Welcome to the Sourdough Starter Kit. Below is everything you’ll need to make your first, fifth, and five-hundredth loaf of sourdough bread!

The Sourdough Starter Kit

---

How to take this course & What you need before you get started

How to take this course

Most lessons in this course have an ‘explainer’ video as well as a ‘demo’ video. It’s best to watch the ‘explainer’ video first so you have an understanding of the process and what to expect, then follow along with the ‘demo’ video live. After you’ve gone through the course at least once you’ll likely be able to skip the ‘explainer’ videos or even just use the ‘Baking Sourdough Cheatsheet’.

The equipment and ingredients you need for the entire course are listed below. They will also be listed in each relevant step/lesson as they are needed.

This process will actually make two loaves of Sourdough bread. In the future you can scale the recipe up or down to meet your needs using the dough calculator. For your first time through, just follow it as is

Ingredients

• For Making Your Starter
  • 780g Whole Wheat unbleached flour
  • Room temperature water
• For Making Your Leaven (or Levain)
  • 20g active starter (made from the previous ingredients)
  • 90g Whole Wheat unbleached flour
  • 90g room temperature water
• For Making Your Sourdough Bread (this makes two loaves)
  • 200g Leaven (made from the previous ingredients)
  • 500g Whole Wheat unbleached flour
  • 500g Bread Flour
  • 800g Luke warm water (~80F, but room temp will be fine too)
  • 20g dry, kosher, or flake salt (if using table salt, reduce this to 10g)
  • Rice flour, Tapioca starch, or more Whole Wheat flour for dusting

Equipment

• Digital scale
• 16+oz straight sided vessel, clear (for housing your Starter)
• Instant read thermometer* (ThermoWorks and Lavatools are the top 2 brands)
• Offset spatula*
• Large mixing bowl
• Bowl scraper*
• Bench scraper
• Plastic wrap
• Kitchen towel(s)
• A sharp knife, razor blade*, or lame*
• Parchment paper
• Something to bake in
  • Bread pan
  • Dutch oven*
  • Combo cooker*
• Cooling rack*

* = Optional, but useful

Materials & Bonuses:

• Advanced Sourdough Starter Handbook – Everything you need to know for creating, sharing, and taking care of your Starter
• Sourdough Starter Kit Cheat Sheet – Your One-Pager for quick reference
• Bonuses
  • Baking On Any Schedule – Full-time job? Kids? These cheat-sheet schedules mean baking fits your schedule and not the other way around
  • The Small Kitchen Solution – Because you DON’T need to have a big kitchen or fancy equipment to bake the perfect loaf of sourdough!
  • Baking On A Budget – The only tools you’ll ever need at the lowest possible price– with guides on what to buy next when you’re ready for an upgrade!
  • What To Do With Leftovers – Never let it go to waste. Top tips for how to use your leftovers, including my favorite Bread Pudding Recipe
  • Baking Calculator – Whether you’re baking 1 or 100 loaves, know exactly how much you need of every ingredient without having to do any math
  • 3 Breads In Under An Hour – From start to table in under an hour, these 3 breads are perfect for when you’re in a rush!
  • How To Convert Any Recipe To Sourdough + 3 Example Recipes – Surprise your kids with delicious Sourdough Pizza! Make your own Sourdough Pretzels! Convert ANY baking recipe into sourdough with these easy-to-follow instructions and make it your own creation.

---

Making Your Starter

In this lesson you are going to learn the fastest way to create a reliable and resistant starter (wild yeast) you’ll be able to use to bake your sourdough bread. If you already have an active starter and you know how to feed it, you can jump ahead to “Making Your Leaven”

Introduction & Equipment

Let’s go over some useful equipment and what to expect when making your very own Sourdough Starter

Glossary
Starter: Your Wild Yeast
Discard: The portion of your Starter you dispose of, or discard, every day

Making Your Starter – All 8 Days

Let’s walk through the entire 8-days of making your starter and what that will look like.

