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
With the COVID-19 lockdown, there is no yeast to be found anywhere, so I decided to try my hand at sourdough. Your Blog is clear, concise and so helpful that I was finally able to create two beautiful loaves af sourdough bread!!!!
Thank you so much
Hi Louise, YAY!! Thank you so much for letting us know this recipe worked well for you. I’m delighted to hear you have success. Keep going on sourdough there is much fun to be had. Happy Baking!
I’m curious as to why you use such a long bulk rise as opposed to splitting and shaping the dough before an overnight rise in the fridge as in many other sourdough recipes. I had a pretty hard time splitting and shaping the dough without deflating it. Is there a significant advantage to a long pre-split rise?
Hi Randy,
You can make sourdough in many ways. The reason for the long cold rise is to develop the dough structure and flavor. It really doesn’t matter if you split the dough before or after the long cold rise. What matters is how long the dough is allowed to SLOWLY ferment and build. That is the purpose of the long cold rise.
Remember we are going for an artisan bread here. Using a shorter room temperature rise will probably work. Other have done it with this recipe and seem happy with the results. However, the best flavor and open crumb are achieved with time. You’ll over proof the dough if you do the long rise at room temperature. Trust the recipe and follow the instructions at least once.
For me splitting the dough after the long cold rise has never been a problem. Keep your tools wet and your hands when working with this dough. It is high hydration and sticky. If you watch the video you’ll see how I work with it.
The dough is not a problem to cut at the bench rest stage if your dough structure is correct. I don’t know how your bread turned out. If you are happy with it I’d say it developed great. With experience you’ll find it easier to handle.
If you had slack dough (that can be very tricky to handle) and a low rise bake It may have over proofed. This is very easy to do in the higher heats of summer.
I hope this answers your questions. Sourdough is very versatile and there are SO many recipes and methods for you. This is the best method I have found. It’s very reliable and simple. Have a great day!
I have made this recipe 2 times with a Dutch oven with parchment paper, and each time the bottom of my loaf comes out burnt. Everything else is fine temperature always reads around 203-204. Any suggestion on what I am doing wrong? My Dutch oven is larger not a small one. Wondering if that could be a issue as well.
Hi Suni, Is you oven convection? If not it may just be too much heat under your dutch oven. I have used both a 6.5 quart and a 5 quart enameled cast iron dutch ovens and neither is burning my crusts. I suggest you put a baking sheet or pizza stone on the next shelf down in your oven to help insulate your loaf bottom. Also you can turn your oven down after you remove the lid on your pot if it gets too hot. Just check your loaf internal temp to make sure it’s properly done before removing. learn your oven and adjust as necessary. I hope this helps.
Is there any way I can do a longer bulk fermentation on the counter instead of the overnight fridge ferment?
Hi Tracey, Most of the flavor and dough structure is building in the long cold rise. HOWEVER, you can eliminate or reduce the cold rise (I have gone down to a four hour cold rise in a pinch) if you must. Just know it matters to the final flavor and crumb. Try to do your best to follow the recipe if you can. Life happens. Let us know how it goes!
HI, can I leave one loaf’s worth of dough in the banneton in the refrigerator overnight, so I can bake one loaf on the first day and one on the second?
Hi Eric, yes that should work ok. If you haven’t bulk proofed at room temperature yet just omit that step for the one staying in an extra day. Also when you remove it from the fridge watch the development. You can work with it cold and form the boules cold if you think your room is going to over proof the dough. Should be fine to bake after two days in the fridge without much room temp time. 🙂
All I can say is thank you! I have been unsuccessfully trying to make a sour dough loaf for a month now. Followed your recipe and I have produced two beautiful loaves. Wish I could post a pic.
Hi Cecilia, Yay! I’m so happy for you. You made my day with your sweet review of this tutorial.
I would LOVE to see your pics. Tag us on Instagram or message us on our FB page. And you can also email us at homemadefoodjunkie@outlook.com.
Your off and running now. Happy Baking!
I hope it does not matter but I was using the video and it says only autolyse for 30 mins and on your tips you say make sure it is one hour. I followed the video!! Hope it will end up being good
Hi Bella, The autolyse is for resting and hydrating the dough. 30 minutes is the minimum but will probably work fine. We have many people who cook straight off this video and have excellent results.
This recipe is fabulous and the video makes it even better. Great confidence builder for the beginner baker. I’m so happy I stumbled upon this! I had training in culinary school during my baking class and I haven’t had to courage to try since then, which was about 15 years ago. It was one of my very favorite classes, but time has run its course and I haven’t baked seriously since then. This recipe gave me my confidence back and it was like I was in class again! It’s definitely my go to recipe. Added some black and white sesame seeds to my final rise in my floured bowl! They turned out so cool looking! Wish I could upload a photo to the comment section. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Kim, Thank you for sharing your story. We are so pleased to be part of getting you back baking again. Your finishing touches are so creative!
