Understanding the Sourdough Bread Process
Understanding the sourdough process is extremely important to becoming a confident bread baker. This article will review baker’s percentages, sourdough formulas, and the whole sourdough process.
Overview
Learning to make sourdough is almost like learning a whole new language. When people ask me if sourdough bread is hard to make, my answer is that it is actually extremely easy, once you really understand the process. But getting over that hump can be a bit intimidating.
This article will hopefully help you get there! Sourdough recipes are less a recipe than they are a combination of a formula and a timeline. And understanding how to read the formulas (and how to create your own) as well as how all the steps work so you can make your own timelines, is so helpful in this process.
At the end of this article I will share my base recipe and timeline that I typically work from for my sourdough bread. You can use this as a starting point to find the timelines and ratios that work best for you. You will also see below that there is a table of contents to help you navigate the information here, as well as a video where I give an overview of all of this information, if that is easier to digest.
Sourdough Starter
A sourdough starter is a natural culture of wild yeasts and bacteria. Creating a sourdough starter is actually very easy and involves combining flour and water together and letting it sit until it ferments. This mixture is fed fresh flour and water over a period of time to create a strong culture of yeast and bacteria that can make your bread rise. This means commercial yeast is not needed in sourdough bread.
If you are brand new to the sourdough bread process, and don’t even have a starter yet, you will want to start there. I have a whole article explaining what sourdough is and another article walking you through the process of making your own active sourdough starter to bake with.
This article will assume that you do have an active starter and you are ready to start baking!
Baker’s Percentages (Baker’s Math)
Before we dive into the steps of actually putting together a dough, it is extremely important that you have a general understanding of how baker’s percentages (also known as baker’s math) works. Baker’s percentages are something that bakers (especially bread bakers) use to formulate their recipe. It is a calculation in percentages of every ingredient in the recipe compared to the amount of flour in the recipe.
How to Calculate Baker’s Percentages
To calculate baker’s percentages, you start with the total amount of flour by weight in your recipe. No matter how much flour that is, it is always set at 100%. Now, every other ingredient in the recipe is calculated compared to the weight of the flour. The formula is: (weight of ingredient/weight of flour) x 100 = Baker’s Percentage
Sourdough Formulas
Sourdough bread, in its most basic form, is only made up of 4 ingredients: flour, water, sourdough starter, and salt.
Example Formula
- 1000 GR FLOUR (100%)
- 750 GR WATER (75%)
- 200 GR STARTER (20 %)
- 20 GR SALT (2%)
So using the example above let’s talk through a basic sourdough recipe. For the purposes of keeping the math simple, we will start with 1000 gr of flour. A formula with this amount of flour would be enough to make two good size loaves of bread. So remember, no matter how much flour is in the recipe that quantity of flour is going to be set at 100%. Now every other ingredient in your recipe is going to be calculated as a percentage in relation to the flour.
Now, the next ingredient in the recipe is your water. The water can vary widely in the amounts, or the percentage, you would use in your recipe. You might go as low as 60% and you can go up very high into the 90%s or even up to 100% if you are using a lot of whole grains. For the purposes of talking through the example, we are going to set the water at 75% which is 750 gr. This is a fairly standard percentage for a basic sourdough bread.
Next up in the recipe is the starter. Now again, the amount of starter that goes into your bread dough can vary widely baker’s percentage wise. You could go as low as 5% and you can go up much higher than that. A smaller percentage of starter will require longer fermentation times but will also increase the flavor and acidity in your bread. I usually like to keep mine around 20% which would put the starter in this recipe at 200 gr.
The salt in a recipe typically stays around 2%. You can reduce that slightly to meet your own preferences, but 2% salt is very standard. So for this recipe that would put the salt at 20 gr.
Understanding Hydration
You will often hear bakers refer to their loaves of bread or their recipe formulas in terms of the hydration percentage. They are referring to the water in their dough in regards to baker’s percentages. Sticking with our example above, you might hear a baker refer to this as a “75% hydration dough.” The reason this is often discussed, is the hydration of a dough is one of the major factors that contributes to the texture of your bread. Higher hydration doughs can lead to a more open crumb structure and a more moist final bread, but they are more difficult to handle. Lower hydration doughs tend to create a more closed structure bread, but are much easier to work with.
Note: It is also important to note here that if you want to calculate a true hydration level in your sourdough bread you need to account for the amount of water and flour in your sourdough starter. It is most common for sourdough starters to be 100% hydration starters. This means that they are equal parts flour and water by weight. So in our recipe example we added 200 gr of starter to our dough. Of that 200 gr starter, 100 gr is water and 100 gr is flour.
