Sourdough

SOURDOUGH a guidebook

By Michaela Keil

Published in Queens, NY Edition as of December 2022

Table of Contents

Page 5: Introduction

Page 9: Starter

How to make your sourdough starter or “levain.”

Page 18:

The Recipe

The basics on how to read a sourdough recipe, its components, and how the ingredients can affect your dough.

Page 27: Making the Dough

Self explanatory.

Page 43: Scoring

Includes some patterns and ideas to make your loaf pretty.

Page 47: Baking

Baking times, equiptment, and temperatures.

Sourdough is a special bread. A fickle, loving, unique bread.

One of the oldest methods of breadmaking, sourdough is crafted using wild yeast captured from the air all around. This makes it easier for most people to digest due to the natural fermentation process which breaks down some of the harsher proteins and starches present in wheat.

Because of the wild yeast, sourdough can taste different depending on just where you’re eating it, and what wild yeast thrive in each climate zone, really making for a oneof-a-kind bread that comes out of every kitchen.

In this book, I will provide you with as much information as I’ve collected over my years of making sourdough. It is not an exact how-to, but more of a guidebook to cultivating and harnessing your own sourdough practice. The way you end up making sourdough will likely not be the same as the way someone else does. Whether this is due to climate restrictions, ingredients that you prefer, time you have available to you, or even the way you make your sourdough starter, each bread has its own individuality, each colony of wild yeast that you cultivate will have its own personality.

Instead of looking at a guaranteed outcome, use this book to try different methods, experiment with different ingredients, timings, etc., and become comfortable with your dough. Knowing your dough will be the key to success, and knowing how it likes to behave will bring you a perfect loaf every time, once you have your practice established. There are a hundred different ways to make sourdough, and no one method works better than another. It’s time to start your sourdough journey, and if you’re already on one, I hope this guides you towards your ideal bread.

Happy cooking!

Starter

What is Starter?

Sourdough starter is essentially a homegrown yeast. Made using just flour and water, starter is an active colony of wild yeast and bacteria that give sourdough its signature sour flavor. When the starter is at its peak activity it can be used as a levain — the rising agent for your bread.

There are over 1000 types of wild yeast and bacteria around the world that can be present in starters — it all depends on what’s in the air around you. Each type of microbe can alter and affect the flavor, giving each sourdough a regionally unique taste.

The wild yeast and bacteria live in the air, on surfaces — everywhere. Starter is the product of feeding and cultivating those microbes to keep them happy. When the yeast feed on flour’s natural sugars (their “food”), they release gasses as a product. With each feeding the microbes become stronger and release more gas, making a bubbly, active starter, resulting in a sourdough that is airy. They also release ethanol and lactic acid which give sourdough its signature sour flavor.

Starter can come in many forms, and with many different ingredients to supplement the standard flour and water. When the starter is mature (also referred to “at its peak ripeness,” or “at its peak activity”), it’s referred to in recipes as a levain because that is the point at which it can leaven bread.

Feeding the starter is essential to using it. As an active colony of living organisms, sourdough starter needs to be treated almost like a houseplant or a pet. For it to grow and produce those bubbles so necessary to sourdough, the microbes need to be fed and cared for as they eat

through the carbohydrates present in the flour. This doesn’t mean sourdough requires constant maintenance, but it does require a few minutes here and there to keep the starter fed, alive, and happy. Be patient.

Flour and Water

The only two components of sourdough starter are flour and water. Many starters call for whole wheat flour or rye flour which both contain more natural enzymes to feed the yeast and bacteria than allpurpose flour does, helping to kickstart a new starter. Never use bleached flour. Bleached flour has all of its natural bacteria stripped away by the bleach, making it incredibly difficult to cultivate an active starter.

Most tap water is fine. Unless your tap water is highly metallic or chlorinated, use bottled or otherwise filtered tap water. Room temperature water is the best, as cold water will slow down fermentation, and hot water can kill the happy yeast.

The Starter Process

Essentially, a starter is just a mixture of flour and water. You will mix, and remix, add, and feed your starter every day for about two to four weeks, at which point you should have a healthy starter. To jumpstart the process, some people will use rye flour, or add in a drop of honey. Others may use more or less water in their starter to make a liquid or stiff starter.

