Once you’ve had real sourdough bread, there’s no going back. No, I don’t mean the stuff from the supermarket that’s made by adding citric acid and some yeast. No, I mean the kind that’s been allowed to develop taste over many hours, fermented to perfection, and then bake until golden brown and super crispy. This is my artisan sourdough bread recipe.
Over the last 6 months, the interest in baking sourdough bread has developed almost into collective insanity. I’ve been at it for years, baking, publishing recipes, and videos about it.
Now I felt it was time to publish my updated Master Recipe for sourdough bread. This is used as a base for any kind of lean sourdough bread recipe that I make, and it is now yours too.
If you are just here for the recipe, you can press the button underneath to be automagically transported to the recipe:
The background for this artisan sourdough bread recipe
When I first started out baking sourdough bread I read every site, book, blog, and everything else I could get my hands on.
I wanted, nay, needed to know how it worked. I wanted a ‘sourdough model’ in my head and that culminated in my article Sourdough bread for beginners.
It was by no means a bad piece of work. I’d worked on it for months, and everything I had learned was poured into this article. About 6 months later turned into my third video on my Foodgeek youtube channel.
Sometime in May of 2019, I made a timelapse recording of my starter after feeding and that became my first “Experiment Time!” video.
Over the next 15+ months, I’ve made over 30 videos with different scenarios for baking sourdough bread.
I always tried to keep it based on science; trying to have control and then only vary one variable at a time.
All of those experiments and their conclusions have been used to make this new Master Recipe.
That being said, you will need a sourdough starter to be able to make this bread, so if you’re new to sourdough baking, go read my article on making your own sourdough starter.
The tools needed for artisan sourdough bread
Ad links! Links for ingredients/items in this section are affiliate links, which means that I will a commission if you purchase the product!
To make artisan sourdough bread, you’ll need some tools. I’ll divide this section into what you need and what you probably want after hitting the ‘geek’ stage of baking sourdough bread.
There are several ways of agitating a dough to promote gluten development, and you can say that the longer the fermentation is, the more likely it is to happen all by itself.
It’s all about hydrating the protein glutenin present in wheat flour (and to some degree other flours too) so that it will start forming gluten bonds with the other protein gliadin in the dough, helping us with the structure of the dough.
You can make sourdough bread with no agitation, kneading, machine mixing, stretch and folds, slap and folds, coil folds, and probably any other method you come up with that moves the dough around.
I’ve chosen stretch and folds for no other reason than that it is a great way to feel the dough develop and it’s also super satisfying to do so.
Use whatever method that works best for you and your personality. They’re all good.
Boule shaping
A boule is a round shape of bread. Shaping boules is easy to do and easy to learn.
It should be done on a kitchen counter without ANY flour.
Basically, you just put your bench scraper (or your hands) behind the dough and pull it forward so that the top is pulled down in front of the dough, tightening the top of the dough.
You then turn the dough and proceed until the dough is sufficiently tight.
In the pre-shape, I will go for just a bit tight, and in the final shape, I will go for pretty tight (very scientifically accurate namings, right?). It’s just to give you an idea of what to aim for.
Bâtard shaping
Bâtards are elongated bread. The shape goes from long round over cigar-shaped to torpedo which describes how tapered the ends are.
Bâtard shaping is a final shaping technique. It can be done in numerous ways and none are more correct than others.
It’s about shaping a piece of dough so that it has tension around the loaf along the long side.
If you watch the video for this Foodgeek Master Recipe you can see in great detail how I do it.
Scoring
Scoring bread is a whole skill besides everything that goes into making bread.
Part of scoring is having the proper tool but also learning how to use that tool.
The cuts need to be precise and decisive. Slash as you mean it.
I wrote a whole article about the subject that I think you should read.
The dough composition in this artisan sourdough bread recipe
Vitals
Total weight
1400 grams
Pre-fermented flour
9.1%
Hydration
69.9%
Yield
2 small boules
The dough
Hydration
The hydration of the dough in this artisan sourdough bread recipe is 70%. This is a high hydration bread but at the lower end of that.
Flour selection
It’s based on using bread flour from the supermarket that doesn’t have a super high absorption. The difference between specialty flours and supermarket flours with the same amount of protein, is often that the more readily available flour has a lower absorption, so you will need to work with lower hydration.
If you have a flour you know can take more water, you just scale up the hydration. The bread flour I usually work with, I can easily go to 80-85% without problems.
Whole grain
For my whole grain component, I am using rye. I love the taste of rye, plus it gives the bread much more tang. You can use any kind of flour you want though, or even just use more bread flour if you like the ‘plain bread’ more.
Inoculation
The inoculation is the amount of starter to flour ratio. Generally. the more starter you have in your dough the faster the dough will ferment (up to a point).
The inoculation in this artisan sourdough bread recipe is 20%, which suits a fermentation at a room temperature of about 21°C/70°F.
If your room temperature is vastly lower or higher than that you may want to change the inoculation.
A good rule of thumb is for each 5°C/10°F the temperature is over 21°C/70°F decrease the inoculation by 5%.
Likewise, for each 5°C/10°F the temperature is under 21°C/70°F increase the inoculation by 5%.
That way you can keep about the same fermentation time.
Salt
The amount of salt in this dough is 2%. This is a balanced number, which makes the bread taste good without tasting salty.
You can change this to suit your preferences, but under about 1% the elasticity of the dough might suffer.
Weight
Ingredient
Baker's Percentage
593g
bread flour
80.0%
148g
rye flour
20.0%
496g
water
66.9%
148g
starter (100% hydration)
20.0%
15g
salt
2.0%
Tinkering with the dough formula
This dough is a great starting point but is meant to change and personalize.
To change hydration, weight, ingredients, inoculation, and everything you can use this formula as a starting point in my Bread Calculator.
The conclusion of this artisan sourdough bread recipe
What kind of bread can you expect from this recipe?
You can expect a wonderful crispy sourdough bread with a deliciously tangy and chewy crumb.
A bread that will stay fresh longer than you are used to if you bake yeasted bread.
A bread with a wonderful taste that’s developed over a long period of time. Then quintessential fermented bread taste.
If you are baking sourdough for the first time, go with your readily available flour.
Once you get a hang of the techniques, I’d suggest you try to buy different artisanal flours and see what you like, and how they work. Try different flours for whole-grain: wheat, rye, buckwheat, spelt, and so on.
Learn what suits your palette. This recipe is the basis for your sourdough adventure.
Please share this artisan sourdough bread recipe on social media
This is my recipe for artisan sourdough bread. If you like the recipe please consider sharing it with like-minded bread lovers on social media.
