intermediate20 min read
Bake better bread
Once the process feels familiar, small refinements make the biggest difference. This guide collects the techniques that move a loaf from good to genuinely yours: shaping with tension, understanding hydration, choosing your flour on purpose, and knowing exactly what your folds are doing.
How do I shape and score with confidence?
Good shaping is about surface tension, not force. Fold the dough onto itself, then drag it gently toward you so the outer skin tightens like a drum. A well-shaped loaf holds its posture in the oven and rises up instead of out. If your loaves spread flat, tighten your shaping before you blame anything else.
Rest before working
A short flour-and-water rest can make the dough smoother before kneading or folding. I use it when I want the dough to feel easier to handle.
Fold with gentle hands
I stretch the dough until I feel resistance, then fold it over itself. I try not to tear it, because gentle folds can build strength beautifully.
Coil folds feel softer
Coil folds are useful when the dough feels delicate or quite wet. I lift from the middle and let the dough fold under itself.
Lamination spreads dough
Lamination helps me stretch the dough thinly and build structure. It is also useful when I want to add seeds, herbs or other inclusions evenly.
Pre-shape adds order
A pre-shape helps turn a loose mass of dough into something more organised. I use it as a gentle first step before the final shape.
Let it relax
After pre-shaping, I let the dough rest before final shaping. That short pause makes it easier to shape without fighting the dough.
Build surface tension
During final shaping, I try to create a smooth, slightly tight surface. That tension helps the loaf hold its shape and rise well in the oven.
Flour the basket well
A little extra flour in the proofing basket can save a lot of stress later. I pay special attention to the sides where dough likes to stick.
Score with confidence
A confident score gives the loaf a clear place to open. I aim for one clean cut rather than many hesitant ones.
Steam the first part
Steam helps the loaf expand before the crust sets. I focus on good steam early in the bake, then let the crust deepen later.
Cooling finishes bread
Bread keeps setting after it leaves the oven. I wait before slicing because the crumb usually improves as it cools.
Repeat one loaf
I learn more from repeating one simple loaf than jumping between many recipes. Repetition makes the dough easier to understand.
How does hydration change my bread?
Hydration is the weight of water compared to flour: 375g water on 500g flour is 75%. Wetter dough can give a more open crumb but is harder to handle; drier dough is calmer and more forgiving. Do not chase high hydration for the look. Master a moderate dough first, then add 2 to 3% water at a time.
Feel beats numbers
Hydration percentages are helpful, but I also pay attention to how the dough feels. The same number can behave differently with different flour or weather.
Hold back water
I often keep a little water aside when mixing a new recipe. If the dough feels strong enough, I add more later instead of committing all at once.
Wholegrain drinks more
Wholegrain flour usually absorbs more water than white flour. I expect those doughs to feel different and give them a little time before judging texture.
Rye feels sticky
Rye dough can feel sticky even when it is mixed well. I try not to fix it by adding too much extra flour, because that can make the loaf heavier.
Spelt needs gentleness
Spelt can feel soft and extensible compared with stronger bread flour. I handle it a little more gently and avoid forcing it to behave like white dough.
Use simple flour
I do not need special flour for every bake. A reliable basic bread flour can teach me a lot before I start experimenting with expensive blends.
Change one thing
When I test a new flour, I try to change only one part of the recipe. It makes it much easier to understand what changed in the dough.
Strength builds slowly
A dough can feel weak at first and become smoother after a few folds. I give it time before deciding that something has gone wrong.
Weather changes dough
On humid days, my dough can feel wetter than usual. In dry weather, the same recipe may need a little more water to feel comfortable.
Sticky is not failure
Sourdough often starts out stickier than regular bread dough. I try to use wet hands and patience before reaching for extra flour.
Rest helps hydrate
A short rest after mixing can make the dough feel smoother and less shaggy. I like letting the flour absorb the water before doing too much work.
