Beginner Artisan Sourdough Bread Recipe
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Homemade sourdough bread is one of the most rewarding baking projects you can take on. This beginner artisan sourdough bread recipe uses a Tartine-style method to create a crusty loaf with an open crumb, deep flavor, and beautiful oven spring—without kneading.
If you are new to sourdough, this artisan sourdough bread recipe walks you step by step through the long cold fermentation process that helps build structure, flavor, and rise. It is a true no-knead sourdough bread method designed to help beginners make bakery-style sourdough bread at home.
Over the years, this recipe has brought in hundreds of questions from bakers working through the same common sourdough issues: shaping sticky dough, scoring confidently, getting better oven spring, understanding crumb, and fixing dense loaves. To make this recipe easier to succeed with, I’ve linked my step-by-step sourdough guides throughout this post so you can get help exactly where you need it.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- how to build dough strength through stretch and folds
- how long cold fermentation improves flavor and structure
- how to bake for a crisp crust and open crumb
- how to avoid common beginner sourdough mistakes
Let’s walk through the process.
Start Here If You’re New to Sourdough
If you want help with specific parts of the process, these sourdough guides will walk you through each step in more detail:
- Want better dough tension and loaf shape? Read How to Shape Sourdough Bread
- Need help scoring your loaf? Read How to Score Sourdough Bread
- Want better oven spring and crust? Read How Steam Baking Sourdough Affects Oven Spring and Crust
- Not sure what your crumb is telling you? Read How to Read Sourdough Crumb Structure
- Struggling with heavy loaves? Read Why Is My Sourdough Bread Dense?
- Wondering whether you need a dramatic ear? Read Do You Need an Ear on Sourdough Bread?
This recipe is the foundation. These guides will help you understand the process and improve your results from one bake to the next.
This beginner artisan sourdough bread recipe includes a complete step-by-step video walkthrough of the Tartine-style method. If you prefer learning visually, watch the entire process from mixing to baking.
If the embedded video does not load due to ad blockers, you can watch the full artisan sourdough bread tutorial directly on our YouTube channel here.
Watch the Video Demonstration:This video compresses the 24 hours it takes to complete this recipe into about 6 minutes. You can accomplish this basic sourdough recipe. And your family will love you for it.
What is sourdough Bread? Sourdough bread is a type of bread that is made through a fermentation process that uses a natural starter culture, rather than commercial yeast. The natural starter culture, also known as a sourdough starter, is made from a mixture of flour and water that has been fermented by wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria. This mixture is then used to ferment the dough for the bread, which gives it its characteristic sour flavor.
Is sourdough a Healthy Bread? Sourdough bread is made through a fermentation process that uses a natural starter culture, rather than commercial yeast. This process can result in a bread that is easier to digest for some people and that has a lower glycemic index than other types of bread. Additionally, sourdough bread is a good source of fiber, protein, B vitamins, and minerals like iron and zinc.
Read My Post on Why Sourdough Bread Is good For you. It goes deep into why sourdough bread benefits your health and should be a regular part of your diet for good health.
This is a basic sourdough bread recipe that uses the long cold rise method. Allowing the dough to ferment in the fridge for 12 to 36 hours will develop the flavor and texture of the bread and allow the fermentation to give you the best health benefits of sourdough bread.
I have had a LARGE number of readers tag us on our various social networks and email me pics of their wonderful results. The best part of my day is seeing your successes.
Learn the techniques used in this naturally fermented bread recipe. Take every step in order and make this beautiful sourdough bread. Let us know in the comments if it helps you out.
This is a lean bread. Very crusty with a tender, creamy well developed crumb. And only THREE ingredients. Flour water and salt.
Learn this beginner sourdough artisan bread recipe. It will pay you back every time you DON’T buy an artisan loaf from the bakery.
Artisan bread making is a HUGE subject. I will go into as much detail as I can for you here and include resources for you. Feel free to ask your questions. But FIRST PLEASE READ the entire tutorial.
Sourdough artisan recipes with the stretch and fold method and long cold rise are a unique class of bread. Learn the methods to make these breads and you will be a bread baking star in your foodie circle.
Do you need a dutch oven for sourdough bread?
Baking sourdough loaves in your dutch oven provides a way to steam the dough as it bakes. This helps form a crusty loaf with a tender moist center. The dutch oven sourdough bread method keeps the outside crust from becoming too tough during the main baking process. The lid comes off the dutch oven the last 10 or 15 minutes of baking which allows for a crispy crust with a tender bread center.
To ensure proper bread baking you will need to create an environment that captures both steam and maintain heat. There are a few other methods you can try if you do not have a dutch oven.
Use a baking stone to help maintain the high heat needed for proper artisan bread baking. Use a casserole dish or deep roasting dish that can hold in the steam. A deep cast Iron pan with a lid on it can also be used for sourdough bread baking, just make sure that it is tall enough to allow the bread to properly rise. And if all else fails try a cookie sheet with a roasting pan lid over it.
Steam Baking:
The point is you need to create steam around the dough as it bakes. Most ovens do not have a great seal. So spritzing the bread in the oven as it bakes is less than ideal. For the best crust and texture you need constant steam around the loaf while it bakes at least the first 15 to 20 minutes. Read our Guide on Steam Baking Sourdough to go deeper into this.
That shattered crust and open tender crumb is the Homemade Food Junkie Artisan sourdough goal. Learn this method. There is no going back. And you can do SO many bread varieties with this recipe.