So to calculate a true final hydration you would need to base your baker’s percentage off of 1100 grams of flour and 850 gr of water. This would give our formula a true final hydration of 77%. But for the purposes of just getting started with sourdough baking, I wouldn’t stress about this part too much.
The Sourdough Process
There are endless ways to approach sourdough bread baking. Watch 100 bread baker’s make a loaf of bread and you will see 100 different methods. However, there is a general flow that pretty much all sourdough bread recipes go through. And in order to become confident in your own baking it is important to understand each of the steps. This will not only help you follow recipes, but will also help you develop your own preferred methods.
Feed Starter or Create Leaven
Before a dough is started, you need to feed your starter fresh flour and water to get it ready to go into the bread. After your starter is fed it goes through several stages. It will start rising in it’s container as it feeds on the fresh food and begins to get very bubbly. It will start to dome on top and then eventually the dome will flatten out and the starter will start to fall. When the starter falls it means that it is out of food and it is no longer active enough to go into a dough.
Different baker’s have varying preferences on when to use their starter in a dough. I like to use mine when it is just starting to flatten out on top but before it starts to fall. For me, it usually takes my starter around 6-8 hours after my normal feeding to get to this point so I will plan my dough schedule around this.
Autolyse (*optional, but recommended)
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- Right after mixing, before autolyse
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- After autolyse
Autolyse refers to the process of mixing the flour and water together in your bread recipe before adding your salt and usually before adding your leaven (starter) as well. Though it should be noted that some people do add their leaven in during this step. The benefit of mixing only the flour and water together before adding the salt is that it allows the flour to completely hyrdate and it allows the gluten structure to begin building on its own.
Autolyse is particularly helpful in high hydration dough as well as doughs that contain a lot of whole grain. Immediately after the flour and water is mixed notice how shaggy the dough is and how easily it breaks if you try to pull up on it. However, after the dough rests for a bit the texture completely changes. It will be smooth and silky and if you pull up on it it will have some elasticity.
The flour and water should be allowed to autolyse for at least 30 minutes to get the benefits of it. However, you can go for much longer, up to two hours. You do need to be careful not to allow your mixture to autolyse for too long, however, as the enzymatic activity can start breaking down the dough. I typically watch my starter to see when it is about an hour away from being ready, and then I go ahead and mix my flour and water together.
Mix Final Dough
Once the starter is vigorous and full of bubbles it is ready to go into your dough. If you did utilize the optional autolyse step, you would mix your starter and salt into that mixture. If you didn’t utilize the autolyse step, all of your ingredients will get mixed together here.
There are a lot of different methods that people utilize to mix there dough like the pincer method, the rubaud method, or using a mixer. This is something you can play around with to find what you like best. I like to use the pincer method which involves pinching and squeezing the dough all over and then folding it over itself until everthing is well mixed. You can see my demonstrating the pincer method in my here.
Build Strength and Structure
After your dough is mixed it needs to build some gluten structure and strength. There are three main methods for approaching this: the no-knead method, the kneaded method, and the stretch and fold method. With no-knead sourdough bread you are letting time do all the work for you. Gluten structure will form all on its own given enough time. However, if you want a taller and more structured loaf you will want to knead your dough or utilize the stretch and fold method.
Kneaded Method
Kneading dough by hand or in a stand mixer can be used for sourdough bread, though it is not the most common method. Kneading to build strength and structure works best for lower hydration dough- usually something around 68% hydration or lower. Dough that has a higher hydration is very difficult to handle in the same way and therefore a different method of building strength is typically utilized.
Stretch & Fold Method
The stretch and fold method is typically used for higher hydration doughs and those that contain a lot of whole grain. This method is a more gentle way of building the gluten structure. It involves pulling up on sections of the dough, stretching it as far as it can go without tearing, and folding it down over itself. This process is performed all the way around the dough until it holds its shape into a tight ball.
Typically stretch and folds are performed in 15-30 minute intervals during the first few hours of the fermentation process. The process of stretching the dough and folding it over itself serves to align the gluten strands and even out the dough temperature, allowing strength and structure to build. You can see me utilizing the stretch and fold method here.
Bulk Ferment
The bulk fermentation phase is also sometimes referred to as the first rise. This phase starts as soon as the final dough has been mixed, so if you are utilizing the stretch and fold method it is happening simultaneously as you build structure in your dough.
The purpose of the bulk fermentation is to allow the yeast and bacteria to work in the dough to develop flavor and to build up gasses. The length of bulk can vary widely depending on the percentage of starter you put in your dough, how warm your environment is, and how sour you want your bread. Bulk can sometimes be as quick as 2 hours or as long as 24 hours. I typically allow my dough to bulk ferment for about 6-8 hours.
