Sourdough looks intimidating from the outside but most of the work is waiting. The dough does the heavy lifting while you go about your day. This is the loaf I make every other week: a crackly crust, an open crumb, and a mild tang. Once you have it down the same dough turns into focaccia or pizza with almost no extra effort.

A finished sourdough loaf on a cooling rack, crust scored and deeply browned

Good to know

This recipe assumes you already keep a sourdough starter that rises and falls on a predictable schedule. Amounts use baker's percentages: flour is 100 percent and everything else is measured against it. This dough is 75 percent hydration (water to flour), which is forgiving to handle but still bakes up airy. Use the 1× / 2× buttons to scale the batch when you want two loaves.

My own starter is fairly neglected. I feed it about once a week and it still bakes fine. Here's a short video of how I maintain it.

Feed the starter the day before

A jar of bubbly, risen sourdough leaven with a rubber band marking its starting level

The morning before you want to bake take your starter out of the fridge and let it warm up for an hour or so. Feed it an equal weight of lukewarm water and flour: for 100 g of starter, add 100 g water and 100 g of flour. Make sure to use a large container so it has room to expand. Set a lid on loosely and leave it somewhere cool. By the afternoon it should look puffy and full of bubbles. This fed, ripe starter is your leaven.

Tip

Not sure it's ready? A nice test is to drop a spoonful into a glass of water. If it floats, it's good to go. If it sinks, give it another 30 minutes and test again. A ripe leaven smells sweet and a little fruity rather than a sharp sour.

Autolyse the flour and water

Flour and water being mixed by hand in a metal bowl

Shaggy dough after mixing, ready to rest

Pour 350 g of lukewarm water into a large bowl and add both flours. Mix by hand until no dry flour is left. It will be shaggy and sticky and that's fine. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 25 to 40 minutes. Leave the leaven out of this step. It goes in next.

Good to know

This rest is called the autolyse. The flour drinks up the water and gluten starts to form on its own, before the leaven ever touches the dough. That gives you a smoother dough with less work later so folding during the bulk rise goes easier. Don't skip it.

Tip

I like to experiment with the flour here, especially swapping the whole wheat for a mix of different varieties I find at the store. Keeping that non-white portion to the last 10 to 20 percent is a good place to start. As you get more comfortable, play with the hydration too. That's what makes baking fun: every loaf is a chance to iterate and learn.

Mix in the leaven

The leaven squeezed and folded into the shaggy dough

Add 100 g of leaven and squeeze and fold until it's fully worked into the dough. Let it rest again for 25 to 30 minutes.

Tip

Before it goes in, spoon a little leaven into a clean jar and keep it as the starter for your next batch. I put that jar straight into the fridge.

Add the salt and start the first rise

Add the salt and the last 25 g of water. Squeeze and fold the dough until it comes back together and feels smooth. I use a metal bowl with a towel over the top to keep it from drying out. Now let it rest. This first rise is called the bulk fermentation and it usually takes 3 to 4 hours.

Good to know

Temperature drives the timing. The dough is happiest between 78 and 82°F (26–28°C). If your kitchen runs cold, use warmer mixing water or tuck the container somewhere cozy, like an oven (turned off) with a pot of hot water beside it. Cooler dough just takes longer.

Fold the dough as it rises

Smooth dough in a metal bowl after a set of stretches and folds

Bubbly, risen dough near the end of the first rise

Instead of kneading, you build strength with a few gentle folds during the first rise. Wet one hand, grab the underside of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it back over itself. Turn the bowl and repeat two or three times. Do this every 30 minutes for the first couple of hours. You'll know the dough is ready to move on when it feels lighter and softer, has grown by 20 to 30 percent, and shows bubbles along the sides of the container.

Tip

Ease off toward the end of the rise. In the last hour, handle the dough gently so you don't press out the gas it has worked to build.

Shape a loose round

A rounded piece of dough resting on the counter after preshaping

Tip the dough onto a clean, unfloured nonstick mat. Use a silicone spatula to scrape the edges out of the bowl for a clean release. If you're making two loaves split the dough into two equal pieces now with a dough cutter. Dust the top lightly with flour and flip it so the floured side is down.