Supplies:
If you make sourdough loaves like this for a while you will get MUCH better results from a few purchases. The crusty flavorful breads are so good. All you need is flour and salt and a few supplies to bake some pretty amazing breads.
- Measure your ingredients by WEIGHT. Measuring by weight is one of the simplest ways to improve your sourdough results. Learn why it matters in Measure Sourdough Ingredients by Weight. Flours especially need weight rather than volume measures for the most consistent results. Here’s a decent 22 lb. food scale.
- Salt measured by volume is unreliable because crystal size and density vary—weight is consistent. I use sea salt or pink salt for this recipe. Salt plays an important role in fermentation and dough strength. Learn more in Salt in Sourdough Bread: Why It Matters.
- You will need a dutch oven or other HIGH HEAT (to 500 degrees) oven safe skillet with a lid. Use either a cast iron skillet combo or a dutch oven. Here’s my 6.5 quart Le Creuset oval Dutch oven (gifted to me by my Lovely In laws).
- I am SO happy I bought this dough scraper set . They are VERY helpful working with high hydration doughs. The bowl scraper is genius. This is a sticky dough and the bowl scraper (when wet) slides that dough around like a dream.
- 8.5 inch Bannetons are for the final long rise often done in the fridge. They come with handy cloth liners that fit to help keep the dough well formed. The finished bread has lovely ridges in if you remove the cloth liners and just flour the baskets.
- A lame knife for scoring your loaves. Also really helpful in releasing the dough to rise properly.
- A VERY good starter. You can make and strengthen your own with our tips in this post. OR buy it from our friend Sasha on etsy!
Interested in baking 100 percent whole wheat sourdough bread? Hop over to our post on Beginners Whole Wheat Artisan Sourdough Bread .
I put helps, tips and information into the sourdough whole wheat bread post specific to working with whole wheat flour.
How to Bake Sourdough No Knead, Tartine Style Bread:
This is a basic artisan bread. The 4 stretch and folds 30 minutes apart replace the traditional kneading yeast bakers are used to. This bread does all the work for you. It just takes time.
Sourdough dutch oven bread recipe from a wild yeast starter. It uses the long cold rise and the stretch and fold technique we have discussed.
Once you learn how to make Sourdough bread a whole new baking world will open for you.
Use a very active wild yeast starter. Learn How to make Wild Yeast Starter in this post.
- Wild yeast starters provide a much Better, Fuller, more Complex….AMAZING flavor and texture than commercial yeasts can. You can easily build your own wild yeast starter. But plan ahead.
- Give yourself about a week to get it ripe and bubbly.
Sourdough recipes with starter require a VERY active Starter. You can use any starter recipe you prefer IF it can pass the float test. MOST important for a good rise in your loaf.
Where can I buy a Sourdough Starter?
You can purchase a sourdough starter on the online if you do not have one on hand. The other option is to make your own. However, established sourdough starters are a great option to make delicious bread quicker. We have purchased this sourdough starter on Etsy and have used it with great results.
This starter is very tangy. It is local to the San Francisco area and definitely is more of a San Francisco sourdough bread flavor. Click here to purchase the BEAST sourdough starter on Etsy.
How much Sourdough Starter is needed for a loaf of bread?
You will need 100 grams of active sourdough starter to bake one loaf of bread. This recipe calls for 200 grams of sourdough starter and yields 2 loaves of artisan bread. That’s because we feed the starter before baking. Every time.
Balancing Your Starter:
Feed your starter 1:1:1 and bring it back to the float test. I feed my starter the night before I want to bake.
- 100 grams starter-unfed or recently fed-room temperature
- 100 grams flour
- 100 grams warm water
Now let it ferment several hours to overnight to return the starter to the float test. This process is a simple way to ensure your active sourdough starter is properly balanced for bread baking.
The float test:
The float test is NOT 100% accurate. But it most often works well as a tell for starter readiness. If Your starter is weak from going hungry too long, don’t use the float test. Rather feed the starter 1:2:2 and if it doubles in 4 to 8 hours it’s probably strong enough.
Most time the float test is a good indicator of starter readiness. If you take a teaspoon or so of starter and drop it in a cup of room temperature water it will float when it’s ready to make bread.
If your starter does NOT float. Feed and balance it as I describe above and try again after several hours to overnight.
But, even more important, make sure your starter is active enough to double in 4 to 8 hours or overnight. If it doesn’t, I recommend you feed it again before baking.
After the starter is active like this one, (and floats firmly in a cup of water) it’s time to bake bread.
Use high protein bread flour:
When I started making sourdough I used my all regular all purpose flour. The bread was delicious BUT it did not give me the form or the rise I prefer.
I was schooled on this by our contributor Sasha Hunter our bread baker extraordinaire friend.
Sasha recommends King Arthur bread flour or high protein All purpose Montana White flour. What a difference in my loaf rise! Look for flour the is over 12% protein or 5 grams protein on the label. Flour choice has a big impact on dough strength and rise. For a deeper look at how different flours behave, see Sourdough Flour Types Guide.
More Helpful Tips:
- Expect the dough to be sticky:
- WET HANDS really help when handling this dough. The stretch and fold process transforms the dough from a sticky shaggy mess to a workable dough. But it will always be slightly sticky with 100 percent white flour and High hydration.
- MEASURE YOUR INGREDIENTS BY WEIGHT FOR BEST RESULTS:
- Your climate, flour type, season of the year…all sorts of stuff changes the way a bread baking recipe works. This is especially true of this type of bread.
- High hydration loaves can be tricky. Help yourself out and weigh the ingredients. WEIGHING is best for consistent results. Read more about measuring by weight.
