Beginner Sourdough Bread: Your First Loaf

This is a one-loaf, Tartine-style sourdough adaptation using starter alone for leavening. Other sourdough recipes also use commercial yeast; neither approach guarantees better flavor. Here, the aim is to learn how a familiar starter changes a dough through mixing, fermentation and baking.

The ingredient quantities below retain this recipe’s original formula. The method uses a flour-and-water rest before adding levain, so it is not a verbatim version of Chad Robertson’s method. Its timing is a starting plan, not a kitchen-tested guarantee for every starter, flour and refrigerator.

If you don’t have an established culture yet, begin with the starter guide. Look for predictable expansion after repeated feedings at the same ratio and temperature. A starter that doubles in several hours under its usual feeding conditions is more informative than one isolated burst of bubbles. Use healthy mature-starter discard in discard muffins; a newly establishing culture is not interchangeable with mature discard.

What You Need

Ingredients for the Final Dough

The full calculation: The 100g levain contributes approximately 50g flour and 50g water. The dough therefore contains 550g total flour and 425g total water: 77.3% hydration. Salt is 1.82% of total flour, and prefermented flour is 9.1%. The ingredients make 985g raw dough before handling losses; baked weight depends on moisture loss.

The familiar 90/10 flour split, 75% water, 2% salt and 20% levain describe additions relative to the 500g flour in the main mix. They do not include the levain’s composition. The hydration guide explains why that distinction matters when comparing recipes.

This is a fairly wet dough, especially with a lower-absorption flour. Higher water is not a guaranteed route to a more open crumb. Learn this dough’s handling before exploring the country loaf variation.

Equipment

• A gram scale for the weighed formula
• A mixing bowl or food-safe container with room for expansion
• A bench scraper
• A banneton or bowl lined with a clean, floured towel
• A covered bread baker or Dutch oven that fits the loaf and permits the baking method below
• A blade or bread lame, with safe storage
• Dry oven mitts, a stable heatproof landing area, and ideally a thermometer

Check the complete baker’s instructions, including the lid and knob. There is no universal four-quart minimum, and not every enamel pot permits empty preheating at 500°F. Check this before beginning the dough.

Build the Levain

If you already have at least 100g of ripe, 100%-hydration starter, you can weigh out the amount needed and keep a separate reserve for future feedings.

Otherwise, mix 20g mature 100%-hydration starter, 100g bread flour and 100g water in a clean jar. This makes 220g levain, of which only 100g goes into the loaf. Maintain the remainder as starter or use appropriate mature discard in another recipe; do not add the whole build to this dough.

Cover without sealing the jar against expanding gas and mark the starting level. The original overnight estimate of 8–12 hours is a planning range, not a readiness rule. Starter strength, feeding ratio and temperature all affect the result. Use the build when it is well expanded and aerated, following the rise pattern you have observed for your culture.

Do not use the float test as permission to proceed or a reason to discard a starter. King Arthur’s float-test trial found that a still-immature starter could float. Its updated sourdough guidance recommends tracking the fed starter’s rise instead.

A ripe, relatively young levain can suit a mild loaf, but it is already acidic. “Young” does not mean acid-free, and seed quantity alone does not tell you how sour the eventual loaf will taste.

Plan the Time Around Readiness

With the overnight levain build and overnight final proof, this spans parts of three calendar days, commonly about a day and a half from the first mix to baking, plus cooling. It is not a 24-hour process by definition. Hands-on work comes in short sessions; leave extra time when learning.

Start earlier if your starter or kitchen tends to be slow. If the levain is not ready at the planned mixing time, move the schedule rather than pretending that the clock has ripened it.

Step 1: Mix Flour and Water

Combine the two flours with 350g water, leaving 25g measured separately. Mix until all flour is moistened. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.

This autolyse gives the flour time to absorb water and can make subsequent mixing easier. It is one useful method, not something every serious baker must use, nor a guarantee of better aroma or open crumb. King Arthur’s autolyse comparisons found benefits that varied with the recipe and rest.

Step 2: Add Levain and Salt

Add 100g ripe levain, 10g salt and the remaining 25g water. Work everything through the dough with repeated squeezing and folding until the additions are evenly distributed and the dough is cohesive. This may take several minutes; check for unmixed streaks rather than stopping at an exact minute.

The dough may initially break into slippery pieces. Continue gently until it comes together. Mixing and the later folds help develop its gluten network.

Step 3: Bulk Ferment and Fold

Cover and keep the dough in a reasonably warm, stable environment. The original 3.5–4-hour bulk estimate should be treated as a starting observation window, not a fixed result at 75°F. Dough temperature matters, and a cooler or less vigorous batch can take longer.

For this adaptation, begin with four folding sets at roughly 30-minute intervals during the first two hours:

1. Dampen your hand and lift an edge of the dough.
2. Stretch gently only until you feel resistance, then lay it over the dough.
3. Rotate the bowl and repeat around the remaining sides.
4. Stop if the dough resists or tears; cover it and allow it to relax.

See the folding guide for handling variations. Four sets are a starting sequence for this loaf, not a universal requirement. Reassess how well the dough holds together. There is also no universal ban on every fold in the final hour of every bread recipe.

For this Tartine-style approach, look for visible expansion, bubbles at the sides and a lighter, aerated feel. The often-cited 20–30% rise belongs to a particular warm fermentation method; do not use it alone to declare every batch ready. Mark the starting level and consider temperature and strength together. Likewise, doubling is not inherently overproofing for all sourdoughs: other published sourdough formulas deliberately target doubling.

