The Do-it-All Dough …the most important Sourdough Recipe.
And here it is, math, being useful in an everyday situation. When I refer to a recipe of dough, I refer to it in the total weight of the flour. So if I am making a recipe of dough with 500g of flour. I will call it a 500g batch of dough. Of course the water, salt, and Starter will add additional weight. It is easier to refer to it as “500g” versus a total weight of all of those ingredients added up. The water and Starter can vary in their percentages, but the flour is a constant 100%, so it is the number that makes the most sense to refer to.
Standard Percentages for Sourdough Breads:
All of your ingredients will be a percentage of your flour. Use this template to scale your recipes.
Flour 100%.
Water 65-80% of the flour.
Salt 2% of the flour.
Starter 15-20% of the flour.
Here is an example of the percentages that would make up a 500g batch of dough:
500g Bread Flour 100%
375g Water 75%
100g Starter 20%
10g Salt 2%
So, you can see that this is easy math. You can use a calculator to scale up or down based on percentages.
The water content of the dough is referred to as the hydration level. In the example above the water is 75% of the flour weight (500g Flour x .75 = 375g water). This could be called a 75% hydration dough.
For a 400g loaf of bread using the same percentages as above it would look like this:
400g Bread Flour 100%
300g Water 75%
80g Starter 20%
8g Salt 2%
The hydration level can vary along with the Starter. The salt should always be 2% of the Flour weight. It may change when you are making other types of bread (e.g. Chocolate Chocolate Chip). The salt is important to developing good color and flavor. This standard 2% salt quantity is not enough salt to make the dough salty, but enough so it doesn’t taste flat. Tuscan bread is an example of a bread that has no, to very little, salt in it. It has very pale coloring. It has no depth of flavor, no caramelization in the crust, and is generally bland. Salt has a huge influence on the end product you are creating. 2% is a standard percentage; there should be no variation here for regular bread variations.
The Starter and the Water can vary. In general water can vary from 60% to 85%. Of course you could get 90-110%, but that will be a very slack dough that takes some skill to work with. Ciabatta is a higher hydration dough that lands in that range. For now stay within the 60-75% hydration range. Dough in this range will be drier and easy to handle as you are developing the skill of stretching the dough, and shaping it. I think 70% hydration is a good jumping off point for those who are new to Sourdough. It is not too wet and it will produce a good crumb and crust in your final product. All of the recipes will have a 75% hydration. It's easy math, but think of this percentage as a “place holder”. In my experience most new bakers are successful at 65-70% hydration depending on their environment, flour quality, and water quality.
Start at 70% hydration, if you find this too difficult to work with, shave off 5% the next time you make dough; making your hydration (water content) 65%. In general, 70-75% hydration will become more comfortable for you to handle as you build your skill and confidence handling the dough in the first “Stretch and Fold”. This should be the only phase of the dough development where the dough feels a bit “sticky”. We are getting ahead of ourselves, more on this later.
Starter can vary too. 15%-20% Starter is a good place to be. In most of my bread baking the Starter is a standard 20%. 20% is a good percentage that gets your dough moving at a steady pace. If you wanted to slow down the fermentation of your dough you could adjust the percentage of Starter down to 15%. Using 20% is easy mental math and it works. All of the recipes will use Starter at 20%.
The Bread Flour is 100%. So, if you decide you want to make a couple smaller size loaves, it is easy to scale down. I like 350g batches to make Batard/Ovals as gifts. They are also a good size for two people. If you are making a 350g batch of dough you would apply the percentages like this:
350g (100%) Bread Flour
263g (75%) Water
70g (20%) Starter
7g (2%) Salt
These percentages give you the freedom to adjust recipe sizing in a scalable way that maintains the consistency of the end product regardless of what size batch of dough you make. I will say that 350-500g is a great recipe size. Loaves at 500g start to be a maximum size for a 5-7qt cast iron pot. 350-500g batches of dough are also the sweet spot for a 10” round or oval banneton.