- Begin with a healthy leaven (your wild starter) that bubbles and floats in a cup of water. (More on that below.)
What Is Autolyse vs Fermentolyse?
In traditional bread baking, an autolyse is a resting stage where only flour and water are mixed and allowed to hydrate before adding starter and salt. This helps develop gluten and improves dough structure.
In this recipe, the starter is added at the beginning, which makes this step a fermentolyse rather than a true autolyse. That means fermentation begins during the resting period, not just hydration.
Both methods help improve dough strength and handling, but fermentolyse combines hydration and early fermentation into one step, simplifying the process for home bakers.
This is done immediately after you mix your starter, flour and water. The purpose of this passive process is to fully hydrate your dough.
Fermentolyse 60 minutes. it’s Important for complete dough hydration and good fermentation- you can rest the dough up to four hours. Do NOT skip this step.
Hydration and flour type both affect how your dough develops during this stage. Learn more in Understanding Sourdough Hydration.
REMEMBER Temperature affects ferment rate.
- Keep the dough at around 70 to 75 degrees F. for the bulk rise.
- Some flours are easy to over ferment and other flours need a warmer temp (Not too warm though) to get properly fermented.
- Learn your dough as you handle it. Watch it go through the stages. If it gets slack and won’t rise the dough might be over fermented. (pizza!)
f you’re unsure whether your dough is ready to move to the next step, see How to Proof Sourdough Bread for clear visual cues.
The stretch and folds replace kneading in this recipe. Making sourdough bread no knead makes it simpler and less likely you will overwork the dough. In my opinion, the bread texture is significantly improved with the no knead method of sourdough bread making.
Your Dough should pass the windowpane test. Which means when you stretch the dough it’s pliable and stretches thin enough you can see light through it.
This is a test of gluten strength. Read more about dough structure.
The Final Rise.
Cold fermentation and proofing time both affect structure and flavor. This recipe uses both the cold bulk (referred to in this recipe as the Long Cold Rise) and the cold proof (dough in banneton, in fridge for final rise.) Learn more in Cold Proof vs Cold Bulk Sourdough. It explains both processes and why we use them as we do.
- Cold temperature (below 55 degrees F- I use my fridge temperatures) and long rise (12 to 24 hours) give the dough a chance to develop better texture and flavor in the final rise.
- I have made this bread with a four hour final rise and also a 36 hour long cold rise. It all impacts the results. I do notice an improvement in the dough structure with the overnight rise.
NOTE: I sometimes cheat on this recipe by fudging the rise times or reducing the other steps. Life happens 🙂
However, The results DO vary. For best results FOLLOW the directions and keep to the timetable for every step. As you gain experience with this recipe your hands will learn the dough. Then you can play around with it and still get good results.
Shaping your dough:
Learning how to shape sourdough properly is key to oven spring and crumb structure. For a full step-by-step breakdown, see How to Shape Sourdough Bread.
Learning how to properly form your dough into loaves is one KEY to building the rise in your loaves.
- To have a open crumb you have to be very gentle when handling your dough in these final stages. The dough is full of air.
- You want to retain those bubbles in your dough as you work.
- It’s all about keeping the dough arated while you work it and building tension in the surface of the dough.
TIP: Please watch the video and look at how I pull the loaves around to keep the surface tension of the loaf while shaping the boules. This is key to building a good rise.
Making Sourdough Bread in bread pans
You might prefer an even crumb baked in a loaf pan for sandwich bread. Here are the steps.
Shaping dough for bread pans:
- I use two 9 x 4 oiled bread pans.
- After the final rise roll the dough into a rectangle so all the gasses are deflated.
- Fold the wide sides of your rectangle to the middle.
- On ONE end fold the corner to the middle seam making a point.
- Roll your loaf up from the point to the other end.
- Pinch the seams and ends.
- Place in oiled bread pans.
- Rise at room temperature until the dough is at the top of the pans.
IF your dutch oven is large enough put the loaf pan right in the dutch oven and cover it. Bake as directed. Works great!
Baking sourdough hearth breads in bread pans:
- If you have a large dutch oven bake one loaf at a time in it. Follow the directions in the recipe card.
- If you cannot fit the bread pans into your dutch oven place them on a cookie sheet.
- You will also need a lower heat. Preheat to 400 degrees F. for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and bake another 30 to 40 minutes.
- On the shelf below the pans fill a pan with water (like a roasting pan) for steam.
- Spray your unbaked loaves liberally with water before setting them in your hot oven.
- follow the recipe instructions. Do the thump test to make sure they are done.
Sourdough Bread Recipe with Starter is very different from other yeast bread recipes.
Cooling Your Loaves:
You MUST resist cutting your divine smelling sourdough bread until it’s room temperature all the way through. Why?
- Your loaves are still baking and developing the crumb and crust even as they cool.
- Do you hear the ‘bread music’? Bread music is the crackling sound your crust makes as it cools. This creates a shattery artisan crusty loaf. Let it happen!
- Inside your bread the crumb is also going through its finishing touches. The crumb is setting.
- If you cut your bread when it’s still piping hot you will squish that gorgeous loaf. The crumb will be crushed and your experience with your sourdough artisan bread will disappoint.
- Cut your cooled loaves with a GOOD sharp serrated knife. The crust will be crusty. A good knife will penetrate the crust and NOT squish the tender crumb.
If you print the recipe the pictures will not print. This is to save you paper and ink.
