as you intended–but stick with it, and you’ll be rewarded time and time again.
And of course, buon appetito!
Watch me make this Beginner’s Sourdough Bread from start to finish
In my YouTube video below, you can see how I make my Beginner’s Sourdough Bread, from creating the levain to slicing the final loaves.
Beginner’s Sourdough Bread Recipe
- Prep Time: 23 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 24 hours
- Yield: 2 loaves
- Category: Main course
- Cuisine: American
Description
The perfect bread to get started baking sourdough bread at home. This crusty, crunchy, and absolutely delicious loaf of bread is perfect for any lunch or dinner table.
Ingredients
Levain
- 38 grams stoneground whole wheat flour
- 38 grams bread flour
- 76 grams water
- 38 grams ripe sourdough starter
Main dough
- 773 grams bread flour
- 114 grams whole wheat flour
- 51 grams whole grain rye flour
- 653 grams water
- 18 grams fine sea salt
Instructions
- Levain (8:00 a.m.)
In a small container, mix the levain ingredients and keep at 74-76°F (23-24°C) for 5 to 6 hours. - Autolyse (12:00 p.m)
In a medium mixing bowl, mix the flour and 603 grams of water (reserve 50 grams until the next step). Cover and let rest for 1 hour. - Mix (1:00 p.m.)
To the mixing bowl holding your dough, add the salt, ripe levain (from step 1), and reserved 50 grams water. Mix by hand or with a dough whisk until incorporated. Transfer your dough to a bulk fermentation container and cover. - Bulk Fermentation (1:10 p.m. to 5:10 p.m.)
Give the dough 3 sets of stretch and folds at 30-minute intervals, where the first set starts 30 minutes after the start of bulk fermentation. - Divide and Preshape (5:10 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 25 minutes, uncovered. - Shape (5:35 p.m.)
Shape the dough into a round (boule) or oval (batard)—place in proofing baskets. - Rest and Proof (5:40 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. the next day)
Cover proofing baskets with reusable plastic and seal shut. Let the dough sit out on the counter for 20 minutes. Then, place both baskets into the refrigerator and proof overnight. - Bake (Preheat oven at 8:30 a.m., bake at 9:30 a.m.)
Preheat your oven with a combo cooker or Dutch oven inside to 450°F (230°C). When the oven is preheated, remove your dough from the fridge, score it, and transfer 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 1 to 2 hours on a wire rack before slicing.
Notes
While the recipe calls for 16 hours of total proof time, you could extend this time and bake the loaves in the morning, afternoon, or even the evening on day two. Leave the proofing dough in the fridge until ready to bake.
Beginner’s Sourdough Bread Frequently Asked Questions
Why is sourdough bread good for you?
Sourdough, and its lengthy natural fermentation process, can help break down the gluten in grain, which helps aid in the body’s digestion. Additionally, fermentation helps “unlock” the nutrition inherent in the grain, allowing for better absorption.
Is sourdough bread sour?
Sourdough isn’t super sour in the traditional sense—it’s not sour like taking a bit of a lemon. But it does have tanginess which is the byproduct of lactic acid fermentation. Sourdough bread will have more sourness than one made with 100% commercial yeast due to the acids created by natural fermentation.
How can I make sourdough bread more sour?
To increase the sour flavor of this sourdough bread, add more whole grains (both to your sourdough starter and the dough itself), keep the dough warm (78°F/25°C or warmer), and lengthen the total fermentation time by keeping the dough in the fridge to proof even longer than the 16 hours specified in the recipe—24 hours is a good starting point.
How can I get a more open crumb with my bread?
First, focus on your sourdough starter to get a more open crumb for this sourdough bread: it should be refreshed (fed) often, kept warm, and used when ripe. Next, strengthen the dough sufficiently during mixing and bulk fermentation by using stretches and folds. Finally, your dough must be fully proofed so that when you press a finger into the dough, it slowly springs back about halfway (if it springs back quickly, let it proof longer; if the finger indentation stays, bake immediately).
What’s Next?
After baking this beginner’s sourdough bread, check out my Baking Guides for more in-depth discussions on all parts of the sourdough bread-making process. If you’re looking to add mix-ins to your bread, have a look at my walnut cranberry sourdough bread—it’s one of the most popular recipes here at The Perfect Loaf—and for good reason! Or, have a look at my Simple Weekday Sourdough Bread for a way to squeeze sourdough bread baking into a busy workday.
Finally, now that you have your sourdough starter bubbling away on your counter check out my sourdough starter discard recipes for ideas on how to use leftovers!
3,336 Comments
I made the this recipe (sort of). I only had King Arthur unbleached AP flour, so I used just that, no whole wheat or rye. The dough was super wet and almost impossible to handle. Shaping didn’t go well and the loaves were flat blobs when I took them out of the fridge in the morning. Next time, how much water should I cut out if I’m going white flour only?
Yes, the white flour would not absorb the same about as the whole grain flours. However, it might also be too much water in general depending on your climate. I’d reduce hydration by 10% (627g water instead of 691g) and see if that helps the next attempt. From there you can (if you want) slowly increase the water if it feels like the flour can handle the increase.
Hi Maurizio, thanks again for this great recipe! My dough was going exactly as pictured until bulk fermentation overnight. The next morning when I took them out of the fridge, they hadn’t risen as much, and when I scored, there were only 1 or 2 bubbles- not the network of bubbles that is pictured in yours. Where did I go wrong?
You’re welcome! I’m assuming you mean “proof” overnight and not “bulk fermentation,” but it sounds like your dough might have have had sufficient fermentation. Make sure during bulk fermentation your dough is kept warm and at the temperature I specify above (the “final dough temperature”), if it’s cooler than specified you might need to extend bulk fermentation until the dough looks, and feels, ready. Use my pictures and description above as a guidepost for when it’s time to divide the dough — give it the time it needs!
