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 am following your recipe however confused. A friend gave me a piece of starter. Where do I begin the process? Many Thankks! Judie
Hi Judie, Please begin by reading the entire tutorial and watching the video we made for you. Once you get the process feed your sourdough starter until it floats in water. If you do not know how to feed your starter correctly read this article.
Also find some good quality bread flour with a high protein content if you can. This will help you a great deal to get a good loaf.
The first actual step of this recipe if to mix the flour starter and water and let it sit. This is called autolyse. The recipe itself is broken into headings so the steps are easy to see. Hope this helps! Welcome to sourdough baking. 🙂
Hi from home isolation in Australia and thanks a million for your fantastic recipe and instructions. This is the first time I have made sourdough bread and I’m thrilled with the results [although not so thrilled with how tight my jeans are getting!] I am now baking bread every second day and loving the process and the finished product! Your video was really helpful for a novice baker and I referred to it many many times! Now I can almost make the bread with my eyes closed! Super easy once you get the knack. Thanks again and stay safe….the kitchen is the best place to be!
Hi Deb, I’m so pleased to hear from you. I am also busy in the kitchen and wearing a lot of stretchy pants lately. I’m delighted to have you baking our sourdough and getting the hang of it. Thank you so much for referring us to your friends. It’s a great lot of fun to have you chat from Australia and share your experience with us. You also stay home safe and create wonderful sourdough recipes and other things in your kitchen. Happy Baking!
Hi Diane,
This is an amazing recipe for beginner. Love the breads made with your recipe. I do have a question regarding the baking stone. It looks like you just leave it there at the bottom rack? Or do you transfer the bread to the stone at the last 10 minutes of uncovered baking? For this round I just left it, but am wondering if there is a step I miss with the stone.
Hi Clarice. Thanks for letting us know this recipe is working great for you. 🙂
I keep the bread in my dutch oven and The pizza stone stays on the rack under it. You can move the bread to the stone on the middle rack once the lid comes off the dutch oven and the crust is set.
My oven runs very hot. So I use the stone under the dutch oven to insulate my bottom crust.
In this step you decide what work best for your conditions. Once the lid comes off either way will work. All the best!
Made this bread today using my starter (made with all purpose flour) and all purpose flour in the recipe. I was nervous it would t turn out using the AP flour. Followed you recipe and used the video several times as a reference. The bread turned out beautifully!!!! Thank you so much for the great recipe and helpful video!
Hi Kelsey, Thank you so much for the kind words. And I’m going to say I’m very happy you took the time to wade through all the information in this post and the video. And follow it to success. I’m impressed and proud you did. Happy Baking!
I have never really baked in my life, i made my first ever regular bread a few weeks ago. Never thought that I’d be making sourdough and for sure didn’t think I’d nail it on the first try. I researched many recipes and decided to go with this one because of the simple to follow directions and the built in 6 min video, I pressed play on that many times. I followed it to a tee and on my first attempt, I nailed it!!! I made my starter with Rye and AP flour, then made this recipe with Bread Flour. Thank you so very much for putting this all together. Your instructions, tips and the video are so appreciated.
Hi Steph, Thank you so much for giving us this wonderful review. And give yourself a great big pat on the back for doing such a great job with it! We wish you many more Happy Bakes in your future.
I gave your “Beginner’s Artisan Sourdough Bread” instructions a try last week, and the results were phenominal, especially since my previous experience was only the occasional baking of yeast bread with low hydration dough. To prove to myself that the first results were not just beginner’s luck I tried again, this time with even better results. My conclusion is that “beginner’s luck” had little to do with it, so I give all of the credit to you and your excellent instructions.
Having had two successes (thanks to you), I am planning another attempt with a portion of ground wheat berries to see how that affects the final result.
Thank you for getting me started on my Sourdough Journey!
Hi Richard, You made my day. I’m so happy to have your feedback with two baking experiences on this recipe. We do have a whole wheat version of this recipe. It may have some useful tips and ideas for you. Happy Baking!
What happens if you leave the dough for the final rise (before baking) on the counter? Some baking friends have said the warmer weather we are having here in California will allow for a higher rise and to do that instead of using the fridge?
Hi Stephanie, I encourage you to follow the cold proof before baking. And preheat your dutch oven as directed. Unlike yeast breads and other sourdoughs this recipe will give you much MORE oven spring if baked this way. I know it’s counter intuitive. But it works.
Hi! I have a very LARGE dutch oven and want to make a dbl loaf. Can you give feedback on cooking time?
Hi Susannah, To bake a double loaf Keep the lid on a full 35 minutes to make sure your rise and crumb are fully developed. Once you remove the lid try for 15 minutes of baking uncovered. The crust may want to over brown. If that happens put a piece of foil over the loaf. Use your digital thermometer to determine that your loaf is done. The center of the loaf should read about 205 or so degrees. If you don’t have a thermometer look at the crust. It should be caramelized and shiny. The loaf should thump hollowly when done. Hope this helps.