Beginners Artisan Sourdough Bread Recipe
Make your own delicious bakery quality artisan sourdough breads at home. This recipe is a good start for new sourdough bakers. It's a long process but an easy one. These breads are so worth it!
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 525 grams water-80 degree F. -NO chlorine, 2.22 Cups
- 20 grams salt OR 1 Tablespoon MAX. (different salts might weigh out differently. They will also have different volumes so don't go overboard.)
- 200 grams Very active starter - make sure it floats , 1 + Cup
- 700 grams All purpose Flour (or bread flour), 5 1/2 Cups
Instructions
MAKE THE STARTER:
- Make the STARTER AHEAD
(This can take up to a week or more) AND DO NOT USE UNTIL IT IS ACTIVE ENOUGH TO FLOAT A TEASPOON ON A CUP OF WATER. 
Prep the Starter For Baking:
- This process balances your starter for best rise. Feed 100 grams starter with 100 grams flour and 100 grams warm water.
- Let sit overnight.
- It should pass the float test in 8 to 12 hours.
- If it does not repeat feeding.
MIX THE DOUGH:
- Pour the water into a large bowl.
- Add the ripe balanced starter to the water and mix thoroughly with a whisk or by hand until the floating cloud of starter is mixed completely into the water.
- Add the flour to the leavened water and mix with the dough bowl scraper or other spatula. At the end use wet hands to form a shaggy dough ball.
fermentolyse
- Let it rest (fermentolyse stage) about an hour. This stage can be extended without worry up to four hours.
- After fermentolyse, add the salt to the bread dough. Use your hands to pinch and stretch the dough gently until the salt is mixed into the dough.
Stretch and Fold:
This process builds the structure of your dough without kneading.
- Using your wet hands pull the dough from under the dough ball up and stretch it gently as you pull it over the dough ball top. Release. Repeat this process as you give the bowl quarter turns until the dough is stretched and pulled from each quarter of the bowl.
- Over the next 2 1/2 hours repeat the stretch and fold every 30 minutes for a total of FOUR times. The dough will change from a slimy ropy mass to a billowy dough with many air pockets and definite body as you stretch and fold it. DO NOT PUNCH DOWN THE DOUGH AT ANY TIME. Those air bubbles create the excellent crumb and flavor.
- The dough should become an elastic resilient dough that passes the window pane test. IF your dough is still breaking before it goes transparent when pulled. Do ANOTHER stretch and fold.
BULK RISE:
- Allow the dough to bulk rise IN THE BOWL at room temperature an hour or SO until it rises by 30 percent or so. If you're unsure how much rise to look for, see How to Proof Sourdough Bread.
- Cover the bowl of dough with a plastic bag and set it in the fridge for 12 to 15 hours (Or overnight). It should continue to rise slowly so give it room in the bowl.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and let it sit on the counter in the bowl for two hours or until the dough reaches room temperature (or pretty close). The dough will soften and gently rise (a tiny bit) as it warms.
DIVIDE AND BENCH REST THE DOUGH:
- On a clean unfloured counter pour out the dough into a large mass. Flour the top of the dough lightly but evenly.
- BEING CAREFUL NOT TO OVERWORK THE DOUGH-Form each half into a dough ball. The most efficient way to do this is to use the counter as your pivot point. Scrape in a circle around the dough (leave it unturned, flour side up). The unfloured counter will hold the dough center and create tension as you circle the dough with the scraper forming a ball. Repeat to form two dough balls. The DOUGH edge should be round and the dough ball should have some form and resilience to it.
- Let the dough balls rest for 20 to 30 minutes. They will spread out but should not fall off at the edge of the pancake. If they do, reform the loaves and bench rest them again to build the structure of the dough better.
FINAL SHAPE AND RISE:
Gentle handling at this stage helps preserve gas for a lighter crumb. Learn more in How to Shape Sourdough Bread.
- Gently slide the dough scraper under one of your dough balls and flip it over so it rests on the floured side. Gently form into a flat square like this.
Now gently stretch and pull the dough over from the bottom to 1/3 up the loaf. Stretch and pull the dough from the sides to the dough middle. Bring one end up to middle like this.
- For the final stretch take the dough from the top of the ball and pull it all the way down to the bottom. Clinch the dough into a ball and set into your floured banneton. Form a seam on the dough to create more tension as the dough allows. Pinching the seam as necessary. (view the video for help here)
- Place the dough seam side up in your rice floured, cloth lined banneton or bowl.
- Rise in the fridge 2 to four hours.
Baking Instructions:
- Set a baking stone (if you have one) on your oven bottom rack. Set your dutch oven with it's lid on next rack up (lower third of oven). PREHEAT oven to 500 degrees F. for at least 30 minutes.
- Keep the formed loaf in your banneton in the fridge until you actually need to place it in your preheated dutch oven. Cold dough will aide the oven spring.
- Remove one banneton from the fridge. Place the dough in your preheated dutch oven. I do this by flipping it into the dutch oven as gently as possible seam side down.
- Alternate method: Place high heat safe parchment paper over the banneton. Turn the banneton upside down so the dough falls gently onto the parchment paper.
- Score the loaf (For better oven spring and cleaner expansion, see How to Score Sourdough Bread. ) with your lame knife or a razor blade or sharp scissors. Scoring helps the dough rise better.
- Now pick up the scored loaf with the edges of the parchment paper, if using, and gently and carefully place it into your VERY hot dutch oven.
- Put the lid on the dutch oven and return it covered to your preheated oven.
- Bake 30 minutes at 500 degrees with lid on..