Let me know how it goes, hope that helps!
Hi Maurizio, just wanted to say thank you for this blog! I’m a home baker in Brussels, Belgium. I used your starter guide and after patiently feeding my new starter for two weeks I followed this recipe for my two first ever sourdough loaves. The dough was wetter than in your photos and more difficult to shape, but the breads still came out amazing – outstanding crust, fairly open and super moist crumb, wonderfully rich flavour. I am pinching myself in disbelief that I achieved this on my very first try, and a whole lot of the credit goes to you. Thank you so so much!
You’re very welcome, Ivana! I’m happy to hear about your awesome bake, even if the dough was a bit challenging to handle (reduce hydration a tad next time, it’ll help for sure!).
Thanks again and happy baking!
I followed your instructions for the sourdough starter and tried it out by baking this bread this weekend. It is delicious! The flavor, the crust, everything…it is fantastic. Thanks for a great recipe!
Thanks so much for the feedback Elizabeth, really glad to hear this!! Happy baking 🙂
Hi Maurizio, I am so glad that I found your site and have begun my sourdough baking journey. I followed the beginner sourdough recipe & got good results on my 3rd attempt . I have been following the directions that yield 2 loaves. I want to make just one and in the instructions – it says to ” use the same amount for Levain build up ” even when halving the dough quantity for one loaf. I am bit confused . For the final dough build – should I use the entire leaven build up i.e. 184 g or half of that. Thanks in advance.
Glad to hear that Deepa! What I mean is to make the levain as it’s listed here, even if you are halving the rest of the recipe. However, when you go to actually do the Dough Mix only include half of the levain, or 92g (184g / 2). The reason is the levain build is already a pretty small amount, it helps sometimes to still build the full amount even if we only end up using half in the Dough Mix.
Hope that helps!
Thank you so much for the quick reply. My family has been eating too much bread for the past few weeks 🙂 and offshoots of discard starter. The pancake recipe that you shared worked very well. Thanks
You’re welcome! And that’s definitely a good problem to have 🙂
Hi Maurizio, thanks so much for all the great tips on your blog! I’ve made you’re beginner sourdough a few times now and I’ve been overall very happy with the results. My crust however is a little thicker than I would like, and gets a little black on the bottom. Do you have any tips for getting a softer/lighter crust? Should I bake at a lower temperature? Reduce the size of my loaves? Thanks for the help!
You bet! If you’re using a Dutch oven to bake these I notice I tend to get a tad thicker crust than other steaming techniques. You could try reducing the heat of your oven but baking longer to see if that helps. Also, you could preheat your oven 25ºF lower than my recommendation here and see if that helps further.
Hope that helps!
Hey Maurizio, thanks for your awesome blog. I get pretty good results with the loafs in a round glass cooker that has exactly the same size as my proofing baskets. Yesterday i tried it in a bigger, oval le creuset cooker, but the dough got pretty wide and flat as i put it in there and it didn’t rise as good as in the glass cooker where it has no space to expand. Can you tell me what I can do against the ‘floating away’? Should I bring some tension on the dough again after the cold proof? Thanks and regards from Germany. Stefan
Stefan, it sounds like either your dough doesn’t have enough strength through shaping or it has over proofed. When you do your shaping you really want to make sure you have a nice taut skin on the dough before placing in the proofing basket. This tight skill will help prevent that spreading in the oven the next morning. Over hydration can also cause this, but you’d see signs before: a “soup-like” dough that just doesn’t seem to ever strengthen up.
I’d focus on that shape, get it tight!
Hey Maurizio, thank you for your answer! Tried it again this weekend and again the dough was kind of floating away when I gave it in my cooker. Also there was a lack of oven spring. I folded it every 30 minutes for 4 hours to get the gluten strong and tried to give it as much tension as possible after the shaping.
The dough proofed for 15 hrs in the fridge.. I think this might have been too much and it was just overproofed! Are there other signs to check if this could be right?
Thank you!!
Best
Stefan
It could definitely be over proofed if you felt like the dough was strong enough at shape time. Try to cut back a few hours on that final proof in the fridge and see if that helps — perhaps go down to 12 hours!
I made my first loaves today after struggling to get my starter going for 2 weeks. Here in the Montana mountain valley we live in, my house is just not warm enough, I struggled to find a warm enough place for my starter. I finally placed it under one of my undercounter lights 24 hours a day and it took off beautifully. My ovens have 2 lights in them and they get too hot. My dough was very soft and I was worried when I flipped it out onto the parchment paper, it was so flat looking and I thought I had done something wrong, but after the first 20 minutes of baking it had risen beautifully and was a great hit with my son and husband. Beautiful crust and nice open crumb. My dough did look softer than your pictures, would I need less hydration or more stretch and fold sessions to give it a bit more body? I used a local high protein all purpose flour and whole wheat flour produced and milled by Wheat Montana and Bobs Red Mill Dark Rye. Thanks for your blog, I recently took an artisan bread making class using yeast, but really wanted to try the levain! After I made the levain, I refreshed my starter and put it in the fridge, and made a batch of starter with the leftover for your pancake recipe this morning.
Really glad to hear that! Yes, you could first try reducing hydration 5% and see if that helps. Also, since it’s a little chilly in your place, you might want to also try to keep that dough warm during bulk fermentation. If you have an instant read thermometer (highly recommended!) monitor the dough each time you do a stretch and fold during bulk. You want to really keep that dough warm, it not only helps it rise it also helps build strength (through fermentation).
Hope the pancakes turned out well!!
You can definitely bake without a combo cooker. You could use a Dutch oven if you have one (like a Le Cruset or Staub) or you could also just place the dough on a baking stone and then cover it with a (tall) oven safe roasting pan or bowl. If you simply do not have any way to trap steam like this then you can always just bake without steam — you won’t get the same rise and shiny crust but you’ll still get delicious bread! If you have a hand spray bottle you could periodically spray water into the oven during the first 20 minutes to help things along.