If you make it and post it on Instagram, please tag me as @foodgeek.dk so I can see it. That would make me very happy.
About 8-10 hours before mixing, feed your starter at 1:3:3. Meaning take 30g starter, 90g flour and 90g water mix it and let it grow at room temperature.
If you'd like more sour bread, you can start earlier.
Mix the ingredients – Morning
Add 593g bread flour, 148g rye flour and 15g salt to a bowl.
Mix it with your fingers until it's well-distributed.
Add 148g of sourdough starter and 496g of water.
Mix with your fingers until no dry bits remain.
Leave the dough to rest covered for 60 minutes.
Bulk fermentation
Do three sets of stretch and folds spaced out by 30 minutes.
After the last stretch and fold, do a windowpane test; if the dough fails, let the dough rest 30 minutes more and do another set of stretch and folds the rising stage of the bulk.
Put the dough in a see-through container where you can monitor the bulk. Let the dough rise by 25%.
DON'T USE TIME!! Time varies on many factors, so go by the rise, not time. For reference, at around 24°C/75°F, it takes my dough 2-3 hours to rise to 25%.
Divide and pre-shape
Divide the dough into two equally sized piece by cutting it with your bench scraper.
If you are great at eyeballing, go with that, the rest of us will probably just use the trusty scale.
Preshape both pieces of dough into a boule.
Let the dough rest on the counter for 20 minutes.
Final shape
Final-shape the bread into boules or bâtards, depending on what you prefer. Boules are the easiest, so if you're new, go for that. Watch the video to see how you do both of them.
After each dough is shaped, dust a banneton with rice flour and add the dough.
Then put the banneton in a plastic bag and close it loosely by tugging the end underneath the banneton.
Add both bannetons to your fridge. Your fridge should be ice cold. Mine's set to 2°C/35.5°F.
Let the bread retard for at least 8 hours, up to 48 hours.
Bake the bread
Heat your oven to 260°C/500°F with a baking steel and dutch oven inside. Heat for an entire hour to make sure both are completely saturated with heat.
Grab a dough from the fridge.
Dust it with rice flour on the bottom and put your peel over the top.
Flip it over, so the dough rests on the peel.
Dust the top with more rice flour and distribute it with your hands.
Score the dough.
Open the oven and take the top off the dutch oven.
Grab the peel and add the dough to the dutch oven.
Put the top on, close the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Then open the oven and take the top off of the dutch oven.
Turn down the oven to 230°C/450°F.
Bake for another 20 minutes until the bread is golden and crispy.
Take the bread out and put it on a wire rack to cool.
Reheat the oven to 260°C/500°F and bake the other bread.
Love your content – I’ve been waiting for this updated recipe! 🙂
Can I half the amounts in the recipe to only make one loaf of bread?
Also I’ve always had trouble with my dough being too wet (with various recipes from the internet…) and not holding shape right from the very beginning. Might this be because my flour has a lower protein content (10 %) than recommended? Or should I knead it a little bit at the beginning to help it getting startet?
Wonderful <3
You can use half of the amounts to make one bread.
I’d recommend changing the hydration to a lower number. Maybe 65% or even 60%.
Thanks for the tips Sune! Should I take my dough out of the fridge to rise to room temperature before putting in the oven? Or do I wait until after the oven is full heated for an hour, and then take the dough out of the fridge, then right into the oven?
I heat the oven. When it’s hot I take out the bread, score it and in the over in under 30 seconds 🙂
When I score my loaf, I can see the bread deflating…..
And, your loaf looks so much more firm than mine are, allowing you to score them more formally. Any idea what I am doing wrong? I followed the recipe exactly and was pleased with its progress. They also did not rise as much as yours in the fridge.
It sounds like you may have over proofed the dough before you shaped it. How did you measure the growth?
I’ve been looking for comprehensive instructions and recipe for friends I’m giving starter to. This article is so useful. Thanks Sune from New Zealand in the Spring!
Wonderful <3
I am preparing to make my first sourdough loaf! When you say to feed the starter 1:3:3, are you saying that because the starter will sit overnight? If so, and I am planning to start my dough during the day, can I feed my starter 1:1:1 and use it when it peaks (around 4 hrs)? Thanks and love your videos!
I will usually find the proportion so that my starter will peak around when I plan to bake. So feed at night, get up at 5am and make dough. You don’t need to be super fussy about it.
Hi Sune! Great videos. Thank you for all the effort, after watching your videos I was finally able to achieve a sourdough bread that I could send pictures to my friends! LOL
I have to say that my bread came out better with your previous recipe, not sure what happen there. Maybe the room temperature affected the stretch and fold process because it is getting colder here.
Question, any idea on how to achieve a less hard bottom of the loaf? It makes it difficult to cut and eat sometimes.
It’s hard to tell without more information 🙂
To get a less hard bottom you need to even out the heat. I like to use a baking steel for that 🙂
Hi Sune, I’m really enjoying your youtube videos. Quick question – your recipe totals don’t seem to add up to 2 x 700 gram loaves. Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Dave
You have to be a little more specific. What numbers are you adding? Because all the numbers I add turn into 1400 🙂
Looking forward to bake this bread tomorrow.
I had trouble shaping it though, it was really hard to get it firm/tight. What could I have done wrong?
Another thing I am struggling with is that my bread often get very hard, the crust is just too thick after baking. 🤔
I bake it on a baking steel with lid on first half and lid off second half.
It sounds like you may have over proofed it.
Try and leave the lid on the entire time 🙂
Just curious if you think it’s okay to leave in the fridge for >48 hours? I had one in the fridge for over 72 hrs (though it had higher hydration than your recipe) and it came out very tasty, so was thinking of trying another long proof. Just wondering if you would caution against it for some reason? Thanks again!
This is great! I noticed that you autolyse in the original recipe, but you skip that in this recipe. Why is that? Is it because the autolyse isn’t helpful at all in this recipe, or just because the benefit is small enough not to justify the extra work? Are there certain types of recipes where you think autolysis is more helpful? Perhaps higher-hydration recipes?
Autolyse is more helpful in yeasted recipe where fermentation is fast. Sourdough bread is left alone so long that the gluten can develop with the starter mixed in, that is unless you are fermenting somewhere warm 🙂
Hi Sune….Just wanted to point out that in the video of this recipe, you SAY 539g of flour, yet this recipe states 593g. Which is correct please?
593g is correct as it also states on the pinned comment on the video. With 539g the hydration will be around 75% which won’t be horrible 🙂
Straight out of the fridge and into the hot oven? No rise in the room between?