- Now REMOVE the lid (and parchment paper if using). Steam should come out. Hopefully the bread is a light golden color with a nice rise and set crust. Reduce heat to 450 degrees F. Bake an additional 20 minutes UNCOVERED or until the loaf thumps hollowly and the surface gets dark (Caramelized darker than you are used to maybe) and the scored areas look shiny. (To prevent over browning turn the parchment paper (or foil) upside down over the loaf as it finishes in the oven.) Loaf internl temp is around 208 to 211 degrees F. when completely baked through.
- Remove the dutch oven. Place the finished loaf on a cooling rack. Do NOT cut it for at least an hour to set the crumb.
- Return the dutch oven (with lid on) to the oven at 450 degrees F and preheat for 15 minutes. Repeat the process with the remaining loaf.
- TELLS: Look at the crust and LISTEN to it cool. The crust should be 'shattery' which means as it cools it will crack. You can see it and hear it. This is bread music 🙂 also a dull sounding bread is probably not completely baked. When you cut the loaf is should have a creamy but springy crumb with lots of aration.
Not sure if your loaf turned out correctly? Learn how to evaluate it in How to Read Sourdough Crumb Structure.
Notes
TIPS:
- WATCH your dough as it goes through the stages of fermentation. This dough can easily over ferment at high room (Or oven proofing) temperatures. If your dough gets slack, unworkable and won't form or rise it is probably over fermented. At this point I suggest you Make pizza with it instead of loaf bread 🙂
- To avoid over fermentation keep the room temperature (or oven) at 80 degrees or less. Whatever flour you are using will influence this process. Learn to work with the dough you are creating.
Freezing:
- This bread freezes VERY well. After it is completely cooled double wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and set in the freezer. I have done this several times. Defrost at room temperature wrapped or unwrapped. Slice and eat.
Storing the loaves:
- For best results store your sourdough bread loaves in a bread box (I use my dutch oven with the lid slightly cocked). That beautiful crunchy Sourdough crust gets soft in an airtight container or plastic sack. Once cut just set the bread cut side down to protect the crumb. These loaves hold very well for at least three days. Freeze the other finished loaf if you can't eat it right away.
Banneton Tips:
I am using my ceramic round bowls lined with linen dish cloths for my bannetons. The high hydration doughs like these tend TO STICK to those cloths. To help with I scrub rice flour into the cloth. And leave an extra bit of it in the banneton bottom. Once the dough is in the banneton I add a bit more rice around the side of the loaf to keep it from sticking during the rise.
IF your dough sticks a bit to the banneton cloth, use a sharp knife to pull it away and add some rice flour to the sticking spot. Now it should invert without too much trouble. For really tough sticks, cut the dough away and repair it carefully by pressing it to reshape it before baking. Careful of burns if you are doing this in a hot pot.
Baking sourdough hearth breads in bread pans:
- If you have a large dutch oven bake one loaf at a time in it. Follow the directions in the recipe card.
- If you cannot fit the bread pans into your dutch oven place them on a cookie sheet.
- You will also need a lower heat. Preheat to 400 degrees F. for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and bake another 30 to 40 minutes.
- On the shelf below the pans fill a pan with water (like a roasting pan) for steam.
- Spray your unbaked loaves liberally with water before setting them in your hot oven.
- follow the recipe instructions. Do the thump test to make sure they are done.
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Nutrition Information
Yield
24Serving Size
1 sliceAmount Per Serving Calories 104Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 324mgCarbohydrates 22gFiber 1gSugar 0gProtein 3g
Common Beginner Sourdough Problems
This post has over 600 comments and questions asking about all things related to baking sourdough. We answered! To help our bakers, we have created, (and will continue to create) an entire sourdough guidance section on this blog to help bakers bake better. We hope these posts help.
- Bread turns out dense: Why Is My Sourdough Bread Dense?
- Dough spreads after shaping: How to Shape Sourdough Bread
- Score won’t open: How to Score Sourdough Bread
- Crust is soft or pale: How Steam Baking Sourdough Affects Oven Spring and Crust
- Not sure what your crumb means: How to Read Sourdough Crumb Structure
- No ear on your loaf: Do You Need an Ear on Sourdough Bread?
In addition to this list, if you read the post in. its entirety it has even more helpful post links answering questions about measuring, flour and salt. Find our complete Sourdough Guides Hub here and remember, we are always here to answer your questions and help you be a sourdough baking success!
More Sourdough Artisan Bread Recipes:
These breads all turn out perfectly when you follow the instructions. If you need more help with getting sourdough bread you want read our sourdough guides.
After you gain experience, feel free to go your own way with techniques and recipes. Please share with us your successes!
- Milk and Honey Sourdough Sandwich Bread
- Rosemary Garlic Sourdough
- Whole Wheat Sourdough
- Walnut Cranberry Sour-dough Bread
- Oatmeal Sour-dough Bread
- MultiGrain Sour-dough Bread
- Sourdough Banana Bread with Blueberries
These gorgeous dutch oven breads are so flavorful and crusty.
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Resources:
These books all were very helpful to me. They are probably available in your local library but make valuable resources to keep on hand. Make your best sourdough bread recipe by getting information and experience.
Books:
- Tartine By Chad Robertson
- Tartine 3 By Chad Robertson
- The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart
I can’t wait to try this, but I don’t have a dutch oven. Can I just use a heavy pot, and will that change the baking time?