There really isn’t one clear answer on when the bulk fermentation stage is done. Essentially you want to allow your dough to build up a good amount of gasses in it before you shape. I usually look for my dough to be almost double in size and to see visible bubbles forming on top. It is also important to note that some recipes call for a short bulk ferment and a longer proof, and others approach it the other way around. I typically do the later.
Shaping
Once bulk ferment is complete, the dough needs to be shaped. Typically when shaping a sourdough loaf, you want to be careful not to deflate all of the air out of the dough. This is a bit different from other recipes where you might “punch” the dough or degass it.
Pre-Shape (*optional)
A pre-shape is an optional step before the final shape. This is the process of gently working the dough roughly into the shape that it will be after the final shape. Less tension is given to the dough and this is usually done pretty quickly and then the dough is allowed to rest before the final shape.
The purpose of pre-shaping your dough is to work the gluten structure into the direction you want it to go during the final shape. This can develop a stronger structure for your loaf.
Final Shape
There are about as many different ways to approach the final shape of a dough as there is to approach a sourdough recipe. However, the main thing baker’s are trying to accomplish during a final shape is to build tension on the surface of the dough to help it hold its shape when it bakes. This is also done in a gentle enough manor that as much air as possible is preserved inside the loaf.
Proof
Once the dough is shaped, it needs to proof (or go through the second rise) before baking. Depending on how long your recipe called for bulk ferment and how well you preserved the air in the dough when shaping, the length of time for proofing can vary greatly. For some dough it might only be about 20 minutes, while others might need a few hours.
To check if your dough is done proofing, you can do what is called “the dent test.” Flour a finger and gently press in on the dough about 1/2″ in. If the hole fills in immediately, you need to let it proof a bit longer before baking. If the hole fills in very slowly then you can go ahead and bake your loaf.
Over-Proofed Dough
It is possible to let your dough proof for too long, and if this happens your bread will end up deflating in the oven and will be very flat and dense. When you perform the dent test, as described above, and your dough feels very weak and like it might collapse that is a good sign that you have over-proofed your dough. You can still go ahead and bake it, but your loaf will not be as airy as if you baked it before it was over-proofed.
Retard (*optional, but recommended)
The last optional step in the sourdough process is retarding your dough. The retard stage of bread baking is when you put your dough in the refrigerator. Cold temperatures will slow down the yeast activity while still allowing the bacteria to work in your dough. This creates a more flavorful and sour loaf.
Technically you can retard your dough at any point in the sourdough process and the refrigerator can be seen almost like a pause button on your timeline. You could even do a very long bulk ferment in the refrigerator for up to 3 or 4 days. However, I like to retard my dough after it has been shaped. I find that baking from a cold loaf helps it hold its shape much better and helps with a nicer oven spring.
If you do retard your dough after it is shaped, be aware that it can over-proof in the refrigerator. While the yeast activity does slow down a lot, it doesn’t stop completely. I typically retard my shaped loaves around 14-16 hours for a really nice sour flavor without over-proofing.
Bake
There are quite a few different ways to approach baking a loaf of sourdough. The most common method is to bake the loaf in a pre-heated dutch oven or oven safe pot. This is the method I use the most. Other options are to bake on a pre-heated pizza stone or pizza steel with a roasting pan underneath filled with water to create steam.
Whatever method is used, the important part here is the utilization of steam. Commercial ovens have steam injectors in them that allow the baker to utilize steam during the first part of the baking process. This keeps the outside of the loaf moist and allows it to fully rise and open up before the crust sets. This is also known as oven-spring. A dutch oven tool for a home bread baker because the lid traps the moisture from the loaf inside the pot, creating a steamy environment.
Cool
While some people may think cooling their loaf before slicing is optional, I’m going to tell you it is absolutely crucial for the most flavorful sourdough bread. Cutting into a loaf of bread before it is cool will release all of the moisture and cause the bread to stale very quickly. The texture of the bread will also be very gummy if you cut it while hot. Allowing the bread to cool completely also helps develop the flavor of the bread more fully.
Storing
My favorite way to store a loaf of uncut sourdough bread is at room temperature without anything covering it. I just let it sit on my cutting board until I’m ready to slice into it. Once it is sliced, I turn the loaf sliced side down on my cutting board and continue to keep it in the open air for the next 48 ish hours. After that, I will typically go ahead and slice all of it up and store it in the freezer. It refreshes from frozen in the toaster beautifully. You can more in depth about the best ways to store, freeze, and refresh bread here.