Blend for balance
I like using mostly white flour with a smaller amount of wholegrain when I want both flavour and lift. It gives me a loaf that feels interesting but still manageable.
Can I use this flour?
Every flour question comes down to one number. Look at the nutrition label on the bag: grams of protein per 100g. 12g or more means it will build the gluten structure sourdough needs, whatever the bag calls it. Below that, the flour still works, just differently.
Can you use all-purpose flour for your starter?
Yes, without hesitation. Your starter is a living culture you feed, not a dough you knead, so it does not need the strong gluten network bread does. All-purpose flour, usually around 9 to 11g protein per 100g, keeps a starter fed and active for years. Save the higher-protein flour for the day you actually mix a dough.
Can you use all-purpose flour for sourdough bread?
You can bake with it, but expect a shorter, denser loaf. All-purpose flour sits below the 12g per 100g mark, so it cannot trap as much of the gas your starter produces, and the crumb stays tighter than an airy bakery loaf. It is still real bread and worth baking if it is what you have. Once you want the taller, more open crumb, look for a flour at 12g or more.
Can you use bleached flour for sourdough?
Check the same number: bleaching is a whitening treatment, not a protein change, so a bleached flour at 12g or more per 100g still builds structure. What bleaching can do is soften gluten slightly and, over many feeds, be a little less kind to the wild yeast and bacteria in a starter. Most sourdough bakers reach for unbleached flour for that reason, particularly for the starter jar, but a bleached bread flour will not stop your dough from rising.
Is plain flour the same as bread flour?
Not in the UK. Plain flour there is the everyday, lower-protein flour, closer to what other countries call all-purpose. For a sourdough loaf, look for a bag labelled strong flour, strong white bread flour, or very strong flour, and confirm it with the same rule: 12g or more protein per 100g on the label.
What is the best flour for your starter?
A plain, reliable white bread flour is the best everyday choice: nothing exotic, just a flour you can buy consistently, at 12g or more protein per 100g. Consistency matters more than any special property here, because a starter you feed the same way every time is easier to read. If your starter feels sluggish, a spoonful of wholemeal or rye in one feed gives it a real boost: both carry more of the wild yeast and bacteria a starter needs, and rye especially wakes up a slow one within a feed or two. Keep that as an occasional booster rather than your everyday flour, and your starter stays predictable.
No starter yet? We will walk you through growing one, one small step a day for ten days, and at the end you will have a starter ready to bake with.
Get the free 10-day starter kitSourdough flour around the world: what is your bread flour called?
Every country sells the flour sourdough wants under a different name, which is why this question comes up so often. In the US it is bread flour. In the UK it is strong white flour, or strong bread flour. In Spain it is harina de fuerza. In Germany it is Type 550, sometimes Type 812 for a slightly heartier loaf. In Italy, Manitoba flour is the closest match, often blended with a local Tipo 00 for the crumb to feel more Italian. Different name, same purpose everywhere: a higher-protein wheat flour built to trap gas and hold structure. Wherever you shop, the label settles it: 12g or more protein per 100g is the flour a sourdough loaf wants, whatever the bag calls it.
Can I make gluten free sourdough?
Not with these recipes. Everything in The Sourdough Planner is built on wheat and rye, and the schedules assume gluten developing over time. Gluten free sourdough is a real craft, but it's a different one: different flours, different structure, different timings. I'd rather tell you that than sell you a schedule that won't work.
Do you need a Dutch oven for sourdough?
No, not necessarily. What a Dutch oven actually gives you is steam: the lid traps the moisture baking out of the dough around the loaf for the first part of the bake, which keeps the crust soft enough to let the loaf keep expanding before it sets. Skip that steam entirely and the crust hardens too early, so the loaf cannot spring up as much and the crumb ends up a little tighter.
One honest note before the alternatives: the bake steps in this app are timed for a covered Dutch oven start. Bake without one and you are timing that part yourself, so lean on what you see (a deep golden crust, a hollow sound when you tap the base) rather than the clock.