Happy baking!
Good luck!!
Hey Maurizio,
I’ve been making this recipe for the last few months and it’s been great! I was wondering, if I wanted to bake a loaf that was a bit whiter, would I remove the rye and use that same amount of say, AP flour, or add 49g extra bread flour? Thoughts?
Hey! You could definitely sub out the rye for white flour. In fact, you could just change all the flour to white flour if you’d like. Just keep in mind that the lower the percentage of whole grains the less water absorbency there will be and you might have to lengthen each step as white flour typically doesn’t ferment as quickly. Hope that helps!
Oh wow, I didn’t know that the higher the % of whole grains, the higher the water absorbency. Definitely good to know. Maybe I’ll just swap out the 49 grams of rye for white flour. Would you recommend AP or bread flour?
Also, just to note, I love the way this recipe comes out as is, I just wanted to make a whiter bread for Easter to dip in the Sunday gravy with lasagna!
Yes, the extra bran/germ particles in the whole grain flour (these are removed at some percentage with white flour) absorb quite a bit of water. I’d go with AP if you have it, I find this dough pretty strong as-is!
Mmm, sounds delicious to me! Happy Easter 🙂
Awesome, thanks for much for the quick responses. I’ll be sure to post back on here and let you know how it turned out.
Came out perfect! Thanks for the recommendation!
Fantastic!!
I have 2 seasoned Lodge Brand 4 quart dutch ovens. These were purchased on line for $43 each. I have used them to make many recipes from Ken Forkish’s book. I tried this ‘beginner’s sourdough bread’ recipe for the first time yesterday and the dutch ovens worked perfectly. Having 2 allows you to bake both loaves together.
I do love my Lodge DO! I’ve been meaning to buy another to bake just as you describe, they’re also super handy in the kitchen!
Hi! I love your site, it’s so helpful and well-done. I have used your recipes to build a starter and to make pizza; both turned out excellently! I tried making the Beginner’s Sourdough this weekend and unfortunately the bread really didn’t rise. I’m not sure what went wrong. My kitchen is quite a bit cooler than yours and my ovens have a ‘dough proofing’ cycle, which has a minimum temp of 85. I did my levain rise and bulk fermentation there, but followed your timetable. Perhaps it was too long at this temperature? Also, I did notice when I went to preshape the dough was flaccid and puddly; I couldn’t really get it to hold a shape. What do you think? Thanks!
Hey! 85ºF is a tad on the warm side and it might have caught you off guard. That’s a rather warm temperature and it’s very possible the dough overproofed on you. If you decide to try it again I’d try to monitor the actual dough temperature and try to keep it below 85ºF if possible — perhaps you could toggle the oven on and off? If you want to stick with 85ºF you could lower the levain percentage used in the mix to help slow things down or you could use cooler water to mix your dough so the final dough temp is a few degrees lower than the one called for here. These things will help offset the warmer bulk.
Hope this helps (and that’s a nice feature of your oven!)!
Hey Maurizio,
Thanks for the great recipe! Btw after the overnight proof do you bake the loaves cold straight from the fridge or you leave them out for a bit ?
You’re very welcome! Yes, I bake them straight from the fridge.
Hello Maurizio,
I am in the process of baking the bread according your recipe. The only modifications I did was to halve all the ingredients, and the levain was made with only non-wholemeal wheat flour (the actual dough has the wholemeal flour though).
So far, everything seemed just like in your description, but after almost 5 hours of batch proofing, the dough still looks a lot wetter than on your photos, and I can see just a little bit of a dome shape. I think I’ll leave it to batch proof a bit longer, but I’m worried it’ll be a sticky wet mess like I have seen it being described in other comments.
I did wet my fingers to do the stretch and fold – do you think that could have added enough liquid to make the dough too wet even though only 3 sets of stretch and fold were done?
Also, we use the same flour and starter to make sourdough foccacia and croissants, and in those cases the dough and rise develop as expected – so I think flour-wise and starter-wise we should be fine?
Is it also possible that the humidity of where we’re living (Central Europe) is so radically different from yours that it could make such a big difference in the recipe?
If it turns out to be too sticky and wet to handle, is there any way to save it at this point?
Thanks a lot for your help and input!
It almost sounds like your starter/levain may not have been strong enough or used at the right time (when mature) to leaven your dough. One other thing: make sure you keep your dough warm and at the listed temps in the formula above, it’s super important to keep that dough warm right after mix and during bulk!
It’s also very possible your flour isn’t able to take as much water as I’ve listed in this recipe — that’s very flour and environment specific. If your environment is super humid you will likely have to reduce water the next attempt, that may solve the issues you’re seeing.
I would still try to stick with the dough you have, just do a very tight preshape and that may help. If the dough relaxes out too fast (less than 20 minutes or so) and becomes a pancake before shaping, do another set of preshape and give it a little more time. That might help add a little more strength to the dough.
Next try I’d say reduce the water and make sure to keep that dough warm (if you’re not already)!
Hello again,
first of all, thank you so much for taking the time to reply. It’s very much appreciated!
In the end, I let the dough proof for another 1,5-2 hours. It looked slightly firmer by that time, had more bubbles and wasn’t so extremely sticky anymore to the touch.
After the additional proofing time lapsed, I continued as per your recipe. I’d say the dough was still not easy to handle, but given the high hydration, I’d say that was not entirely unpredictable. To my surprise though, it was possible to shape it somehow, even though I wished for some more surface tension. Put it in a proofing basket and let it rise over night. It did not rise a lot in the fridge, maybe by 2 or 3 cm. Anyhow, put it into a dutch oven the next morning and luckily it came out really nice.