If you are on instagram tag us with your pic or story. We’d LOVE to see what you’ve done with this recipe. Or email us with your pics at homemadefoodjunkie@outlook.com.
I think you would also enjoy the Perfect Sourdough Facebook Group. It’s a fun place to connect with other bakers of many skill levels and share your work.
Keep on Baking and Thank you so much for the lovely review of this tutorial.
This was my first time making sourdough. My mother-in-law gave me some starter and I was excited/apprehensive to use it. The video was VERY helpful during this process (thank you for that!!!). I’m so happy with how my bread came out. I only had one basket to use. It was a great chance to see the difference between using one and using a linen lined metal bowl. Both were good, but the one in the basket had a nicer crust. Also, I sprayed the dough lightly with water to get that darker color on the crust right before putting in the oven. The only thing I wish I had known going in was that the dough is STICKY for pretty much the entire process. I added a little flour to that last turn just to more easily get that nice seam. Yes, this recipe takes time, but it’s easy to do. Delicious end result!!
Hi Julie,
I’m so happy to hear You are getting into sourdough and had good start with our recipe and video. Sourdough is a fun creative world with a HUGE amount of recipes to explore.
The Stickiness…yes. This is a high hydration sourdough. That means it has a LOT of water in it. You’ll find other recipes which are even higher. That high hydration is what you need to get the crispy crust and creamy open crumb. I know it’s new and tricky to work with. As you gain experience you’ll get more adept and handling the dough.
Also summer heat is hitting many places about now. The dough will get more sticky in the heat. Use wet hands and tools. Your dough may benefit from more time in the fridge to cool it down. I hope this helps. Happy Baking!
We tried this recipe this weekend, and our bread barely rose during any of the rises and turned out stodgy (though the flavor was good). The starter passed the float test, and the dough passed the window pane test. Our only guesses (after a bit of googling) are that the starter wasn’t mature enough (it’s only three weeks old) and the fridge was too cold. How can we do better next time?
Hi Caitlin, Welcome to sourdough baking. It can be a challenge. We are here to help.
A new starter is going to be less able to rise your bread. It gave you it’s best. Next time feed it several times a day until it’s doubling about every 5 to 8 hours. This just takes time. You will have lots of discard in the process. Try using it in discard recipes. You will see the starter change as it gets stronger. Read our post on making a wild starter for tips and ideas on this process.
Now the Flour: Are you using a high protein flour? (the label needs to say either 5 grams of protein or 12 % protein). Using a low protein flour with a weak (new) starter will give you the low rise results you describe.
Another factor is temperature. how is your room temperature? The best temperature for the bulk rising and other room temperature actions is about 70 to 75 degrees F. Cooler to 68 is fine. Getting around 80 degrees the starter will quickly exhaust itself at this newer stage.
The long cold rise in your fridge is actually your friend in these conditions. My fridge is around 36 degrees and I have no trouble from that. You need to slow down the fermenting process (and have a flour with enough protein to feed the starte) so the dough structure can develop.
You can try extending the cold rise to 24 hours if you have all the other factors in place. Do not expect the dough to double in size. Rather look for bubbles under the dough surface and more of a structure in the dough itself.
finally, To make sure you have it all covered, Use the final cold proof to chill the dough before baking while you preheat your dutch oven at least 45 minutes. You want a cold dough to go into a hot pot and the oven is also preheated. This will give you the best rise possible.
And SCORE the dough deeply. This help the dough expand into a much higher rise. Also forming the dough with a good surface tension will help the rise.
I hope this helps! Keep on trying!
Hello Now Im on day 5 of my sour dough starter I have been looking through the artisan recipes.
I do not have a dutch oven or a cast iron skillet. I have steel loaf tins, a multifuctional oven including a steam oven.
Please can you advise what would be best to use.
Thank you.
Hi Cynthia,
I’m thinking your steam oven function will work if you make your loaves and use either a roasting pan with lid and a cookie sheet under to protect from the heat. you can make boules and set them on a pizza stone or roasting pan Or use your steel bread pans with the cookie sheet under.
Either way remove the lid as called for in the recipe. I have NO experience with the steam oven. The purpose of the high hydration dough and dutch oven is to do the steaming in the pot since most home ovens are not well sealed and let the steam escape. Your oven may be able to steam without the lid on? If so give it a shot.
NOTE: Be sure your starter is strong enough to raise the loaf well. That is the other reason a lid is used it really focuses the heat to the loaf for a great oven spring.
Also use a HIGH protein flour as I describe in the post. This will help you know what’s going on. If the starter is strong and the flour is high protein that leaves only the baking process to play with. I’m very interested to see your results. So please let us know! I’m going to have to learn about steam ovens.