Here it is one more time for a 500g batch of dough:
500g of Bread Flour (100%)
75% Water (500g x .75 = 375g Water)
20% Starter (500g x .20 = 100g Starter)
2% Salt (500g x .02 = 10g Salt)
So, now you should have a pretty clear understanding of how to scale a basic sourdough bread recipe up or down. Below is a quick reference for the process of making a batch of dough for a Round or an Oval/Batard. You can refer back to this timeline to understand where you are in the phases of making your dough/bread. Use this timeline to adjust bread baking to fit your schedule.
**The timeline for a Sandwich Bread would be different.
Sample Sourdough Timeline
Day 1
9:00pm Feed your Starter.
Day 2
7:00am Your Starter doubled or tripled overnight. Mix the dough.
7:45am First Stretch/Fold then rest the dough for 30-45 minutes.
8:15-ish Second Stretch/Fold then rest the dough for 30-45 minutes.
8:45-ish Third Stretch/Fold then rest the dough for 30-45 minutes.
9:30-ish Fourth (Final) Stretch/Fold and now bulk fermentation begins. It is a 4-6 hour process depending on your environment.
2:00-4:00pm Bulk Fermentation ends. It is 4-6 hours later, or more, depending on your environment. The dough should have doubled. It is time for shaping.
4:00pm Shape the dough and place into a banneton. Cold Proofing begins (8-48 hours under refrigeration).
Day 3
7:00am Preheat the oven and cast iron pot with the lid at 450 degrees.
7:15am Score the loaf. Bake for 45 minutes, covered. Remove from pot and paper. Continue baking until desired color is achieved.
8:15am Cool the bread for at least 1 hour (2 hours is better) before slicing. If it is for dinner that night; leave the loaf on the rack at room temp, and then slice and bake just before dinner lands on the table.
There are many possible timelines to fit Sourdough Bread Baking into your life. Here is an outline of the steps involved from start to finish. We will go into depth on each of these steps. Think of this as a 40,000 foot view of what is required. Good bread takes time and there is lots of click bait on social media that promises excellent bread in 1 hour. It is not possible to produce excellent sourdough bread in 1 hour, but with an intelligent strategy and some planning you will easily integrate Sourdough into your life.
The 9 Steps of Sourdough Bread:
Activate Starter overnight 10-12 hours to reach ideal activity level.
Mix Dough. This should take no more than 10 minutes.
Four Stretch and Folds approximately 30-45 minutes apart.
Bulk Fermentation 4-6 hours of the Dough hanging out covered. This is simply a period of time for the dough to expand.
Shape the dough into bannetons.
Cold Proof for 8-48 hours.
Score and Bake for 45 minutes.
Cool 2 hours minimum.
Slice.
***The process for a sandwich loaf is different. We will address it in the Sandwich Bread chapter.
Phase 1: Measure and Mix the Dough
Always make two…
I always say “Always make two!”. Making two loaves of bread gives you double the practice to shorten the learning curve of developing this skill. You don’t have to eat both loaves. A fresh baked loaf of bread is a very unique and special gift. Making two loaves can happen with two different methods. There is no wrong choice here. Your first choice is to make two individual batches, which will give you two batches of dough to get more practice with Mixing and the “Stretch & Fold” technique. Your second choice is to make a double batch. It is a quicker process because you are doing the mixing and stretching with only one batch of dough. You learn to handle a much larger quantity of dough, which is a skill in itself. You also get the benefit of learning to divide dough when it comes time to shape it.
Your choice. There is no wrong choice here.
A 400g Batch of dough is a nice size for a Round, Oval, or Sandwich Bread. This is the recipe for a single 400g batch of dough.
400g Bread Flour 100%
300g Water 75%
80g Starter 20%
8g Salt 2%
Mixing Two Individual Batches of Dough
Put your stainless steel bowl on the scale and zero it out.
Zero out the scale and add the filtered room temp water (75%). I use a cup or mug to pour my water in, so I have control. Be accurate with your water.