Directions

Download the worksheet below and use it to keep track of how your starter is progressing

Advanced Sourdough Starter Handbook – Everything you need to know for creating, sharing, and taking care of your Starter. This includes the worksheet you can follow with daily steps for creating your starter.

Ingredients & Equipment

• You will need a total of 780g of Whole Wheat flour, preferably Organic
  • Freshly ground works best for this, but store-bought will still do the trick. My favorite brand of store-bought Whole Wheat flour is Bob’s Red Mill, but as long as it is “unbleached” you shouldn’t have any issues
• Water, room temperature-ish. Typically, whatever first comes out of the tap on “cold” works since the pipes tend to normalize to room temperature if you haven’t used the sink for a little while. So long as the water isn’t “very cold” or “hot”, you’ll be fine.

Equipment:

• 16oz+ straight sided vessel with a loosely fitting lid, preferably glass
• A digital scale that measures in grams
• Something to stir and scrape your vessel with (offset spatula, silicone spatula, knife, etc.)

Optional, but useful:

• A set of food storage containers
  • You’ll need 100g of flour every day for 7 days. So you can pre-measure your flour with these and then just grab one when you need it
• A jar designed for sourdough starter
• Blue painter’s tape (for labeling your containers)
• A rubber band to mark the height of your starter

Directions

This whole process should take about 7-days. Possibly up to 10 if you are in a particularly cold environment. Once you get to day 8 the directions will be the exact same for every day going forward.

Once each day you will be “discarding” (ie. pouring out) most of what is in your container. We use the weight of your container to tell how much of the previous day’s starter is left in your container. 

So if your container weighs 400g when you first measured it, you know whatever weight your scales says, minus 400g, is how much starter is in the jar. 

Current Weight - Original Jar Weight = Starter weight

Once you have a nice, active, healthy starter you can actually fry up this “discard” like a savory pancake. Until then, it will just go straight into the compost or trash.

Record the weight of your Starter jar, without the lid (there is a spot on your worksheet to record this)

(it’s also helpful to place a piece of tape on your container and write down the weight there. Just remember to put the tape on before you weight the container)

Taking care of a starter every day is called “feeding” it. Each day the pattern will look like this:

1. Pour out most of your starter
2. Add flour and water
3. Stir
4. Check the box for that day to keep track of where you are in the process

Day 1

Ingredients:

• 100g Whole Wheat flour, unbleached
• 150g room temperature water

Directions:

1. Simply mix your ingredients until there are no more dry pockets of flour and place the lid loosely on top (you’ll be placing the lid loosely on top every day, so I won’t call that out in future steps)
2. Optional: place a rubber band around your vessel at the same height as the internal contents. This will make it easier to see the rise and fall cycle of your starter going forward.

Day 2

Notes:

You may already be seeing some “activity” (ie. little bubbles forming in your starter). The texture of your starter may also be a bit “snotty” with lots of water at the top of the jar at this stage. That is normal.

Ingredients:

• 70g starter (jar weight + 70g = what your jar should weight after discarding most of your starter)
• 100g Whole Wheat flour, unbleached
• 115g room temperature water

Directions:

1. Pour out most of your starter until your scale reads your original jar weight + 70g. Do this into a separate vessel, rather than the trash, just in case you need to pour some starter back in to get to the +70g number. 
2. Add flour and water and stir until there are no more dry pockets of flour.

Day 3

Notes:

Your starter will likely look very “active”, with lots of bubbles creating rise in the jar before you feed it. It will start smelling slightly “sweet” and maybe even a little bit “off” or “rotten”. This is totally normal and a sign your starter is doing what it is supposed to do. This “off” smell will only last for 1-2 days and then it will never smell like that again.

Ingredients:

• 70g starter
• 100g Whole Wheat flour, unbleached
• 115g room temperature water

Directions:

1. (Same as Day 2) Pour out most of your starter until your scale reads your original jar weight + 70g. Do this into a separate vessel, rather than the trash, just in case you need to pour some starter back in to get to the +70g number. 
2. Add flour and water and stir until there are no more dry pockets of flour.