Here are some photos: https://dillendapp.eu/bread/
The taste, texture and crust are really nice! However, as one can see from the photos, I had some trouble scoring the loaf: first, no matter how what knife I use or how sharp it is, it feels like I can never cut through the dough as easily as you: I have to use a lot more force, and by forcing the knife through, I kind of pull the dough with the knife in the direction of the cut, if that makes any sense. Bottom line: I just can’t get very deep and I’m super afraid to mess up the shape of the dough. Second, for those places that I managed to cut through the dough, it seems like it fuses back together when I put it into the oven, so that it still has to burst through the cuts again one it rises in the oven. Do you have any tips for scoring the dough more nicely?
And, does the bread look ok from the photos? Not under / over proofed?
Thanks a lot again! Really appreciate your input!
You’re very welcome!
Really nice bake! From the photos (although it’s always hard to say definitively) the bread looks really well fermented, I wouldn’t say over or under actually. That fusing of the score could be cause by a few things but my initial guess here based on your description is that you might not have shaped the dough tight enough. You need to focus on forming a taught skin on the outside of the dough during shaping so the score can slice cleanly through it. That taut skin helps trap gasses inside and provides structure that will enable your dough to rise when baked.
Additionally: make sure your scoring lame is super sharp. If you’ve been using the same razor for a while change it out and see if that helps!
Hello Maurizio,
If the dough doesn’t rises as it should be, is that a sign of weak starter? Or failing to do strech/folds properly may also lead it?
Thanks.
There are several reasons you could see that. The first could be that your starter/levain is indeed not strong enough. Make sure you’re maintaining it well and it rises and falls predictably before you use it to make a levain. Once you do have this, and you make the levain, ensure it floats in water using the “float test” — this is a good general indicator there’s enough activity in there to leaven the dough. The other possibility is your dough was way over hydrated. This is an easy thing to tell, though: did it feel soupy and have no texture/strength at all? If there’s too much water for the flour to handle you won’t get much rise out of the dough, no matter how strong your starter/levain is. If the dough never feels like it comes together during bulk and stays a soupy mess, reduce water by at least 10% next try and see if that fixes the issue.
I hope this helps!
Tried this recipe. It was a complete failure. Been making sourdough for several years now and was looking for a new recipe. Starter is mature and typically triples in 4- 5 hours depending on temperature. Got no rise at all with this recipe. After a night in the refrigerator the dough looked exactly as I put it in. Fail.
Paul, it sounds like something environmental killed the culture. Did your levain build develop and pass the float test before you put the dough together for bulk?
Thx for the suggestion Jeff, this is another possibility!
Sorry to hear that, Paul! Sounds like your starter is strong so that’s great. Did your dough progress far enough during bulk fermentation? You really want that dough to be alive and active by the time you preshape and then shape. You’re right, there won’t be much activity in the fridge (especially at cold temps like a normal home fridge) so we want that dough to be pretty active before going in!
Hi Maurizio, this recipe works very well.
After 2 weeks trying to make my starter to work and also trying other recipes that didn’t work at all I followed your recipe and it turned out a real sourdough.
I made a couple of mistakes though, which I intend to fix next time. I don’t like it with a very dark crust, so I took out of the oven some minutes before, the inside temperature was 207 degrees, so I think It was slightly raw. What do you recommend if I want a light golden crust? I’m wondering if I should leave the lid of the Dutch oven closed for longer. Instead of just 20 min, maybe 30… then open it in for the remaining 15/20 min.
Another mistake is that my Dutch oven probably is too small for this recipe so I think it prevented the sourdough to grow even bigger. I’ll reduce the recipe next time or buy a bigger cast iron casserole (I used a Le creuset Cast iron round casserole dish 20cm). Last but not least, I used just white flour and a little bit of rye flour (and my starter is 100% rye) so the Dough probably was a bit too liquid, maybe I shouldn’t add as much water or I should add a little bit more flour next time.
Let me know your thoughts…
PS: I added a picture of the sourdough on my instagram account and marked you, so you can see the outcome. 😉
Cheers and good baking!!!
Fantastic Michela, really glad to hear that about the starter! That’s the first step, but a really important one of course. If you want a crust that’s on the lighter side you could turn the oven down to a lower temperature for the second part of the bake, perhaps 15ºF lower, but you still want to ensure the loaf fully cooks inside. I would still remove the lid after 20 minutes to let the steam vent otherwise your crust could stay too soft and never harden off. Perhaps you could push this 5 more minutes or so, but I wouldn’t go too long with the lid on.
If your dough was too large for the pot just reduce the amount of dough you mix up so it fits comfortably.
Yes, feel free to reduce the hydration, especially if you’re not using any whole wheat flour (which absorbs more water than white flour).
Thanks for the tag on Instagram and happy baking!
Just by the way – I was traveling on business last week and while I was away there was a big snowstorm at home. My neighbors used their snowblower to clear the driveway and walks for my wife, so on my return I made them a loaf of this bread as a thank you. It came out really well. To say it was a big success is an understatement – they loved it!
This, to me, is one of the most awesome things about baking bread: sharing! I’ve given my bread out as gifts, food exchanges and always to visiting guests. I love how baking seems to have increased the sense of community around here, one loaf at a time.
I’ve made this recipe a half-dozen or more times now – perfect every time! And absolutely delicious – I can’t get enough of it. I made a new batch today – it’s in the fridge for overnight proofing right now. An oversized batch, 3 loaves instead of 2, and I decided to push the hydration up a few percent – from ~79% to ~82%. Hence a little stickier and so a little bit harder to work with during pre-shaping and shaping, but really nice, bubbly dough – can’t wait to bake it tomorrow morning :-)! Pictures to come on Instagram afterward …
… and here they are:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSEdDevhsoE/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSFIhGnBs56/
Fantastic, really glad to hear that! Good move on slowly pushing up that hydration, don’t want to rush it. You’ll definitely feel more adept at handling the dough each time, after a while anything < 80% might feel "strange" :). Have fun!