Zero out the scale and weigh the Starter (20%) into the bowl. If you go over by a few or 5g it is ok. The Starter should float on the surface of the water. This can be a good indicator that the Starter is alive and active. Stir the Starter into the water with a spoon until it is mostly dissolved and homogenous.
Zero out your scale and add the Bread Flour(100%).
Mix the dough together using your hand. Use your fingers to start. Position your fingers together like a paddle and keep the dough on your fingers and off of your hand. If you get dough on the palm of your hand from the beginning, it WILL be more difficult to manipulate the dough. Rotate the bowl and use your fingers like a paddle to get the ingredients to start bonding together. This should only take 2 minutes. Once it all starts to form together, you can now use your whole hand to grab the dough and work it into a more unified mass. Use the side of the bowl to work the dough against. You will grab the dough and smear/roll it down the 12 o'clock side of the bowl. Continue to rotate the bowl and be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl with the side of your index finger. The video will make this clear. It will be sticky. It will not resemble anything that looks supple or elastic. Work the dough until it has come together and feels consistent. There will be wet spots and dry spots that will even out as you work the dough.
For Individual batches that are 350g-500g I like these Tupperware containers https://amzn.to/3DOiWOV . I know it is made of plastic, but plastic is a great insulator it keeps cold out and warmth in and vice versa. The shape of these containers is super helpful down the road to help pre-shape your dough.
Measure the Salt (2%) into two small measuring cup, one for each batch of dough. Be accurate. Once you are 2g away from the amount you needed for the recipe, give the bowl a little tap on the side to make sure the scale is recognizing all of the salt. Sometimes it will say 8g and then after you give the bowl a little tap it will jump up another gram.
Mixing a Double Batch of Dough
Here is a quick reference: how to double a 400g recipe of dough that will be divided when you get to shaping.
800g Bread Flour (100%)
600g Water (75%)
160g Starter (20%)
16g Salt (2%)
Put your stainless steel bowl on the scale and zero it out.
Add the filtered room temp water (75%). I use a cup or mug to pour my water in, so I have control. Be accurate with your water.
Zero out the scale and weigh the Starter (20%) into the bowl. If you go over by a few or 5g it is ok. The Starter should float on the surface of the water. This can be a good indicator that the Starter is alive and active. Stir the Starter into the water with a spoon until it is mostly dissolved and homogenous.
Zero out your scale and add the Bread Flour(100%).
Mix the dough together using your hand. Use your fingers to start. Position your fingers together like a paddle and keep the dough on your fingers and off of your hand. If you get dough on the palm of your hand from the beginning, it WILL be more difficult to manipulate the dough. Rotate the bowl and use your fingers like a paddle to get the ingredients to start bonding together. This should only take 2 minutes. Once it all starts to form together, you can now use your whole hand to grab the dough and work it into a more unified mass. Use the side of the bowl to work the dough against. You will grab the dough and smear/roll it down the 12 o'clock side of the bowl. Continue to rotate the bowl and be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl with the side of your index finger. The video will make this clear. It will be sticky. It will not resemble anything that looks supple or elastic. Work the dough until it has come together and feels consistent. There will be wet spots and dry spots that should even out as you work the dough. Cover with plastic wrap or a silicone bowl lid.
Measure the Salt (2%) into a small measuring cup. Be accurate. Once you are 2g away from the amount you needed for the recipe, give the cup a little tap on the side to make sure the scale is recognizing all of the salt. Sometimes it will say 15g and then after you give the bowl a little tap it will jump up another gram. Set this aside. You will incorporate it into the dough at the First Stretch & Fold.
Phase 2: Stretch and Fold
You will stretch the dough four times with about 30-45 minutes of rest between each Stretch/Fold. The process of stretching/folding the dough builds the gluten proteins to create strength that will help the dough build structure to trap gasses that get produced during fermentation. The stretching that you are doing is going to develop elasticity. Over the course of the four Stretches, the dough will become elastic, smooth, and supple. It will become progressively easier to work with with each Stretch/Fold.