I know this is a lot of information to take in and it can feel overwhelming. The most important part of the sourdough process is to continually ask yourself why? Learn about the processes and techniques and practice them over and over again. When you have a failure that is the perfect opportunity to learn something new. No “failed” loaf is ever a complete bust. It is all part of the process of becoming a confident bread baker.
Resources
In my journey to become a confident sourdough baker, I have used many different resources. These are the ones I have used the most:
*Note: some of these links are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission off any purchase at no extra cost to you.
- The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum
- The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart
- Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast by Ken Forkish
- The Perfect Loaf Blog
- Elaine Boddy on Instagram
Bettie's Basic Sourdough Bread
This is the basic sourdough recipe that I work from. It is not my most advanced or highest hydration recipe, but it is a good standard sourdough bread. You can use this as a guideline to work out your own ratios and timelines.
Ingredients
- 100 grams ripe active starter
- 375 gr filtered water (90 F, 32 C)
- 500 grams unbleached all purpose flour or bread flour
- 10 grams fine sea salt or kosher salt
- rice flour for dusting
Instructions
Note: I'm including my target timeline that I use for this recipe. This can be used as a guideline to help you plan your schedule based on your own situation.
- 8:00 am Feed Starter: About 30 hours before you want to bake your bread, feed your starter. For this recipe I use these ratios: Keep 20 gr of starter and feed 20 gr of whole wheat flour, 40 gr of unbleached ap flour or bread flour, and 60 gr of filtered water at 85 F (30 C). This gives me about 140 gr total starter which is enough to go into the dough and enough to feed for the next day.
- 1:30 pm Autolyse: In a large mixing bowl, combine your water and flour together. Use your hands to thoroughly combine the ingredients until the flour is completely saturated. The dough will look very shaggy and not very cohesive at this point. Cover and let sit for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
- 2:00 pm Float Test: About 6 hours after feeding your starter, gently drop a spoonful of starter in a glass of water. If it floats then it is ready to leaven your dough. If it doesn't float, give it a bit more time to get active. You will have a few hour window of when your starter will be active enough to go into your dough.
- 2:10 pm Mix Final Dough: Spread 100 gr of ripe starter of the dough and dimple it in and then fold the dough over to encase it inside. Next, sprinkle the 10 grams of salt over the top of the dough. Begin mixing the salt into the dough by squeezing and massaging it, then folding it over itself to evenly distribute. Continue squeezing the dough and folding until it is well combined- about 2 minutes.
- 2:15 pm - 8:15 ish pm Bulk Ferment: Cover the dough with plastic wrap, a shower cap, or a damp kitchen towel in the mixing bowl and let sit at room temperature (68-74 F, 20-23 C) for 6 hours. Do 4 rounds of stretch and folds about every 20-30 minutes during the first few hours of bulk fermentation.
- 8:15 pm Shape: Turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured work surface, being careful not to deflate. Pick up a piece of dough and pull it into the center. Continue working around the dough, pulling the edges in overlapping the previous piece until it is rounded into a tight ball. Flip the dough over and pull the dough towards you to build some tension and round it into a ball. Let the dough sit for about 2-3 minutes to seal the seam underneath.
- 8:30 pm Proof: Dust a 9" round banneton basket or a bowl lined with a lint free towel with rice flour. If you do not have a banneton basket, you can line a bowl with a tea towel and dust that with rice flour. Turn the shaped loaf into the prepared banneton (or bowl) with the seam side up. Let sit at room temperature (68-74 F, 20-23 C) for about 1 hour.
- 9:00 pm - 1:00 pm next day Retard: Place the proofed dough into the refrigerator to retard for 12-18 hours. This will improve the flavor of the final bread and also can help the loaf hold its shape a bit better.
- 12:00 pm next day, Prep Oven: At least an 45 minutes before baking your bread, preheat the oven to 450 F (230 C) with your dutch oven inside.
- 1:00 pm Score: Turn the loaf out onto a piece of parchment paper and use a bread lame or a sharp knife to score it however you like. I typically just make one big slash down the middle.
- 1:00 pm Bake: Transfer the dough on the parchment paper carefully into your hot dutch oven or oven safe pot that is at least 4 qts in size. Place the lid on top and place it on the center rack of the oven and bake with the lid on 450 F (230 C) for 30 minutes. Take the lid off and bake the loaf for 15-20 more minutes until you reach your desired color.
- Cool: Allow the bread to cool on a cooling rack for at the very least 1 hour before slicing it. Preferably let it cool for 4-12 hours for the best flavor, texture, and to prevent it from staling too quickly.