Note: On day one, you can jump-start your starter by adding a drop (just a drop, no more) of honey to the starter to give the yeast something to feed on easily. You can also use rye or whole wheat flour on your first mix, both of which contain more natural yeast than regular white flour.

Basic Starter Recipe

Mix together 100 grams (about 3/4 cup) of flour and 100 grams (about 1/3 cup) of water. This is a 100% hydration starter.

Each day, using a clean container, add a fresh 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water, plus 100 grams of the previous day’s sourdough starter, bringing your mixture to a total of 300 grams, or about 1 cup of sourdough starter.

Cover using a paper towel and a rubber band. The paper towel keeps out any large insets or debris while allowing microbes (like wild yeast) to filter in. Let sit in a warm place (70° to 80°F/20° to 25°C) overnight until the starter has become fully active and mature — this may take up to four weeks.

Once ready, the starter can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator and fed about once per week with fresh flour and water.

Starter Ratios

A typical starter will be 100% hydration, or a 1:1:1 ratio of starter, flour, and water. Changing the ratio isn’t necessary, but it can change your starter in a few ways:

1:6:6 (one part starter to 6 parts flour to 6 parts water): This ratio will likely result in a greater rise for the starter because you are giving a small amount of yeast a large amount of food, though it will take longer for the starter to reach its peak.

1:10:6 (one part starter to 10 parts flour to 6 parts water): This would result in a stiff starter.

The more wild yeast you start with, the more competition there is for food, which is why the amount of starter included is lower than fresh flour and water. The large yeast colony will quickly eat through the food but not reach their maximum potential because they run out of fuel too soon.

Day 1

Mix equal parts flour and water in a food-safe container. Cover with a paper towel, seal with a rubber band, and let sit in a warm place overnight.

Day 2

In a fresh container, mix equal parts flour, water, and the previous day’s mixture. Mix. Cover with a paper towel, and let sit in a warm place overnight.

Day 3

Once again, in a fresh container, discard half of what is now your sourdough starter, add equal parts flour and water, mix, cover with a paper towel and let sit overnight.

Days 4 – 5

Continue to mix equal parts starter, flour and water, then cover overnight. You should start to see some activity (like bubbles) and it should start to smell yeasty.

Days 6 – 21

Repeat until you have an active starter. Some starters take longer, so be patient. It may take up to four weeks for the starter to be fully active and ready to use.

Stiff vs. Liquid Starter

Starter consistency can be liquid or stiff. The most common starter is a liquid starter — meaning it has a higher concentration of water, or, more technically, is a higher hydration starter — which has a loose, pancakebatter texture. Stiff starter has a lower concentration of water (lower hydration), giving it a firmer texture more akin to playdough. For the most part, in any sourdough recipe you can expect liquid starter to be the default sourdough starter. Stiff starter is great for other types of baking like pastries and other lower hydration doughs.

The recipe we’re using will be a liquid starter, because it’s easier to manage and is more likely to produce a good loaf.

A stiff starter will have less than 65% hydration (section 3), and will rise more slowly than a liquid starter. If you need to convert a liquid starter to a stiff one, remove a portion of starter, and feed it with more flour than water. Continue until it reaches a stiffer consistency over a few feeds.

If you need to convert a stiff starter to a liquid one, remove a portion of starter and feed it with equal parts flour and water. Continue over a few feeds until it reaches a liquid consistency.

Hooch

When starter has sat around for a while without being fed, especially when left in the refrigerator for extended periods, it can develop a clear or brown liquid on the top of it. This is what many bakers refer to as “hooch.” The liquid contains small amounts of alcohol, a natural product of the starter’s fermentation process, and indicates that your starter is hungry.

You can pour off the hooch or, if you prefer a stronger sour flavor, you can mix it into the starter. Then, feed your hungry starter with fresh flour and water.

Starter Smells

Much like knowing when a baby needs its diaper changed, you can tell a bit about your starter based on its smell.

