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
Hello, I love the recipe! I have had great success! I am baking in a turkey roasting pan, and I find that after the 30 min bake with the lid on the bread is not growing, I have tried 35 min as well, should I keep increasing the lid on bake? also, the lid off bake is taking much longer to get browning happening, currently, I have had 2 loaves in the oven for 25 min lid off baking… thoughts?
one more thing…. I have having a hard time getting my slits in the top to stay intact. I am using a damp serrated knife to slice with, should I go deeper?
Hi Haley, Hmmm, I have some ideas to share.
-You may have over proofed the dough. That means the starter is exhausted before you bake the bread and so during the bake the bread has almost no rise. It will taste good but not give you the loft you want. If you are working in a high heat kitchen this can happen easily.
–If this is a new starter (less than a month) Your starter may not be strong enough yet to develop the dough and carry it all the way to baked. As you continue to feed and strengthen your starter it will produce better loftier breads for you.
-How thin is your roasting pan? I’m wondering if the high temperature of the oven killed the yeast before it could rise?
Next time try baking at 400 degrees and see if you have better luck.
-Also try a water bath under the roaster for two reasons.
If you have a convection option on your oven try that also on the lower heat. You can spray the dough before you cover it with the roaster lid to also help with the steaming.
A dutch oven is made of cast iron with a tight fitting lid. That is much more protecting at these higher baking temperatures.
Do you have a digital thermometer? If so your internal bread temperature should read about 206 degrees before removing the loaf. If you r dough is not baked thoroughly is will be dense and gummy.
A serrated knife will struggle to get down into your dough deep enough to give you a good scoring. This ALSO affects your rise. You need to cut the dough with a sharp un-serrated knife, lame, or single edged razor blade an inch or so. This will help the dough expand and release much more highly in your bake.
I hope you find something useful here. You can email me at homemadefoodjunkie@outlook.com with pictures of your bakes if you need further trouble shooting. Best of luck!
I’m super sad! Just pulled the dough out from the fridge overnight and I don’t think it rose at all 🙁 Any ideas what could have gone wrong? I used AP flour and my starter was nice and bubbly and passed the float test! I used both the video and recipe to make sure I was doing it all right! I’m letting the dough come to room temp, but not sure whether to just chuck it in the bin and start over or attempt to keep going…
Hi Sarah, No. Don’t give up on it. Give the dough a good look. Are there bubbles forming under the surface of the dough? If so it’s live and even if you don’t get the best rise this time the bread will taste good.
I had my fails when starting this process. That’s why this tutorial came about. Keep going through the process. You will learn a great deal. The bread, once baked will teach you. And I think you’ll be encouraged. It may turn out fine after all.
Sourdough baking is NOT the same as commercial yeast breads. The dough will not double when rising so don’t expect that. It may come up a third. What the dough is really doing is building structure. You should be able to feel that difference when you work with it today.
If after your bake you don’t see the results you expect here’s a few troubleshooting tips:
Your AP flour might not be high enough in protein to give a good raise. You need a bread flour (or ap) with 5 grams of protein or more. I’ve mentioned a few brands that will have the higher protein required to give you a lofty loaf. I know it’s so hard to find good flour right now but it’s going to impact your bread.
You may have over proofed the dough. This is very easy to do if you have high room temperatures over 80 degrees. A slow development is WAY better for the dough structure than the fast rise we are used with yeast breads.
If your dough is slack at the bench rest and won’t hold it’s shape. Work with it and bench rest it again. Do the final form and refrigerate. Bake as directed. It may not rise much but it will still be good and you’ll gain experience.
Bottom line is right now you can’t tell. Warm the dough and go through the process. At bench rest you’ll have a better idea. Use the tips you see in the video and tutorial to build tension in the dough surface at bench rest. Bake it! Please let us know how it goes for you.
Squeeee! Thank you so much for this amazing resource! Thank you for also reading and responding to all the “quarantine” questions. This is the first time I’ve made sourdough bread and it’s so beautiful I could cry. ? I was a little worried about the internal structure as I was a little lazy with my stretching schedule but it turned out perfect! I would like for it to have a bit stronger sourdough flavor. Could I accomplish this by adding more starter (or would the ratio not work properly?) or by letting my starter age more? I have photos of love to share with you if you’d like.