My dough is soooo sticky, and doesn’t seem to be building gluten as I go through the stretch and folds. My starter is very active, and I’m using a scale to weigh out the ingredients. It seems like every time I stretch and fold it actually gets MORE gooey. It doesn’t want to hold a shape of any kind. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong 🙁
Hi Amethyst, What a beautiful name! You are not doing anything wrong. This is a very sticky wet dough. That is characteristic of this type of high hydration sourdough. By the end of the stretch and folds the dough will still be wet and sticky and you may think of it as gooey. IF it has bubbles forming anywhere through the dough you are getting gluten development and the dough is working fine.
Watch the video and see how the dough changes through the stretch and folds. By the end of the four stretch and folds the dough should pass the window pane as I show you. That means your gluten structure is there. But the dough has a long way to go yet. Bulk rise and the long cold rise are the key to getting the dough to handling stage.
IF you are using a really poor low protein flour (the shortage makes it difficult to find good flour right now) that may impact the dough development and give you less rise. ALSO if you are working in a high heat (over 80 degrees) kitchen your room temperatures will make the dough very slack. Your bread dough will also want to over proof in high heat. If you are concerned about that eliminate the room temperature bulk rise and add more time to the long cold rise in the fridge.
This is a completely different world from yeast bread baking. Be gentle with this dough and trust the recipe. It is very well tested by beginners and experienced bakers from all over the world. It works.
Thank you so much for getting back to me ? I ALMOST added more flour, but I took your advice, trusted the recipe, and the bread turned out beautifully! This was my first time making sourdough, so I wasn’t quite used to the texture of the dough. But I am so happy with the results! I may have worked it too much trying to get it to firm up at first, so the crumb was a little dense, but it’s good for sandwiches ? The bread is perfectly chewy and absolutely delicious. I’m so excited to try my next loaf! Thank you! ???
Hi Amethyst, A great big YAY! Yes this recipe is really different from other bread recipes. I’m sure as you get more experiences it will get a better crumb for you. Gentle handling and learning to shape the boules will give you better and better crumb. You should be proud of yourself. This is a big accomplishment in sourdough. Keep going. you are off to a great start. Thanks so much for the lovely feedback. It makes me SOOO happy. 🙂
Oops – just saw the link for the starter recipe – never mind my last question!
Can you please share your starter recipe? I don’t know which one of the bazillions online to use, and that part feels the most intimidating to me!
Thank you! 🙂
Hi Bri, Here’s my post on how to make a sourdough starter. Let me know if you need any further help. 🙂
How do you make it more tangy? I followed the recipe and can barely taste the sourness.
Hi Cynthia, The bread recipe is a separate matter entirely to the sourness or tang of your bread. The STARTER is what controls the sourdough tang. Heres an article to help you make some choices in the maintaining of your sourdough starter that will improve your tang. Best of luck!
I just took the dough out of the fridge from the kitchen overnight rise and it doesn’t look like it increased by 30%. There are bubbles, so that’s a good sign. Will it rise at all in the 2 hours it sits at room temperature? This is my first time doing sourdough and I know that it is a different animal. It just looks nothing like the dough in your video:(
Hi Erin, The bubbles tell me you are doing fine. Sourdough is indeed a whole different world from yeast breads. You will get the feel of the dough as you go through the recipe. It should be slippery and wet. It is developing. Be very gentle now handling this dough. All those bubbles are making that prized open crumb that is characteristic of this bread.
At the bench rest look at the dough as it sits after you form the dough balls. Pull the dough around like I do on the video to create surface tension in the dough. AS it rests hopefully it will somewhat hold it’s shape. If it go very flat work with it and bench rest a second time to try to help it along.
I don’t know if you’ll get more rise. The time on the counter is just more development time. You may get more rise. MOST of the actual loaf rise comes in the baking. That’s why you return the dough to the fridge before baking and preheat the dutch oven so long before baking. Don’t skip that step.
Best of luck!
Hi! I am making the dough to rise in the fridge overnight but so far I am not getting a rise during the bulk rise stage, after the stretch and fold. Suggestions? Thanks!
Sadie, Sourdough is very different from a bread made with commercial yeast. What’s happening in your dough is it is building structure.
Sourdough develops differently than a yeast bread. That’s one reason we give it so much time to SLOWLY work at cold temperatures. The room temperature bulk rise just gives that process a bit of a boost.
Did the dough pass the window pane test? If so rest easy. The dough is doing fine so far. You’ll know more tomorrow after you take it out of the fridge and work with it in the bench rest.
Watch the video and look at how the dough changes during each stage. Remember a young starter will not have the power of an older starter that has been properly fed for a while.
And with your high altitude there may be differences related to that as well. But carry on.