Nope, it’ll make it harder to score the bread 🙂
Making this for the first time, straying from my usual Lemon Blueberry foolproof loaf of yours! It seems quite wet & hard to handle though I will keep trying. I added some Parm cheese at 2nd stretch – am now going to leave for bulk fermentation. Is it supposed to feel so sticky? Thanks – will update tomorrow.
If it’s very wet, you should probably lower the hydration.
I use fan when I bake in a dutch oven and non-fan when I generate steam myself.
I just made this recipe, and it turned out looking exactly like yours! Everything went just the way the recipe and video said. I even like the smaller size of the boules. This recipe will replace the one I’d been using for a couple years. Thanks! The videos are very helpful.
Thank you <3
That’s great to hear! 😀
Hello Sune, and thanks so much for all the great info and recipes.
I feed my starter at 1:1 periodically (50% water, 25% White AP, 25% Wheat) and that seems to keep it healthy and happy. Would it be advisable to just use my fed and peaking (2x or more) starter, and skip the 1:3:3 feeding step? How would I change the amounts if I do this?
Thanks!
Josh
Thanks for the recipe. Is there a reason why you are preparing 210 gm of starter, but only using 148?
Just to make sure there’s enough. Feel free to mix less.
Hello Sune,
thank you very much for your recipes!
I made my sourdough-starter and baked a few breads. They keep getting better and better!
For now I am using a normal bowl, lined with a kitchen towel instead of bannetons, but they will follow soon.
Do you have an alternative way to make an awesome Bread without having a strict schedule on multiple days?
I have to work in an office and cannot do all the mixing and strech&folds in the morning after feeding the starter.
You may need to change the inoculation to fit it so that it will finish bulking as you come home, depending on your room temperature 🙂
I absolutely love this recipe. It comes out great everytime. I have it written on a note on the fridge for easy access.
Thank you <3
Hei Sune! I’ve been following you for a while, excellent work and advice all over! This is a really good recipe, a bit low in hydration but it makes for a fantastically strong dough. I get a lot of oven spring, yet the holes are overall pretty small, similar to yours. The dough is airy, but no nice big alveolas. Is this due to the rye, or the low hydration you think? I bulk ferment to almost 50%, but still… Mange takk!
It’s probably because of either your flour or you are not handling the bread carefully enough during shaping 🙂
Hi, in your other post you explain why you should never add the salt and starter before you’ve let the flour and water autolyse. But in this recipe you’re adding everything at once – which one is correct?
If you read the article it says that this recipe is the result of over 30 experiments that shows what works and what doesn’t work.
Both recipes are correct, but this one is easier and it works as well for the results 🙂
Hi Sune. Love your video’s on you-tube. My question: why retard in fridge? Some recipies on the net are without fridge and baked directly after proofing. Your little buns are also without retarding in fridge. Sorry if somebody else already asked the same but I couldn’t find it on your site and for weeks I searche for an answer. Taste? Thicker skin for crispyness? Ovenspring?
I usually bake in a claypot. After proofing about 25 up to 40%. (so no retarding in fridge). I moisten the lid of the pot just a little with water and put the pot in a cold oven, heat up to 240 C for about 45 to 60 min.
Remove the lid and turn oven back to 200 C for another 10-15 min. Good results. I read about the cold oven somewhere on the net but don’t understand how the ovenspring actualy succeeded. Something with slow up going temperature maybe? Any ideas? Have you ever baked in a claypot? Thank you in advance for replying.
It’s for the taste. The taste develops much more when you prolong the fermentation, but you can absolutely bake after shaping. You need to add a final proof until the dough passes the poke test.
Hey Sune! Thank you for this! I appreciate you and your work!
I’m wondering why is there a difference between the precent rise needed in this recipe during bulk fermentation, which is 25%
and the precent needed in the “yeasted artisan bread recipe”: https://foodgeek.dk/en/yeasted-artisan-bread-recipe/
which is 100% ?
If I take the same base recipe and change the yeast to sourdough starter (adjusting flour/water quantities in order to keeping the hydration level the same), should I let the dough raise less in volume? (25% instead of 100%?) What’s the logic behind that? if in both cases, in both recipes, after the room temperature bulk fermentation, both doughs (yeasted version and sourdough starter version) go into the fridge for a cold retard?
I’ve been having issues with under fermentation/under proofing with my sourdough bread, while my yeasted bread turns out perfect. Help!
Commercial yeast is so much more powerful than a sourdough starter. There’s enough power to rise twice to 100%, where as the starter only has so much more power and need to be managed carefully 🙂
Hey Sune!
If I wanted to use a stand mixer instead of stretch and fold, would you still wait an hour after the initial mix or just jump strait into kneading with the dough hook?
When you refer to “rice flour” in the recipe actually, are you referring to “rye flour”, or do I need to use rice flour as well? Thank you! So excited about this revipe!
No, I mean rice flour, ground rice grains 🙂
Hi. I plan on making this bread to tomorrow using my Dutch oven. I note that you refer to 260c reducing to 230c but you dont say if that is using the fan or not.
It works both with or without the fan on. If you prefer a darker and crispier bread use the fan, if you prefer it lighter and not as crispy don’t use the fan 🙂
Hi Sune
Thought I would let you know that the bread turned out great. Was very pleased with it. Also love your sourdough pizza recipe which is now my all time favourite.
I have also made your baguette recipe but I wasn’t too happy with the first attempt. Probably because I live in the Channel Islands and our baguettes are flown in from France on a daily basis. – Guess we are spoilt. However I did some thinking and changed the flour in your recipe to french T 55 flour and the result was much better, just needs a little bit of tweaking. Maybe you should experiment with this flour when you have time and come up with the perfect baguette. 🤗
I’m new to the baking world and jumped on the sourdough bandwagon like many during COVID. My first number of attempts were dismal to say the least, but now that I’ve followed your recipe a couple of times I’ve had beautiful, tasty loaves come out of the oven that I thought I’d never achieve. Many thanks for this! I look forward to checking out more of your content 🙂
Thank you <3
Hi Sune.
In your videos you BF your dough from 25% up to 100 % in a proofer. If Im not using proofer and let it BF in 21-22 Celsius it takes about 4-8 h to get such a rise. Is it okay to left SD for 8 h without streching or folding or something else? After 6 h its about 75% of growth and the dough doesnt hold its shape at all. Ots very sticky.
I bulk ferment from 0 to 25%, by the time you’re done with the stretch and folds the dough shouldn’t have grown at all 🙂
Your dough is over fermented, and it can probably only make a very flat bread. I’d bake it in a tin 🙂
Hi Sune!
Ive been trying to reply to your comment but it doesnt work.