- Store: Keep the bread at room temperature completely uncovered for the first 24 hours. If you have sliced into the bread, place the bread cut side down on your cutting board. For day 2 & 3 I generally transfer it into a ziplock bag and refresh it by toasting it because the crust will get soft. After that, I slice it and store it in the freezer. Toast to refresh from frozen.
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105 Comments on “Understanding the Sourdough Bread Process”
This was so well written Kristin!! Great job! Also, thanks for sharing my storing bread tips
Thank you Laura! <3
Fantastic information. Can potato flour be used in place of rice flour as it is also gluten free? Thanks
Good to know that works too! I learn so much from you as well! Keep it up great post.
I’m so glad you found the article helpful!
Loved how you broke down your timeline-that is what I am trying to get a handle on(having the starter ready to go so I am not working at 2:00 a.m.) Now I need to master how to manage my starter amount so I am not discarding a ton everyday but have plenty ready when I want to bake! Signed up for your March class in Lisle, so hoping it gets rescheduled-I have a MILLION questions!
Yes, I always do very small feedings on non-baking days. Keeping 5 grams and feeding 15 grams flour and 15 grams of water. This gives me a total of 35 grams of starter which is plenty if the next day is a baking day but small enough that I only have a little discard if I’m not baking.
Do you use 15 gram of All Purpose flour for these feedings? Or a combo of AP and Whole Wheat? I use King Arthur Flour
Hello!
Do you have any tips on using a bread machine for the SOURDOUGH BREAD recipe with the starter.
Its my first attempt and it did not rise much. I left it for 6 hours. thank you
Hi Olga, I don’t own a bread machine, so I have never tried it!
Hi, I live in a cold climate and thought I wouldn’t be able to get bread to rise without a bread machine. Come to find out “if you wait, it will rise” (sort of like that baseball movie). I mix my dough in the evening done by 8 or 9pm and then it rises 8-12 hours in a bowl covered with a damp towel. My bowl is usually either in my microwave or in my oven with a note taped to the oven controls reminding me not to turn the oven on. It works like a charm every time and over night out house gets down to sixty-four degrees while we sleep. Good luck!
I’ve spent 3 weeks reading on-line, purchased 2 well regarded books, and this is the first article that clearly explained the steps and timing options to me. Thank you!
I’m so glad to hear that this helped you understand! That is so great and definitely my goal!
Hi! Trying to follow your timeline (thank you for laying it out!). Your first step is to feed at 8am and then suggests feeding 30 hrs in advance of baking. The next step is at 1:30pm is that next day or are we already assuming that you did the feeding 30 hrs in advance outside of the timeline?
The 30 hrs is giving you an idea of how long from when you feed your starter you will be able to put your bread into the oven. This is to help you plan your timeline. If you want to put your bread in the oven around 10 am on Saturday then you can work backward to when to feed your starter. Does that make sense? Your starter will go into your dough 6-10ish hours after it is fed depending on how fast your starter doubles and is bubbly enough to go into your dough.
I worked so hard to replicate this recipe. I probably watched the YouTube video at least 25 times. At the 5 hour mark of bulk fermentation, I felt the dough had enough bubbles and had probably at least doubled in size, so I removed it to do the pre-shape. The dough was like trying to fold puffy soup. Can you help? What did I do wrong?
I had the same issue so I wasn’t able to do the building tension step, was hoping there was a response. I just put more flour down and got it into the banneton, we’ll see how the rest goes…
I also had the same issue, very poor tension in the shaping. I went ahead and put in the banneton but now as I take the dough out of the banneton it turns into a non-shaped blob. Help
This is very well written and as an experienced SD baker, most of this is aligned with my experience.
One thing I want to ask: please explain to me the point of creating a leaven (also called levain or pre-ferment.). What’s the point? As soo. As you add starter to the dough, fermentation starts. It will continue as you add more flour. I really do not understand the purpose. Can you enlighten me?
Hi Michiel! I’m glad you enjoyed my article.
Creating a leaven, separate from your starter, is just a different approach that I find unnecessary and confusing. Basically, leaven is the word used for the part of the starter that goes directly into your dough. So some people make an offshoot of their starter and feed that for that entire portion to go into their dough, and they feed their starter separately. This can be necessary if you for some reason want to change the ratio of your starter to make a stiff levain (like a 50% hydration) for your dough. However, for most home bakers it is unnecessary. I use my fed starter as my leaven and just feed it as I always do. When it is bubbly and vigorous, then I go ahead and put it into my dough. I think this is much less confusing for people.