My dough is in the fridge for its overnight rise. I intend to bake it in bread pans but I am not sure which one is the final rise. Is it the two hours after the fridge? Or is it after the dough has been divided into balls and shaped that it gets streched out?
Thank you, and thank you for the recipe!
The Final rise is the last one in the fridge. Let us know how it goes for you. 🙂
Thank you for this! As others have mentioned, I tried other recipes and never had success. Happy to find one that is worth all the time you put into it!
Hi Milly, You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for letting us know this tutorial worked for you.:)
Thank you for this tutorial! I’ve been using your tutorial for 3 weeks now after a really bad turnout on another site. I’ve had to make a few adjustments (I.e. baking on a cookie sheet with a mixing bowl lid), but it’s always turned out great! The video is a huge help to show the techniques you write about. And our family loves the sourdough sandwich loaf too! I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to eat regular sandwich bread again, it’s that good!
Hi Angela, Welcome to the Homemade Food Junkie Community. Thank you so much for the great review. I’m delighted to hear you have baked two of our sourdoughs with great success. I hope you keep exploring the site and finding more sourdough and other homemade recipes that work for you. Have a great weekend!
Thanks so much for the recipe! Is there a way to store half of this dough for longer, instead of making both at the same time? Even a day or so would allow us to get through it without the second loaf going stale. Thanks!
Hi Dan, you can certainly cut the recipe in half for a single boule. I just make two loaves and freeze one right away after completely cooling it.This bread freezes for a month or more without a problem in my experience.
I have NEVER tried to freeze this dough.If I was going to freeze it I would freeze after completing the stretch and folds. Then cut and freeze an equal weight of the dough.Bake the other equal weight of dough. When you want to bake the frozen dough into a loaf try defrosting it on the counter. Then complete the recipe as directed.
I’m not recommending it because I fear the dough will suffer in quality or not develop correctly. So if you do freeze the dough please let us know how it goes for you. I’d love to know if it is successful.
Thank you so much for the step by step recipe for your bread! My daughter and I decided to give making a sourdough starter a try during this quarantine. The first attempt to get our starter active was a fail, but after following your instructions we went from a very active starter to bread! It was so good and my husband was very impressed. My oven has a proof setting that I would love to use. Can I shorten the time by using that instead of the overnight rise?
Hi Sandy, I’m so happy the recipe is working well for you now. Starter is KEY to the success of this recipe. It’s lovely you’re working with your daughter on this recipe. The kitchen is the best science lab and sourdough is a great learning experience, It’s creative and flexible.
I would NOT use the oven proof function for raising the dough. The long cold rise is actually very important to give the gluten time to build the structure of your dough. You can lengthen or shorten the cold rise somewhat to adjust to your schedule. But a quick rise at warm temps is likely to give you a dense or flat bread result.
If you are used to commercial yeast breads sourdough is confusing. I use my oven proof for yeast breads and it works great. But never sourdough. Hope this helps!
Thank you so much for the detailed instructions- I have now been making your recipe for 6 months and my whole family loves it ❤️
Hi Kaaren, You’ve made my day. Thanks so much for coming back to review the recipe for us. I’ve been making it for years. My family loves it too. Happy baking!
Thank you so much for the amazing tutorial! This was my third attempt (after failing with two other “recipe/tutorials” and then wanting to give up completely ?) and my results were happy-dance inducing ?! The “float” and “windowpane” tests as well as the investment in a good Dutch-oven made a huge difference ❤️ Thank you so much!
Hi Christina, I’m so happy! It’s just amazing to hear from new bakers like you having success with our tutorial. Thanks for coming back to let us and other bakers know. We hope to see you back. Enjoy your sourdough. 🙂
I just have to tell you how grateful I am for this step-by-step tutorial. After having quite a bit of luck making a starter with all-purpose flour, I was ready to give it a go with an actual recipe. I’ve now made almost a dozen loaves of perfect sourdough… I think my husband is getting sick of it so the starter is going into the refrigerator for a bit but I can’t wait to whip out your instructions in the future. I’ll be honest that mine aren’t pretty–I don’t have a banneton and don’t sear before throwing into the dutch oven, but I get a beautiful rise, dark crunchy crust and light airy crumb each time!
Hi Melissa, Thanks so much for letting us know your having great results and how your managing this recipe. Lol. Hubby will start missing it again after a while. In the meantime feed your starter once a week and play with other recipes. Try the sandwich breads and our sourdough bagels. They are very different but really good. Also we have a ton of discard recipes like our english muffins. Happy Baking!
A friend provided me with a piece of starter dough. Where do I start this process if I already have starter? Do I add additional salt ? Thank you . Judie
Just follow the recipe exactly. No additional salt is necessary.