If I go 25% rise with BF the crumb seems very underfermented. Its very tide and wet. Ive been looking for help on some FB groups and Ive been told there, to push BF until SD double. Trying that Im facing issues I told in previous comment. Anything there You could suggest?
Also one more question. In your SD pizza recipe, you want to BF until SD doubles. If mine gets overproofed before it rises 50% how can I do SD pizza?
It sounds like your starter isn’t active enough. After a feeding how much does it grow?
Hi Sune!
I store whole rye starter in the fridge. Before baking I feed it 1:5:5 each 12h 3 times. At least it doubles. Then I make proper amout of wheat starter, same ratio 12-14h before mixing dough. I never measured wheat starter rise. I assumed if rye starter at least doubles wheat is ok after same time.
Doubling makes it a bit on the weak side. Mine usually get’s close to quadrupling.
Just feed it a couple of times at 1:50:50 and that should optimize it. Then you can feed whatever you need for your bread.
Thanks for your feedback.
Ive tried that few times before. I noticed the lower ratio the bigger growth. Isnt it normal that whole rye starter growths 2,5 – 3 times and wheat one, like yours, can even quadriple?
Sune, thanks for your feedback. It means a lot.
Ive done that (1:50:50) few times and it didnt make things better. Ive been told that 2-3 times growth with whole rye starter is good. However today I checked my wheat starter (made from rye starter yesterday) and it didn’t double for 12 h. Still try to feed my rye starter 1:50:50 for few times and follow until it triples?
Yes, that sounds like a good plan. I agree that you probably can’t get it to quadruple, but it should be able to triple.
Is it a very stiff starter at 100% hydration or do you keep it at another hydration?
Hi.
I keep it at 100% hydration. Ive also noticed, if my SD growth >= 50% its very sour. As you mentioned, it seems that its alredy overproofed. But how is that possible? Overproofed and growth only 50%? Because of not strong enough starter? Is it possible that my starter have bad bacteria:yeast ratio? If it is, 1:50:50 will help or I need try something else?
What ratio do you feed your starter at when you are going to bake. At 1:1:1 most of what is sour will be kept in the starter, but feeding like 1:10:10 the resulting starter won’t be very sour at all.
The 1:50:50 will cure it completely of being sour 🙂
Hi Sune!
Its me again. Ive done 1:50:50 for 3 times and today in the morning my starter smelled like sauerkraut. I guess something went wrong. Maybe the temperature for starter growth have something to do? Mine have been growing in ~28 Celsius.
I have been using this recipe for 5 weeks now and loving the results. Getting more confident and baking more beautiful bread each week. Thank you for this resource.
I’m slightly confused by the recipe, forgive me, I’m fairly new to baking. Just so we’re on the same page I’m using the 2 bread recipe. The ingredients call for 148g of starter, but the “Feed the starter – The night before” section instructions indicate to feed the starter 30+90+90 (210g), then the subsequent section “Mix the ingredients – Morning” call for 148 g of starter again.
You need 148 grams for the recipe. The rest is for you to keep to bake your next bread 🙂
Sune, Thank You!
You’re welcome! 😀
Jeg håber, at denne Google-oversætter virker. Jeg må have kopieret en gammel opskrift på håndværkssurdejsbrød, da den brugte deciliter i stedet for gram. Jeg har lige fundet en opskrift på håndværkssurdejsbrød, der bruger gram. Jeg tror, jeg vil bruge denne i stedet for den første, jeg fandt. Enhederne ser ud til at være MEGET TÆT, når de er konverteret.
I’ve never used deciliters or any volumetric measurements for this recipe.
I’ve appreciated this recipe and have made it half a dozen times already. I’m now going to attempt to tweak it to my preferred process and was wondering if you might have thoughts on this.
For starters (pun intended), I’d like to find a way to use a smaller starter. The idea here is that I will have less over proofed flour in my dough as a percentage of the recipe. The dough might develop a little slower in the first rise, but I would think that might, if anything, give it more flavor development.
Second, my starter hits peak way before 9 hours. Probably in half the time. Are you ideally trying to get the starter at its peak, or are you going 9 hours to develop acidity in the starter?
Third, I’d like to use just one vessel for everything until the two shaped dough boules/batards are ready for the cold proofing. It’s too much transferring and cleaning. Ideally, the mixing bowl.
Lastly, and this might have more to do with the particulars of my starter, but I’d like to increase the sour character more. It’s light and complex, and I like it, but turning it up 1-2 notches on the acid dial would be nice. I’ve tried going 2 days in the fridge or longer on my starter, but that works against my oven spring for some reason, and I do not notice an appreciable difference in flavor to justify the slightly deflated bread.
You can absolutely make those changes. My recipe is just a starting point.
The reason I use two different container, is that it’s hard to tell the rise in a bowl and it’s hard to do stretch and folds in a large square container 🙂
I have a sour sourdough video coming out soon. Stay tuned.
First of all thanks for the great content, it really helped and still helps me along my baking journey.
I’m trying to understand how baking percentages work but I can’t figure out how you calculated the amount of water.
So if water is 69.9% of the total flour quantity that means that the total flour quantity should be around 709g ( 496g water * 100/ 70):
– but if I add 593g bread flour and 148g rye flour I get a total of 741g
– or if I add 593 flour plus 74g flour from the starter, which is 100% hydration, I get a total of 667g
– and if I add all of them I get 741g ( total dry flour ) + 74g ( from the starter ) = 815g
This is driving me a little crazy, please tell me what I’m doing wrong 🙂
Sune, thanks for all your guidance, really appreciate all the time you take to do this and show us. Quick question about the banneton size. I saw you use 700g dough for your 7″ round banneton. Most places I’ve looked at state less dough for a banneton that size. What’s your input on this? I’ve only seen something different from you. I’m sure there’s a reasoning since you’ve been doing this for quite some time. I’m curious as to what you’ll say. I mean your bread is a thousand words. Is the reason because the type of dough it is? Should this work with any type of dough? Thanks in advance. Looking forward to see how my journey goes.
700 grams just fills up the banneton, making the final shape better. It’s just a personal preference. It should work with any dough.
Hi Sune,
I’ve had pretty good success with this recipe for several months now (thanks for sharing it, and for your excellent videos).
I would like to start making a nice dark rye sourdough, but less like the Jewish and Danish versions you have.
I have access to light fine rye flour as well as roasted barley malt flour (dark cocoa brown in colour).
Do you think I could substitute a little of the plain bread flour with the dark malt to get the depth of colour?