Thank you, I am amazed at how promptly you respond ?Yes, I did an additional stretch and fold to get a good window pane test, so I’m confident with that step! Afterwards it is appearing to rise some and I see some air under the surface but nothing near a 30% rise. Thanks for the assurances and I’ll just keep going with fingers crossed ?
Things are going well then. I have your back on this. Let me know how it goes at the bench rest tomorrow. Have a good night.:)
SUCCESS!!! It’s soooo good! Small modifications for altitude, for the WIN!
YAY!!! I’m so glad it worked for you. Brava!!
Hi Diane, I really appreciated the combo of the written instructions and the video – it made it easy to follow the recipe. I’ve made it twice by now, but for some reason my loaves keep coming out much paler than yours. I’m using bleached all purpose flour, and baking in a dutch oven, checking the internal temperature before I pull them out. Could I bake the loaves a bit longer? 5-10 minutes? Or are there other parts of the process to look into? Also, the 2nd loaf always springs more in the oven (even though the poke test looks fine on the first one). Should I just let the first loaf proof for an extra 40-50 minutes if I’m getting better results then? Or will I risk overproofing the 2nd loaf?
Hi Svetlana,
Are you removing the lid of the dutch oven after the first 30 minutes? By then the crumb is formed and the loaf is ready for browning. Your oven ay also not be as hot as mine. I convect bake so the top of the loaf gets the same heat as the bottom. If your loaf can stand the extra heat turn up your oven by 25 degrees. Hopefully the loaf bottom will not burn. I’d put the dutch oven over a baking sheet or pizza stone to help insulate it. You can bake the loaf longer as long as you don’t over bake the crumb. One of the best things about this bread is the contrast of the crusty crust and moist crumb.You should hear the crust cracking as it cools. This is the tell for a fully done crust.
With the second loaf springing better: I wonder if you are preheating your dutch oven in the oven for the first loaf at least 45 minutes? A HOT dutch oven will give you the best rise with a COLD dough.
Otherwise, letting the dough sit in the fridge longer will not hurt a thing. If all my other ideas don’t help you that might. Basically the dough is the same for both loaves so I tend to doubt it. I suspect an issue with the preheating or oven temp. Try them first. Let me know if you need further help. Have a great weekend!
Any American who tells me to use weight instead of volume gets an immediate upvote in my books. Thanks
Lol. This recipe taught me how to use weight rather than volume when baking. Such a difference.:)
Hi, I was just wondering if you have to divide the dough, so that you have one large loaf instead? Also does using a whole meal flour change anything or can you use it the same way.
Thanks ?
Hi Kristina, You can make this recipe into one large loaf if you wish. It will require more baking time so make sure to check the loaf temperature before considering it fully baked. We have an entire post on making this recipe with whole wheat flour. Yes things will change with whole wheat but it’s entirely doable. Hope this helps!
Hi Diane, thanks so much for your recipe. I have dough autolysing right now and have a question about the final 2-4 hour rise in the fridge right before baking. Can I extend this to be overnight, and is there a maximum time? I would like to be able to bake it first thing in the morning when I wake up so that there’s enough time to cool before I have it for breakfast. I saw your helpful comments about the long cold rise extending to up to 24 hours, so wondering if this can be done for the pre-bake rise as well. Thank you! Andrea
Hi Andrea, Well…maybe.
Here’s the deal. Your dough does most of its development in the long cold rise. If you can adjust that time to meet your baking schedule if would be a much better idea.
I’m afraid the dough may be exhausted before it’s baked if you extend the proofing too far after the first long cold rise.
That said, you can try shortening the first cold proof and see if the dough is well enough developed to form properly at the bench rest. If so, The final cold rise overnight should work out ok.
Bake the loaves cold straight out of the fridge into a preheated dutch oven for maximum oven spring.
Best of luck and please let us know how it works out for you.
Thank you SOOOOOOOO much for this recipe! I’ve been trying various sourdough bread recipes and they don’t turn out airy and light. I just took the first loaf out of the oven and it looks PERFECT!!!! Next time it will be easier to make sure I have the times right, but the video was very helpful and I can’t wait for the bread to cool so I can start munching. A perfect quarantine project….no chance of having to go anywhere, heh. And I can live in sweatpants (for now, at least). Thanks again!
Lol. I’m big on sweatpants now too. And baking sourdough like a fiend. I’m so happy you came back to tell us this recipe worked well for you. Hopefully you have many many more successful bakes in your immediate future. Happy Baking. 🙂
Just wanted to thank you for the recipe!! It was very easy to follow and the video is really helpful also. The first loaf came out great, but my starter was only a week old. Second loaf turned out even better than I could have expected. Many thanks and stay well.
Hi Kay, Thank you so much for coming back to leave the nice comment on your success. You made my day. I know you also encouraged other new bakers. The world of sourdough awaits. Happy Baking!
When do you add any flavorings like garlic, cheese etc?
Hi Audrey, I would add the additions into the third stretch and fold. It will be easiest then to thoroughly mix your additions into the dough with plenty of dough development time afterward.