Lightly flour your hands, especially the pinky edge. Using that edge, push into the edges of the dough and fold them into the center. After a few passes it starts to form a round ball and you can drag it in small circles against the mat to build tension in the gluten. Keep the smooth, floured side on the outside and the seam tucked underneath. When the surface feels taut, let it rest right there for 20 to 30 minutes. This first shaping is just a warm-up that some call the bench rest. The pause afterward lets the gluten relax so the final shaping goes smoothly.

Tip

If the round spreads out flat instead of holding its dome, shape it again and give it another short rest.

Shape the final loaf

Two shaped loaves resting in floured, towel-lined bowls

First get the basket ready so it's waiting when the loaf is shaped: dust a towel-lined bowl or proofing basket generously with flour.

Now flour the top of the round again and flip it floured-side down. Gently pull one side out flat and fold it back over in a few overlapping folds. Roll the dough so the seam is sealed underneath and the smooth side faces up. Then cup your hands around it and pull it toward you a few times to tighten the skin. Transfer the loaf to the basket seam-side up.

Watch out

Pull gently. If the dough tears, it needs more rest. Reshape it into a round, let it sit another 15 to 20 minutes, and try the final shaping again.

Give it a final rise

The shaped loaf placed seam-side up in a floured proofing basket

Now the loaf proofs one last time. You have two options: leave it at room temperature (75–80°F / 24–27°C) for 3 to 4 hours and bake the same day, or slide it into the fridge for up to 12 hours.

Tip

I almost always go with the overnight fridge rise. I finish the final shaping in the evening and bake the next morning. The slower, cold ferment builds more flavor and makes the chilled dough easier to score right before it goes in the oven.

Bake in a Dutch oven

The baked sourdough loaf cooling on a rack, crust deeply caramelized

About 20 minutes before baking put a Dutch oven with its lid on inside your oven and preheat to 500°F (260°C). While it heats up, get your scoring knife out. You have two ways to load the loaf: tip it straight into the hot pot and score it there, or score it on a piece of wax paper first and lower it in with the paper. Either way, dust the loaf with flour before it goes in. Score the top with a razor blade or sharp knife, cover, and return the pot to the oven. Watch your hands on the hot edges.

The lid is the trick here. It traps the steam coming off the dough and that keeps the crust soft just long enough for the loaf to spring up fully before it sets. That's what gives you the dramatic rise and the crackly shell.

Tip

Home ovens run hot or cold. A reliable oven thermometer left inside lets you check the real temperature instead of trusting the dial.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Then take the lid off and bake another 20 to 25 minutes until the crust is deep brown. Cool it completely on a rack before slicing so the bottom sets too. A few signs of a good bake: the crust crackling as it settles, small blisters across the surface, and a raised ear where your score opened up.

Watch out

Slicing a warm loaf gives you a gummy crumb so wait until it's fully cool before cutting in.

Two ways to use the same dough

Once the basic dough is second nature it becomes a base for more than one loaf. Here are two of my favorites. Sometimes I double the batch and use the second portion for one of these.

Focaccia

Let a portion of dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes (if it came from the fridge, let it warm up first). Oil a rimmed baking sheet generously and stretch the dough toward the edges. Rest it briefly whenever it fights back. Dimple the surface and scatter over olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and fresh herbs like thyme or rosemary. Kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, and crumbled feta are all worth trying. Bake at 500°F (260°C) for about 20 minutes and rotate the pan halfway. It's done when it's golden and the garlic has caramelized.

Pizza

Divide off a 400 g piece, shape it into a round, and let it rest 30 minutes. Preheat the oven as hot as it goes, around 500°F (260°C). Dust a baking tray with semolina. Then stretch the dough right on the tray from the center outward and let gravity thin it as you rotate. Bake 8 to 12 minutes until the bottom is set with a few char marks. Add toppings after it comes out or keep it simple with marinara sauce, mozzarella, and basil.

Thanks for reading. If you bake this or spin the dough into something of your own, I'd love to see it. Message me on Instagram: @andrewtpham or get in touch.