Hi Sune – Thanks so much for all of your great videos and recipes! 🙂 I’m sure you’ve probably addressed your reasoning for the 25% rise during bulk fermentation in one of your videos. Could you elaborate on that here – and why you’ve chosen that over the typical “double in volume” recommendation found in most other bread recipes? I’m intrigued to know if one of your many experiments helped solidify this for you. Thank you!
I did an experiment showing that around 25-50% growth was the right amount for a great crumb and lovely oven spring. It’s not the whole truth, but it will get you good results without knowing much more. 100% or doubling seemed to give a flat bread. All this is, of course, only for sourdough. For commercial yeast, doubling is good and should be done 🙂
Excellent – thank you Sune!
Hi Sune – thanks so much for this recipe and process. Quick question about the 500F blast for the first 20 minutes of the bake. I’ve always baked my bread at 450 with great results. Can you please explain why the 500F interval is important? Thanks! Patrick
It isn’t. I bake at 450F all the way through my bakes nowadays. I guess it’s time to update the recipe 🙂
Thank you! 👍
Thanks for all the effort you put in the video’s and blogpost.
What is the difference between the artisan and beginner recipe on your website?
And i’m not sure when this recipe is published but is there like an 2022 updated recipe based on all the experiments you did in the past years?
The beginner recipe is the “old” way and is much more complicated. So the Artisan one is the “new beginner” recipe 🙂
Sune,
Thank you for what for me is the clearest, most straightforward and effective recipe for good sourdough that I have come across.
The results are superb as written, something that cannot be said for many others.
I’ve stopped looking, this is my go-to.
Thank you <3
Thank you for this great recipe! I have already used it many times:). I was wondering one thing: if you want to make smaller breads (let’s say 4 or 6 instead of 2 with this recipe), what would be the oven time for the breads? Still 2x 20 minutes, or less?
20/10 for 6 I’d say, but try to check the center temperature after 30 minutes total. It should be 99°C/210°F.
Just tried this recipe and the results where amazing. I used 1/2 of the recipe twice. By accident I put unfed starter and the bread rose better and hed better crumb and crust than the younger starter.
I also have a question regarding baking after refrigeration. Is it better to put dough cold into oven or wait for it to come to room temperature.
Thanks 🙂
I never let it come up to temperature, it’s easier to score and the oven spring is better 🙂
What’s the best way to keep the bread after baking.
TIA
When it’s cooled down, I cut it into slices, and then I freeze it. Then I take however many I need and thaw those.
Otherwise, it depends on if you want to keep the crispy crust or for it to say well the longest.
Crispy: Cloth Bag
Stay good for the longest: Zip-lock bag.
Hi Sune
How do you calculate hydration? In your recipe, you write 70% (69.9%) hydration. But isn’t it more. The water makes up 66.9%, where does the rest come from. The sourdough is 100% hydration, i.e. of the 148 g of sourdough there is 74 g of water. This means that there is a total of (496+74) g of water, which corresponds to 77% hydration. Is there something I misunderstood.
Best regards Ole
There is also flour in the starter, so you need to add 74 to the flour as well, so 70% 🙂
Hi Sune – Mixing up the dough for this recipe yesterday reminded me of a question I wanted to ask you. In your “Experiment Time!” series, did you ever do a side by side comparison of autolyse vs fermentolyse? Curious to know if one method or the other produces observably beneficial differences. Thanks!
Looks great/tastes good but too dense….no oven spring. How do I fix?
When you feed your starter, how much does it grow?
Is the Dutch oven absolutely necessary? I’ve just invested in a big baking stone. Will that suffice with some steam?
Hello Bob,
You can absolutely bake on a baking stone with some steam generation, it’s just a more advanced baking method, which is why I am not covering it in this article.
Hi Sune,
Made my first sourdough with your recipe. It turned out great! I find the bottom is too dark. Just wondering if there is something I can do to help with that. The rest of the bread is a beautiful brown.
Also could I bake it as one large loaf instead of 2 smaller ones and what would be the change to the baking time?
Thanks!
Jenna
Hello Jenna,
You’ll need something to even out the bottom heat. I’d recommend a baking steel and putting the DO on top of that when preheating 🙂
Love your content – I’ve been waiting for this updated recipe! 🙂
Can I half the amounts in the recipe to only make one loaf of bread?
Also I’ve always had trouble with my dough being too wet (with various recipes from the internet…) and not holding shape right from the very beginning. Might this be because my flour has a lower protein content (10 %) than recommended? Or should I knead it a little bit at the beginning to help it getting startet?
Wonderful <3
You can use half of the amounts to make one bread.
I’d recommend changing the hydration to a lower number. Maybe 65% or even 60%.
Thanks for the tips Sune! Should I take my dough out of the fridge to rise to room temperature before putting in the oven? Or do I wait until after the oven is full heated for an hour, and then take the dough out of the fridge, then right into the oven?
I heat the oven. When it’s hot I take out the bread, score it and in the over in under 30 seconds 🙂
When I score my loaf, I can see the bread deflating…..
And, your loaf looks so much more firm than mine are, allowing you to score them more formally. Any idea what I am doing wrong? I followed the recipe exactly and was pleased with its progress. They also did not rise as much as yours in the fridge.
It sounds like you may have over proofed the dough before you shaped it. How did you measure the growth?
I’ve been looking for comprehensive instructions and recipe for friends I’m giving starter to. This article is so useful. Thanks Sune from New Zealand in the Spring!
Wonderful <3
I am preparing to make my first sourdough loaf! When you say to feed the starter 1:3:3, are you saying that because the starter will sit overnight? If so, and I am planning to start my dough during the day, can I feed my starter 1:1:1 and use it when it peaks (around 4 hrs)? Thanks and love your videos!
I will usually find the proportion so that my starter will peak around when I plan to bake. So feed at night, get up at 5am and make dough. You don’t need to be super fussy about it.
Hi Sune! Great videos. Thank you for all the effort, after watching your videos I was finally able to achieve a sourdough bread that I could send pictures to my friends! LOL
I have to say that my bread came out better with your previous recipe, not sure what happen there. Maybe the room temperature affected the stretch and fold process because it is getting colder here.
Question, any idea on how to achieve a less hard bottom of the loaf? It makes it difficult to cut and eat sometimes.
It’s hard to tell without more information 🙂
To get a less hard bottom you need to even out the heat. I like to use a baking steel for that 🙂
Hi Sune, I’m really enjoying your youtube videos. Quick question – your recipe totals don’t seem to add up to 2 x 700 gram loaves. Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Dave
You have to be a little more specific. What numbers are you adding? Because all the numbers I add turn into 1400 🙂
Looking forward to bake this bread tomorrow.