YIPPEE! I am so happy to hear you had a successful first bake. You’ll be hooked now.:)
For a stronger sourdough flavor you do need to let the starter age. Then you can go further between feedings which will encourage a more sour flavor in your bread in the future.
I would LOVE to see your pics. You can email them to me, tag @homemadefoodjunkie on instagram or post to facebook and tag me there. I suggest you join the perfect sourdough facebook group and put your beauties up there too and tag homemadefoodjunkie. LOTS of new bakers in that group and TONS of great experienced sourdough bakers too.
You’re on your way to way more baking fun. So much to do with sourdough. Happy Baking!
Hi! Can you tell me, what does 1+ cups starter mean in the recipe? My joy of cooking recipe calls for 2 cups starter… I don’t have a scale and was hoping you could clarify… I’m ready to get started! Thank you for this amazing resource!!!!
Hi Jaye, I’m pretty sure your Joy of cooking recipe should not be used for comparison here. The amount of starter I’m calling for in volume measurements is not an exact. If you use a digital scale and measure your ingredients you will have the most accurate results for this recipe. If you are using volume measurements a generous (rounded) cup of Bubbly active floating starter is what this recipe is calling for.
I hope this tutorial gets you off to a good start. Please read it carefully for best results if you are a first time sourdough baker. Following the recipe exactly is the best way to control all the variables in this exciting world of sourdough. Have a great day!
Very novice bread baker, but with time on my hands, I’m hoping to figure this out.
First run, dough did not get rise throughout the process. Checked yeast by float test hour before I used it. Do I need to check it right before using?
Also, dough is extremely salty. I’ll switch to table salt next time, but is this because it didn’t get the right rise, or is it possible my scale didn’t measure right, or it wasn’t mixed in enough. Is there danger at that stage of mixing too much?
Thank you!
Hi Emma,
The starter is new? it may not be able to give you a really good structure yet. This will affect your overall rise. With time the starter will strengthen. And yes you need to do the foat test just prior to baking to ensure it’s strong enough with a fragile new starter.
Also with the flour shortage right now many people are resorting to whatever flour they can get. Unfortunately a low protein flour like gold medal for example with only 3 grams of protein will not give you a good rise. Even their bread flour only has 3 grams of protein. Check your bread flour protein content.
The salt content should be ok for this type of bread once baked. If you prefer to make a less salty loaf that is fine. Just reduce the salt by half. I have accidentally forgotten the salt several times in this recipe. It will still turn out but the rise may be slightly affected. So use the amount that works best for you.
If you are watching the video carefully and also reading all the post with the tips and following the recipe exactly your rise should be decent. Again you are learning and the available flours are not the best right now. TIP: If your really stuck for good flour ask your grocery store bakery if they will sell you bread flour. I have had good success with that.
All the best!
Hi! Thank you for this amazing step by step process!! I am definitely on the bread baking bandwagon during this quarantine and when I realized I could make bread without yeast, when yeast is harder to come by, I was sold. I made my starter and then found this site!!
I went through the whole process and had a blast doing it! My bread is phenomenally delicious, but I have very large holes in the top half of the loaf. It’s well cooked and totally delicious and apparently holes aren’t a total travesty, but I feel there are definitely too many…it’s the same in both loaves…primarily just the top half of the loaf. Any idea what I may have done wrong to cause this? I plan to just give it another go, feeling that it may work itself out with practice but I just wondered if you had any insight!
Thanks so much for making such a well written and detailed how to – it was exactly what I needed, and I am definitely addicted and don’t know if I’ll ever be happy with regular bread again…
Hi Katie, Bravo on a great first bake. I’m also sold on sourdough. Grocery store bread tastes really awful anymore.
The holes in the bread are a natural result of the gases in the bread. Fortunately The amount of holiness your bread actually has baked into it is completely under your control. At the bench rest stage you can chose to gently press out some or all of the air pockets with your wet hands or a wet rolling pin. This will give you a more uniform crumb.
My husband LOVES those holes. Me not so much. The butter drips straight through. It’s all a matter of preference. We also have a couple of sourdough sandwich bread recipes that are not nearly so open crumb if you prefer. Try either the soft sourdough loaf recipe or our Milk and honey sourdough sandwich bread. All the best!