40 Minutes…is more of a “guideline” versus a hard fast rule. The dough needs time to relax and become elastic for the next stretch/fold. 30-45 minutes is a good range. If your dough feels particularly stiff and unwilling to be stretched; wait longer for the next stretch. Honestly, I sometimes go 60 minutes between a stretch every once in a while because that is what my life dictates. Everything will turn out just fine if you don’t stretch your dough exactly every 40 minutes, just stay in a reasonable range. Planning is important. If you don’t have time to make dough, or you are squeezing it into your schedule; it might be better to push this project to a day when you can really focus on what you are doing.
The First Stretch/Fold and Salt
30-45 minutes after Mixing the dough you will perform your first Stretch/Fold. Remember the salt that we set aside? We are going to add it in this first Stretch and Fold. But, why? Why did we hold the salt back until now? If you do your internet research you will come across a term called “Autolyse”. Autolyse is simply a hydrating phase. For the last 30-45 minutes the dough (flour, water, and starter) has had a chance to hydrate. Salt is hygroscopic, which means it draws out moisture. Some misguided people will tell you that you cannot make sourdough bread if you put the salt in during the initial phase of mixing the dough. Of course they are wrong. Salt is not going to “kill” your Starter. Salt will not prevent your flour/dough from absorbing the water and becoming “hydrated”. You absolutely can mix the salt into the water and stir it into solution and then add the other ingredients; or add the salt with the flour. For a basic Sourdough bread that uses only bread flour I can produce the same beautiful result regardless of when the salt goes in the dough. This is just one of those polarizing things like politics or religion; but if you open your mind and experiment you will find that salt can go into this recipe either way. You will also find recommendations on the internet to hold the Starter back to allow for proper hydration of the flour and water. This is also misguided. What is the Starter? FLOUR & WATER! Starter is not going to prevent the flour from absorbing the water. However, adding Starter and salt 30-45 minutes after mixing the flour and water IS A BATTLE. Salt goes in easily, but not the Starter.
So, why am I going with this Autolyse method? I used to teach adding salt into the water and stirring it into solution. It works great. It keeps things simple. However, over the last 12 years I have come across 3 individuals who were unable to get their Starter to dissolve in the salted water. Instead of it dissolving it became a rubbery mass. Without the salt their Starter mixed in easily. Why did this happen? It’s hard to account for all of the small variables of water and flour quality and environmental variations. Not to mention, beginner bakers make mistakes along the way that they have no awareness of. These three outliers are all I need to push people to adding the salt in the First Stretch. I can bend the rules, but can a novice baker? I want this method to be absolutely bulletproof. Adding salt at the first fold and allowing for an Autolyse phase is important if you use whole wheat, rye, spelt, or other whole grain flours. I think it is a “best practice” in a holistic sense. I also don’t want to have to defend my methods against the Internet’s Sourdough Bread Police. You know, those people with a handle like “@dgd19777321”; no profile picture; no Youtube channel; and only negative comments.
Experimenting is always educational. Down the road try adding the salt into the water and stirring it into solution prior to adding the Starter. Try adding the salt with the flour after you have incorporated the Starter into the water.
Here we go the First Stretch and Fold…
If you are doing two individual batches and your two batches of dough are in separate Tupperware containers; you can do this in each container or transfer back to the stainless steel bowl for a bit more room to incorporate the salt. Whatever is comfortable, try both.
Sprinkle the pre-measured salt over the surface of the dough. Wet your hands with some cool water and shake off the excess so they are not dripping. Pinch the salt into the dough. Keep the dough off the palm of your hand and keep working your way around the dough, pinching the salt into the dough and folding it into itself. You really can’t do this wrong. You will feel the dough change as the salt draws out some of the moisture of the dough. It will start to smooth out and develop some elasticity. You should feel the grittiness of the salt start to go away. It is ok if there is a little bit of salt that doesn’t go away but it should feel like 95% of the salt disappears. This might take you 60 seconds. This is not a long process. Cover your container and set a timer for 30-45 minutes. The second Stretch & Fold will be different.