How do you bake sourdough without a Dutch oven?
Three ways to get steam without a Dutch oven. A baking tray with a separate pan of hot water underneath is the cheapest route if you already own a tray: the water pan fills the oven with steam as it heats. A roasting pan or any large oven-safe pot with a tight lid does much the same job as a Dutch oven, just in a different shape. Or combine a cast iron skillet as your hot base with a large metal bowl or oven-safe glass bowl inverted over the top as an improvised lid. All three trap steam around the loaf; none of them need to be bought specially if you already have the pieces.
What size Dutch oven do you need for sourdough?
A single loaf from this app's Dutch-oven recipes comes out around 900g to 1 kg of dough once mixed. That calls for roughly 5 to 5.5 litres (5 to 6 quarts): enough headroom for the dough to spring upward without touching the lid, and a base wide enough that the loaf is not crammed edge to edge. Go much smaller and a tall loaf can catch the lid mid-bake; go much larger and a single loaf can spread thin and lose some of its shape. Our own recommended pick sits right in that range.
Round or oval Dutch oven for sourdough?
Round is the safer first buy. Most of the loaf recipes in this app are shaped as a round boule, so a round Dutch oven matches what you will actually be baking most often. An oval Dutch oven earns its place if you want to shape a longer batard: High Hydration Country Loaf offers that shape as an option, and an oval pot gives it more room to stretch out than a round one would. If you only own one Dutch oven, round covers more of what you will bake.
What is a stretch and fold, and how many do you need?
A stretch and fold is the simplest way to build strength in sourdough without kneading. Wet your hand, grab one side of the dough, stretch it upward, and fold it over itself; turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat until you have gone all the way round. A few sets during the first part of bulk fermentation is all it takes. The dough tells you far more than the clock does, and the questions below are the ones bakers ask most, with more forgiving answers than most people expect.
The clock says when to check. The dough says when it is done. Folding is one of the few sourdough steps you truly cannot get badly wrong, and these are the questions that come up most.
Can you do too many stretch and folds?
Not in any way that ruins a bake. One extra set, or a slightly more thorough one, will not hurt the dough. What actually matters is how the dough feels: once it resists your hand and holds its rounded shape between folds instead of slackening back down, it has had enough, whatever number a recipe printed.
How many stretch and folds should you do?
Most loaves in this app call for 3 or 4 sets, spaced about 30 minutes apart, early in bulk fermentation. Treat that as a guide, not a hard ceiling. Dough that still relaxes flat between folds can usually take another set; dough that holds its shape on its own is telling you it is ready to be left alone.
What happens if you skip a stretch and fold?
Missing one set rarely changes much. Strength builds gradually across the sets, so one missed fold just means slightly less structure built at that point, not a failed bake. Miss most of them and the crumb will be a little flatter and denser than it would have been, still real bread, just a different result. If timing is the issue, the app can remind you at each set so nothing gets missed by accident.
When do you stop folding?
Stop once the dough holds a rounded shape between folds and starts to resist stretching instead of spreading back down. That resistance is the gluten telling you it is strong enough. After the last set, most recipes ask you to leave the dough undisturbed for the rest of bulk fermentation, and that undisturbed stretch does as much work as the folding did.
See the technique in Everyday White Sourdough, Seeded sourdough loaf, Soft sandwich bread and Sourdough dinner rolls.
What is a coil fold?
A coil fold is a stretch and fold done gently: slide both wet hands under the middle of the dough, lift, and let the two ends fold under themselves as the dough coils back into the bowl. It is the version to reach for with wetter, more delicate dough, where a firmer stretch-and-fold grab would tear the surface instead of building it.
Like a stretch and fold, coil folds happen as folds during bulk fermentation: you will see them as individual cards during the actual bake, spaced through the first part of it, rather than written out as their own line on the recipe page.