Tangy / Sour / Assertive: Your starter likely contains higher amounts of acetic acid, which is very tangy and makes for a more sour bread.

Alcohol: It’s hungry, feed it with fresh flour and water.

Feet / Must: It’s probably new, and going through some enzymatic changes. Continue feeding as normal.

Yeasty / Bready:

It’s ripe and wellfed, at the peak of its rise.

Milky / Yogurty: Your starter contains lactic acid, which lends flavor and some sourness.

Fruit / nail polish remover: It’s hungry, feed it with fresh flour and water.

Some Tips (Collected Information):

— Be patient, keep feeding your starter, it will eventually produce yeast though it may not comply perfectly with the timeline

— Starter contains lactic acid — which isn’t actually that sour, but more milky — and acetic acid, which is the more sour of the two. A starter that is fed frequently and kept out of the fridge will most likely contain more lactic acid than acetic acid, and won’t contribute too much to the overall sourness of the loaf.

— Don’t throw away the discard, use it to make hundreds of sourdough discard recipes, like crackers, pancakes, English muffins, and cakes.

— If you change the flour and water that the starter is getting, activity may stall for a day or two as the starter gets used to its new food source.

— Once the starter is ready and active, you don’t need to feed it in high quantities, nor do you need to keep a ton of starter around. You can turn 20 g of starter into 220 g of starter by adding 100 g of flour and 100 g of water, making it easy to scale the starter up and down as you need.

— Never use all of your starter in one recipe, you always want some starter to be left over so you can make more.

— If your house is cold, place your starter in the oven with the light turned on to give it a warm place to grow.

— Or put your starter in an Instant Pot/similar type of cooker on the yogurt setting on “low” with the lid gently placed on top but not sealed.

— Don’t leave the starter in direct sunlight.

Starter Lives Forever

Unless your starter has mold on it, which would be clearly visible, it can live in your fridge or on your countertop forever — with regular feedings, of course. Even if your starter shows no signs of activity, it might just mean that your starter needs a little love, and patience. Go through the list of tips and collected information, and consider if there is something you can do to help your starter — whether you add a drop of honey, or leave it in a warm place, or feed it regularly for a week, or do all three. Sometimes changing the environment, the feeding schedule, or the ingredients you’re feeding your starter can drastically change how it grows.

Your starter will live forever given some care and patience.

The Recipe

Ratios

Ratios are the center of sourdough, and baking in general, really. Baker’s ratios allow any recipe to be scaled up or down depending on the needs of the baker, and encourage the use of bowls and weights for more precise measurement (measuring cups have been found to vary the amount of flour by up to 40%).

Using total flour weight as a base, baker’s ratios will express ingredient weights relative to the total flour weight. For example, a 70% hydration sourdough just means that for every 100 units of flour, there are 70 units of water. Grams are the most common measurement in the kitchen, so a 70% hydration dough would be 70 grams of water for ever 100 grams of flour. It gets more complicated when adding in more ingredients.

You’ll notice in the table to the right that although the flour makes up 100%, the other ingredients do not. This is because we are using the baker’s ratios as a way to read the recipe and scale it up and down. We aren’t trying to make the numbers match, we’re just trying to make them easily scalable and readable across different cultures and systems of measurement.

A regular sized loaf is always going to hover around 500 grams of flour, a double batch will sit at about 1000 grams, while a baby boule will sit at around 330 grams of flour total.

A baby boule is a smaller loaf that is good for testing new flavors, ideas, and ratios without wasting too many ingredients (and good for making smaller loaves for smaller households).

Total Flour Weight AP Flour (Bread) Wheat (Rye) Water Levain Salt

(Bread) (Rye)

500 g 70% 30% 70% 20% 2%

350 g 90% 10% 66% 18% 2%

300 g 80% 20% 70% 20% 2%

500 g 100% 50% 30% 2%

500 g 80% 20% 70% 10% 2%

300 g 80% 20% 75% 20% 2%

500 g 35% 65% 80% 30% 2%

500 g 100% 60% 30% 2%

520 g 100% 74% 17% 2%

700 g 100% 75% 22% 2%

500 g 100% 70% 10% 2%

500 g 100% 85% 10% 2%

500 g 100% 60% 20% 2%

Say we work with the first recipe listed. It calls for a total flour weight of 500 grams, made up of 70% bread flour, and 30% rye flour. That would mean that the recipes uses 350 grams of bread flour and 150 grams of rye flour to make a total flour weight of 500 grams.

