"Sourdough bread is the oldest leavened bread in human history. It does not need packet yeast or commercial shortcuts. It needs only flour, water, salt — and you."
By K.B. Shivuri | The Seasoned Hearth | Recipes, Bread, Sourdough, Baking
There is a particular kind of pride that comes from pulling a sourdough loaf out of the oven. The crust shatters when you tap it. The kitchen smells extraordinary. And when you cut into it — that open, chewy crumb, that deep golden colour — you know that something genuinely worth the effort has just happened.
Sourdough is not difficult. But it does ask something of you that most modern cooking does not: time, attention, and a willingness to learn from each loaf you bake. This guide will take you from the very beginning — making your starter — to your first finished loaf. Read it all the way through before you begin. Sourdough rewards the cook who understands what they are doing and why.
What Makes Sourdough Different?
Regular bread uses commercial yeast — a single strain of fast-acting yeast that makes dough rise quickly and predictably. Sourdough uses a starter: a living culture of wild yeast and naturally occurring bacteria that you cultivate yourself from just flour and water.
This living starter is what leavens the bread. The wild yeast produces the gas bubbles that make it rise. The bacteria produce lactic and acetic acids that give sourdough its characteristic tang, its chewy texture, and its exceptional shelf life. A properly made sourdough loaf will stay fresh for 4–5 days without any preservatives — because the natural acids in the bread protect it.
The flavour of sourdough is more complex and satisfying than any commercial bread. And once your starter is established, it costs almost nothing to bake.
Part One: Making Your Sourdough Starter
A starter takes 5–7 days to become active enough to bake with. This is not daily work — it takes about 5 minutes of attention per day. But you cannot skip this stage.
What You Need
- A clean glass jar (500ml or larger)
- Bread flour or whole wheat flour (whole wheat gets things going faster)
- Water (tap water is fine — if yours is heavily chlorinated, leave it in an open jug overnight)
- A rubber band or piece of tape to mark the level
Day 1
Mix 50g flour and 50g water in your jar until no dry flour remains. Cover loosely with a cloth or the jar lid slightly ajar — you want airflow, not a sealed container. Mark the level with your rubber band. Leave at room temperature (ideally 22–25°C).
Days 2–4
Once a day, discard half the starter (this is important — it controls the acidity and keeps the culture manageable). Add 50g fresh flour and 50g water. Stir well. Mark the new level. By day 3 or 4 you should start seeing bubbles and the starter should be rising and falling between feedings.
Days 5–7
Continue the daily discard and feeding. By day 5–7, your starter should be reliably doubling in size within 4–8 hours of feeding, smelling pleasantly sour and yeasty, and full of bubbles throughout. It is now ready to bake with.
The float test: Drop a small spoonful of starter into a glass of water. If it floats, it is active and ready. If it sinks, give it another day.
Part Two: Baking Your First Sourdough Loaf
Ingredients
- 450g strong white bread flour
- 50g whole wheat flour
- 350g water (room temperature)
- 100g active sourdough starter (fed 4–8 hours before use, at its peak)
- 10g fine salt
Equipment
- A large mixing bowl
- A Dutch oven or heavy lidded pot (cast iron is ideal)
- A proving basket (banneton) or a bowl lined with a well-floured cloth
- A sharp knife or bread lame for scoring
Step 1 — Mix the Dough (Day 1, Morning)
Combine the flour and water in a large bowl. Mix until no dry flour remains — the dough will be shaggy and rough. Cover and leave to rest for 30–60 minutes. This rest is called the autolyse and it allows the flour to fully hydrate and begin developing gluten before you add anything else.
After the rest, add the starter and salt. Mix thoroughly by squeezing the dough through your fingers until everything is fully incorporated. The dough will feel sticky and rough. This is normal.
Step 2 — Bulk Fermentation (4–6 Hours)
Cover the bowl and leave at room temperature for 4–6 hours. During this time you will perform a series of stretch-and-folds to develop the gluten structure.
Stretch and fold: Every 30 minutes for the first 2 hours, wet your hand and grab one side of the dough, stretch it upward as far as it will go without tearing, then fold it over to the opposite side. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat. Do this four times per set — that is one set of stretch and folds. You will do 4 sets total.
After 4–6 hours, the dough should have grown by 50–75%, feel lighter and more airy, and have visible bubbles on the surface and sides of the bowl.
Step 3 — Shape the Loaf
Turn the dough out onto an unfloured surface. Using your hands, gently shape it into a tight round — fold the edges towards the centre, then flip it over and use your hands to drag it gently towards you, building surface tension. Let it rest uncovered for 20–30 minutes.
After the rest, do a final shaping: fold the dough into a tight round or oval, then place it seam-side up in a well-floured proving basket or cloth-lined bowl.
Step 4 — Cold Prove Overnight
Cover the basket with a plastic bag or shower cap and place it in the refrigerator overnight — 8 to 16 hours. This slow cold fermentation develops the flavour enormously and makes the dough much easier to score.
Step 5 — Bake (Day 2)
One hour before baking, place your Dutch oven in the oven and preheat to 250°C / 480°F. You want the pot screaming hot before the dough goes in.
When ready, turn your cold dough out onto a piece of baking paper. Score the top quickly and confidently with a sharp knife — one deep slash at an angle, or a pattern of your choice. This controls where the bread expands.
Carefully lower the dough (on the baking paper) into the blazing hot Dutch oven. Put the lid on. Bake covered for 20 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake for a further 20–25 minutes until the crust is a deep, dark golden brown.
Step 6 — Cool Completely
This is the hardest part. Do not cut into the bread for at least one hour after it comes out of the oven. The crumb is still setting inside. Cutting too early gives you a gummy, undercooked texture even if the outside is perfect.
Tap the bottom of the loaf — it should sound hollow. Set it on a wire rack and leave it alone. The crust will crackle and sing as it cools. That sound is your reward.
Troubleshooting Common Problems
Dough too sticky to handle: This is normal with high-hydration dough. Wet your hands instead of flouring them. With practice, you will learn to handle the dough more confidently.
Loaf did not rise much: Your starter may not have been active enough. Make sure it has doubled in size and passed the float test before using it.
Dense, heavy crumb: Under-fermented dough. Next time, extend the bulk fermentation by 1–2 hours or ferment in a warmer spot.
Gummy crumb: Underbaked or cut too soon. Bake until the crust is genuinely dark — sourdough can take more colour than you expect — and always cool fully before cutting.
Too sour: Longer, colder fermentation produces more acid. For a milder loaf, shorten the cold prove to 8 hours.
Keeping Your Starter Alive
Once established, a sourdough starter can last a lifetime. Store it in the refrigerator and feed it once a week — discard half, add equal weights of fresh flour and water, stir, and return to the fridge. The day before baking, take it out and give it a room-temperature feed to wake it up.
There are sourdough starters in existence that are over 100 years old, passed down through families and bakeries. Treat yours well and it will bake bread for your children.
Sourdough baking has a learning curve, and your first loaf may not be perfect. Neither was mine. But even an imperfect sourdough loaf — slightly flat, slightly dense — tastes better than most bread you can buy. And by your third or fourth loaf, you will begin to understand the dough in a way that no recipe can fully teach.
That understanding — that feel for the dough — is what baking is really about.
— K.B. Shivuri, The Seasoned Hearth
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