The Second Stretch/Fold
30-45 minutes later.
Wet hands are your friends. Wet your hands in cool water and shake off the excess. If your hands are not wet enough, the dough will stick to you. If your hands are too wet the dough will be too slick to stick to itself.
Remove the dough from the container. You can think of working the dough from corners, or sides, to the middle. Gravity is your friend here. Let gravity pull a side of the dough downward then tuck that sagging side into the middle of the dough. Turn the dough as you do this and see if you can get 4-6 folds. Keep your fingers together and work at the speed the dough wants to move. In this first Stretch/Fold the dough will go from looking rough and ragged to smoothed out and formed. You are aiming to create a round ball shaped mass with no tears in the surface. The dough will let you know when you have gone too far. We are not looking to really work the dough aggressively. We want to smooth it out and create some tension in it. Each Stretch/Fold is a very quick process. It only takes 20-40 seconds. If you continue to work the dough until the surface is tearing apart you have gone too far. Less is definitely more here. Your goal is to put enough tension in the dough so it is pulling on itself in the container. Place the dough back in the container and cover it with the lid.
The Third Stretch/Fold
40 minutes later repeat the same process of stretching and folding the dough. If you are working with a dough that is 60-70 hydration, which is a relatively dry dough. It is possible that your dough may need more time to relax before it is ready to be stretched again. I believe a dough that is 70-80% hydration should perform well at the 30-45 minute interval. A whole wheat bread may need 45-60 minutes between Stretches/Folds.
In this third Stretch/Fold the dough will be smoother and need less input to build the tension. Remember, wet hands are important to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands, but too much moisture on your hands will make it difficult for the dough to stick to itself. With experience you will find that balance point of how much water needs to be on your hands. If you were to use flour for this process, you would significantly change the characteristics of your dough and the final product/bread.
The Fourth Stretch/Fold
40 minutes after the third round of Stretch/Fold you are doing this same process of creating tension one last time. This time you may notice that the dough has expanded in volume since the last Stretch/Fold. This is normal and it is likely that there will be a decent amount of small air pockets that pop as you stretch the dough this last time. Don’t worry about popping those air bubbles, it will not impact your final product. Creating tension to build better elasticity is way more important at this point than preserving the gasses that are developing. After this last Stretch/Fold the dough will go through a phase of Bulk Fermentation.
Phase 3: Bulk Fermentation
Over the last couple of hours or so you have done the important work of developing the dough so it can be elastic and expand. Now you will give it the time it needs to expand through the process of fermentation. This is a phase of dough development that will be significantly affected by your environment. Bulk Fermentation ends when your dough has at the very least doubled but possibly tripled in volume. This can take anywhere from 4-8 hours depending on how warm or cool your kitchen is. Altitude and humidity are also other factors that will make your environment unique. This is one of the most difficult aspects of sourdough bread baking; your environment. The container your dough is Bulk Fermenting in, needs to have some height to it. If the container is too wide the dough will have more surface area to spread out into. This is not helpful. The dough needs to be able to expand against your container. The Tupperware containers I recommended earlier are a great size for a 350-500g batch of dough. The 5-8qt Stainless Steel bowl is great for 700-1000g batches of dough. I use the bowl to do double batches that I divide when I shape. The Tupperware is good for single batches and in the beginning it eliminates the step of dividing the dough at the shaping phase. The Tupperware helps to preshape your dough so you have to handle it less. Can you feel the segway…let’s shape some dough;)
Phase 4: Shaping the Dough
…it’s a choose your own adventure situation;)