Day 4

Notes:

It will look very “active” and probably “soupy”. Probably smells very acidic or “vomity” (that’s the acid you’re smelling). You’re on the right track! This is the worst it will ever smell and it will start to get better tomorrow. 

If you are not smelling anything other than “wet flour” there is either something wrong with your flour or your water. Make sure you are using Whole Wheat unbleached flour. If you bought it a “long time ago”, you may need to buy new flour. If the flour is relatively new (purchased in the last few months) and it’s unbleached, then the problem is likely your water. It’s possible the chlorine content of your local tap water is too high and killing off the bacteria we are trying to cultivate. You can purchase a jug of “distilled”, “natural”, or “filtered” water from any local grocery store for very cheap and use this as your water going forward. 

Rare, but possible: If your kitchen is on the chillier side (less than 65F), you may also just be experiencing slower progress. The colder the environment, the less active the bacteria, and the less active the bacteria, the longer creating a starter will take. I rarely see this as being the actual problem though, and the solution is simply to continue the feeding schedule for a couple extra days.

Ingredients:

• 70g starter
• 100g Whole Wheat flour, unbleached
• 100g room temperature water

Directions:

1. Same as previous days. Pour out the excess starter, mix in the flour and water 

Day 5

Notes:

Your starter will still smell acidic, but less so than yesterday. It’s likely to be very active today and may even slightly overflow out of your jar if you are using a 16oz vessel.

Ingredients:

• 70g starter
• 100g Whole Wheat flour, unbleached
• 100g room temperature water

Directions:

1. Same as previous days. Pour out the excess starter, mix in the flour and water

Day 6

Notes:

Your starter may look a little less “active” than on previous days. It’s also going to start smelling more “sweet”. Almost like sourcream. It might still smell slightly acidic right before you feed it, which is normal and will continue to decrease over time. You’ll start to notice a “sour” smell more than an “acidic” smell going forward.

Ingredients:

• 50g starter
• 100g Whole Wheat flour, unbleached
• 100g room temperature water

Directions:

1. Same as previous days. Pour out the excess starter, mix in the flour and water

Day 7

Notes:

12 or so hours after the last feeding you’ll notice your starter is beginning to smell slightly “sweet” or even “milky”, similar to sour cream. Right before your feeding today the smell may become more “neutral” and you’ll notice the starter is moderately bubbly and “healthy”

Ingredients:

• 25g starter
• 100g Whole Wheat flour, unbleached
• 100g room temperature water

Directions:

1. Same as previous days. Pour out the excess starter, mix in the flour and water

Day 8 (this is what you will do every day going forward)

Notes:

Congratulations! You now have an active, healthy, starter you can use to start making sourdough today! You should be seeing a consistent rise and fall cycle to your starter in a roughly 24-hour period. It should smell slightly “sour” and not at all “acidic” with lots of little bubbles you can see through the side of your vessel. If that is not the case, simply follow the directions for today for an additional 2 days.

Ingredients: (this is the same feeding you will use from now to to maintain your starter)

• 10g starter
• 80g Whole Wheat flour, unbleached
• 80g room temperature water

Directions

1. With such little starter compared to previous days (10g vs 50-70g), it’s easier to measure the 10g into another container or the lid of your jar, discard everything else in the jar, and then add the 10g back into the jar along with the fresh flour and water
2. Stir until there are no more clumps of dry flour.

How to share your starter

1. While feeding your starter, set aside 10-15g of your discard in a sealed container.
2. Give this discard to your friend and have them feed it as soon as possible, following the same 10/80/80 ratio you use every day.

Keep the discard chilled if it will be more than a couple hours before they can feed it.

If the discard you gave them is coming from your very active starter, they can start baking with it after their first feeding cycle (within 24hrs)

How to store your starter

1. Feed your starter just like you normally would. Let it sit on the counter for roughly 1 hour, and then place the whole thing into the fridge. 
2. Once every 2-weeks take your starter out of the fridge and give it a regular feeding. Leaving it out on the counter for roughly 1 hour before placing it back in the fridge.