Coil folds appear in Sourdough Focaccia, High hydration country loaf, Sourdough pizza dough, Rye blend loaf and Rustic wholemeal loaf.
What is autolyse, and how long should it be?
Autolyse is pronounced auto-lease, the stress on the first part rather than the last. It is simply a rest: mix just the flour and water together and let them sit before anything else joins, no starter, no salt yet. That quiet time lets the flour fully soak up the water and lets gluten start forming on its own, so the dough is easier to work with once the rest of the ingredients go in.
How long depends on the recipe. The loaves in this app rest anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes, most landing around 25 to 45. Higher hydration and wholegrain flours tend to want the longer end, because they take longer to fully soak through. Rye Blend Loaf is worth knowing as the exception: rye builds little gluten on its own, so it gets a short 20 to 25 minute rest instead of a true autolyse. Different flour, different need.
Autolyse or a flour-and-water rest opens Everyday white sourdough, High hydration country loaf, Rustic wholemeal loaf, Seeded sourdough loaf, Soft sandwich bread, Sourdough dinner rolls, Sourdough focaccia and Sourdough pizza dough.
Can you bake sourdough with no stretch and fold at all?
Yes. Seven recipes in this app skip folding completely: Banana Bread, Banana bread (no added sugar), Discard chocolate chip cookies, Discard crackers, Discard matcha white chocolate cookies, Discard pancakes and Poured sourdough discard crackers. They all use discard rather than an active starter, so there is no bulk fermentation to fold through: mix, rest briefly, and bake. If what is really holding you back is not the folding itself but whether you have time for any of it, that is a timing question, and your real question is timing, which is exactly what the planner works out for you.
Which salt should I use?
Salt is the most underrated ingredient in sourdough bread. It controls fermentation speed, develops gluten structure, and is the single biggest factor in whether a loaf tastes flat or full. Getting salt right matters more than the type you use, but the type does make a difference.
Why salt matters in sourdough
Salt does three things in bread dough. It slows fermentation by moderating yeast activity, which gives you more control over timing. It strengthens gluten by tightening the protein network, producing a more structured dough that holds its shape. And it suppresses the growth of unwanted bacteria, keeping the flavour clean. A loaf without salt ferments too fast, produces a slack, sticky dough, and tastes flat, even if the starter is excellent and the technique is perfect. Always use 2% salt by flour weight. For a 500g flour recipe, that is 10g of salt. This is the most consistent ratio in sourdough baking and the one used in every recipe in this app.
Which type of salt for the dough?
The most important property for in-dough salt is that it dissolves quickly and evenly. Fine grain salt does this better than coarse salt, which can leave uneven salty pockets if not fully worked in. Any salt works here, including ordinary iodised table salt: the amount in a loaf is far too small to affect the yeast or the starter. Fine sea salt is simply the most practical and widely available option: clean, no additives, and easy to dissolve evenly into a wet dough. Pink Himalayan salt (fine grain) is a clean, additive-free alternative with 80+ trace minerals: hand-mined in Pakistan, dissolves well into wet dough. Celtic sea salt (fine ground) is hand-harvested from Breton salt marshes in France, unrefined, with 70+ trace minerals and a subtly more complex flavour; many serious bakers consider it the best option for sourdough, but availability varies across Europe. Kosher salt is popular in North American baking for its larger flakes and clean flavour, but the flake size means it takes longer to dissolve, so add it early in the mix. In practice, any fine salt produces excellent bread. Start with whatever clean fine salt you can find consistently, and upgrade later if you want to explore flavour nuance.
Salt as a topping
Finishing salt on bread serves a completely different purpose from in-dough salt. It adds texture, visual appeal, and a burst of salinity at the moment of eating. Flaky sea salt is the standard for bread toppings. Maldon (English), fleur de sel (French), and similar flaky salts dissolve on the tongue differently from fine salt: they give a distinct crunch and a clean, bright flavour that is particularly good on focaccia. Scatter flaky salt generously over focaccia just before baking, pressing it into the dimples with the olive oil. On sourdough loaves, a pinch over the score line before baking adds a visual and flavour finish to the crust. Do not use fine salt as a topping. It dissolves into the surface and produces an unevenly salty crust rather than defined flakes.