Shaping dough is not a scary process. In the beginning everyone is most concerned about squishing all of the air out of their dough. Although we will lose some air and volume, the dough will be fine. The shaping process will also put some tension back into the dough for the Final Proof. The dough will recover some air during the Final Proofing, but it is the tension that is important. When you shape dough with tension, it will achieve a better oven spring when you bake it. Oven spring is the initial expansion that takes place in the first 20 minutes of baking. A dough with good strength will expand significantly more than a dough that is slack/weak.. When you are making a batard or a round you will know when the dough is missing tension. When you turn it out of the banneton onto the parchment to score and bake; it will sit down. You will see it expand and flatten and the resulting bread will be a short “squatty” loaf. Higher hydration doughs 90% require a very high gluten content bread flour. The higher gluten protein content the more strength you can build against the water content, which makes it easier to execute a higher hydration recipe. If you look at a Ciabatta, it has no chance of holding any structure because of the very high hydration, sometimes 100% or more, Ciabattas are unique as far as shaping goes, and the end product is always flat due to the hydration of the dough. It can't hold a shape beyond the “slipper” shape it is classically formed into. For your own experimentation make two identical 400g recipes of dough, with one use Bread Flour for the other use All-purpose Flour. You will see how just the 2-3% less gluten protein content of the All-purpose Flour changes the characteristics of the dough. All-purpose Flours are generally 10.5%-11% gluten protein, while bread flour is 12-13.5% gluten protein.
Your dough is ready to be shaped when it has doubled in size during Bulk Fermentation. If you made single 400-500g batches of dough and stored them in the recommended Tupperware, the dough will likely be touching the lid. If you made a 700-1000g batch of dough in the Stainless Steel bowl; the dough will be just about at the top of the bowl. In either case, the top side that you see will be smooth. We want to maintain that quality. It will become our “presentation” side. Lightly flour this top surface of the dough with bread flour. Spread the bread flour to coat the top of the dough and spread it to the edges of the bowl or Tupperware. Use gravity to help the dough let go of the Tupperware. Tilt the container toward your work surface and encourage it with your fingers by releasing the dough at the edges and turn the container as it releases. Try to maintain the rectangular form the dough has taken on from the Tupperware or the round shape if using a bowl. Once it is on your work surface the portion of the dough that was the bottom side in the container should now be facing up at the ceiling. DO NOT flour this side of the dough. We want it to be able to stick to itself to create tension in the shaping process.
Before we get to shaping dough. What shape do you want to make? Below are four options: Batard (oval), Round, Sandwich Loaf, and Pull-apart Rolls. Up to this point all of the steps are the same. Now it is time to choose your own adventure. From this fork in the road you can follow the shape you choose next, all the way to the finish. There is no wrong shape to choose and these are all beginner friendly shapes.
The dough you made can be used for a variety of shapes and different applications without changing anything in the recipe. Everything is the same up to this point.
You will need a banneton to make an oval. A pack of two is a good choice. I recommend ALWAYS making two loaves. Having two of the same shape bannetons will help you get more practice scoring the same shape back-to-back.
Cooling rack for Half Sheet Tray https://amzn.to/3W8VNwX
Round Banneton 10” https://amzn.to/3PATn6l
Oval Banneton 10” https://amzn.to/3WeoR6e
Astra Razor Blades https://amzn.to/40rMI4O
You will also need rice flour to prevent sticking to the banneton.
Rice Flour https://amzn.to/3Wdgw2t
Bread flour https://amzn.to/4fMHaGF
A handkerchief or thin cloth dinner napkin makes a great liner for the banneton. Using straight bread flour on a bare banneton to prevent sticking can be a recipe for disaster. The liners that come with the banneton usually have huge seams in the material that prevent the dough from resting up against the sides of the banneton and taking on its texture on the surface of the finished bread, so I recommend a handkerchief instead. It will produce a better aesthetic.
Download The Essential Bread Baking Equipment Guide. The “Guide” has links to all of the products and equipment that I use. They are reliable, affordable, and durable. https://www.thestrengthkitchen.com/products-OCnD9/p/the-essential-bread-baking-equipment-guide
As an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn a commission from purchases made through these links. Thank you for your support:)