I had trouble shaping it though, it was really hard to get it firm/tight. What could I have done wrong?
Another thing I am struggling with is that my bread often get very hard, the crust is just too thick after baking. 🤔
I bake it on a baking steel with lid on first half and lid off second half.
It sounds like you may have over proofed it.
Try and leave the lid on the entire time 🙂
Just curious if you think it’s okay to leave in the fridge for >48 hours? I had one in the fridge for over 72 hrs (though it had higher hydration than your recipe) and it came out very tasty, so was thinking of trying another long proof. Just wondering if you would caution against it for some reason? Thanks again!
This is great! I noticed that you autolyse in the original recipe, but you skip that in this recipe. Why is that? Is it because the autolyse isn’t helpful at all in this recipe, or just because the benefit is small enough not to justify the extra work? Are there certain types of recipes where you think autolysis is more helpful? Perhaps higher-hydration recipes?
Autolyse is more helpful in yeasted recipe where fermentation is fast. Sourdough bread is left alone so long that the gluten can develop with the starter mixed in, that is unless you are fermenting somewhere warm 🙂
Hi Sune….Just wanted to point out that in the video of this recipe, you SAY 539g of flour, yet this recipe states 593g. Which is correct please?
593g is correct as it also states on the pinned comment on the video. With 539g the hydration will be around 75% which won’t be horrible 🙂
Straight out of the fridge and into the hot oven? No rise in the room between?
Nope, it’ll make it harder to score the bread 🙂
Making this for the first time, straying from my usual Lemon Blueberry foolproof loaf of yours! It seems quite wet & hard to handle though I will keep trying. I added some Parm cheese at 2nd stretch – am now going to leave for bulk fermentation. Is it supposed to feel so sticky? Thanks – will update tomorrow.
If it’s very wet, you should probably lower the hydration.
Use this link: https://fdgk.net/artisan-sourdough-bread-formula
Press the ‘Hydration’ button and select 65% and try that out.
Is your oven a convection oven or standard?
Both. I can choose and fan and non-fan mode.
I use fan when I bake in a dutch oven and non-fan when I generate steam myself.
I just made this recipe, and it turned out looking exactly like yours! Everything went just the way the recipe and video said. I even like the smaller size of the boules. This recipe will replace the one I’d been using for a couple years. Thanks! The videos are very helpful.
Thank you <3
That’s great to hear! 😀
Hello Sune, and thanks so much for all the great info and recipes.
I feed my starter at 1:1 periodically (50% water, 25% White AP, 25% Wheat) and that seems to keep it healthy and happy. Would it be advisable to just use my fed and peaking (2x or more) starter, and skip the 1:3:3 feeding step? How would I change the amounts if I do this?
Thanks!
Josh
Thanks for the recipe. Is there a reason why you are preparing 210 gm of starter, but only using 148?
Just to make sure there’s enough. Feel free to mix less.
Hello Sune,
thank you very much for your recipes!
I made my sourdough-starter and baked a few breads. They keep getting better and better!
For now I am using a normal bowl, lined with a kitchen towel instead of bannetons, but they will follow soon.
Do you have an alternative way to make an awesome Bread without having a strict schedule on multiple days?
I have to work in an office and cannot do all the mixing and strech&folds in the morning after feeding the starter.
Yes, use my no knead recipe: https://foodgeek.dk/en/no-knead-sourdough-bread-recipe/
You may need to change the inoculation to fit it so that it will finish bulking as you come home, depending on your room temperature 🙂
I absolutely love this recipe. It comes out great everytime. I have it written on a note on the fridge for easy access.
Thank you <3
Hei Sune! I’ve been following you for a while, excellent work and advice all over! This is a really good recipe, a bit low in hydration but it makes for a fantastically strong dough. I get a lot of oven spring, yet the holes are overall pretty small, similar to yours. The dough is airy, but no nice big alveolas. Is this due to the rye, or the low hydration you think? I bulk ferment to almost 50%, but still… Mange takk!
It’s probably because of either your flour or you are not handling the bread carefully enough during shaping 🙂
Hi, in your other post you explain why you should never add the salt and starter before you’ve let the flour and water autolyse. But in this recipe you’re adding everything at once – which one is correct?
If you read the article it says that this recipe is the result of over 30 experiments that shows what works and what doesn’t work.
Both recipes are correct, but this one is easier and it works as well for the results 🙂
Hi Sune. Love your video’s on you-tube. My question: why retard in fridge? Some recipies on the net are without fridge and baked directly after proofing. Your little buns are also without retarding in fridge. Sorry if somebody else already asked the same but I couldn’t find it on your site and for weeks I searche for an answer. Taste? Thicker skin for crispyness? Ovenspring?
I usually bake in a claypot. After proofing about 25 up to 40%. (so no retarding in fridge). I moisten the lid of the pot just a little with water and put the pot in a cold oven, heat up to 240 C for about 45 to 60 min.
Remove the lid and turn oven back to 200 C for another 10-15 min. Good results. I read about the cold oven somewhere on the net but don’t understand how the ovenspring actualy succeeded. Something with slow up going temperature maybe? Any ideas? Have you ever baked in a claypot? Thank you in advance for replying.
It’s for the taste. The taste develops much more when you prolong the fermentation, but you can absolutely bake after shaping. You need to add a final proof until the dough passes the poke test.
Hey Sune! Thank you for this! I appreciate you and your work!
I’m wondering why is there a difference between the precent rise needed in this recipe during bulk fermentation, which is 25%
and the precent needed in the “yeasted artisan bread recipe”: https://foodgeek.dk/en/yeasted-artisan-bread-recipe/
which is 100% ?
If I take the same base recipe and change the yeast to sourdough starter (adjusting flour/water quantities in order to keeping the hydration level the same), should I let the dough raise less in volume? (25% instead of 100%?) What’s the logic behind that? if in both cases, in both recipes, after the room temperature bulk fermentation, both doughs (yeasted version and sourdough starter version) go into the fridge for a cold retard?
I’ve been having issues with under fermentation/under proofing with my sourdough bread, while my yeasted bread turns out perfect. Help!
Commercial yeast is so much more powerful than a sourdough starter. There’s enough power to rise twice to 100%, where as the starter only has so much more power and need to be managed carefully 🙂
Hey Sune!
If I wanted to use a stand mixer instead of stretch and fold, would you still wait an hour after the initial mix or just jump strait into kneading with the dough hook?
Thanks!
Josh
If you want to use a stand mixer, you should have a look at my recipe for that: https://foodgeek.dk/en/sourdough-bread-stand-mixer-recipe/ 🙂
When you refer to “rice flour” in the recipe actually, are you referring to “rye flour”, or do I need to use rice flour as well? Thank you! So excited about this revipe!