A dough that is still dense and shows very little change needs more assessment before shaping. A weakening, spreading dough that has risen and begun to fall needs a different response. The proofing guide helps separate these possibilities.

Step 4: Preshape and Rest

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Use the scraper and your hand to gather it gently into a round. Aim for enough tension to organize it without squeezing out every bubble or tearing the surface.

Cover and let it relax for about 20 minutes. If it still resists shaping, allow more relaxation. Keep excess bench flour outside the dough rather than folding thick layers into the center.

Step 5: Shape and Basket

Dust the cloth-lined basket with rice flour, or the original recipe’s equal-weight rice-flour and bread-flour mixture. Use enough to coat the contact surface; do not leave bare sticky patches.

Lightly flour the dough’s top, turn it over and fold its edges toward the middle. Turn it seam-down and use a few gentle cupping motions against the bench to tighten the outer surface. Stop before it tears. Transfer seam-up to the basket and cover to prevent drying.

Slackness can reflect water absorption, insufficient development, fermentation or shaping. It does not automatically mean the batch has overfermented. Record what happened instead of automatically cutting the next bulk short.

Step 6: Refrigerate and Assess Proof

Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below and cover the basket with a food-safe cover. Plan an overnight rest, then assess the loaf the next morning. The earlier promise that any point from 12 to 36 hours would work was too broad.

Cooling takes time. Fermentation slows as the dough cools; it does not switch off as soon as you close the refrigerator door. A warm, advanced dough can overproof while cooling. A loaf that remains dense and barely risen may need more covered proofing at room temperature before baking. King Arthur’s refrigeration guidance explains this distinction.

Acids arise from the starter’s microbial community, and its members vary. The refrigerator is not a selective “acetic acid bacteria” flavor stage. Research on 500 starters found substantial differences in microbial composition and function; that study does not establish one cold-proof mechanism for every loaf.

Step 7: Prepare the Baker and Score

For the hot-pot method, use a vessel whose manufacturer permits empty preheating and whose complete assembly is rated for 500°F (260°C). Preheat with the oven, allowing roughly 30–45 minutes for your oven and vessel to heat. If your pot prohibits this, use a suitable unheated-pot recipe rather than overriding its instructions; the Dutch oven guide compares those methods.

Prepare the loading route before handling the hot pot. Turn out and score on a stable surface where possible, then transfer with an appropriate peel or heat-rated sling. Keep your free hand away from the blade. A simple expansion cut is enough; its depth should suit the dough, not an obligatory half-inch trench.

If you use parchment, check its actual rating. Reynolds Unbleached Parchment is rated to 425°F, so it is not suitable for this 450°F bake. Enclosure in a pot does not change that rating.

The shallow base of a Lodge Combo Cooker can make loading accessible, but both pieces remain hot and heavy. Check the model instructions and have a safe landing place ready.

Step 8: Bake

After loading and covering, reduce the oven to 450°F (232°C). Bake covered for about 20 minutes, then carefully remove the lid, directing escaping steam away from your face and hands. Continue uncovered for approximately 20–25 minutes, assessing the loaf rather than using the timer as a guarantee.

Robertson’s published method reduces the oven to 450°F before the covered bake. Keeping the covered loaf at 500°F was not the correct attribution.

Look for a fully baked, well-browned crust and a set interior. If the outside colors too quickly, adjust heat rather than pursuing a burned crust. Browning reactions do not wait until the crust is mahogany to start. A thermometer can add information, but use it alongside the loaf’s appearance and recipe behavior.

Step 9: Cool Completely

Transfer to a rack and allow the loaf to cool completely before slicing. A loaf this size often takes several hours; two hours is not a universal guarantee that its center has cooled. Cutting hot bread can compress a fragile crumb and make it seem gummy.

Crackling can occur as the crust cools, but silence does not mean failure. Judge the crumb after cooling, and record the bake time and crust color before deciding what to change.

Troubleshooting Your First Bake

Dense or gummy center: Check fermentation, bake completion and cooling. More baking will not correct every fermentation problem; use Why Is My Bread Dense? alongside your notes.

Flat loaf: Review starter activity, development, water absorption, fermentation and loading. A failed float test does not identify the cause.

Large tunnels with dense areas: Do not automatically call this overproofing and shorten bulk. Uneven fermentation or handling can produce an uneven crumb; compare your dough’s rise and strength before deciding which direction to change.

Dough too difficult to handle: One possible next-bake adjustment is 350g added water instead of 375g, which makes 72.7% total hydration with this levain, not 70%. Change that one variable and record the result.

Burned bottom: Check rack position, oven behavior and the pot’s heating pattern. An appropriate heat shield on a lower rack may help in some ovens. Putting the pot directly on a hot steel or stone is not an automatic cure and can change heat transfer in the wrong direction.

More sour than you wanted: Review starter maintenance, levain maturity and total fermentation. Do not arbitrarily remove an hour of necessary fermentation: a milder loaf still needs enough rise. The starter science guide explains the biological background.

What to Bake Next

Repeat this loaf while keeping flour and equipment consistent. Once the process is familiar, try the country bread variation, practice a different shape, or move to sourdough bagels and a sourdough sandwich loaf.

Use Baker’s Bench for formula scaling and Starter Clock for planning estimates. Neither replaces the dough cues you observe in your kitchen.