Thank you thank you!!! I am so excited to have a response directly from an expert! I will try this on my next time through, which I’m starting today 🙂 and next I’ll try one of the other suggested recipes! Thanks again!
Your very welcome.
Hi! I’m super excited to be trying this out. I’ve been making my starter with bread flour but just ran out and of course can’t get anymore. My starter passed the float test today after being fed with AP flour this time around. I had to use AP for the recipe too of course. I’m hoping it still works out! I have the dough resting now and will add salt soon. I’m a little confused by something. In your notes you mention the cold long rise at 55 degrees, but everything else says to refrigerate the dough. My refrigerator is far colder than 55 degrees, so I’m just unsure if I’m missing something somewhere. Please let me know! Another quick question is that I keep my house at 61 degrees (I know I’m crazy) so can I maybe let it rise at my personal room temp? I plan to use a space heater in the bathroom for a warmer rise. That’s what I do for normal proofing. I keep a thermometer in there to be sure I’m at just under 80. Thanks so much for this wonderful tutorial! Hopefully you can help me out!
Hi Cali, I appreciate you bringing up the temperature for the long cold rise. Your fridge temps will work great. I will clarify the post so it’s less confusing.
As to the flour…the bread will work for you but your rise and dough strength will not be optimal. It will still be delicious! So go ahead and bake it. The dough will be more difficult to work with a lower protein dough so expect that. It can’t help it. less protein means lees structure in the dough. But that’s how I started with this recipe too. We LOVED the bread anyway. Just keep in mind after you get better flour the whole recipe will be much easier for you.
The bulk Proofing temperatures are ideal at around 70 degrees. 80 tops. So within that range you will get good results. Your colder room temps will also work with this recipe so don’t worry about them over much. You can proof at cold temps and get better dough development actually. With your lower protein flour that may be a help.
And you can keep the dough in the fridge up to 24 hours or even 36 hours to help develop the dough. Just don’t handle it too much. The last time I made this recipe I left in the cold rise for 36 hours. Dumped it out. Split the dough and literally threw the barely touched dough cold into a preheated dutch oven on parchment. It was extremely tender. Just sayin. You can play around with it.
I’d love to know how it turns out for you.
Hi, Im having trouble… last time i tried to make sourdough bread they came out looking like big pancakes and when I cut into them, the inside were gummy so I was not successful. Now I tried this recipe and when I shaped them the first time I noticed they were very sticky and not really holding the round shape. After the last shaping they were still not really holding a round ball shape, I thought maybe they would hold the shape after the last rise in the refrigerator but when i was gonna put them in the oven they spread in the dutch oven and there is no rise. Im not sure what went wrong, im thinking it might be my flour, I checked and its all purpose with only 3g protein.
Hi Andrea, Yep. Your flour is not high enough in protein. That’s for sure.
If you have access to a higher protein bread flour like king arthur (here is the link to their bread flour. It is sometimes available in grocery stores but check the label to make sure it’s their bread flour ). Or Montana brand all purpose flour with is also high protein wait to make more bread until you have them for best results. gold Medal bread flour is only 3 grams of protein. Not nearly high enough to make good bread.
One thing you can try in this time of flour shortage is to add 100 grams or so of vital wheat gluten. This will help make up for the lower protein content of your flour although it’s best to have the proper flour.
I’m assuming your starter is also from your weaker flour. So it’s also not as strong as it could be.
I learned all this first hand by using the wrong flour and having exactly the results you are describing. It is frustrating to spend the time on such a long recipe and have disappointing results. For today go ahead and bake the loaf to the proper temperature just as the recipe calls for.
Just don’t expect more than the flour can deliver. All the best!
Thank you. I will wait to make another bread until I have the correct flour. And yes, my started was made with the same flour, I tested it and it did float in the water perfectly. Should I discard it anyway and start a new starter with better flour?
No. If your starter floats just keep feeding it. Use the discard for sourdough discard recipes. We have quite a few here on our blog and the internet is full of LOTS of discard recipes. That will keep you busy until the flour supply comes back. 🙂
WHEN you finally do get the proper flour you can feed your starter with it. If you have a new starter it will strengthen as it ages. Different flours affect the starter of course. But for now you have a good base starter to build from. Don’t get discouraged. Join the Perfect Sourdough Facebook Group to keep you inspired. LOTS of experience levels and knowledge in that group. It’s a ton of fun too. Happy Baking!
