Sourdough Bread: The Full Bake
Sourdough requires patience and attention, but not constant work. Most of the time it ferments on its own. The real skill is learning to read your dough—knowing when it's ready to shape, when it's ready to bake—rather than following a clock. Once you understand the feel of it, you can make bread that tastes nothing like commercial yeast.
You need a sourdough starter—either one you've been feeding or one you build from scratch
If you don't have a starter, you'll need 5–7 days to build one before you can bake. A starter is simply flour and water that have captured wild yeast and bacteria. Once you have it, you keep it alive by feeding it flour and water regularly. This guide assumes you have an active starter you're feeding regularly. If starting from zero, build your starter first.
- Dutch oven (5–6 quart, cast iron or ceramic)
- Kitchen scale (grams preferred, but ounces work)
- Large mixing bowl
- Bench scraper or dough knife
- Banneton (proofing basket) or bowl lined with a floured towel
- Instant-read thermometer (optional but helpful)
- Parchment paper
What goes in.
- 500 gbread flour or all-purpose flour
- 350 gwater, around 70°F (room temperature)
- 100 gactive sourdough starter, fed 4–8 hours before mixing (bubbly and doubling)
- 10 gsalt
Cold fermentation creates flavor and workability
After you mix and bulk ferment the dough for 4–6 hours at room temperature, you move it to the fridge for 8–48 hours. This long, slow fermentation develops sour flavor, strengthens gluten, and makes shaping much easier because cold dough doesn't stick and spreads less. Many home bakers skip the cold step and regret it. This is not a shortcut—it's the foundation of good sourdough.
The method.
Mix dough
In a large bowl, combine water and starter. Stir until the starter is mostly dissolved—it doesn't have to be perfectly uniform. Add flour and mix until all dry bits are gone. The dough should look shaggy and wet. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature. This rest, called autolyse, allows flour to fully hydrate and makes the next step easier.
Add salt and incorporate
Sprinkle salt over the dough. Using wet fingers, fold the dough over itself repeatedly—about 20 folds—until the salt is fully incorporated. The dough should come together and feel slightly firmer. You're not kneading; you're folding and turning to build structure.
Bulk ferment with folds
Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature (around 70°F is ideal). Every 30 minutes for the first 2 hours, do a set of folds: wet your hand, grab the side of the dough, and fold it toward the center. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat four times. You're building strength without aggressive kneading. After 2 hours, stop folding. Let the dough rest undisturbed for another 2–4 hours. It should increase in volume by 50–75% and feel airy when you poke it gently.
Transfer to cold storage
Pour the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Using a bench scraper, gently shape it into a round by folding the edges toward the center a few times—not aggressively, just enough to create tension on the surface. Flip it over so the seam side is down. Place it in a banneton or a bowl lined with a floured towel, seam-side up. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 8–48 hours. Overnight (12–16 hours) is standard; longer fermentation increases sourness.
Preheat oven and Dutch oven
About 30 minutes before you're ready to bake, place a Dutch oven (with its lid on) in the oven and heat to 500°F. You need the pot to be screaming hot so the bread bakes with steam in the first 15 minutes. This steam keeps the crust flexible, letting it expand before it sets. Don't skip this step or your bread will split unevenly.
Score and load the dough
Pull the cold dough from the fridge. If it's in a banneton, turn it out onto parchment paper (seam-side down). Using a sharp blade or bread lame, score the top with one confident cut—about ¼ inch deep, at a 30-degree angle. A single score or a cross pattern both work; what matters is that it's deep enough and sharp enough to guide the initial expansion. Carefully open the Dutch oven and transfer the dough on its parchment into the pot. The dough will be cold and stiff, which is what you want.
Bake covered
Place the lid on the Dutch oven and reduce oven temperature to 450°F. Bake for 20 minutes covered. You're trapping steam and heat. The bread will expand and the surface will turn pale blonde. You won't see much color yet—that comes next.
Bake uncovered until dark
Remove the lid and continue baking for 20–30 minutes until the crust is deep golden-brown to nearly mahogany. This is where you get color and crackle. Start checking at 20 minutes. The exact time depends on your oven's heat distribution. The crust should sound hollow when you tap it.
Cool completely
Transfer the bread to a wire rack. This is hard to do, but don't cut into it for at least 1 hour. The crumb is still setting. If you cut it warm, it'll be gummy. An hour or two of cooling gives you a clean crumb with good rise and structure.
Other turns to take.
Whole wheat or rye blend
Replace 25–50% of bread flour with whole wheat or rye flour. These absorb more water, so add 10–20 g extra water. The fermentation will move faster due to enzymatic activity in the bran. Reduce total fermentation time by 1–2 hours at each stage. Flavor becomes earthier and slightly nuttier.