I made this recipe twice! The first time I overproofed – let the bulk fermentation go for too long. Looked flat and ugly after I baked it, but tasted great! The second time, the loaves came out beautifully!!!! Can’t wait to let it cool and see the crumb. Thanks for sharing this recipe and for your totally rad blog! I’m following you, for sure, on Instagram! Bravo!!!!
Really glad to hear that! Don’t worry about the overproofed loaf, it happens to everyone 🙂
Thanks and happy baking!
Hi Maurizio, I made you recipe this weekend and it was great. My only question my bread ended up having big holes inside. I’m wondering what I did wrong?
It could be that your loaves were under proofed. There are a few indicators your dough could be under: explosive rise in the oven, dense interior with potentially scattered large holes, gummy texture to the interior and finally it’s possible the bottom of the loaf is slightly bowed upward (like the letter “U”).
Make sure you give the dough the time it needs at the proper temperature during bulk and proof. Try to hit that “target dough temperature” I list above when doing the mix, this might mean you will have to warm up the water used so your dough reaches around 78ºF.
Hey Maurizio, what internal temperature should have the loaf when its done??
thanks
Anything above 210ºF should be fine!
Hi, I came across your beautiful blog while researching for sourdough after going thru a 4 days bread baking course. The chef instructor has given me a small quantity of sourdough starter which I have fed it once last week. Coincidentally, his personal preference is to use stiff levain. I’m planning to bake my first sourdough this weekend and I would like to know based on the recipe above, do I replace 1-for-1 of the liquid levain with the stiff one? Thanks a million. KL
Yes, you can definitely use a stiff levain for this recipe. Just keep in mind there will be a hydration difference between your levain and mine (which is 100% hydration, meaning there’s equal water and flour in the levain). You might want to have some extra water (perhaps exactly the amount “missing” from your levain, compared to mine) on hand to add to the dough if you feel it needs it during mixing. Hope that makes sense — good luck and happy baking!
Thanks for the advice! I have 1 more question. During the bulk fermentation, can I put the dough in the oven with a cup of boiling water (i.e. to covert the oven into a proofer) or should I just leave it on the table instead? If I were to put it in the oven, the moment when I take it out for folding, the oven will lose its temperature, does it mean I will have to add a fresh cup of boiling water everytime i take out the dough for folding during this stage? Thanks.
You can definitely use your oven as a proofing chamber. The cup with boiling water works well but what I do instead is turn on the little light inside and leave it on until the oven reaches the correct temperature. I quickly take the dough out, fold, and place it back in and it usually keeps temp pretty well. The cup will work just fine, and yes, keep adding the water if necessary to keep that temp up.
Made a couple of loaves a couple of weeks ago. Took them to work, and everyone loved the bread. As did I of course. One co-worker said she wanted to cry it was so good. So, kudos to your recipe!
While I was successful with it, I have to admit, I was confused on what you are describing in step 5. The turning and pulling confuses me. At this point my dough is really, really sticky so handling it even with a floured hand and blade was nearly impossible. I end up just trying to get it round while getting it off my hands. Even if it wasn’t unbearably sticky, I don’t know what it is I’m supposed to be doing at this stage with the dough.
Thank you.
Wow, huge compliment right there to the baker! Glad they turned out so well 🙂
I definitely need to get some videos up but here is a video of me preshaping on Instagram, it should give you and idea of what I mean by spinning and pulling. You want to add just a bit of tension to the dough at that step to help it keep shape on the table and eventually relax out.
Hope this helps!
Very helpful! Thank you! I will definitely put that to use this week. I’m making a loaf in exchange for a homemade coconut cream pie. Also, I realize now that my sticky dough is likely due to my more humid environment (Texas) and thus need to lower the amount of water I use and experiment.
Thank you for the reply!
Yes, your humid environment will definitely necessitate changes to the hydration of this recipe! You’re welcome, happy baking (and I want that pie!)!
Hi Maurizio,
Love your blog, your clear instructions and the photos are beautiful, they’ve helped me create my first successful starter and my first attempt at your Beginners Sourdough recipe was so exciting – tasted great, looked great, crumb and crust were too. Thank you.
This weekend I used the recipe again, but was ‘interrupted’ during the bulk fermentation – I thought I could manage both cooking a meal for 10 and looking after my sourdough at the same… wrong. So, I got to the divide and pre-shape phase at midnight, 6 hours late. It’s summer here in New Zealand and presently very humid, so I put the dough in a coolest part of the house until I could get back to it at midnight.
I baked this morning and the bread came out OK, but a little more sour and maybe a little bit doughy.
My question is, should I have left it at room temperature when I realised I was going to be delayed, or should I have put it into the fridge during this extra bulk fermentation stage, and let it come back to room temperature before I continued? Is it possible to interrupt the process at any stage by retarding fermentation in the fridge?
Thanks again.
Christine
You’re welcome Christine, thanks so much for the kind words. You could have definitely put the dough into the fridge. Good move on finding a cool spot in the kitchen to slow things down but the fridge is definitely your friend when it comes to unexpected interruptions. Put the dough container in the fridge and then let it come back up to room temp before proceeding with the rest of the process. It might be a little challenging to determine when the dough is back to room temp and ready to proceed but use your judgement based on how the dough looks and feels.
I hope this helps!
You’re very welcome! 8″ is definitely smaller than the baskets I use. The ones I have here (and are on my Tools page) are 10″ diameter baskets. Snug is totally fine, I just like to give the dough plenty of room for expansion.
Hope the bake turned out well!