Hi, thanks for your response.
I have come to the same conclusion but still see this method recommended in various places….
Glad we agree!
LOVE your article and the video. One question… I want to use regular loaf pans to make the sourdough bread for sandwiches. how can I do this? Thanks for sharing your expertise… I am watching your sourdough videos repeatedly… love them.
Hi Kristin – thanks so much for the excellent step by step – I’ve really enjoyed learning through you! I’ve been using your basic recipe to great success – (although I do agree it’s like trying to shape puffy soup as the other commenter mentioned). I’ve been adding some whole wheat (20% of the flour) which adds a nice dimension. Question – I’m pondering shaping two smaller loaves rather than the one large one – thoughts in general and on bake time in particular? Thanks again!
Jillian
I would suggest taking the lid off around 20 minutes and then bake until you get your desired crust! Probably 10 or 15 more minutes!
Thanks Kristin – I also consulted a friend who makes a lot of sourdough and he suggested I keep your timing exactly the same and it was perfect for the small loaf just like the large! I also consulted a friend who makes a lot of sourdough and he suggested I keep your timing exactly the same and it was perfect for the small loaf just like the large!Turned out gorgeous!
Thanks again – Jillian
Made your 75% hydration sourdough this morning. It seemed to go wrong at every turn. The dough was horribly sticky. It wouldn’t shape into a boule. It soaked the muslin I lined the proofing bowl with. It went flat as a frisbee when I turned it onto the parchment. I put it in the dutch oven fully expecting a hockey puck like loaf. I could not have been more wrong. It is the best loaf of sourdough I’ve ever made. Wonderful oven spring, crunchy crust and a crumb full of holes. Thank you Baker Bettie!!!
Oh this does give me hope. Everything seemed good until I got to the float test and shape. It never floated so I figured maybe I deflated it. When I went for the shape it’s a sticky blob. Could not form a boule (is it over-proofed?). I dusted my tea towel with rice flour stuck it in a bowl in the fridge and will try and bake it off tomorrow. My stretch and folds went well. Did the window pane test and that worked as well. So fingers crossed. This is my second loaf. My first was your no knead and it came out wonderful. Any guidance would be appreciated.
What do I do if my retarded dough deflates when I score it? I let the dough in the banneton rise one hour, then let it retard in the refrigerator for about 15 hours. I think by letting it come to room temp I did the wrong thing. Also I neglected to do the dent test. This was a 75% method, they have typically come out ok, but I am trying to follow the exact method. I tried one loaf scored, one no scoring this time to see the difference.
I always learn things from your videos.
I thought previously you had decided to use a cold DO rather than heating up. What made you change your mind?
I made BETTIE’S BASIC SOURDOUGH BREAD yesterday – first, it tasted the best (more like a real sourdough) of all the 4 loaves I have tried, but looked the worst – was a bit flat, maybe only 2-3 inches high.
I was worried going into shaping, because the dough was so “soupy”, it would not hold it’s shape. I am not sure what I could have done – longer for bulk fermentation?, Proof shorter/longer. After retard/proof in fridge overnight I eventually punched down the dough and reshaped it and left it to sit for another hour before baking. It rose a little during the bake.
What would make it this way? I am afraid that if I decrease the amount of water, I will lose the great texture and taste…
Any thoughts?
Hello! I love your YouTube videos and your website! The recipes are so comprehensive! Is it possible to do the autolyse and then do a bulk ferment over 48-72 hours in the fridge and then proof at room temp?
Hello! I love your website and I have learned lot reading all your posts.
In your video you said that the 65% hydration dough can be kneaded in the kitchenaid! For how long? The same 10 min as your hand kneading?
Thank you!
6 hi when I did the test for making bread it went down in water and I really don’t know what wen wrong and my hands were always sticky please help this is the 3 time I am doing it thanks
Help! I followed all the instructions but after my overnight proof it was like a soupy, sticky mess instead of a ball of dough! Where did I go wrong?
I was wondering if I needed to rest the dough to room temperature after retarding it in the fridge and before putting in oven? Love the way all the steps are so well explained and described, gives me so much hope in maybe one day mastering sourdough !
Nope! You can go straight from the fridge into the oven!
So someone gave me some starter. They said 1 to 1 ratio. Pour off equal amounts. I haven’t used a scale & have feed it twice. It’s got bubbles, put it’s real liquidy. Can this be saved? Should I feed it again & not pour off. Theirs was an older starter, I just think I screwed it up? I have it in a glass jar, it’s able to breathe, just not proofing up like the others I have seen? PLS HELP!