Hi Leslie, If you have a heavy pot with a good close fitting lid set it on a pizza stone or put a baking sheet or two under it to protect the bottom of your loaf. The thickness of the pot will impact the baking time. Cast iron is fine and shouldn’t change the bake time. If you are using stainless or aluminum the time will be impacted. Probably shortened a bit. Since I don’t know your oven or your pot I can’t speak to the time. You will just have to check the loaf when you remove the lid and see how it is doing.
Here is another idea. If you don’t have a close fitting lid for your pot use a baking sheet with a roaster lid if you have one. Also if the lid doesn’t fit tight you can use a water bath method of baking like I do in the soft sourdough bread recipe. You can fudge but you MUST find a way to create the steam in the first part of the recipe. I hope this helps! Happy baking!
I’ve been baking this recipe (boule in Dutch oven) for about a year now and the results have been consistently WONDERFUL – thank you! I bought a long covered (superstone) baker and I’m wondering if I need to adjust the baking temperature and time from the boule recipe?
Hi Susan, I’m so glad you love this sourdough bread. It’s my “goto” sourdough bread.
I have never made it in a long boule form but others have. If you scroll through the comments you may find them sharing how they baked it. It sounds like you will use all the dough in this longer loaf in one pan.
If thats the case check the dough at the usual time and see how it looks compared to your dutch oven bakes. If it looks formed and risen you have a choice. You can either bake it as directed and see if it bakes correctly OR you can leave it covered and take the lid off for just the last 10 minutes or so to brown.
Since you are baking in a different vessel I’m kind of at sea here. I have baked this recipe in clay before. And it baked pretty normally. My thinking here is you need to test the recipe with this new method.
If all the dough is going in one vessel assume the baking time will increase and leave covered for 30 minutes. And then bake uncovered 20 minutes and check with your digital thermometer. I’d appreciate it if you came back and let us know what worked the best for you. Also if you tag us on IG I can see the finished bake and share it on our daily stories! Happy Baking!
@Diane, Thanks for your reply, Diane. I’m only using half of the dough in the long baker (the other half for a round loaf in the Dutch oven), so it’s overbaking that I’m concerned about. I’ll scroll through the rest of the comments to see if anyone else has tried this.
All the best Susan!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe & how-to guide! It’s my go-to for most of the bread I make these days, although I now tend to use fresh milled white wheat flour instead of all-purpose:) I love how flexible and forgiving sourdough is!
A quick question…your recipe says, “Over the next 2 1/2 hours repeat the stretch and fold every 30 minutes for a total of FOUR times.” Is that four on top of the initial stretch and fold? If I follow the timeline of 2 1/2 hours, it seems like it would include six stretch & folds including the initial one:
(1) 12:00
(2) 12:30
(3) 1:00
(4) 1:30
(5) 2:00
(6) 2:30
That’s usually something like what I end up doing anyway, especially working with fresh milled wheat, but I was just curious as to what you meant. Thanks for teaching so many of us!
Hi Connie, Thanks for the feedback and questions on this recipe. First, If you are using whole wheat white flour you need to read this post. It is EXACTLY this recipe with tips for using the white whole wheat and red whole wheat flours. You may pick up some tips there for handling the dough.
To answer your question: There are four actual stretch and folds. The first one is actually part of the autolyse. If you watch the video it shows exactly how I do the method including timing the stretch and folds. That said, I know this is confusing. And the actual number of times you stretch the dough is more than four. The timed 30 minute intervals are there to get the dough developing after the autolyse completes. Then you handle it again as directed.
It’s not necessary to worry too much about doing more stretch and folds, as necessary. Especially with the heavier whole wheat flours. But you DO need to let the dough rest between stretches so the dough can relax.
The post I directed you to also talks about the slap and fold method. This can help if your dough won’t relax enough to stretch properly. The heavier whole wheats, especially red whole wheat flours, can be tough to stretch. The slap and fold is helpful for them. The whole point is to get your dough to pass the window pane test so you can move forward with the recipe. It sounds to me like you have all this figured out. As I said, watch the video to see the process as I do it.
Feel free to adapt the recipe as it works best for you. By now you have the experience to know if you are getting the results you want. I hope this helps. Please Tag us on IG with pics of your finished bake. We love to show off our bakers work on our daily stories. Happy Baking!
@Diane, thanks for getting back to me so quickly:)
It sounds like there’s the stretch & fold at the end of the autolyse process, then the 4+ main stretch & folds that follow, and a final stretch on the counter for each dough ball in the final shape and rise.
I’ll rewatch your video again, too. Any readers who haven’t watched it yet — its super helpful, seriously. I think my daughters and I watched portions of it every time we made sourdough for the first few weeks.
I just looked over your whole wheat version again and realized that while I don’t do slap and folds when I work with fresh milled white wheat, I do tend to pick up the dough and let it hang to stretch just a bit with most turns. Thanks for your tips and advice.
I think I may fair slightly better going back to the slightly higher moisture content your original recipe calls for, also. (Some of my recipes call for cups of flour which can mean shifting the recipe slightly depending on the flour, but measuring in grams should mean the flour content is similar.)
Thanks again!
Your Welcome. Have a wonderful weekend!
I have made this bread twice and it has worked perfectly both times. I feed my starter with Gold-medal all purpose flour and I use King Arthur bread flour in the recipe. Thanks for this great recipe!
Hi AJ, Thanks so much for the feedback. I’m delighted it worked well for you. Happy baking!
Hi! I love using my sourdough starter. I have had it over a year! I use King Arthur unbleached white flour, at I believe 11% protein, should I use bread flour for this recipe, or are you referring to the starter? I make English muffins quite often, but have tried other Artisan recipes like this, just not the light middle I was looking for. Yours looks amazing! I never use wheat flours, as I have a reaction to the wheat.
