Sourdough
How to Bake Sourdough Bread at Home
A Complete Beginner's Guide
Four ingredients. One wild culture. Infinite reward. Here's everything you need to bake your first gorgeous loaf.
Let's settle something right away: sourdough is not complicated. It is, however, alive. And that changes everything.
Unlike commercial yeast bread — which you can crank out in two hours on a Tuesday — sourdough asks you to slow down. To pay attention to temperature, timing, and the subtle signals a lump of dough sends when it's ready. In return, it gives you a crackling, chewy, deeply flavored loaf that no grocery store bread can touch. (Trust us. We sell bread for a living.)
This guide will walk you from zero — including how to build your own starter from scratch — to pulling a golden, blistered loaf out of the oven. We'll keep it honest, explain the "why" behind each step, and flag every mistake beginners commonly make so you don't have to make them yourself.
"Sourdough is less a recipe than it is a relationship. Feed it, pay attention to it, and it will reward you beyond what flour, water, and salt have any business delivering."
The BasicsWhy Sourdough? And Why Now?
Sourdough is the original bread. For most of human history — long before commercial yeast existed — all leavened bread was sourdough. The process relies on a starter: a fermented mixture of flour and water that hosts wild yeast and beneficial lactic acid bacteria. These microbes do the leavening and create sourdough's signature tangy, complex flavor.
Beyond taste, there are real nutritional and digestive reasons to love it. The long fermentation process breaks down phytic acid (an antinutrient in grains), making minerals more bioavailable. The lactic acid bacteria partially pre-digest the starches and gluten, which many people find easier on their digestive systems than fast-fermented commercial bread.
For us at Farmfare, it also aligns with why we opened our doors in the first place: real food, made with care, from ingredients you can trace. Flour. Water. Salt. A little patience. That's it.
Step 1Making Your Sourdough Starter
Your starter is a small jar of living culture — wild yeast and bacteria that you grow from flour and water and then maintain indefinitely. It takes about 5–7 days to become active enough to leaven bread. After that, it can live in your refrigerator for years.
🫙 How to Build a Starter from Scratch
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Day 1
Mix flour and water
In a clean jar, mix 50g whole wheat or rye flour with 50g room-temperature filtered water (chlorinated tap water can inhibit fermentation). Stir vigorously to incorporate air, cover loosely, and leave at room temperature (70–75°F is ideal).
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Days 2–3
Discard and feed
You'll likely see some bubbles — that's wild yeast waking up! Discard all but 50g of the starter, then feed it with 50g flour and 50g water. Repeat this discard-and-feed ritual every 24 hours. Don't skip the discard; it keeps acids from overwhelming the yeast.
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Days 4–5
Switch to bread flour, increase feedings
Once bubbles are appearing reliably, switch to unbleached bread flour and begin feeding twice daily. Your starter may smell a bit funky at this stage — like nail polish remover or old cheese. That's normal. It will mellow.
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Days 6–7
The float test
Your starter is ready to bake with when it reliably doubles in size within 4–8 hours of feeding and passes the float test: drop a small spoonful into a glass of water. If it floats, the culture is gassy and active enough to leaven your bread.
Don't want to wait a week? Ask us at Farmfare — we give away active starter to our customers for free. It's one of our favorite things to pass along to a new baker.
What You'll NeedIngredients for One Loaf
This recipe makes one medium boule (round loaf), roughly 800g baked. Scale up freely.
🌾 The Dough
- 450g bread flour — high-protein (12–14%) for structure and chew. We carry several excellent local and regional milling options.
- 325g warm water (about 80°F) — filtered or left to sit 30 minutes if using tap water
- 90g active sourdough starter — fed 8–12 hours before mixing, doubled and bubbly
- 9g fine sea salt — don't skip it; it strengthens gluten and controls fermentation speed
🍳 Equipment
- Kitchen scale — baking by weight is far more consistent than volume
- Large mixing bowl
- Dutch oven or cast iron combo cooker — creates the steam that gives sourdough its blistered, crackly crust
- Banneton (proofing basket) or a bowl lined with a floured kitchen towel
- Bench scraper — optional but enormously helpful for shaping
- Sharp bread lame or razor blade — for scoring the top before baking
The Full ProcessBaking Sourdough, Step by Step
Here's the complete timeline. Most of the time shown is hands-off fermentation — the bread does the work, you just check in occasionally.
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Night Before · 5 minutes
Feed Your Starter
The evening before you plan to mix dough, feed your starter with fresh flour and water in your preferred ratio. Cover loosely and leave at room temperature overnight. By morning (8–12 hours later) it should be domed, bubbly, and at its peak rise — this is the window to use it.
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Morning · 5 minutes
Autolyse the Flour and Water
Mix the 450g flour and 300g of the water (hold 25g back) together in a large bowl until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest for 30–60 minutes. This rest — called autolyse — lets the flour hydrate fully and begins gluten development before you even add the starter. It makes shaping much easier later.
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After Autolyse · 5 minutes
Add Starter and Salt
Add the 90g active starter and 9g salt to the autolysed dough. Use the remaining 25g of water to help dissolve the salt. Incorporate everything with your hands using a "pinch and fold" technique — pinch the dough repeatedly to work in the additions, then fold it over itself. This takes about 5 minutes and should feel somewhat sticky but cohesive.
