My Sourdough Guide

It's been almost a year since I started baking sourdough bread, & my only regret is that I did not start sooner! I don't pretend to be an expert by any means. I often receive questions about my sourdough, so I decided to create a guide to share my recipe, tools, & overly detailed instructions. Once you're comfortable baking sourdough, the process becomes effortless & satisfying. Even though the process takes a couple days from the starter feed to pulling bread out of the oven, the hands-on time to make sourdough is about 15 minutes. The hardest part is getting comfortable with the timing, but I promise it quickly becomes second nature! And if you are gluten sensitive like me, baking your own sourdough may be a great option for you.

The key to great sourdough bread is the strength of your sourdough starter. If you have a strong healthy starter, you will have a better chance of success. I recommend obtaining a starter from a friend rather than trying to build your own. An older starter that is well-maintained will be stronger, so you will have success sooner. Since I don't have experience building my own starter, I won't share tips on that here. You can find lots of resources online that can help you with that if you are interested!

I keep my starter in my fridge in a large mason jar. I like to keep around 100g of starter in there so that when I feed it to bake I end up with about 300g. I usually bake 2 loaves at a time which requires 200g of starter, so this method keeps me from having to discard starter. I bake once a week, so I only feed my starter when I am preparing to bake. If you are going to go more than 2 weeks without baking, I recommend feeding your starter & discarding the excess before the next feed. Technically a starter kept in the fridge can go up to a month without being fed. However, to keep your starter healthy & strong, I recommend feeding about once a week. A weekly feed & monthly jar replacement/cleaning prevents mold & bacteria growth. Once there is discoloration or mold in your starter, it's best to discard & start over with a new starter.

***A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: do not put sourdough starter down your sink drain. Always wipe hand and tools off with a paper towel before cleaning to throw away as much starter as possible.

How I feed my starter:

I take my starter out of the fridge & replace the lid with a coffee filter secured by a rubber band or mason jar lid ring. I set in on the counter for an hour or two so the starter can breathe, reactivate, & drop to room temperature. When I remove my starter from the fridge, I boil filtered water & let it cool in a glass measuring cup while the starter is activating (measuring cups linked here). It's important to feed your starter with BOILED FILTERED WATER to prevent unwanted contaminants from growing in your starter. When it's time to feed, I use a 1:1:1 (starter : water : flour) ratio because I have a strong starter. You can use other ratios as long as you are adding equal parts water & flour to your starter. Many people feed 1:2:2 to strengthen a starter or to make more starter for a larger baking batch. You will need a kitchen scale (the one I use is linked here) (higher end option linked here). I use King Arthur's Organic All Purpose Flour to feed my starter. You can find this at most major grocery stores. Personally, I think using an organic flour is very important!

Once I add the water & flour to my starter, I use a wooden spurtle to mix it well & scrape the edges of the jar (linked here). You can use a silicone tool if you prefer. Make sure you do not mix your starter with a metal tool. Once my starter is fed & stirred well, I replace the coffee filter "lid" & let the starter rise. I use a rubber band to mark the starter's pre-rise starting point. Once the starter has at least doubled in size, it's time to make your dough. If your starter rises & begins to fall, it's too late to make your dough. You will need to discard some starter & re-feed it. Making dough with a starter that is falling increases your risk of having a loaf that doesn't rise properly. The temperature & humidity of your house greatly impacts the timing of the whole sourdough process. When you're beginning your "sourdough journey", pay attention to how the starter & dough respond as the seasons change. As a general guideline, your starter will take 4 to 8 hours to rise. In the summer, it rises much faster than in the winter. In the summer, I feed my starter first thing in the morning, & it's ready to make dough around lunchtime. In the winter, I feed it right before bed & it's ready to make dough when I get up 8 hours later.

Making the Dough:

The following instructions are for one loaf. You can make as many loaves as you like once you get the hang of it! I usually make two at once, but I recommend starting with just one until you're comfortable.