If you forget to feed your starter for several weeks, or even several months, it will likely bounce right back with just a couple days of regular feeding. Then you can place it back in the fridge for long term storage

Glossary
Active: Used to describe a Starter with bacteria that is actively consuming flour and producing gas. You will typically see this gas in the form of bubbles that cause the Starter to rise and fall within your vessel
Leaven: Also spelled ‘Levain’. This is a mixture of flour, water, and Starter which will be the base of your sourdough bread.

---

Feeding Your Starter

Tips for feeding your Starter

Ingredients

• 10g starter
• 80g Whole Wheat flour, unbleached
• 80g room temperature water

Directions

1. Measure10g of starter into another container or the lid of your jar, discard everything else in the jar, and then add the 10g back into the jar along with the fresh flour and water
2. Stir until there are no more clumps of dry flour

Quick Tips

• Measuring your flour and water into separate vessels first will keep you from ever accidentally adding too much flour or water to your Starter
• You use the same amount of flour every day. So save some time and pre-measure all of your flour for the week into separate vessels. Then you can just grab a pre-measured amount of flour every day when you are feeding your starter

Water Temperature

Just use room temperature water. If you dip your finger in the water and it feels slightly cool, that’s perfect. If it feels cold it will slow down your bacteria, but your Starter will get back up to room temperature in 30-60 minutes anyway, so it won’t affect much. If the water feels warm or hot, do not use it! 110F water will feel just slightly warm when you dip your finger in it. Like mild bath water. 120F water will feel warm, but not hot, when you dip your finger in it. Your bacteria will die in water that is 120F or warmer! So if you have to, err on the side of cooler water.

How to tell when you need to feed your Starter

You can feed your starter any time after it begins to ‘fall’. For 99% of bakers, it’s easiest to feed your starter at the same time every day.

Your Starter should have a fairly predictable rise and fall cycle. The bacteria will begin eating the flour you’ve added during the feeding, which creates gas and thus the rise. The rate your bacteria is producing gas will hit a ‘peak’, which coincides with the starter being at its highest point in the jar. As your bacteria’s gas production slows down the Starter will start to ‘fall’ and indicates your bacteria has consumed more than 50% of its food. This typically occurs about 12-16 hours after your last feeding.

This ‘fall’ is the critical sign to look for when deciding when to feed your starter. You can feed your Starter any time after it begins to ‘fall’. For 99% of bakers the idea time to feed their starter is 24-hours after the last feeding. Some bakers insist on feeding their Starter at the ‘peak’, but I’ve found this isn’t necessary and is mostly a waste of flour and extra work for the baker.

---

Making Your Levain

In this lesson you are going to learn about the first step of making your sourdough bread. Making the Levain (also called a Leaven).

See example baking schedules in the Materials section above. You can either do this step right before going to bed so your Leaven is ready in the morning, or you can do this first thing in the morning so it is ready when you are done with the work day.

Ingredients

• 20g active Starter
• 90g Whole Wheat four
• 90g room temperature water (ideally 85F)

Directions

1. Roughly 24 hours after your last feeding, combine your Starter, flour, and water and mix until there are no more dry pockets of flour. Cover and set aside for 8-12 hours.

---

Mixing Your Ingredients

When Your Levain Is Ready – Explained

Mixing Your Ingredients

Ingredients

• 200g Active Leaven
• 500g Whole Wheat flour
• 500g Bread flour
• 800g luke warm water (~80F)
• 20g salt (if using table salt, reduce this to 10g)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine your Leaven, flours, and water. Mix until there are no more dry pockets. Go ahead and use your hands and fingers for this. They’re the best tool for the job.
2. Cover your bowl in plastic wrap and wrap in a kitchen towel to keep it insulated. Set aside for 1-hour
3. After 1-hour add the salt and use your fingers to squish and mix it in with the rest of the dough. Then cover it with plastic wrap, wrap it in a kitchen towel, and set aside for 30-minutes.