Just keeping feeding it. It’s hard to kill a starter. Empty out all but 1 tbsp and add 50 grams each of flour and water.
Many people get rid of starters that aren’t actually dead.
I’ve been baking bread for years, decades in fact and I’ve just made my best ever sourdough following your starter and loaf recipe. Baked in a Lodge cast iron combo pan with the deep side as the lid. When I took that lid off after 35 mins I grinned from ear to ear, great oven spring. Really helpful to have a time schedule to follow, lovely clear instructions. Thank you, John.
If I want to add dried rosemary, cardamom and garlic powder into the dough, when should I add them into the dough? TIA.
I’ve been using a starter we got from the San Francisco area several months and have finally started getting decent baguettes from it. I just found your videos (and then website) and wish I’d found it much earlier, it is super helpful. My question is, in your videos your starter is very ‘dough-like’, while the directions that came with my packet said the starter should be like pancake batter. So mine is much more liquid-y than yours. Is that ok? Or is there a good way to ‘fix’ that? Thanks
I have struggled to totally understand sourdough bread making. I followed your how tos, got my starter active and passing the float test and I am ready to give this bread recipe a go tomorrow.
Thanks for making things so easy and clear.
I’m very excited!
Let me know how it went! I’m so glad you are enjoying the process!
Nicely Laid out to a conundrum that I have wrestled with for three months and spent who knows how much time and some money on. I’M gonna MAKE ME SOME BREAD NOW!
When I put the shaped bread into the fridge overnight to retard, should I bake it from cold or let it rise a bit first?
You should let it rise first. First, let it come to room temperature (about an hour) and then let it rise a bit (about 1-2 hours depending on your yeast).
Hi there! Love your videos!
I had a loaf that didn’t split open where I cut it with the lame. It’s almost as if it sealed over once it started to bake! Any idea why this would happen?
Thank you! I would suggest cutting it a bit deeper. A shallow cut is more likely to seal over.
Thank you!
You mention adding whole grains. What type, when, etc. How much more water is needed? I’d love to add cracked wheat, but don’t know where I would find that ingredient. What about adding seeds to crust?
My family is loving this no-knead sourdough, but I need to up my game and make it a bit more nutritious!
Hi Bettie. I find the Danish whisk is a wonderful tool for mixing the flour and water in the autolyse step of making sourdough bread. It is also helpful in mixing in your starter. In mixing in the salt I like your punch method of using your fingers.
Thank you for this explanation! It’s so helpful!
I’m new and I’ve made about 15 or 20 sourdough loaves so far in the last couple of months.
When my sourdough rises, even before much time lapses, it seems like it gets a thin, dry layer where it’s exposed to the air. It does this whether or not I cover it, and even whether or not it’s on the counter or in the fridge. Sometimes I have a hard build up on the top of my starter.
Do you have any ideas what this means?
I have yet to have a loaf going into the oven that looks like it’s going to rise well.
That’s totally normal! Just scrape it off the top and sides and stir it back into your starter.
Wow, your video is so helpful! Great idea to work with two different hydration level doughs at the same time. Very interesting! You are a great teacher, giving us details in a clear fashion without overwhelming us. I learned so much from the Sourdough video and your blog. Thank you, thank you! 🙂
I’m so glad! You’re welcome!
Hi Bettie
I am new at making sourdough bread. I’ve made bread before, but mostly focaccia. I remember as a you boy in Italy how wonderful the bread was . So I’m one of those people that I need bread with my meals. I have enjoyed your’e video. Would be interest if you have a book that I could buy or how could I download you’re recipes.
My wife was a wonderful cook and she learned in Italy. Since she became il I’ve had to learn to cook. I do love to learn new things. I can use all the help you can give me.
Tony
So glad you like my recipes! I have a book coming out in October! Stay tuned!
I was wondering if you can bake it without a dutch oven as i wanted to try making a french loaf & dont have a long thin baking container with a lid?
Thanks Melanie
Can I make sourdough bread with other flour Not Wheat as we have allergy to wheat, if so please advice.Thanks very much.
My oven turned off around the 40 minute point… :(.
How will this affect my bread… just turned my oven on again. It was at 185 degrees …. is my bread any good now….??
It might be ok, I would use a thermometer to check the internal temperature to make sure it’s done.
Love your YouTube sourdough help!! My crust keeps coming out tough but inside of my bread is great. Any suggestions?
Sourdough bread is often very crusty on the outside (they way I prefer!). If you like it softer you could try my sourdough sandwich bread recipe, it has a softer outside as well.
I finally made a perfect loaf of sourdough bread – Yea!