I try to stick with the flour I started the starter with, but the flours are always confusing as to where you use them. Thanks for the video:)
Hi Shari, Welcome to Homemade Food Junkie! I Use King Arthurs 12+ % bread flour or any all purpose flour with 5 grams of protein for this recipe and recommend it .Now. That said. I have used KA 11% flour and other 4 % protein flour with this bread and the texture of the bread turned out almost as good. It’s just easier to get the lighter results with higher protein.
I have used low protein flours occasionally and rye in my starter. That’s fine. You want enzyme action in the starter to keep it lively. The protein content is not so important. Just keep it well fed for this recipe.
Please Give the English muffins a try and our other sourdough recipes too. Our sourdough section of our blog is very popular and well rated with lot of comments for you to read for ideas on how to use the recipes and what people do with them… and any problems they ran into.
I am delighted to help you in any way I can to succeed with these recipes. If you follow the directions closely they almost always turn out well. Happy Baking!
Two questions. 1) why wait until after dough is mixed to do salt instead of with flour at initial mix? 2) can you leave dough in fridge more than 12-15 hours for proofing?
Hi Jeff, Great questions! Thanks for asking.
1:Here is a link to an article by King Arthur Flour that explains what the autolyse process does for the dough and why we leave salt out of the autolyse. The short answer is salt works against the process by tightening gluten and reducing the extensibility of the dough.
2: The long cold rise can be extended a LOT as it turns out. I have left dough in the fridge for 36 hours with no ill effects. The Long cold rise is very easy to manipulate to fit your personal schedule.
Please let us know how the bread turns out for you if you make it. Have a wonderful day!
I was wondering, if I can make rolls with this and bake them uncovered?
This is the only recipe I have used for over a year with 100% success. I love this recipe, as it is the only one that has ever worked for me.
Anyway, how could I make rolls with this recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Alexandra, I’m so happy to hear this recipe is working well for you long term. Its a staple at our house too.
To make it into dinner rolls:
-After you divide the dough for the final rise you can divide the dough sections into equal amounts for the rolls size you want. I’d try 6 rolls per section?
-form the dinner rolls by making balls and creating a tight surface tension as you do for the loaves.
-Do the final rise on a baking sheet covered until they are 25% larger at room temperature.
-Since you can’t use a dutch oven to bake them you will need a water bath under the baking sheet to create steam. This will also help prevent burning the roll bottoms on the thinner sheet.
-Bake 25 to 30 minutes at 450 degrees F. (watch them the first time. you may need to cover them loosely with foil to prevent over browning or reduce heat to 400 degrees F). Rather than a water bath you can cover the baking sheet with a roasting pan lid if you can make a tight seal on the baking sheet. The idea is to create steam to get the crust correct.
You may need to play around with these ideas to get the rolls perfect for your oven. But with your experience with this recipe I’m sure you’ll have it figured out in no time.
Please let me know if you try this method and how it goes for you. So glad you asked this question. If it works I’ll add it into the recipe notes. Have a wonderful day!
Followed recipe to a T except I baked it in 1 loaf and it came out perfect! I increased the covered baked time to 45 minutes but decreased the temperature to 425. The final uncovered baked time was increased to 15 minutes. I also lightly dusted the parchment paper with a little semolina flour.
Hi Harry, Thanks so much for adding your great review and experience with this sourdough bread recipe. I’m so glad it worked well for you. Happy Baking!
@Diane, Also forgot to mention that I replaced 1tablespoon of vital wheat gluten per cup of all purpose flour which seem to help quite a bit.
That’s so interesting! Thanks again for sharing. I’m sure other bakers will benefit from this. 🙂
I’ve been making this recipe for over a year now (I love it, thank you!!!) I was curious if you could make it with half whole wheat flour.
Hi Emily, Thanks for the feedback. Its great to see that you enjoy this recipe and it works well for you. The short answer is yes. It will be much denser if you use red berries rather that hard white berries (available ground as Prairie Gold By Montana flour Co.) But both will work.
For the story on using whole wheat flour with this recipe please read this recipe post.
Hope this helps. Happy Baking!
This was the best/easiest directions.
Hi Fredrick, I’m so happy to hear the recipe worked well for you. Thanks for the great review and feedback. Have a wonderful day!
Thanks for this excellent tutorial! This is my first try with your recipe and my loaves turned out beautiful, very chewy, crusty on the outside but the bottom was pretty hard and difficult to cut. Any suggestions for getting a lighter browning on the bottom? I did use a Dutch oven.
Hi Joy, I’m so happy the recipe worked well for you. To avoid a hard bottom on the loaf try wetting the dutch oven higher in your oven OR setting it on a pizza stone or baking sheet. It just needs a bit more insulation from the high heat the loaf needs to steam correctly. Hope this helps! happy baking!
@Joy, I put cornmeal in the bottom. It doesn’t totally remove the semi-burnt hard-to-cut bottom, but it does help a lot.
Hello
I made your recipe yesterday and cooked it as one loaf not two. I sliced it this morning and the centre is wet not as yours pictured.
I cooked until 205 F not sure what I did wrong. Help
Hi Joyce, Well the larger loaf will have more volume so you will need to do a longer bake BEFORE you remove the lid. I’d try 450 degrees F.for 30 minutes. AFTER you remove the lid reduce the heat as directed and bake another 20 minutes uncovered. Look at the loaf in the oven. The top should be shiny and hard and golden brown. Thump the bread. If it sounds dull return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Use foil to cover the loaf if you don’t want it browning deeper. USE a digital thermometer and make sure it reads 206 Degrees F in the center of the loaf before removing the bread from the oven. That should bake a double loaf completely.
