Cooking & Baking

Sourdough Bread from Scratch

Meets Mondays · 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM · on Zoom 16 enrolled Free to audit

People treat sourdough like some mystic art, but it comes down to flour, water, salt, and time — and it's still harder than it sounds, in a way I've come to like.

This class is for anyone who has never kept a starter alive and wants a loaf they can make again next week and the week after. We'll build a starter from scratch, feed it on a schedule you'll actually keep, then mix, shape, and bake a basic sourdough. Everything's in grams. Bring a notebook.

We bake for our air, not a coastal blogger's. At about 4,600 feet with this dry weather, timelines lie, so I'll teach you to read the dough instead of the clock. You'll leave with a repeatable recipe and a starter that's yours.

What you'll learn

Build and maintain a healthy sourdough starter
Calculate hydration using baker's percentages
Read dough during bulk ferment instead of the clock
Shape, score, and bake with a Dutch oven
Troubleshoot gummy, dense, or flat loaves

Materials & tools

What to bring

Notebook and pen — for logging feed times, temps, and how the dough behaves ($2-5)
Digital kitchen scale that reads in grams, ideally to 1g — everything in this class is weighed, not measured in cups ($12-25)
Bread flour, unbleached, at least 2-3 lbs (King Arthur or similar) — higher protein than all-purpose for a stronger rise ($4-6)
Whole wheat or rye flour, a small bag — used to get the starter going ($4-6)
Two clear straight-sided jars or containers, ~16 oz each, with loose lids — one for the starter, one for feeding ($8-15)
Large mixing bowl, at least 4-quart, plus a bench/dough scraper ($8-15)
Rubber band or dry-erase marker — to mark starter level and track its rise ($1-3)

Nice to have

Banneton or proofing basket, 8-9 inch round, with a liner (a bowl lined with a floured towel also works) ($12-18)
Dutch oven, 5-6 quart, enameled or bare cast iron — traps steam for good oven spring ($40-80)
Bread lame or a fresh razor blade — for scoring the loaf before baking ($8-12)
Instant-read thermometer — to confirm the loaf hits ~205-210°F inside ($10-20)
Parchment paper — makes transferring dough into a hot Dutch oven much easier ($3-5)

Lessons

Gear and the numbers behind bread
The short list of tools that matter, why a scale beats cups, and how to read flour, salt, water, and baker's percentages.
Starting a starter from scratch
Mixing flour and water on day one and nursing it through the first week until it's alive and ready to bake with.
- Day one: flour, water, and a wide-mouth jar15 min
- The first week, day by day22 min
- When it goes pink or smells wrong18 min
- Warmth without a proofer: the oven-light trick16 min
- How to tell when it's ready to bake with20 min
Keeping your starter alive
Feeding schedules, counter versus fridge storage, using up discard, and reviving a starter you forgot about.
- Feeding ratios and a schedule that sticks20 min
- Counter jar vs. fridge storage15 min
- Discard pancakes and crackers22 min
- Reviving a starter you neglected18 min
Mixing and bulk fermentation
The first mix and autolyse, adjusting hydration for our dry air, stretch and folds, and reading the dough through bulk rise.
- Autolyse and the first mix20 min
- Adjusting hydration for our elevation and dry air22 min
- Stretch and folds by feel18 min
- Reading bulk ferment: dough, not the clock25 min
- Building a proofing box from a tote and heat mat20 min
Shaping and the overnight proof
Pre-shaping, final shaping into a tight round, choosing a vessel, and the cold proof that fits your schedule.
- Pre-shape and bench rest18 min
- Final shaping into a tight round22 min
- Bannetons, bowls, and whatever you've got15 min
- Cold proof overnight and why I like it18 min
Scoring and baking day
One clean slash for oven spring and baking in a Dutch oven or an improvised setup.
- Scoring for oven spring (one straight slash)18 min
- Baking with a Dutch oven or a bowl over a sheet pan22 min
Judging the loaf and fixing what went wrong
Reading crust and crumb to know when it's done, then troubleshooting gummy, dense, or flat results.
- Crust, crumb, and knowing when it's done20 min
- Troubleshooting: gummy, dense, or flat25 min

Key terms

Starter (levain): A living culture of flour and water colonized by wild yeast and bacteria that leavens the bread instead of commercial yeast.
Feeding (refreshing): Discarding part of the starter and stirring in fresh flour and water to keep the yeast active and healthy.
Hydration: The weight of water expressed as a percentage of the flour weight; higher hydration means a wetter, stickier dough.
Autolyse: A rest period where flour and water are mixed and left alone before adding salt, letting gluten begin forming on its own.
Bulk fermentation: The first long rise after mixing, when the whole batch of dough ferments and develops flavor and structure.
Stretch and fold: A gentle technique of pulling the dough up and folding it over itself during bulk fermentation to build strength without kneading.
Shaping and proofing: Forming the dough into its final loaf shape, then letting it rise a second time before baking.
Oven spring: The rapid rise a loaf gets in the first minutes of baking as trapped gases expand from the heat.
Scoring: Slashing the top of the loaf with a blade just before baking so it expands in a controlled way instead of tearing.
Crumb: The interior texture of the baked bread, described by the size and openness of its holes.