Using that weight of 500 grams, the amount of water will therefore be 70% of the total flour weight, or, 350 grams of water.

By the same logic, 20% levain by flour weight would be 100 grams of levain, or mature sourdough starter.

Salt will almost always be 2% of the flour weight, or 10 grams.

Ingredients

Flour

Water

Different ratios of flour will change the flavor and texture of the loaf.

Bread flour is often preferred over all-purpose (AP) flour to achieve a taller, lighter loaf. This is due to its higher concentration of protein in bread flour.

A higher concentration of whole wheat or other nonwhite flour will likely make the loaf a bit denser and shorter.

Whole wheat absorbs water much more greedily than white flour, so many loaves that have a higher percentage of non-white flour will require more water, resulting in a higher hydration dough (a higher percentage of water in the dough).

Whole wheat and rye flours require a longer fermentation time and therefore a more sour loaf.

Non-white flours typically have more complex and nutty flavors than white flour and therefore are added in small concentrations for flavor.

Don’t mess with it, just use whatever water you drink and bake with. The temperature doesn’t need to be adjusted like it would for commercial yeast because we don’t need to activate the yeast — our starter is already active.

Salt

Levain

Every recipe needs salt. It helps to add a bit of flavor to the loaf, bringing out the nuttiness of whole wheat flours and the sourness of the fermentation. Salt pretty reliably will make up 2% of the flour weight. (It sounds like a lot to add 10 grams of salt to a recipe but trust me, it isn’t.)

Levain is your mature sourdough starter, ready at peak ripeness. The amount of levain, and the way you feed and care for your sourdough starter can affect the sourness of the bread.

For a less sour bread, feed your starter more frequently, and let it sit out on the countertop instead of in the refrigerator. more sour bread, feed your starter less frequently, letting it peak and fall before refreshing it with more flour and water. You can also keep your starter in the refrigerator between feeds. Colder temperatures help with the development of acetic acid which is a stronger sour flavor than lactic acid. Finally, you can also stir in any hooch that may appear in your starter to make it more sour.

Using less levain will make your loaf less sour, while more levain may make your loaf more sour. A stiff sourdough starter will result in a milder loaf while a looser starter will result in a more sour loaf.

Your Recipe

As you can see, there are many different recipes you can use to make sourdough. From adjusting the hydration, to adding more or less levain, to changing out the flours, it would be impossible to have just one universal recipe. Every baker finds their preferred variation, based on flavor and ingredients, but their perfect recipe is subjective.

From an objective standpoint, here is a good recipe to start with, based on the averages of many other recipes listed in “Ratios.”

Remember to start with these basic ingredients, then begin to switch it up (more on this in section 6). The type of flour you choose and the way you care for your starter will affect the sourness of your bread, so experiment with it.

This will be a good recipe to start with, and if you want to start with smaller loaves for the sake of practice, use baker’s ratios to scale the recipe down to have a total flour weight of 330 grams.

Making the Dough

Prepare Your Starter

Starter should be fed about 4 to 12 hours before use, depending on the ambient temperature, and strength of your starter.

There are a few ways to tell when your starter has reached its peak and is ready to be used as a levain:

— It will be doubled or tripled in size and bubbly, with little clusters of small and large pockets of air throughout and on the surface.

— It may smell yeasty, bready, warm, milky, or tangy.

— When you stir or break the surface of the starter, it will sound bubbly, with little pops and squishes as you stir it.

— As you stir, it will feel stringy, light, sticky, fluffy, and should be visibly web-like.

— Many bakers like to use something called the “float test” to determine if your starter is ready. Drop a dollop of sourdough starter into a container of water, if it floats, then there is enough air and enough activity in the starter for it to be ready to use in a loaf. If it sinks, there either isn’t enough air and you’ve gotten to the starter after its peak, or isn’t active enough and you’ve gotten to the starter too early and before its peak.