I am leaving for a week and plan to put my started in the frig until I return.
What are the steps to get my starter going again after removing from the frig. Do I feed right away or let it warm up and then feed?
Great job! You will want to feed your refrigerated starter every 7-10 days. To feed, take it out of the fridge and feed it as you normally do. Let it sit at room temperature to wake up and start feeding for a few hours. You can read more info on refrigeration here: https://bakerbettie.com/how-to-make-a-sourdough-starter
Hi, Could you please advise, why my dough still sticky even after proofing for 12 hours before shaping? Had follow the steps accordingly..
Anyway to retify or methods to save the dough if this happens again?
A sticky dough is normal. When mixing or when when shaping, you can add more flour. If it’s still sticky, don’t worry- you can bake a sticky dough!
Hi Bettie,
I discovered your You Tube in March this year when I became fascinated with sourdough bread. Your step by step instructions are the best! I have watched them over and over. At this point I have made about 20 loaves. I have experimented with flour, stretch and folds, bulk fermentation time and baking temperatures. Every loaf has been good enough but not amazing. My starter seems so active and smells good but I don’t ever get the big air bubbles in the crumb. I had enough beginners luck to be hooked but now I feel stuck. Any suggestions?
Thank you for all that you are doing in the world of baking.
Jeanne
Excelente ….muchas gracias..
thanks!
Hi Bettie. This is my first time on your site. I’ve been baking sourdough following Jack Sturgess from the UK and having generally good success, but I am extremely glad I watched this video. I now understand the process far better than I did; until now I’ve just been following the recipe and hoping.
I like to eat the loaf for lunch on the day I bake it. If I’ve understood your explanations correctly, I think I could follow your timeline exactly on Day 1, finishing by putting the bread in the fridge around 9pm in its banetton, but then take it out and put it in the oven around 8 or 9am the following day. In other words, everything would be the same apart from the retardation, which would be about 12 hours instead of 16 or more. This might mean that there’s slightly less development of the sourness, but it shouldn’t really make much difference, I think. If I take the baked loaf out of the oven at about 9.45am and leave it on a rack, then by 1pm when I am ready for lunch it should be almost entirely cooled, with perhaps a tiny bit of residual warmth. Does that all make sense?
Also, I’ve found that if I leave the loaf inside the dutch oven for the entire bake then the sides of the loaf can be quite soft, so what I do is take it out of the dutch oven about 10 minutes before the end of the bake. It develops much more colour in those last 10 minutes and the sides of the loaf become harder too.
Dear Baker Bettie! I am a seasoned baker but have never had sourdough turn out like this! It was leavened beyond belief. Just out of the oven, waiting to cool. The extra steps of the autolyse and multiple folds make a difference. I used to use a stand mixer , but no more. Thank you for your videos and instructions for the perfect loaf..
Wonderful! I’m so glad you like it!
Best instructions on sourdough bread ,I have seen anywhere! I finally had a great result on making a lovely ,very tasty , sourdough loaf. Thank you so much Betty
You’re welcome!
Thank you so much , this article is really comprehensive. How about to bake my sourdough bread in a deck oven? Can I bake it without dutch oven?
I tried to make Bettie’s basic sourdough bread for the second time today. I followed all the measurements and times exactly. When it came time to turn it out on a lightly floured board, it was much too wet to do anything with.
The first time I threw out everything and I guess I will throw this out too. I don’t understand what went wrong.
Can anyone help?
Hi Bettie, Happy Holidays and thank you for your amazing tutorials and videos.
I started my “first starter”, I am up to day 7. I am having great rise with every feeding at least doubles in height. But… I don’t see any nice loose bubbles on the top. Plus, I tried the float test this morning and it didn’t float.
Any suggestions?
Thank you!!
Hi there,
My starter is 100% Strong Wholewheat Bread flour, when making a sourdough loaf should I stick with Strong Wholewheat Bread flour or can I use Strong White Bread Flour instead?
Thank you!
I have sourdough starter that has been in my refrigerator for 8 weeks. What can I do to use it?
This guide should help! https://bakerbettie.com/how-to-make-a-sourdough-starter/
I have been making this bread and it’s great! I use the recipe all the time. I am having trouble trying to calculate the calories of a cooked loaf per gram (as each slice will differ in size). Can you help me with the nutritional value of a loaf? Thanks!
Hi, I don’t know the nutritional value but you can plug in the ingredients into an online calculator.
Dear Betti! I’m so glad I met you on the Internet! You explain everything clearly and understandably and charge with positive energy and your hands themselves want to make wonderful bread according to your advice! Thanks!!!!! Great!!!!