Quick Tips

• To help keep your dough from cooling off on the counter, place a trivet under your bowl.
• Dipping your fingers in cool water will help keep the dough from sticking to your hands.

Temperature and how it affects your bread

You’ll hear me mention throughout the course that things “might take a little longer” or “move a little faster” depending on the temperature of your kitchen. This is because the temperature of your kitchen directly controls that speed in which your Wild Yeast/bacteria/starter breaks down flour and creates gas. Cold starter is sluggish, like cool honey. It still gets the job done, but it doesn’t move as fast. Warm starter, like warm honey, can move freely and is able to accomplish its task significantly quicker. If your kitchen is between 65F – 75F, you probably don’t need to worry about this and can just follow the recipe as described in the videos. If your dough gets cold, it will still proof, but the amount of proofing that occurs will be less than if the dough was warm. You will still get rise and incredible flavor, but you could get even more if you extended your proofing times. Don’t worry about figuring this out the first time through. I’ve included this information here so you know what I’m referencing in the videos.

---

Folding

Folding – Explained

This is how we develop the gluten structure and strength in our dough by replacing the kneading you typically see in other recipes

Plus a quick tip

Folding

Begin this step 30-minutes after you’ve added your salt

Directions

1. Set aside your kitchen towel(s) and plastic wrap (you’ll be using them again in just a moment).
2. Dip your fingers in some cool water to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and then gently reach underneath your dough and lift up a small portion of your dough to ‘stretch’ it just as far as it will stretch comfortably (you shouldn’t see any tearing). Then ‘fold’ it over the top of the rest of your dough. Rotate your bowl slightly and repeat this stretch and fold cycle 9 more times, or until the dough won’t let you stretch it any more.
3. Move one of your counters (if using) from the left of your bowl the to right.
4. Cover your dough and let it rest for 30-minutes
5. Repeat steps 1-4 three (3) more times (for a total of 4 times). On the fourth time, cover your dough and set it aside for your first proof (explained in the next video).

First Proof

Do whatever is easier for you here

Directions – Warm Proofing (continue today)

1. If you want to continue making your bread today, simply leave your bowl of dough out on the counter, covered, for 3 hours before moving on to the shaping step

Directions – Cold Proofing (continue tomorrow)

1. If you want to continue making your bread tomorrow, cover your bowl and dough and place it in the fridge for 12-24 hours before continuing to the shaping step

Quick tip

Cold dough is slightly easier to work with than warm dough, so if you aren’t in a rush and you want the next step to be a bit easier go with the Cold Proofing option.

---

Shaping Your Dough

Splitting Your Dough – Explained

Splitting Your Dough

In this step you will be splitting your dough into two separate pieces and then forming them into a “pre-shape” before allowing them to rest for 20-minutes

Directions

1. Transfer your dough to an unfloured surface
2. Divide your dough into 2 roughly equal pieces. Gently grab the corners and fold them over the top to make a roughly ’round’ pre-shape.
3. Using a bench scraper, flip one ball of dough over and create tension in your ball of dough following the process explained in the video (at 2:00). Gently pulling the dough towards you while tucking the back of the dough ball under itself. Then rotating the dough 90 degrees. Repeat this process between 5-10 times. Then set aside and use the same process to create tension with your second ball of dough.
4. Let your dough sit on the counter, uncovered, for 20-minutes while you prepare your proofing vessels (this is called the ‘bench rest’)

Prepping Your Proofing Vessels

You will be prepping two loaves of bread, so make sure to prep two vessels at this step

Ingredients – pick one

• Rice flour
• Tapioca starch
• Whole Wheat flour

Equipment – 3 options + 1 shallow pan

• For your loaves
  • Banneton, OR
  • Traditional bread pan (if choosing this option, you are done with this step and do not need to worry about “prepping” your pan), OR
  • Medium sized bowl + towel
• 1 shallow pan we will use to hold additional rice flour, tapioca starch, or whole wheat flour. Any shallow pan will work for this, including pie tins and baking trays.