Longer cold fermentation for more sour
Instead of fermenting for 12–16 hours, extend to 24–48 hours in the fridge. The acids develop over time, so longer cold fermentation means tangier bread. The dough also becomes slightly looser and more extensible. You may need to reduce bulk fermentation time to 3–4 hours since much of the fermentation happens cold.
Double score or patterned scoring
Instead of one slash, score two parallel lines or a cross. This gives you more control over where the bread expands and creates a more dramatic ear (the crispy lip that forms along the score). Keep each score confident and deep—hesitant cuts lead to uneven expansion.
Room-temperature proofing (no cold fermentation)
Skip the cold fermentation step. After shaping, place the dough in the banneton at room temperature for 2–4 hours until it jiggles slightly when you poke it and holds an indent slowly. This is faster but requires more attention to timing and results in less developed flavor. Better for warm seasons or if you want bread the same day.
When it doesn't go to plan.
Your starter should double in size within 4–8 hours of feeding and be bubbly on top and bottom before you mix dough. If it's sluggish, feed it more frequently for a few days or keep it warmer.
Dough temperature affects fermentation speed. If your kitchen is 75°F, fermentation will move faster than at 65°F. Learn to read your dough, not the clock. It's ready when it's puffy and jiggles, not because an hour has passed.
The poke test: gently push your finger into the bulk dough. If it springs back immediately, it needs more time. If it springs back slowly and leaves a slight indent, it's ready. If it doesn't spring back at all, it's overfermented.
Cold dough from the fridge is easier to score because it's stiff and doesn't stick to the blade. Some bakers score it straight from the fridge; others let it sit on the counter for 15 minutes to take the edge off the cold. Both work.
Steam is what creates the crispy crust and allows the bread to expand before setting. A Dutch oven traps this steam perfectly. If you don't have one, use an upside-down metal mixing bowl over the dough, but it's not quite as effective.
Don't open the oven during the first 20 minutes. You'll release steam and the bread won't rise as much. Resist the urge to peek.
If your bread spreads too much and doesn't rise up, your bulk fermentation was too long or your shaping wasn't tight enough. Next time, reduce bulk time by 30 minutes or fold more deliberately when you shape.
If your crumb is dense and gummy, your oven temperature may be too low, or you cut into it before it cooled. Sourdough needs strong heat and patience.
The ones that keep coming up.
How do I know when my sourdough starter is ready to use?
Your starter should be fed 4–8 hours before mixing and should be visibly bubbly, with a dome on top. If you stir it, you should see bubbles throughout, not just on the surface. It should smell yeasty and pleasantly sour, not like acetone or nail polish. When in doubt, wait another 2–3 hours or feed it again and wait. A sluggish starter will result in slow fermentation and flat bread.
Can I speed up sourdough by using more starter?
Yes, but only to a point. Using 150 g of starter instead of 100 g will speed things up slightly, but you lose flavor development. The long fermentation is what builds sour and complexity. If you're in a hurry, do a shorter cold fermentation (8 hours instead of 16), but don't expect the same depth of flavor.
Why is my sourdough dense and not airy?
This usually comes from underfermentation (not enough bulk or cold time), weak shaping, or too-low oven temperature. If your dough felt flat and didn't rise much during bulk fermentation, you need to extend that phase. If your oven is below 450°F, the bread won't spring hard enough to create large bubbles. Try extending bulk fermentation by 1–2 hours next time and verify your oven temperature with an independent thermometer.
Can I freeze sourdough dough?
Yes. After bulk fermentation, shape the dough and freeze it unbaked in a banneton (wrapped in plastic) for up to 2 weeks. When ready to bake, score it straight from the freezer (no thawing) and bake for an extra 10–15 minutes at the same temperature. The flavors mellow slightly after freezing, but it's a useful way to manage batch timing.
What if I don't have a Dutch oven?
A heavy covered pot or a stainless steel mixing bowl upside-down over the dough will trap some steam, but a Dutch oven is far superior because it distributes heat evenly. If you absolutely can't get one, try baking on a preheated baking stone or steel and spraying the oven walls with water every 5 minutes for the first 15 minutes to create steam. The crust won't be quite as dark or crisp.
How long does sourdough stay fresh?
Properly cooled sourdough stays good for 3–4 days at room temperature in a paper bag or linen. Don't refrigerate it; that speeds staling. After a few days, slice it and freeze what you won't eat. Toasted, older sourdough is still excellent.
Why does my sourdough taste more sour at the edges than in the center?
Acids develop unevenly based on temperature. The edges of the dough, being thinner, ferment faster. If you want more even sourness, extend your cold fermentation (which ferments the whole mass slowly) rather than relying on a short bulk fermentation.