The timeline at right will help guage how many hours after feeding your starter will be ready, and what that may look like. For some it may be 4, for others it may be 16. Eventually, you will know just by look and feel if your starter is ready to go.

Remember, if you want a less sour bread, feed your starter more often and keep it out of the fridge for a few days before baking.

Tastes floury, bland, and flat. Smells floury and inactive Maybe visible bubble formation.

Tastes sweet and sour, fermented but not floury Smells milky sweet and slightly sour, vibrant Frothy, bubbly, big bubbles will pass the float test. Doubled or tripled in size. Clusters of small and large pockets of air throughout and on the surface.

Hours 0 –8: Young Starter Hours 9 –16: Active Starter

Hours 17 –24: Mature Starter

Tastes stong and vinegary Smells strong, pungent, vinegary, fermented Will not pass the float test, it will sink slowly to the bottom. Small bubbles may remain.

Autolyse

Autolyse is the process of mixing just flour and water together, before anything else, to allow the gluten time to relax. Most importantly, this helps begin the formation of gluten webs. Gluten webs (represented in the drawing at the beginning of this section) are strands of protein that form networks to both give the dough strength and extensibility. There are few chances to encourage the development of extensibility, and autolyse is a great place to do so. Once salt and leaven are added and the dough begins getting kneaded and worked, it will develop elasticity — but not so much extensibility.

Autolyse is a small step, but it will make a large difference in the end.

To autolyse, mix all of your flours with most of your water. You want to make sure there are no dry bits. Saving some water is helpful for after you autolyse and have to mix in the starter. Mix the flour and water for a minute or two until well-combined, making sure there are no pockets of either water or flour. Let sit for 30 – 60 minutes.

Note: If using a stiff starter or yeast, dissolve your leaven in a little bit of reserved water before incorporating after the autolyse.

Mixing the Dough

To mix the dough, essentially you’ll just be squishing it all together for a few minutes. One method is to pull some slackened dough up from the side and push it back into the center of the dough. Another method is to pull half of it and fold it back on itself, rotating the bowl 90° each time to mix all parts of the dough. You can also use a stand mixer.

The most important part of mixing the dough, really, is that everything is incorporated evenly, and that there

are no pockets of flour, starter, water, or salt. Drop the rest of your ingredients into your autolysed dough, then mix away!

Once the dough is mixed, let it rest for a few minutes, on average about 15, and then begin the stretches, folds, or laminations.

Bulk Fermentation

Bulk fermentation (also referred to as the first rise or primary fermentation) is the step in sourdough that makes the bread rise. As the name suggests, bulk fermentation is the step where the dough ferments en masse. It is crucial to bulk ferment to allow the yeast time to rise. Bulk fermentation begins when mixing ends, and continues until the dough has been shaped for baking.

During this time, fermentation creates organic acids and carbon dioxide gases, each of which plays an important part in dough development. Organic acids are primarily what give the dough flavor and strength (acids help condition the gluten network) and carbon dioxide gives the dough volume and lightness.

While our friendly yeast and bacteria do most of this work, the dough still benefits from a periodic check-in. We help regulate dough temperature and strength through a series of stretches and folds, and these check-ins also give us an opportunity to assess how the dough is progressing.

Remember, ambient temperature can affect the rise time and the flavor: Cooler temperatures during bulk fermentation will result in a milder loaf while a warmer environment will make a more sour loaf.

Throughout bulk fermentation, the dough will likely double or triple in size, become airy, feel almost whipped, become far more stretchy and extensible, and far less sticky. You should also see some air bubbles

begin to form as the yeast do their work. That’s who bulk fermentation really is for, anyway, our yeast friends.

On average, your bread should rise in bulk fermentation for a minimum of 4 hours. A sourdough recipe may vary by a couple of hours, give or take, depending on the ambient temperature, the activity of the starter, and the ingredients included — whole grains and any additions like oil or dairy will extend the length of the bulk fermentation.