Please Note: Every oven is different. You will need to learn what works best for you. Uneven heating may mean you have to turn the dutch oven after removing the lid. You may need to find the best placement for your oven rack if your oven is hot or cold. Make SURE whatever you bake the loaf in has an airtight seal so the bread gets a good steaming. Otherwise it won’t heat correctly in the middle of the loaf either.
I hope this helps. I suggest you make the recipe as directed EXACTLY with two small loaves once. If you get good results your oven and baking pot are probably working fine for this recipe and the first set of instructions on baking time should be all you need.
Best of luck! Have a wonderful day.
This is a great recipe!! I didn’t separate the dough into two, I made one big ball. My husband said it looked like it came from the bakery!! This is a lengthy process, but soooooooooooo worth it! Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Danielle, Thank you for the great review! I’m so happy your family
enjoys it. We love this recipe
@Danielle,
How long did you bake and what temperature
Mine was still wet inside
Hi Diane, it’s me again. Now the dough is on second step of stretching and folding, and it feels fine to fold and stretch it as long as I wet my fingers. Oh my… hope it will really fine into final step!
Hi Henny, I’m sorry I missed your first question. It sounds like you are doing great with this recipe. The wet hands and tools will really help you out. This is a sticky dough. Please let us know how it comes out for you.
@Diane, it’s ok! Thanks for your speedy response! I just sent you pic of my overnight rise dough via your instagram.
Yay! That dough looks wonderful! I think you have it worked out. Please tag us in IG w a finished bake. I know it’s going to be gorgeous!
Hi Diane,
This gonna be my second time baking sourdough bread. The first time (not with your recipe) was completely fail. Unfortunately there was another mistake I made this time. I poured all the starter to the water instead of weighed it exactly to 200gr. It almost 300gr starter after all. In trying to fix it I add 100gr flour. I don’t know if it’s wrong/not. Just don’t want to throw away the false mixed dough. I really hope this second try is going to be ok. Now my dough is on autolyse stage. It looks fine.
I LOVE this recipe! Can I double this recipe?
Hi Sherrie, Yay! I’m so happy you enjoy this sourdough bread recipe. And yep it doubles easily. Just be sure to keep the proportions exactly the same and it should work just great. Happy Baking!
@Diane, awesome! Thank you.
What is your schedule when you make this recipe? I always end up forgetting how long the first process takes and stay up way past when I’d planned to in order to get it all in. The whole thing ends up taking me a day and a half, but it feels like I should have it figured out by now. Please share when you start and when you end up baking the loaves.
Hi Jessica,
I usually feed the starter the night before I plan to bake. In the morning I begin the recipe when I wake up. Autolyze 1 hour, stretch and folds 2 1/2 hours, bulk rise 1 hour. Late morning it s ready for long cold rise overnight. Second day When I wake up I warm the dough at least an hour, do the bench rest 45 minutes, final form 15 minutes. Back in fridge for 2 hours preheat oven and dutch oven 1 hour. Score and bake loaves one at a time.
The long cold rise is VERY flexible. Make this recipe work for you. It’s a great weekend recipe. But if you do it during the week and get too busy let the dough sit another day in the fridge or however long you need it to to make your schedule work. Hope this helps!
@Diane, that’s good to know! I’ll keep that in mind next time, thank you!
You bet! Best of luck. 🙂
Hi there. I’ve been making this loaf the last few weeks and everyone has turned out great!! I am currently making a loaf and am very careful to measure my ingredients exact but this time they are very wet. I’ve added more flour (almost another 100g) and it’s still very wet. Is it best to keep adding more flour? I’m at the autolase stage
Hi Garnette,
That’s interesting. I wonder what changed. Well I would not add more flour. The higher the hydration the more tender the crumb. So you don’t want to go too far into drying it out. I’d go to the bulk rise stage and see if it isn’t normalizing.
If it passes the window pane test at bulk rise. Do the long cold rise and see how the dough looks at the bench rest. That’s where you will really see if the dough is developing as it should. Since you know the recipe You’ll know if it is going well at that stage.
If the dough is just too wet to work with and final form try adding flour to the counter and rolling the dough into just enough to get it workable. Best of luck! Please let us know how it turns out in the end.
This is such a great recipe! The first time I tried it the bread turned out fantastic. I started my dough last night and it did the first cold rise overnight. I plan on making one round and one sandwich loaf this time. I was just confused about the timing of the sandwich loaf. After I split the dough in 2 should I still shape both and place in the banneton to put back in the fridge or is this where I should shape the sandwich loaf? I just wasn’t exactly sure when the sandwich loaf shaping happens. Thanks for your great recipe!
Hi Lauren, I’m so glad you like the recipe. It’s an old favorite. Split the dough for two loaves at the the bench rest. Put the sandwich loaf in the bread pan and do the final rise in the fridge just like the boule.
For Baking the bread loaf if you have a large enough ditch oven just use it for the sandwich loaf as well. If you do NOT have a large enough dutch oven reduce the heat to 400 degrees and use a water bath under the loaf (next shelf down). This will give you a softer crust great for the sandwich bread. Happy Baking!
I don’t use many discard recipes. I dislike throwing out discard. Can I make smaller amounts of starter as long as I always use a one to one to one ratio?
Hi Olga, Yes you can. As long as you have enough to make the recipe. Happy baking!