No, I mean rice flour, ground rice grains 🙂
Hi. I plan on making this bread to tomorrow using my Dutch oven. I note that you refer to 260c reducing to 230c but you dont say if that is using the fan or not.
It works both with or without the fan on. If you prefer a darker and crispier bread use the fan, if you prefer it lighter and not as crispy don’t use the fan 🙂
Hi Sune
Thought I would let you know that the bread turned out great. Was very pleased with it. Also love your sourdough pizza recipe which is now my all time favourite.
I have also made your baguette recipe but I wasn’t too happy with the first attempt. Probably because I live in the Channel Islands and our baguettes are flown in from France on a daily basis. – Guess we are spoilt. However I did some thinking and changed the flour in your recipe to french T 55 flour and the result was much better, just needs a little bit of tweaking. Maybe you should experiment with this flour when you have time and come up with the perfect baguette. 🤗
I’m new to the baking world and jumped on the sourdough bandwagon like many during COVID. My first number of attempts were dismal to say the least, but now that I’ve followed your recipe a couple of times I’ve had beautiful, tasty loaves come out of the oven that I thought I’d never achieve. Many thanks for this! I look forward to checking out more of your content 🙂
Thank you <3
Hi Sune.
In your videos you BF your dough from 25% up to 100 % in a proofer. If Im not using proofer and let it BF in 21-22 Celsius it takes about 4-8 h to get such a rise. Is it okay to left SD for 8 h without streching or folding or something else? After 6 h its about 75% of growth and the dough doesnt hold its shape at all. Ots very sticky.
I bulk ferment from 0 to 25%, by the time you’re done with the stretch and folds the dough shouldn’t have grown at all 🙂
Your dough is over fermented, and it can probably only make a very flat bread. I’d bake it in a tin 🙂
Hi Sune!
Ive been trying to reply to your comment but it doesnt work.
If I go 25% rise with BF the crumb seems very underfermented. Its very tide and wet. Ive been looking for help on some FB groups and Ive been told there, to push BF until SD double. Trying that Im facing issues I told in previous comment. Anything there You could suggest?
Also one more question. In your SD pizza recipe, you want to BF until SD doubles. If mine gets overproofed before it rises 50% how can I do SD pizza?
It sounds like your starter isn’t active enough. After a feeding how much does it grow?
Hi Sune!
I store whole rye starter in the fridge. Before baking I feed it 1:5:5 each 12h 3 times. At least it doubles. Then I make proper amout of wheat starter, same ratio 12-14h before mixing dough. I never measured wheat starter rise. I assumed if rye starter at least doubles wheat is ok after same time.
Doubling makes it a bit on the weak side. Mine usually get’s close to quadrupling.
Just feed it a couple of times at 1:50:50 and that should optimize it. Then you can feed whatever you need for your bread.
Thanks for your feedback.
Ive tried that few times before. I noticed the lower ratio the bigger growth. Isnt it normal that whole rye starter growths 2,5 – 3 times and wheat one, like yours, can even quadriple?
Sune, thanks for your feedback. It means a lot.
Ive done that (1:50:50) few times and it didnt make things better. Ive been told that 2-3 times growth with whole rye starter is good. However today I checked my wheat starter (made from rye starter yesterday) and it didn’t double for 12 h. Still try to feed my rye starter 1:50:50 for few times and follow until it triples?
Yes, that sounds like a good plan. I agree that you probably can’t get it to quadruple, but it should be able to triple.
Is it a very stiff starter at 100% hydration or do you keep it at another hydration?
Hi.
I keep it at 100% hydration. Ive also noticed, if my SD growth >= 50% its very sour. As you mentioned, it seems that its alredy overproofed. But how is that possible? Overproofed and growth only 50%? Because of not strong enough starter? Is it possible that my starter have bad bacteria:yeast ratio? If it is, 1:50:50 will help or I need try something else?
What ratio do you feed your starter at when you are going to bake. At 1:1:1 most of what is sour will be kept in the starter, but feeding like 1:10:10 the resulting starter won’t be very sour at all.
The 1:50:50 will cure it completely of being sour 🙂
Hi Sune!
Its me again. Ive done 1:50:50 for 3 times and today in the morning my starter smelled like sauerkraut. I guess something went wrong. Maybe the temperature for starter growth have something to do? Mine have been growing in ~28 Celsius.
I have been using this recipe for 5 weeks now and loving the results. Getting more confident and baking more beautiful bread each week. Thank you for this resource.
I’m slightly confused by the recipe, forgive me, I’m fairly new to baking. Just so we’re on the same page I’m using the 2 bread recipe. The ingredients call for 148g of starter, but the “Feed the starter – The night before” section instructions indicate to feed the starter 30+90+90 (210g), then the subsequent section “Mix the ingredients – Morning” call for 148 g of starter again.
You need 148 grams for the recipe. The rest is for you to keep to bake your next bread 🙂
Sune, Thank You!
You’re welcome! 😀
Jeg håber, at denne Google-oversætter virker. Jeg må have kopieret en gammel opskrift på håndværkssurdejsbrød, da den brugte deciliter i stedet for gram. Jeg har lige fundet en opskrift på håndværkssurdejsbrød, der bruger gram. Jeg tror, jeg vil bruge denne i stedet for den første, jeg fandt. Enhederne ser ud til at være MEGET TÆT, når de er konverteret.
I’ve never used deciliters or any volumetric measurements for this recipe.
I did make this one for people who don’t want to invest in a lot of equipment before trying sourdough bread: https://foodgeek.dk/en/simple-artisan-sourdough-bread-recipe/ 🙂
I’ve appreciated this recipe and have made it half a dozen times already. I’m now going to attempt to tweak it to my preferred process and was wondering if you might have thoughts on this.
For starters (pun intended), I’d like to find a way to use a smaller starter. The idea here is that I will have less over proofed flour in my dough as a percentage of the recipe. The dough might develop a little slower in the first rise, but I would think that might, if anything, give it more flavor development.
Second, my starter hits peak way before 9 hours. Probably in half the time. Are you ideally trying to get the starter at its peak, or are you going 9 hours to develop acidity in the starter?
Third, I’d like to use just one vessel for everything until the two shaped dough boules/batards are ready for the cold proofing. It’s too much transferring and cleaning. Ideally, the mixing bowl.
Lastly, and this might have more to do with the particulars of my starter, but I’d like to increase the sour character more. It’s light and complex, and I like it, but turning it up 1-2 notches on the acid dial would be nice. I’ve tried going 2 days in the fridge or longer on my starter, but that works against my oven spring for some reason, and I do not notice an appreciable difference in flavor to justify the slightly deflated bread.