Fleur de sel vs Maldon
Both are premium finishing salts worth knowing. Fleur de sel is hand-harvested from the surface of salt ponds in France, particularly Guérande and the Camargue. It has a moist, slightly grey tint and a mineral, complex flavour: the gold standard for French fine dining. Maldon is British, harvested in Essex, and produces distinctive thin pyramid-shaped flakes. Lighter and crisper than fleur de sel, it is the most widely available premium flaky salt in Europe and the easiest to find on Amazon. For bread topping, Maldon is the practical choice. For a finishing touch on something you really want to show off (a good focaccia, a slice of butter bread), fleur de sel is the upgrade.
Salt quick reference
In the dough: fine sea salt, Himalayan, or Celtic fine ground. Dissolves evenly. Focaccia topping: Maldon flaky sea salt. Crunch, visual, flavour burst. Loaf crust finish: Maldon or fleur de sel. Defined flakes, bright flavour. Starter feeding: any fine salt, dissolved first. To avoid: coarse or flaky salt in the dough. It dissolves too slowly and leaves salty pockets.
Vanilla powder or vanilla extract?
Vanilla extract is the default in most recipes. Vanilla powder holds its flavour through the bake, and most bakers have never tried it.
What vanilla powder actually is
Pure vanilla powder is simply dried, ground vanilla beans. Nothing else. The pod is dried completely and milled into a fine powder that carries the full spectrum of vanilla flavour compounds, including the ones that evaporate during baking when you use liquid extract. This is not the same as vanilla sugar, which is vanilla-infused sugar. Many products labelled "vanilla powder" are actually vanilla-flavoured maltodextrin, dextrose, or finely ground sugar. Read the ingredient list before buying. A real vanilla powder has one ingredient: vanilla bean or vanilla bean extractives.
Why vanilla powder performs better in baking
Vanilla extract is alcohol-based. When you bake at 175–200°C (155–180°C fan) / 350–400°F, much of that alcohol evaporates and takes some of the volatile flavour compounds with it. The vanilla flavour you end up with in the finished bake is a fraction of what you added. Vanilla powder does not evaporate. The flavour compounds are bound in the dry matter of the bean and survive the full bake. The result is a more intense, more rounded vanilla presence in the finished product. A second advantage: vanilla powder adds no liquid to the recipe. For recipes where moisture balance is critical, like macarons, meringues, or dry spice mixes, this is a meaningful benefit. It also keeps white cakes and icings white, since liquid extract has a brown tint.
How to substitute vanilla powder for vanilla extract
Pure ground vanilla bean powder is significantly more concentrated than extract. Use half the amount: 1 tsp vanilla extract = ½ tsp pure vanilla bean powder. 1 tbsp vanilla extract = 1½ tsp pure vanilla bean powder. If using a vanilla powder made with a sugar base (like Cook's Organic Vanilla Powder), use 1:1 as the sugar base dilutes the concentration. Check the product's own guidance as concentration varies between brands.
Vanilla powder vs vanilla aroma (synthetic vanilla)
Vanilla aroma, vanillin flavouring, or imitation vanilla is a synthetic compound that mimics one of vanilla's flavour molecules. It is inexpensive and widely used in commercial baking. The difference in quality is real and noticeable, especially in simple recipes where vanilla is a lead flavour (banana bread, cookies, vanilla cake). In complex recipes with many flavour layers (chocolate cake, spiced breads) the difference is smaller. For our discard recipes where vanilla is a key flavour note alongside banana, organic vanilla powder or high-quality extract will produce a noticeably better result than imitation vanilla aroma. The banana bread recipe is a good place to experience this difference directly.