Once your starter is ready, add 100g to a large glass or ceramic mixing bowl. I recommend starting with glass so you can see what's happening better as the dough rises (glass bowl linked here). Next, add 325g of WARM filtered water. Add 10g of sea salt. Use a dough whisk to stir until starter is shaggy (the one I use is linked here). Add 475g of organic all purpose flour. Combine with dough whisk. Make sure the edges of the bowl are scraped & cover the bowl with a plastic food cover (linked here). After 30 minutes, it's time to do your first "stretch & fold". There are many methods to this, but I take one side of the dough, lift, fold it over, & spin the bowl 90 degrees. Repeat 3 or 4 times on each "side" of the dough. Replace the plastic food cover. 30 minutes later, complete another set of stretch & folds. In 30 minutes complete your final set of stretch & folds & replace the plastic food cover. You should do 3 sets of stretch & folds total. Here is a sourdough crash course video I made to help you have a visual of this process (linked here).

Let your dough rise until it has roughly doubled in size. I've found that the timing of the rise is forgiving & flexible. Mine takes anywhere from 6 to 12 hours. 6 to 8 hours in the summer, & 10 to 12 hours in the winter. If the dough ferments for too long, it can become "over-proofed" which causes a weakened gluten structure & creates stickier dough. It will be okay usually, so just keep going!

Shaping the Dough:

There are many methods to shaping your sourdough. I recommend watching different videos to find a method that makes the most sense to you. Once my dough has risen, I place it on my floured countertop, spread it out loosely, fold in two opposite sides, & roll the dough up to make a loaf shape. I repeat that process a second time. Shaping builds tension to help the dough form a proper loaf shape. Make sure you don't over-work your dough. Again, you can refer to my crash course video (linked here) or use Youtube to watch this process for a better understanding. Once your dough is shaped, place it upside down in a floured proofing basket (mine are linked here). I use organic all purpose flour to flour my linen basket cover, but many people prefer rice flour. Close up the seems in the bottom of the loaf with your fingers & cover with your plastic food cover. Place in the fridge for 12 to 48 hours. I think the 36 hour mark is a sweet spot personally, but sometimes I bake it sooner or later. Just make sure you bake within that 12 to 48 hour window.

Baking the Dough:

Preheat your oven with your 7 quart dutch oven inside to 450 degrees. Roll out a piece of parchment paper and flip your dough onto the paper right side up (which is why you put it in the proofing basket upside down). I use a non toxic parchment paper (linked here). Score the top of your bread with a sharp knife or a scoring knife. I make a giant "x". If you forget to score, your bread may burst open as it rises in the oven. Scoring helps it to rise and open up properly (my Dutch oven linked here) (more affordable option linked here). Place the parchment paper & dough in your preheated dutch oven & bake covered for 20 minutes. Remove the lid & bake another 30 minutes. Carefully remove loaf from dutch oven & place on a cooling rack (linked here). Wait at least an hour to cut into it. Store once completely cooled. I like to cut my loaves in half & pre-slice it. I wrap each half loaf in parchment paper, place in a freezer bag, & store in the freezer so I always have fresh bread. Wrapping the bread in parchment paper keeps it from tasting like the plastic bag. Linen bags are great options for storage as well, & some coated in beeswax work just as well as a plastic bag.

I hope this long-winded guide is helpful to anyone wanting to bake their own sourdough. It's become a wholesome weekly ritual that I thoroughly enjoy, and I encourage everyone who's interested to try it. I wish you the best of luck! Here is the biggest piece of advice I can give you: If you make mistakes along the way & fear your loaf will fail, bake it anyway. You may be surprised at how well your loaf turns out! Always keep going & finish the process. Even if your loaf does in fact fail, you will learn something along the way. You can always use failed loaves for homemade croutons & breadcrumbs! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comment section or message me directly on social media. I linked my must-have tools throughout this post, but here they are consolidated in one place (click here).

My sourdough crash course video can be found here.