Stretches and Folds

Stretches and folds are what replace kneading in a sourdough recipe. They help activate and develop the gluten webs, providing strength for your dough. Welldeveloped gluten helps the loaf hold its shape and leads to a taller loaf during baking (the loaf’s rise while baking is referred to as “oven spring”).

For lower gluten breads, stretches and folds may not be as necessary because there isn’t gluten to develop — though it’s never a bad thing to do a few rounds of stretches and folds.

The goal of the stretches and folds is to get the dough to a place where it is spreadable and elastic — not so weak that it spreads apart without resistance and doesn’t hold it’s shape, but not so strong that it resists being pulled and stretched. The dough needs to be strong enough to trap the gasses and stretchy enough that it will expand as the yeast make more air bubbles.

Some of this development of gluten and strength happens in the initial mixing, and a good way to see the progress of gluten development is to do a windowpane test. At various intervals, pinch off a golfball-size piece of dough, then gently spread it apart with your fingers. If the gluten is well-developed, it should stretch thin enough that the light can pass through. If you hold it

up to a lamp, you can even see the strands of gluten holding everything together.

After mixing, do a windowpane test to see where the dough is, that will make it easier to compare later on.

Once the dough has rested after mixing, stretches and folds can begin.

For one set of stretches and folds:

1. Wet your hands lightly, this is helpful in keeping the dough from sticking to your hands.

2. Making a spoon with your hand, fingers together, scoop underneath one side of the dough. Gently lift the dough as high as you can without tearing it (this will get higher as the gluten develops and the dough becomes more elastic).

3. Bring the top of the dough over itself and into the center of the bowl, folding it gently on top.

4. Rotate the bowl 90° and repeat this process three more times, until you’ve stretched all four sides of the dough. 5. Once all four sides have been stretched and folded, you’ve completed a full set of stretches and folds.

You can wet your hands as much as needed during the process to keep the dough from sticking.

A minimum of three sets of stretches and folds will be used during bulk fermentation, spaced about 20 minutes to 1 hour apart, depending on the needs of your dough. We let the dough rest in between sets so that it can develop. If we were to do them all at once, the dough would tear instead of developing. A higher hydration dough needs a shorter rest time, and a lower hydration dough will need more time between each fold.

By the last round, the dough should keep its shape, and not feel as sticky as it did at the start. It may also have small bubbles on the surface.

4 – 12 hours before starting

Prepare your starter 4 – 12 hours before starting your sourdough. Ideally making sure the starter peaks around when you are ready to begin.

Autolyse 1 hour

Autolyse all the flour and water. Let sit for one hour.

Mix, rest 15 minutes

Mix in the levain and salt for about 5 minutes. Rest for 15 minutes befor beginning stretches, folds, coils, or laminations.

Bulk Fermentation

Begin bulk fermentation. This is the point at which the dough will do most of its rising. By the end it should feel almost whipped, hold a shape, have some bubbles, and jiggle a bit when the bowl is rocked. Bulk fermentation includes stretches and folds and can take 4 – 12 hours.

Begin stretches and folds. Stretch, fold, or coil fold every 30 minutes, 4 times. This is fold #1.

Stretches and Folds

Stretch, fold, or coil fold #2. Then let the dough rest for 30 minutes before moving on either to fold #3 or lamination.

Fold #2, then rest

At this point, if you wanted to do any inclusions (section 7), laminate them in now. The lamination would count as fold #3. Or, do stretch and fold #3 then rest as usual.

Fold #3 or Lamination

Stretch, fold, or coil fold #3, then let the dough rest, covered with a damp cloth. At this point, check the dough and see where it is. If it needs to rest longer, let it sit on the counter covered, and check every hour.

Fold #4, then rest

Preshape

Preshape your dough by creating tension over the surface of it, giving just enough tension that it lightly holds its shape. Rest for 10 – 45 minutes.

Shape

Shape the final loaf, place it into a banneton or other proofing basket, and move on to proofing.

Proof

Proof your dough in a proving basket (banneton) for either 1 – 3 hours on the counter, or overnight in the refrigerator. Be sure to test your dough for doneness before baking.

