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Mix to sliced loaf
~24h
mostly hands-off
Sourdough · The bake
How to make sourdough bread.
Four ingredients, a bit of patience and a hot oven. This is the method I come back to every week, broken down so you can repeat it and understand why each step matters.
The short version
Four ingredients, one long conversation
Real sourdough bread is flour, water, salt and a live starter. No commercial yeast. The starter does the leavening, the long fermentation builds flavour and digestibility, and a hot, steamy oven turns a slack dough into a crackling loaf with an open crumb.
The recipe below makes one loaf at 70% hydration, a friendly number for a first proper bake. Weigh everything in grams and work in baker's percentages, so you can scale it up or down without the maths falling apart. If those percentages are new to you, the baker's percentage calculator converts any recipe for you.
The method
Six steps to a loaf
The timings assume a kitchen around 22C. Warmer speeds everything up, cooler slows it down, so read the dough rather than the clock. The fermentation calculator shifts every time for your exact temperature.
- 1
Mix and autolyse
Mix 500g strong white flour with 350g water until no dry flour remains. Rest 30 to 60 minutes, then work in 100g active starter and 10g salt.
- 2
Bulk ferment with folds
Ferment at around 22C for 4 to 6 hours, doing three or four sets of stretch-and-folds in the first two hours. The dough should grow by roughly half and feel airy and jiggly.
- 3
Shape
Tip the dough out, pre-shape into a loose round, rest 20 minutes, then shape into a taut boule and place it seam-side up in a floured banneton.
- 4
Cold proof overnight
Cover and refrigerate for 12 to 16 hours. The cold proof builds flavour and firms the dough so it is easy to score.
- 5
Score
Preheat the oven with a Dutch oven inside to 230C. Turn the dough out onto baking paper and score one confident slash with a lame or sharp blade. The sourdough scoring guide covers patterns, depth, and angle if you want more than a single slash.
- 6
Bake
Bake covered for 20 minutes to trap steam, then uncover and bake a further 20 to 25 minutes until deep golden brown. Cool completely before slicing.
The rewardAn open, tender crumb
When it goes wrong
Sourdough bread troubleshooting
Dense, gummy crumb
Under-fermented or a weak starter. Give the bulk ferment longer at a warmer temperature and only bake with a starter that reliably doubles.
Flat loaf that spread
Over-proofed or shaped too loosely. Shorten the proof, build more tension when shaping, and make sure your flour is strong enough for the hydration.
No ear or oven spring
Not enough steam or a cool oven. Bake covered for the first 20 minutes, and preheat the Dutch oven hard so the dough hits real heat.
Too sour, or not sour enough
Flavour is a dial. Longer, cooler fermentation and some wholemeal push it sour. A warmer, quicker bulk ferment keeps it mild.
After the bake
Cooling, storing and slicing
Let the loaf cool fully, at least a couple of hours, before you cut it. The crumb is still setting as it cools, and slicing too early gives you a gummy centre even when the bake was spot on. Store cut-side down on a board, or in a paper bag, and it keeps well for a few days.
To keep a loaf longer, slice it and freeze it. You can toast straight from frozen, which is a genuinely good way to have proper bread on a Tuesday morning without baking twice a week. Getting your hydration right from the start makes for a crumb that keeps better, and the bread hydration guide walks through how to dial it in.
Common questions
Sourdough bread FAQ
How long does it take to make sourdough bread?
Active work is under an hour, but the whole process runs across a day and a night. A typical schedule is mixing in the morning, a 4 to 6 hour bulk ferment, shaping in the evening, an overnight cold proof in the fridge, and baking the next morning. The waiting does the work, not you.
Do I need a Dutch oven to bake sourdough?
It helps a lot but it is not essential. A Dutch oven traps the steam the dough releases, which keeps the crust soft long enough for a good rise and a glossy finish. Without one, bake on a hot tray or stone and add steam by placing a tin of boiling water in the base of the oven for the first 20 minutes.
Why is my sourdough dense and gummy?
Almost always under-fermentation or a weak starter. If the bulk ferment was too short or too cold, the dough never trapped enough gas, so it bakes tight and gummy. Use a starter that reliably doubles, give the bulk ferment enough time at around 22C, and look for a dough that has grown by half and feels airy before you shape.
Can I make sourdough without a banneton?
Yes. Line any bowl of a similar size with a clean tea towel, dust it generously with flour or a rice-flour mix, and proof the shaped dough in that. The flour stops the dough sticking and the bowl gives it a shape to hold overnight.
How do I get a more sour flavour?
Longer, cooler fermentation builds more acid. Extend the cold proof to a second night, use a portion of wholemeal or rye flour, and keep your starter slightly on the hungry side. A warmer bulk ferment favours yeast and a milder taste, so lean cooler and slower for tang.
Keep reading
Where to go next
Bake with precision, not guesswork.
Free calculators for fermentation, hydration and timing. Save your formulas and bake log in DoughRise Pro.
Photography by Ben Garratt and Debbie Widjaja on Unsplash.