Hi Maurizio,
I’ve just made this recipe, it’s now retarding in the fridge, but boy was it a wet, sticky, gooey mess when I dumped it on my floured work surface. I coud just barely scrape it off… I even lowered the hydration to 75%. I’ve managed 75% with a different recipe with yeast before, that was pretty managable. I just don’t know what I did wrong. My starter seems ok, rising predictably, more than doubling in size, although it lacks the crazy activity I sometimes see in your photos. I live in the Netherlands but I found a mill that has 13% breadflour from American hard wheat (Manitoba I believe), so that should be fine too. I followed your guide precicely, even used the oven with the light on to create the 76°F you call for in the recipe, the ambient temp in my kitchen is about 70°F…
I’m realy racking my brain here to find what I’m doing wrong, I really would like to bake that beautiful and tasty bread that you make! Can you please give me some pionters?
Ciao,
Tim
Tim — it sounds like there was just too much water for the flour you’re using (even if it’s from the Americas). It’s likely more humid where you live than where I am at so this might have just been too much water for your dough. I’d scale back the hydration percentage even more if the dough was too sticky and hard to handle. Sorry about that, I know it can be frustrating but each batch of flour, and each environment, is different!
Everything else sounds spot on, I’d keep that all the same if possible. It sounds like you are paying very close attention to everything else so that’s great!
Thanks! Well I’ll try and bake the wetmass in about 10 hours, maybe it still taste great! 🙂 Next bread I’ll try 72% hydration. Or do you think I should even go lower?
Start at 70%, hold back 2% and add it in as your mixing towards the end if it feels like it can take it 🙂
Tim, your bread looks great! Nice crust and good fermentation going on. To reduce sourness you could try pulling back on the cold proof 1-2 hours and see if that helps. I do not use convection with my bakes, just a standard electric oven set to “bake”.
I don’t have my baking spreadsheets available yet but I do plan to share these in the future once I get them cleaned up. I’ll certainly post them here at my site when they are available!
I agree, I do need more videos here — it’s a challenging thing to do when the dough won’t wait for anyone! This year I do plan on getting more videos uploaded, stay tuned.
Happy baking, Tim!
Your bread turned out fantastic! Really great to see that bake. Higher hydration dough definitely does take practice, you’ll notice you get more and more confident with each bake.
One thing you could do with the sel gris is dissolve it in a little bit of the reserved water for the mix, this way you are mixing in a salty slurry instead of raw salt flakes.
Hope that helps!
Well, nailing that hydration can be tricky and it can vary day to day! You could split the water, or hold back a little more than usual to make this slurry happen.
Hi Tim .I’m in the Netherlands too and always need to drastically reduce the water in all bread recipes .As for the celtic salt problem, I use a pestle and mortar to grind it, and put it in dry with the levain and that works well.
Greetings, is n’t this a great blog?Thank you so much Maurizio!
Thanks Annelies, it’s a great blog indeed!
Really great ideas Annelies! And you’re welcome, thanks for the kind words!
Hello there, I’m about to make this recipe for the first time and my first time 100% sourdough bread. The only thing I have to change is the time of the levain build since I will be gone to work. So I will have the levain mixed at 6:30 am and I will be back home at 16:00. Autolyse for an hour and then mixing everything at 17:00. That’s 10,5 hours of levain build in my kitchen where the room temperature is rather low (18-19,5 Celsius). Shall I change something for the rest of the recipe or it should work decently?
Thank you
Hi! It’s hard for me to say exactly because there are a lot of conditions at play but that timetable sounds like it could work given the very cool temps in your kitchen. As I’ve written about here, cooler temps will slow fermentation quite a bit but keep an eye on your levain when you get back from work. If it looks like there is not a lot of activity give it more time (and maybe put it in a warmer spot in your kitchen) to develop. The “float test” as I describe above is a pretty good indicator for when your levain is ready to be used. Don’t rush that step, you want your levain nice and active before you use it!
Thanks Maurizio,
I followed the plan, my levain was happy, similar to how my starter looks but just doubled in size (my starter is at least triple at its peak!).
I used Oldums strong flour (Irish commercial brand) Oldums wholemeal and Dove organic wholemeal rye. All was good but I didn’t pay attention to water temperature and I just used tap water that was around 18 C. Anyway… I kept going by using a hot towel underneath the mixing bowl every time I was stretching and folding, just to help the dough a bit. I BF for 5 hours and the result was similar to yours, around 20% risen, judging by the eye, with several bubbles on the sides of the bowl and the surface but a bit less domed and more wet. I think I wet my hands to much during SF and by that I must have contributed to the recipe. Very tricky to handle it and I had to use quite a lot of flour to avoid stickiness, eventually u had to slap and fold and after some time fighting with it I managed to preshape it!
I have to say at the beginning it wouldn’t even look that it will come to this point!
I managed to create tension on the surface of my loafs and now there are already 10 hours since I am resting them in the fridge… Let’s see what the final outcome will be! I will source better flours for next week.
Any piece of advice for my next weekend bake will be highly appreciated!
Thank you so so so much!
You might want to try reducing hydration a bit from my recipe to accommodate your flour, it sounds like it was a bit too wet to handle. I’d go down by 5% and see if the dough is more manageable!
Forgot to mention that FDT was only around 22 C after BF. Also, couldn’t find any rice flour yet and I just used AP flour instead…
Hello Marizio!
I have been thoroughly enjoying your delightful blog. Your passion for sourdough is contagious! My attempts at following your beginners loaf instructions have yielded a bread that is close to flat without much rise at the last stages. I have been using a large enamel pot to bake in…. Observing the dough throughout the process, the failure seems to happen at the very last stage (from fridge to oven) as the dough seems to proof very well and I have managed to create what seems to be a healthy levain (bubbly and active). I am wondering if perhaps the bread might be overproofing (leading to later collapse) or??? Wondered if you have any ideas…Thanks again,
Susanna
Susanna — glad to hear that! Yes, the dough could definitely be over proofing. If you notice a very well aerated interior (lots and lots of small holes) with little rise this could definitely be the cause. The dough could also be over-hydrated, if it feels soupy or super wet to you hold back water from the recipe to counter that.