The bread is great! I have a new appreciation for sourdough bread! Followed all directions which are great and the video is super helpful. The bottom of the bread is very dark. It was cooked on parchment paper and in a Dutch oven.! Any suggestions so this doesn’t happen again!!!!
Hi Meredith,
You might try a doubled baking sheet stacked on the oven rack under the dutch oven. Also a water bath ( I use a roasting pan half full of water on the rack under your dutch oven to keep the loaf insulated from the heat.) This will tend to soften the crust once the lid is off.
So if you want that excellent crusty loaf use the baking sheets. ALSO try moving your baking rack with the dutch oven up a notch if there is room.
Last resort turn the oven down 25 degrees and see if that helps. Might have to add minutes to the bake. Use your digital thermometer to check the internal temp of the bread if you are unsure if the loaf is correctly baked.
Happy Easter to you and yours. Have a great day!
Never made sour dough bread and was looking for a recipe for a beginner and I guess I missed it. Was looking for something I could understand and I did’t find plus wanted to print recipe and am lost as what to do. I have the starter already made but don’t know how to use. I was very disappointed not to find easy recipe.
Doug
Hi Doug, If you’ve never made sourdough bread before it can seem overwhelming and strange. This is a tutorial post. It is long and complex because it is meant to answer questions beginner bakers often have in the process.
I suggest you read through the entire post and refer back to the parts of the tutorial that are meaningful as you go through your first sourdough loaf.
If you want JUST the recipe there is a JUMP to RECIPE button at the top of the text. It will drop you right to the PRINTABLE recipe card.
It will take a lot of pages to print out since the pictures also print. I am working on getting the picture print out disabled to reduce the amount of pages needed when printing.
If you read the recipe and watch the video you will see this is a very simple process. It just takes some time mostly. I hope you do take on a sourdough bread recipe. It’s worth learning.
This recipe is well tested by beginners that have had great success with it. All the best!
I am looking forward to trying this recipe! Is it possible to start with a cold oven or to NOT preheat the Dutch Oven? I am worried about cracking my newish enameled Dutch Oven. If so, are the oven temps and cook times different?
Hi Marie, Yes you can do the recipe without preheating your dutch oven.
you will want to spray the loaf with water if possible and keep the lid on an extra five minutes to help create the crust we are after. Be sure to check the inner loaf temp before assuming the loaf is done. Your digital thermometer should read 206 degrees F.
The only other thing you may notice without the dutch oven preheat is the loaf may not rise quite as much. Putting cold dough in a preheated dutch oven really springs the rise.
Happy Baking!
Hi There! I want to try your recipe but was wondering about the flour. I only have all purpose flour currently. I was wondering what the difference would be between all purpose flour and bread flour. Thank you!
Hi Deb, I’m so sorry you can’t find bread flour right now. You can read the label and see what the protein of your flour is. I prefer to work with a flour that has 5 grams of protein. If you use a low protein flour it will not have the structure or rise optimal here. That said. If you give this recipe a try let me know how it goes. Best of luck!
Thanks so much, your recipe worked perfectly. My family loves the bread. My only suggestion is that you also include a printer version without all the pictures. Thanks again
Hi Gwen, I’m glad to hear the recipe was easy to follow. I’m sorry the printable includes the pictures. I didn’t realize they would print out. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I’ll see if I can fix that. Have a great day!
By far the most incoherent, confusing process/recipe ever.
Hi Izak, Please let us know if you want help with this recipe. It’s really quite simple for beginners and we have MANY first time bakers that followed the steps of recipe with no help from us with great results. We are always here for you and will walk through every step of the recipe if you wish. Feel free to email at Homemadefoodjunkie@outlook.com if you have specific confusions we can help clear up. Have a great day!
Hello! I am so excited to try this! I have two dutch ovens and am wondering if I could cook both at the same time or would it throw off the baking time? Thank you!
Hi Michelle, If you have room in your oven you can do both at once. However, I have never tried to bake two dutch ovens at once in a oven. Since my oven is not big enough to bake two at once. Check the internal temperature of the loaves to make sure they are thoroughly cooked before you finish the bake.All the best!