Directions – Banneton

1. Liberally dust the inside of your banneton with the rice flour, tapioca starch, or whole wheat flour.
   1. If all of the flour is falling to the bottom of your banneton, lightly spray the inside of the banneton with some clean water to help the flour stick to the sides.
2. Set aside and prep your shallow pan. Wait until the end of your 20-minutes bench rest.

Directions – Traditional bread pan

1. There is no prep involved. Just prep your shallow pan and wait for the 20-minute bench rest to finish and continue onto the next steps.

Directions – Medium sized bowl + Towel

1. Line the inside of your bowl with a kitchen towel and liberally dust the top of the towel with your rice flour, tapioca starch, or whole wheat flour.
2. Set aside and prep your shallow pan. Wait until the end of your 20-minute bench rest.

Prep a shallow pan with additional flour

1. Add a generous amount of your flour to the bottom of your shallow pan so it is ready for the next steps (you can be generous, because none of this goes to waste)

Shaping Your Dough – Explained

Shaping Your Dough

Directions

1. Dust the top of each loaf with a little of the same flour you placed in your shallow pan from the last step (rice flour, tapioca starch, or whole wheat flour)
2. Flip your loaf over so the unfloured side is now pointing up. Gently grab the far end and stretch it away from you a few inches, then fold it 2/3rds over the center of the loaf. Gently grab the side closest to you and do the same stretch and fold over the center again. This is called a “letter fold”.
3. Rotate your loaf 90 degrees and, starting from the far side, gently stretch and roll your dough into a “burrito”.
4. Use the heel of your palm to seal the seam of your loaf (keep track of where the seam is), then roll it in your shallow vessel until it is coated in flour.
5. Transfer your loaf to the proofing vessel.
   1. If you are using a bread pan, transfer your loaf to the pan seam-side down
   2. If you are using a banneton or a bowl+towel, transfer your loaf to the proofing vessel seam-side up
6. Loosely cover and move onto your final proof

---

The Final Proof

Do whatever is easier for you here

Directions – Warm Proofing (bread in ~4.5hrs)

1. If you want to continue making your bread today, simply leave your bowl of dough out on the counter, loosely covered, for 4 hours before baking

Directions – Cold Proofing (bread in ~6.5-36hrs)

1. If you want to continue making your bread much later, loosely cover your dough and place it in the fridge for 6-36 hours before baking

Quick tip

Set a timer for 30-minutes less than your proofing time. That way you can start prepping your oven to be ready when your dough is. Example: if you are doing a 4-hour warm proofing, set a timer for 3hrs 30min to remind you to start prepping your oven and baking vessels

---

**Advanced** You can ignore this section until after you’ve made your first loaves

There are a couple ways to tell if a dough is underproved or overproved

The finger test – poke your dough with your index finger (no more than half of your first knuckle) and see how the dent bounces back. If it bounces back immediately, it is underproved and still needs time. If it bounces back slowly and just barely doesn’t fill in the dent, your dough is perfectly proofed. If your dough doesn’t bounce back or the dent stays deep, your dough is overproved.

The finger test won’t tell you much during the first proof and is best used to check when you should bake your loaves on the second proof

If your dough is still cold from the fridge, realize that the dough will bounce back much slower and not quite as much as if it was at room temperature.

Look at the final product – Slice into your loaf and take a look at the crumb structure inside. If the bottom is very dense with tiny holes and the top has several very large holes or even a peak full of large holes in the center, then your dough was underproved. Just give it a little more time (1-2 hours at room temp. 12-24 in the fridge) or avoid using the fridge next time and see how it turns out. If your whole loaf is very flat, dense with tiny holes, and lacks big bubbles in the center, but possibly has big bubbles along the outside, your dough is overproved. It probably felt extremely sticky while shaping it or transferring it to your baking vessel. Reduce your proofing time (1-2 hours at room temp. 12-24 hrs in the fridge) or use the fridge for one of your proofs for the next loaves you bake and see how they turn out. It’s easier to adjust the proofing time for the first proof. Then you can use the finger poke test to see when your bread is ready to bake during the second proof. 