I’d suggest reducing your proof time by 2-4 hours and see if that helps next time!
Hi Marizio – I’m new to sourdough (actually bread baking in general) and i LOVE your blog. Thanks so much for all the work you put into it!
I’ve tried your recipe for the first time and have a couple questions:
1) After proofing should the dough rest on the counter / come up to room temperature? I ran two loaves from the same batch and seemed to get better rise with the dough that came to room temp (second loaf to bake as i only have 1 dutch oven)
2) should the dutch oven lid also be pre-heated? i’m baking for 20m covered and the loaves seem to brown more than the expected (pale golden / yellow)
thanks for your help!!
Thanks Bijan, really appreciate that!
1) The dough doesn’t need to come up to room temperature before baking. However, if your dough needs additional fermentation time (because it might be a little underproofed) then you can certainly give it the time it needs at that point. When I pull my dough from the fridge if it looks like it could use a little more time before baking I’ll pull it out while the oven preheats to give it that time.
2) I do preheat both sides of the Dutch oven. Your environment and oven is different than mine, though, so adjust as necessary. Perhaps your oven needs less preheat time than mine!
Hope this helps, happy baking!
Hi again Maurizio! I made this recipe for the 2nd time now and WOW did it turn out amazing this time!! What I changed was that I used a traditional cooking clay pot with a lid. The result was fantastic! One question though (I’m sure I read it here somewhere, but I cannot find the comment now) – I live in an area 500 to 700 meters above sea lvl altitude. Especially in my part of town it can get very humid even in winter (a lot of fog for example). Does that mean I should lower the water in the recipe? I’ve noticed that the dough becomes very wet and soupy like if I add the whole amount of water stated in your recipe, so I skipped the 50 grams at the mixing stage, because I was afraid it was going to be too wet. Thanks again for your time!
Regards!
Hey, Dimana! Really glad to hear this bake turned out so well for ya. Yes, you will likely need to adjust the amount of water in this recipe to suit your environment and your flour. Good call on leaving out that remaining 50g! Hold back (or add) as much water as necessary so the dough has the “right” consistency — this will take some experimentation and intuition but over time you’ll develop a sense for how much water is just right.
Happy baking!
hi Maurizio. First of all thank you for your awesome instructions. I tried to bake my first bread today but it didn’t turn out great. I followed your guides for creating a starter with rye and wheat flour and it doubles in size predictably. But when I create the levain with all purpose flour (I couldn’t find bread flour here in germany) and whole wheat flour it is quite liquid (should I just add a few grams more flour?) and its size only increases by 50% at most. So my bread is quite dense, although it tastes great. Now I took part of my rye starter and am trying to replace the rye with whole wheat over a couple of feedings until I get as much rise as with the other starter. Do you think I am on the right path here or would you do it differently?
You’re very welcome! If your starter is too far on the liquid side, yes, use more flour to get to the right consistency. The flour you’re using out there might not be able to take on as much water as the flour here in the US — that’s totally fine. You might want to keep this in mind when doing your dough mix as well. Add water in slowly during mixing to avoid over hydrating.
I’d say you’re on the right path! Let me know how it goes, happy baking Radecke!
Thanks for your reply. I think it’s incredibly that you reply to every single comment on here!
Yes, I’ve been adding more flour to my wheat/whole grain starter and it seems to be doing better every day, though still not as well as my wheat/rye starter. As far as the dough mix goes I don’t really know what to look for concerning overhydration since I don’t have any experience yet. It sure was a sticky dough. Maybe I’ll just use 50g less water and see how it goes. I will try it out in the next couple of days and keep you updated.
You’re welcome! Well, I know how frustrating baking bread can be sometimes, especially without help! Trying to do my best to get everyone baking great bread at home 🙂
Sounds good. It does take a little while to build up that intuitive feel for the dough and how much water it can handle. My best advice is to dial back the water and when things are under control slowly work back up (if desired). Good luck!
Hey Radecke, I live in Germany too, but come from Australia (where labeling of flour is different to here). Bread flour in Germany is known as Weizenmehl Type 812. Type 405 and 550 (which most supermarkets have, e.g. Edeka) are all purpose flour.
I’m in Berlin and found a place where I can get Type 812 (aka bread flour), as well as many other types. If you’re in Berlin, I can let you know the place.
You may know all this already, but wanted to mention it just in case, as it was a bit difficult for me trying to work it out 😊
Thanks for your reply. I did eventually find out that type 812 is bread flour but right now I live in a small town and I can’t find it anywhere. I guess I’ll just have to order it online 🙂
Thank you so much for this extremely detailed, clear, and well-explained guide. I just made my first sourdough bread and it was beyond delicious. The crumb was PERFECT. I was very intimidated by the whole procedure, but it really wasn’t that bad! Your guide and tips were very helpful. My starter consisted of 50% white all-purpose flour and 50% whole kamut flour. As for the dough formula, I used kamut for the My only issue is that the bread did not taste sour enough for my liking. I love that sourdough taste and while this bread was tasty beyond belief, there was only a hint of that sourness. Do you think that could be due to the kamut flour? Thanks again for these amazing instructions, can’t wait to try your other recipes (that fig and fennel sourdough is calling my name)!
Ahh so, so glad to hear that! The lack of sourness isn’t related to the Kamut flour. If you want to try and work in some more sour flavor you could up the percentage of whole grains in this recipe (whole grain dark rye is perfect for this, perhaps 5-10% instead of the called for white flour) which helps boost acidity in the dough. Additionally, you could let your dough proof longer in the fridge, perhaps 2-4 more hours and see if that helps. The longer, cold proof will also help develop more acidity in the dough.