You can absolutely make those changes. My recipe is just a starting point.
The reason I use two different container, is that it’s hard to tell the rise in a bowl and it’s hard to do stretch and folds in a large square container 🙂
I have a sour sourdough video coming out soon. Stay tuned.
First of all thanks for the great content, it really helped and still helps me along my baking journey.
I’m trying to understand how baking percentages work but I can’t figure out how you calculated the amount of water.
So if water is 69.9% of the total flour quantity that means that the total flour quantity should be around 709g ( 496g water * 100/ 70):
– but if I add 593g bread flour and 148g rye flour I get a total of 741g
– or if I add 593 flour plus 74g flour from the starter, which is 100% hydration, I get a total of 667g
– and if I add all of them I get 741g ( total dry flour ) + 74g ( from the starter ) = 815g
This is driving me a little crazy, please tell me what I’m doing wrong 🙂
Read this: https://foodgeek.dk/en/bakers-math-explained/ 🙂
Sune, thanks for all your guidance, really appreciate all the time you take to do this and show us. Quick question about the banneton size. I saw you use 700g dough for your 7″ round banneton. Most places I’ve looked at state less dough for a banneton that size. What’s your input on this? I’ve only seen something different from you. I’m sure there’s a reasoning since you’ve been doing this for quite some time. I’m curious as to what you’ll say. I mean your bread is a thousand words. Is the reason because the type of dough it is? Should this work with any type of dough? Thanks in advance. Looking forward to see how my journey goes.
700 grams just fills up the banneton, making the final shape better. It’s just a personal preference. It should work with any dough.
Hi Sune,
I’ve had pretty good success with this recipe for several months now (thanks for sharing it, and for your excellent videos).
I would like to start making a nice dark rye sourdough, but less like the Jewish and Danish versions you have.
I have access to light fine rye flour as well as roasted barley malt flour (dark cocoa brown in colour).
Do you think I could substitute a little of the plain bread flour with the dark malt to get the depth of colour?
You may want to look at the Swedish limpa bread: https://foodgeek.dk/en/sourdough-limpa-bread-recipe/ 🙂
Hi Sune – Thanks so much for all of your great videos and recipes! 🙂 I’m sure you’ve probably addressed your reasoning for the 25% rise during bulk fermentation in one of your videos. Could you elaborate on that here – and why you’ve chosen that over the typical “double in volume” recommendation found in most other bread recipes? I’m intrigued to know if one of your many experiments helped solidify this for you. Thank you!
I did an experiment showing that around 25-50% growth was the right amount for a great crumb and lovely oven spring. It’s not the whole truth, but it will get you good results without knowing much more. 100% or doubling seemed to give a flat bread. All this is, of course, only for sourdough. For commercial yeast, doubling is good and should be done 🙂
Excellent – thank you Sune!
Hi Sune – thanks so much for this recipe and process. Quick question about the 500F blast for the first 20 minutes of the bake. I’ve always baked my bread at 450 with great results. Can you please explain why the 500F interval is important? Thanks! Patrick
It isn’t. I bake at 450F all the way through my bakes nowadays. I guess it’s time to update the recipe 🙂
Thank you! 👍
Thanks for all the effort you put in the video’s and blogpost.
What is the difference between the artisan and beginner recipe on your website?
And i’m not sure when this recipe is published but is there like an 2022 updated recipe based on all the experiments you did in the past years?
The beginner recipe is the “old” way and is much more complicated. So the Artisan one is the “new beginner” recipe 🙂
Sune,
Thank you for what for me is the clearest, most straightforward and effective recipe for good sourdough that I have come across.
The results are superb as written, something that cannot be said for many others.
I’ve stopped looking, this is my go-to.
Thank you <3
Thank you for this great recipe! I have already used it many times:). I was wondering one thing: if you want to make smaller breads (let’s say 4 or 6 instead of 2 with this recipe), what would be the oven time for the breads? Still 2x 20 minutes, or less?
20/10 for 6 I’d say, but try to check the center temperature after 30 minutes total. It should be 99°C/210°F.
Just tried this recipe and the results where amazing. I used 1/2 of the recipe twice. By accident I put unfed starter and the bread rose better and hed better crumb and crust than the younger starter.
I also have a question regarding baking after refrigeration. Is it better to put dough cold into oven or wait for it to come to room temperature.
Thanks 🙂
I never let it come up to temperature, it’s easier to score and the oven spring is better 🙂
What’s the best way to keep the bread after baking.
TIA
When it’s cooled down, I cut it into slices, and then I freeze it. Then I take however many I need and thaw those.
Otherwise, it depends on if you want to keep the crispy crust or for it to say well the longest.
Crispy: Cloth Bag
Stay good for the longest: Zip-lock bag.
Hi Sune
How do you calculate hydration? In your recipe, you write 70% (69.9%) hydration. But isn’t it more. The water makes up 66.9%, where does the rest come from. The sourdough is 100% hydration, i.e. of the 148 g of sourdough there is 74 g of water. This means that there is a total of (496+74) g of water, which corresponds to 77% hydration. Is there something I misunderstood.
Best regards Ole
There is also flour in the starter, so you need to add 74 to the flour as well, so 70% 🙂
Hi Sune – Mixing up the dough for this recipe yesterday reminded me of a question I wanted to ask you. In your “Experiment Time!” series, did you ever do a side by side comparison of autolyse vs fermentolyse? Curious to know if one method or the other produces observably beneficial differences. Thanks!
Yes, I did. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjNHNI7nqsg 🙂
TY! 😃🙏
Looks great/tastes good but too dense….no oven spring. How do I fix?
When you feed your starter, how much does it grow?
Is the Dutch oven absolutely necessary? I’ve just invested in a big baking stone. Will that suffice with some steam?
Hello Bob,
You can absolutely bake on a baking stone with some steam generation, it’s just a more advanced baking method, which is why I am not covering it in this article.
You can see it explained in this recipe: https://foodgeek.dk/en/sourdough-bread-with-cheddar-recipe/
Sune
Hi Sune,
Made my first sourdough with your recipe. It turned out great! I find the bottom is too dark. Just wondering if there is something I can do to help with that. The rest of the bread is a beautiful brown.
Also could I bake it as one large loaf instead of 2 smaller ones and what would be the change to the baking time?
Thanks!
Jenna
Hello Jenna,
You’ll need something to even out the bottom heat. I’d recommend a baking steel and putting the DO on top of that when preheating 🙂
Sune