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Hours 1–2 · 10 minutes active
Stretch and Fold
Cover the bowl and let the dough rest. During the first 2 hours of fermentation, perform four sets of stretch-and-folds, spaced 30 minutes apart. For each set: wet your hands, grab one side of the dough, stretch it up and fold it over the center. Rotate the bowl 90° and repeat 3–4 more times. You'll feel the dough get stronger and more elastic with each set. This is building your gluten network without any kneading.
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Hours 2–6 · Hands off
Bulk Fermentation
Cover the bowl and leave it alone. Total bulk fermentation time at 75°F is roughly 4–6 hours from when you added the starter (shorter in a warm kitchen, longer in a cool one). The dough is ready when it has grown by 50–75%, feels airy and jiggly when you shake the bowl, and has bubbles visible on the surface and sides. Under-fermented dough is the #1 cause of dense sourdough — be patient here.
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Pre-shape · 10 minutes
Pre-shape and Bench Rest
Gently turn the dough onto an unfloured countertop. Using a bench scraper and your free hand, fold the edges in and drag the dough toward you to create surface tension. You're building a loose round. Let it rest uncovered on the counter for 20–30 minutes until it relaxes and spreads slightly.
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Final Shape · 10 minutes
Final Shape
This is the step that takes practice, but don't stress — even imperfect shaping makes delicious bread. Flour your banneton well (rice flour is best; it won't absorb and cause sticking). Flip the dough, fold the sides in like an envelope, roll it toward you, and flip into the banneton seam-side up. Cover with a plastic bag or damp towel.
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Overnight · 8–16 hours
Cold Proof in the Refrigerator
Place the covered banneton in the refrigerator and leave it overnight (or up to 16 hours). The cold dramatically slows fermentation, develops more complex flavor, and — critically — makes the dough much easier to score cleanly because it's cold and firm when it goes into the oven.
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Bake Day · 45 minutes total
Preheat and Bake
Place your Dutch oven inside a cold oven, then preheat to 500°F (260°C) for at least 45–60 minutes — longer preheat = better oven spring. Remove the cold dough from the fridge. Flip it out of the banneton onto a sheet of parchment. Score the top quickly with a lame or sharp knife at a 30–45° angle — a single arc or an "ear" cut works great for beginners. Lift the parchment and dough into the screaming-hot Dutch oven, cover the lid, and slide it back in.
Covered at 500°F — 20 minutes. Then remove the lid and reduce to 450°F — bake uncovered for 20–25 more minutes until the crust is a deep mahogany brown. The internal temperature should reach 205–210°F. Let it cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour before cutting — the interior is still setting as it cools.
Fermentation speed is highly dependent on ambient temperature. At 68°F, bulk ferment might take 8+ hours. At 80°F, it could be done in 3. Use the visual cues above — not just the clock.
"The moment you lift that Dutch oven lid and the steam clears — that sound of crackling crust, that color, that smell — it never gets old. Ever."
Common IssuesTroubleshooting Your Sourdough Loaf
Your first loaf might not be Instagram-perfect, and that's completely fine. Here's how to read what went wrong and fix it next time.
🔍 Diagnose Your Loaf
- Dense, gummy interior — Under-fermented dough or cut too soon. Let bulk ferment go longer; wait at least 1 hour (ideally 2) to slice.
- Flat loaf with no oven spring — Overproofed dough or an inactive starter. Make sure your starter passes the float test; don't let the dough over-ferment.
- Pale, soft crust — Oven not hot enough, or Dutch oven not preheated long enough. Give it a full 60-minute preheat.
- Dough sticks to banneton — Insufficient flouring, or the banneton wasn't dried out properly. Use rice flour, and consider lining with a cloth.
- Very sour bread — Long cold proof + warm bulk ferment amplifies sour notes. Reduce cold proof time or use a smaller percentage of starter.
- Bland bread — Fermentation too short or too little salt. Try a longer cold proof (overnight to 16 hours) and double-check your salt quantity.
Your Questions, AnsweredFrequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to bake sourdough bread?
From start to finish, sourdough takes about 24 hours — but the vast majority of that is hands-off fermentation and proofing time. Your actual active work amounts to less than 30 minutes spread throughout the day.
What flour is best for sourdough bread?
Bread flour with 12–14% protein gives the best structure and chewy crumb. All-purpose works but produces a slightly more open, tender loaf. Adding 10–20% whole wheat or rye flour deepens flavor and speeds fermentation. We carry several local and regional stone-milled flours that produce exceptional results — ask us in store.
Can I make sourdough without a Dutch oven?
Absolutely. Any oven-safe pot with a tight-fitting lid works. Alternatively, bake on a preheated pizza stone or baking steel and create steam by placing a metal pan on the bottom rack and pouring in a cup of boiling water when you load the bread. The steam is what creates that blistered, crackly crust.
How do I store a sourdough loaf?
Store cut-side down on a wooden board, loosely wrapped in a clean kitchen towel — not plastic. Plastic traps moisture and softens the crust. Sourdough keeps well at room temperature for 3–5 days and actually gets better on day two. For longer storage, slice and freeze, then toast straight from frozen.
Why is my sourdough bread too dense?
Dense loaves almost always come down to one of three causes: an underactive starter (doesn't pass the float test), dough that hasn't fermented long enough, or over-flouring during shaping that degasses the loaf. Build a strong starter first — everything else depends on it.
How often do I need to feed my sourdough starter?
If you bake weekly, keep it in the fridge and feed it once a week. Take it out the night before you want to bake, give it a fresh feeding, and let it peak at room temperature. If you bake daily, keep it on the counter and feed it every 12–24 hours. A neglected starter isn't dead — it's just hungry. Feed it two or three times and it'll come back to life.