Recommended
Organic vanilla powder from Madagascar-grown Bourbon beans is the quality standard. Look for products with "organic certified" labelling and a single ingredient: vanilla bean or vanilla bean extractives. Available widely across Europe on Amazon and in health food stores. Shelf life is excellent: 2–3 years stored in a cool, dry place, significantly longer than liquid extract which can lose potency after opening.
Vanilla quick reference
Vanilla Extract: alcohol-extracted bean, contains alcohol, partially bake-stable, brown tint, medium intensity, medium price. Best for general baking. Vanilla Powder (pure): ground dried bean, no alcohol, bake-stable, cream/beige colour, high intensity, higher price. Best for sensitive recipes and a premium result. Vanilla Aroma: synthetic vanillin, no alcohol, bake-stable, clear, medium intensity, low price. Best for budget baking.
Baking steel or pizza stone?
Both a baking steel and a pizza stone do the same job: they store heat and transfer it rapidly to the base of your bread or pizza the moment it lands on them. That burst of bottom heat is what gives sourdough its oven spring and pizza its crisp base. A cold baking tray cannot do this. Your oven floor can, but most home ovens do not allow you to bake directly on it.
The short answer
A baking steel performs better in almost every measurable way. A pizza stone is cheaper and still significantly better than nothing.
How they differ
Steel conducts heat roughly 18 times faster than ceramic. When your pizza or loaf lands on a preheated steel, the base hits a wall of transferring heat immediately. The result is a faster, more dramatic oven spring for bread and a crispier, more evenly cooked base for pizza. Stone heats more slowly and transfers heat more gently. For pizza this means a slightly softer base. For bread baked in a Dutch oven it makes almost no difference, because the Dutch oven is doing most of the thermal work. Stone is also more fragile: thermal shock from placing something cold on a very hot stone can crack it. A wet dough, a cold piece of frozen pizza, or a drop of water on a preheated stone is enough. Steel does not crack. Stone is cheaper: a decent pizza stone costs €20–35, while a quality baking steel costs €80–120.
Which is better for sourdough bread?
If you bake your sourdough in a Dutch oven (the method we recommend), the baking surface underneath barely matters. The Dutch oven creates its own steam environment and the cast iron base provides the bottom heat. In this case a baking stone, a baking steel, or even a heavy baking tray all give nearly identical results. If you bake without a Dutch oven, a baking steel makes a meaningful difference. The faster heat transfer gives more oven spring in the first few minutes of baking when the crust is still soft and expansion is possible.
Which is better for pizza?
A baking steel is the clear winner for home pizza. At a home oven's maximum (250–280°C / 480–535°F), steel transfers enough heat to cook the base in 6–8 minutes while the toppings finish under the grill. Stone at the same temperature takes longer and produces a softer base. For focaccia baked in an oiled tray, neither steel nor stone makes a significant difference: the tray itself provides the bottom heat.
What if I already have a heavy baking tray?
Preheat a heavy baking tray upside down for 60 minutes at maximum temperature. It will not perform as well as steel or stone but it is meaningfully better than a cold tray and costs nothing extra. This is a perfectly valid approach for occasional bakers.
Our recommendation
If you bake sourdough bread regularly using a Dutch oven: save your money. A good Dutch oven is more important than what goes underneath it. If you make pizza at home more than once a month: a baking steel is worth the investment. It will outlast any stone and the results are noticeably better. If you want one surface that does both reasonably well: a baking steel at 6–10mm thickness is the most versatile choice for a home baker who makes both bread and pizza.
Quick comparison
Heat transfer: steel very fast, stone moderate. Crack risk: steel none, stone can crack from thermal shock. Best for pizza: steel, with stone a good second. Best for bread without Dutch oven: steel, with stone a good second. Best for bread with Dutch oven: both make little difference. Price: steel €80–120, stone €20–35. Lifespan: steel decades, stone 2–5 years with care.