Hope this helps and enjoy the Fig/fennel loaf, it’s amazing!
Excellent, I will try both those things! Thanks for the tips!
Hi Maurizio,
Quick question about the oven and the baking equipment.
Since I live in a very small apartment I do not have that much space and I certainly don’t have these 2 heavy pans that you’re using for your loaves. Here’s what I have:
1. Electric oven (nothing special about it, generic one, but good. So far it never failed me when baking. Not even when making meringues 🙂 )
2. Pizza round stone
3. Large shallow rectangular pan that came with the oven and fits entirely it in (similar to this one – http://zebrahome.bg/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/k/c/kcmchb25_main.jpg)
My question is:
Will I need the pizza stone at all given the fact that I can just preheat that pan I have and use it directly?
I suppose that this pan is not the best option, because the dough might lose it’s shape, but it’s the only thing I have so I have to work with it.
Any suggestions are welcome 🙂
Thank you!
P.S. – Would it be possible to add Celsius degrees to your recipes at some point? Thanks!
You could definitely use your pan (your link doesn’t work but that’s ok, I can visualize it). Ideally you’d also have something to cover the dough as its rising — like an oven-safe metal bowl to help trap steam but it’s not even 100% necessary. You can bake without steam and you’ll still get wonderful bread! You might not get the same height and shine to the crust but it will still be delicious nonetheless.
Give it a try, you might be surprised just how versatile this process is, even with just using what’s on hand 🙂
Hi Maurizio,
First of all, both my husband and I thank you for your amazing amazing blog. He happily enjoys the fruits of my labor! I first started out using Tartine’s book, but I was confused the entire time, not knowing if I was doing any of the steps correctly (turns out, I was doing things completely wrong). It wasn’t until I found your blog, specifically this beginner’s sourdough recipe, and saw all of your helpful comments, instructions, and pictures, that I began to learn how to do things right. I am proud to say that I am starting to get that baker’s “intuition”, knowing what feels, looks, and smells right. All thanks to you!
I had a question about this sourdough recipe. I have had good success making this bread, though I tend to have tighter crumb without many holes, but with good to excellent oven spring with “ears” from my scoring. In other words, from the outside the bread looks beautiful and just like the ones you make. But I’m always disappointed when I slice into it and see the denser crumb. So I can never tell if I’m over proofing or under proofing (it’s not flat, nor is it runny with no shape, nor are there giant holes/crevices inside). Do you have any thoughts about this?
So I’m starting to consider maybe I am doing things right, but maybe I should try to experiment with increasing my hydration level to see if I get those big wavy looking holes in the crumb. At what hydration level would you recommend for this purpose?
Thank you so much again. I really do love love love this blog. I am excited to try all of your other recipes, including the pizza dough, whole wheat sandwich bread, and the higher hydration recipes. Thank you!
You’re welcome and I’m happy to hear you guys are making such awesome bread! That intuition does take a bit of time to develop but it sounds like you’re well on your way. It’s funny how after a while such simple numbers convey so much meaning!
It’s hard to say without more details why your crumb is more dense, there are so, so many things that go into it! If you’re getting overly dramatic rise in your dough with lots of ruptures on top, you might want to try fermenting your dough longer — it could be slightly on the under proofed side. Let your dough go a couple more hours than usual to see if that helps open the interior up a bit more. Aside from that just try to focus on one thing at a time and see if that single change helped, or didn’t, achieve the crumb you’re after.
You can definitely try to slowly increase hydration. I’d bump things up in 5% increments from this recipe to ensure you’re not rushing things. Wetter dough can be a challenge!
You’re so welcome. Keep me posted on how it’s going!
Hi Maurizio! Thanks for your reply. Do you mean a couple of extra hours during bulk or retarded proofing in fridge? I actually experimented last weekend: one loaf I proofed for 16 hours in the fridge per your instructions, another I left in the fridge a full day longer and baked at 36 hours. They both came out similarly. The second load was a bit more sour but the density seemed very similar (maybe the second one had a bit looser crumb but essentially the same). Both also had good oven spring though the second one had bigger ears.
So maybe my denser crumb is due to overproofing? But that doesn’t seem to explain the good oven spring I get?
Thank you in advance for any suggestions/thoughts.
I meant a few more hours in proof. However, it is important your bulk is complete, you want that dough to develop enough at that stage before dividing. The dough should look similar to my photos here when bulk is finished (stronger, smooth, slightly bubbly). You’re right, that longer proof doesn’t quite explain why there was sufficient rise in the dough if it was over proofing — it should be pretty sluggish in the oven.
A few other things could be causing a dense crumb including over hydrated dough (you’d know this right away, though, everything would be soupy and hard to handle), over handling the dough during the entire process and even the actual flour choice you’re using. If you’re using Bob’s Red Mill like I do here you should see similar results, the protein levels in that flour are high enough for an open crumb.
It’s hard to say without more pictures/details!
Thanks for your reply again. More details…I don’t think my dough is over hydrated (not soupy, I’m able to get good tension during shaping so they become rounded balls). After bulk fermentation, the dough does look like yours, a bit doomed at the edges with bubbles. I’m also not doing any extra stretch and folds during bulk so don’t think I’m over handling it. I do use the Bob’s Red Mill flour per your recipe.
How can I send you (or post) a picture?
Another thing is at times the crumb would come out a bit gummy and sticky (which is what you mentioned in your recipe due to the flour type), and I have baked it longer at higher temperatures (20 min at 500) and that seemed to help.
Sounds like, yes, you could use to bake a little longer at a lower temperature to help remove some of that gummy texture.
Shoot me over an email (maurizio (at) theperfectloaf.com) with any photos if you’d like!