Hi! I have been researching different recipes and I was just wondering why you suggest a cold rise before the final fold and not as a final rise? Thank you! I look forward to trying this.
Hi Dana, Well actually this recipe does a long cold rise after the bulk rise to slowly develop the structure of the dough. Then after the bench rest you form the loaves and return them to the fridge for 2 to 4 hours before the actual bake. This last cold rise helps a lot with getting good oven spring if you follow the baking method as described and use a dutch oven.
I really like this method. It’s very simple and has great results. I served it for dinner tonight. This is the Tartine method by Professional Baker Chad Robertson slightly modified for home baking. Please let me know how it goes for you. Have a great day!
Thank for the response! I made the recipe and the bread came out amazing! I am actually making another loaf today, I was just wondering home long would be too long for the long cold ride? Is 24 hours okay or will it over proof?
I’m so happy to hear this recipe worked well for you. 🙂
You can cold proof the dough for up to 24 hours with no problem. If you know your going to keep the dough in the long cold rise that long it’s ok to skip the room temperature bulk rise before popping it in the fridge. This last time I made it I actually had to extend the long cold rise to 36 hours. The bread came out great. This is a pretty flexible recipe. Happy Baking!
Would I use half the ingredients listed in order to make just one loaf?
Hi Sean, Yes that will work for one loaf.
This is my first stab at this recipe and if like to do one in a news pan and the other a round loaf in the Dutch oven ( la crueset). I’m a bit confused as to when I should roll the dough into the bread pan shape? Do I do this AFTER the final fridge rise and then let it rise again in the pan on the counter until it’s the height of the pan?
Also, I’ll be using a glass pan for this.
Hi Emma, For the loaf pan form the loaf after the bench rest step. Let the bread rise until it reaches the top of your loaf pan. Put the pan in your dutch oven to bake if you have the room. Otherwise put a water bath on the shelf under you loaf and use a tin foil tent to protect the crust if it is in danger of overbrowning. You can go to our soft sourdough bread recipe for a picture tutorial on how to form the loaves. The loaf pan will be done when the bread reaches 200 degrees internally. Hope this helps!
Another first timer here! literally the first ever sourdough bread I’ve ever made with my first ever starter. I WAS SO NERVOUS! I felt like I botched /everything/ and wasted my starter, I felt too late in the process that my dough was not wet enough, it didn’t behave or look like yours in the video (beautiful video by the way I watched in whole or part probably 4 or 5 times), my proofing times and even the bench rest were quite extended because I couldn’t get to it at the exact timing. But I pushed through to the very end, and my goodness, this is the most delicious bread I’ve ever tasted! Out of my 2 halves I made one boule and one loaf. I feel like you’ve created nearly fool proof instructions. I can’t wait to make it again and hopefully improve on the technique. Thank you!!!
** I have one question, you mentioned putting a baking stone in the oven if you have one but I don’t see it mentioned again. Can you explain the significance of the baking stone? Is this used in addition to the dutch oven?
Hi Bonnie, YAY! I’m so excited your first loaf was a success. This is a very different sort of process from yeast bread. .It makes me feel great to know the post and video were helpful getting you through it. Thanks for the great comment.
I LOVE this bread. In fact I am making this recipe in the morning.
The Baking stone: It is an option you can add if you have one. A baking stone help crisp the crust. Especially useful with steam in the oven. It’s not really necessary when you use a dutch oven for your bread. It will enhance the crustiness of the loaf once the lid is off. But the bread will do fine without it. That’s why I mention it. if you have one in your oven that’s great. But don’t go out and buy one just for this recipe. Hope that helps.
I wish you many many more successes with sourdough. Happy Baking!
Hi, do you have to let it rise in the fridge or can you out of the fridge? Most other recipes I’ve looked at are out of the fridge.
Hi Sabrina, This is a long cold rise recipe. The long cold rise is VERY important in this process. If you leave it out on the counter overnight odds are the dough will over proof. That means it will develop too fast and the yeast will die before the bake. Your loaves will bake very flat and dense.
Please trust the recipe and do the process as directed. This is a well tested recipe that has great results. Let me know if you have more questions. You can leave the dough in the fridge even longer if it’s not convenient to use the timeline in the recipe. Up to 24 hours.
Best of luck!