Note: A flat loaf could also be a sign of a lack of tension built up in the dough during the shaping stage. 

Note: Whether over or under proofed, your dough will still taste delicious. Some people even prefer their sourdough overproved because of the more intense flavor that develops.

---

Baking Vessels

Baking Vessels – Explaination

Baking Vessels

Begin preheating your oven and your pans to 475F 30-minutes before your bread finishes its final proof

You have several options when it comes to baking vessels for your bread

1. A Dutch oven or combo-cooker
   • These do a great job of trapping steam and giving your bread a little extra rise at the beginning of the bake while also retaining and radiating heat to your bread throughout the bake
   • This should preheat with the oven
2. A Pizza stone + large stainless steel bowl
   • Similar to the Dutch oven and combo-cooker, the stainless steel bowl helps trap steam and the pizza stone helps retain and radiate heat throughout the bake. This option is not quite as effective at trapping steam, and the lack of handles on the bowl can make it tricky to safely remove the bowl part of the way through the bake. If using this option, just be careful and use very thick towels or oven mitts.
   • These should preheat with the oven
3. A Pizza stone + traditional bread pan
   • This is one of the easiest options. Just place the bread pan on top of the preheated pizza stone to get more even heat while baking. Your loaf won’t rise quite as much without trapping steam, but the difference is fairly small
   • The pizza stone should preheat with the oven (the bread pan should have dough in it. So don’t preheat the bread pan)
4. Traditional bread pan
   • This is the easiest option. Simply place your bread pans directly into the oven when you are ready to bake.
   • Preheat only the oven. Do not preheat the bread pans (they should have dough in them)

---

Baking Your Bread

Prep Your Oven

Preheat your oven and baking vessels to 475F 30-minutes before you plan to bake

Scoring Your Loaf

You’ll learn what ‘Scoring’ is and how it helps your loaf to rise in the oven.

We’ll do this step together just before your loaves go into the oven. For now simply watch the video so you know what to expect

Baking Directions – Explained

Let’s review what the baking process is going to look like

Baking Your Bread

Equipment

• A sharp knife, razor blade, or lame
• Parchment paper
• Thick oven mitts or kitchen towels doubled over several times
• Cooling racks

Directions

1. Using a sharp knife or a razor blade, score a roughly 45 degree line 1/4″-1/2″ deep along the entire length of your loaf. Moving quickly tends to give you a cleaner cut, but you can always go back and clean up the scoring line if you are not happy with your first attempt.
2. Using very thick insulated oven mitts or kitchen towels doubled over multiple times, carefully transfer your loaves to your preheated oven and baking vessels.
   • If using a lidded vessel – Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake for an additional 20 minutes before checking the color of your bread.
   • If using a traditional bread pan – Bake for 35 minutes before checking the color of your bread.
3. When checking for ‘doneness’ you are looking for a dark brown or caramel color to your bread. If you would describe the color of your bread as ‘blond’ it is not yet done. Continue to bake your bread in 5-10 minute increments until you get a nice dark brown color on the outside (it’s remarkably hard to burn a loaf of sourdough)
4. Once you have achieved the desired color carefully remove your bread from the pan and place on a cooling rack or leaning against a plate or bowl to cool for 1 hour (you just want to ensure some airflow below the loaf). The residual heat of your loaf is still baking the inside of your bread during that hour. If you were to cut into your bread now you are likely to get a ‘gummy’ texture to your bread.
5. After allowing your bread to cool for 1 hour, dig right in!

---

Congratulations!

Now that you’ve completed this course you will be able to repeat this process again and again using our Easy One-Pager found below. If you ever need more detailed instructions you are welcome to come back and rewatch any videos you like

Materials: Advanced Sourdough Starter Cheat Sheet