Score & Bake

When the dough is ready and proved, preheat your oven then score your dough right before baking. Bake with the lid on for 20 minutes, and for 30–50 minutes with the lid off.

Preshaping

The prehape is the step after bulk fermentation is complete. In this step, we shape the dough into a loosely orderly structure to aid in the final shape later on — it sets the stage for successful final shaping.

Preshaping also gives us an extra chance to add strength to our dough. If the dough feels weak (a little loose or slack, possibly from undermixing or overhydrsation), you can give it a slightly tighter preshape. This simple act can add much-needed strength and structure to a dough that might otherwise prove tricky to shape. You can also perform a second preshape step to bring more structure to the dough before shaping. This ensures your dough will rise high and make it less likely to collapse or spread.

We want the preshape to have just enough tension across the top of the bread that it holds its shape, but we don’t want to tear it. Once the surface is smooth and holds its shape lightly, you’re done preshaping.

Preshape process:

With a bench scraper: Bench scrapers are wonderful tools for working in the kitchen. To preshape using a bench scraper, lay your dough out on a lightly floured surface, smooth side of the dough up if possible. Using the bench scraper, gently push the dough under itself. Your empty hand can tuck the dough under as you push the blade into the dough. Repeat this motion with your bench scraper and hand, gently rotating the dough each time. You’ll notice with each pass that the dough tightens more as it snags the dry work surface and you scoot it along. This tightening will be visible on the outside of the dough as the surface becomes taut.

Without a bench scraper: Scrape out dough onto a lightly floured surface, smooth side of the dough

down, if possible. Pull and wrap the dough all the way around starting with four corners, then pulling up from those smaller corners. This is a similar motion to stretching and folding, pulling up from the four sides to wrap the dough around itself. Once you’re finished, you should be able to flip the preshaped loaf over and it will have a smooth top surface and will gently hold its shape.

Once the preshape is complete, cover your dough loosely with a cloth and allow it to rest for 10 – 45 minutes. The tighter your preshape is, the longer the dough will need to rest before the final shape.

If you find your dough quickly spreads, cut the bench rest short. Then, either perform a second preshape step or proceed with final shaping straight away.

Conversely, if your dough resists shaping, consider giving it more time to rest and relax.

During the rest period the dough will spread and relax a bit, this is okay! It shows that the dough is still elastic enough to help with the final shaping.

Shaping

To begin your final shaping, flip your preshaped round over onto a lightly floured surface. We want the side with the tension down, as we will be pulling and wrapping the bread over the top of itself.

This is the final time we will work with the dough, so make sure your dough is in a good place before continuing. For this recipe we will be shaping the dough into a round loaf also known as a boule. Though we can just as easily shape it into a batard, or an oblong loaf.

With the preshaped round flipped, the stickier, less smooth side should be showing. Pull the dough a little bit at all four

corners to widen the dough into a more square shape (this only requires one gentle pull on each corner). Then, fold the bottom two corners into the center, like an envelope.

Using both hands, pull the top of the “envelope” away from you, stretching it ever so slightly, then fold it over the middle, sealing it over the dough.

Using two hands again, grab the bottom of the dough (the bottom of your envelope) and roll it over itself. Tuck and drag the dough toward you as you roll it to create tension on the outside of the dough. You may only be able to do one or two tucks.

Rotate the dough 90° and repeat the roll, tucking and rolling the dough into itself once or twice to create a more even shape. For a batard, skip this step.

Using your bench scraper, gently place the dough into a proofing basket, seam side up. If desired, use your fingers to pinch the seams shut.

Proofing

Proofing is the final rise before baking. It is the step which allows the bread to rise, and the sourdough flavor to develop. Proofing is best done in a proofing basket — also called a banneton — lined with a linen cloth. Sprinkle the inside of the basket and cloth with a 50/50 mix of AP flour and rice flour. If you don’t have a proofing basket, you can also use a collider lined with a tightly-woven dish towel, also sprinkled with the flour mixture. (Rice flour doesn’t absorb water as readily as regular flour does, which keeps the basket and the dough from sticking to each other.)

Place the loaf in the basket seam-side up. If your bread needs a little more shaping, you can pull the corners into the middle one more time, then pinch the seams shut and let it proof.

Proofing can go one of two ways: You can either pop your loaf into the fridge overnight, or proof it the whole time on the counter and bake right after. Most bakers opt for the fridge method because it can make the dough easier to handle when it is time to score and bake, it gets more time to develop flavor, and it can add flexibility to the baking process by allowing you to have a wider window of when you actually bake the loaf.

A loaf can stay in the fridge, covered, for days at a time. I’d recommend not leaving it longer than 24 hours until you have a handle on what works for you and your starter. When proofing your loaf in the fridge, remember to cover it so the loaf doesn’t dry out.

Just keep in mind that the longer a loaf is developing, the more sour your final bread will be.

If you’re looking to proof on the counter, and bake your bread sooner, leave it out for 1 – 3 hours, covered, and test to see if the proofing is complete every 30 minutes or so.

To tell if the proofing is complete, poke into the dough with your finger. The print you make should partially spring back but not completely. If it springs back quickly and disappears completely within a minute,

Scoring

Scoring

The purpose of scoring a loaf of bread is to give the bread room to expand. Using a lame, which is essentially a razor on a handle, you can cut decorative slashes in the bread and offer the load a predictable way to rise.

If you don’t score the bread it is likely to burst through in weird places. Because we worked so hard to build tension during the shaping of the bread, that tension will burst in unrepdictable ways. If the bread is scored, the air has a designated path out. The score then becomes necessary to making a pretty loaf of bread.

To score the bread, hold your razor or lame at a 45° angle and slice the loaf right across the top. Make sure your score is about 1 centimeter or ½ inch deep. If you need to slice it again to get it a little deeper, you can.

Most breads only need a simple slash across the top, but some bakers will get rather creative with their scoring designs.

On the next page are some examples of other scoring patterns. The depth of the score will impact how wide the cut becomes. The suggested depth for designs is indicated by the thickness of the lines in the scores.

Baking

Baking Times

Temperature Time with Lid On Time with Lid Off

475°F 20 minutes 20 minutes

450°F 30 minutes 20 to 25 minutes

450°F 20 minutes 40 minutes

500°F 20 minutes drop to 450°F for 30 minutes

400°F 20 minutes 20 minutes

Baking

Baking is the final step! Baking times and temperatures vary, as the table shows, but not too dramatically.

The most common way of baking sourdough is to use a dutch oven. A dutch oven is heavy and oven-safe up to high temperatures. The lid of the dutch oven traps any steam that may escape from the dough, which helps give the bread it’s crispy crust. (Most breads that have a crunchy crust will use steam to achieve that crispness.)

Preheat your oven to 450°F with the dutch oven (but not the lid) inside. You want the dutch oven hot to give the dough some immediate heat. Let the dutch oven preheat for at least 30 minutes in the oven. Do

Gently turn your sourdough out of the proofing basket, and onto a sheet of parchment paper. Your parchment should be just large enough to act as handles when dropping the sourdough into the dutch oven.

While on the parchment, score your bread, then carefully place the sourdough into the hot dutch oven.

Note: Be incredibly careful as the dutch oven will be 450°F and you will burn yourself if you touch it.

Place the lid on the dutch oven, and bake. We left the lid out of preheating process to keep from accidentally burning your hands when putting the lid on and in the oven.

Bake your sourdough at 450°F for 20 minutes with the dutch oven lid on.

After 20 minutes, remove the lid, and bake for an additional 20 – 40 minutes, Checking every 5 minutes to look for color. Once your bread becomes a deep golden brown, it is ready to come out of the oven.

Your baking time:

Temperature Time with Lid On Time with Lid Off

450°F 20 minutes 20 – 40 minutes

When done, remove the dough from the dutch oven very carefully, and place on a cooling rack. You can test for doneness by knocking on the bottom of the loaf. If it sounds hollow, it’s done. If it doesn’t sound hollow, it needs more time.

Let your sourdough cool for at least one hour (any sooner and you risk eating a doughy sourdough — the extra time to cool allows more water to escape, while also firming the crust).

Cut into your bread and enjoy!

Then do the entire thing over again.