Dough Temping for PERFECT Sourdough Fermentation

By Tom Cucuzza, The Sourdough Journey © May 2024

What is “Dough Temping?”

“Dough Temping” simply means taking the temperature of your dough during bulk fermentation.  

Why is it important?

Bulk fermentation is one of the most challening aspects of sourdough baking.  Perfectly fermented dough is the key to a tall, open, airy crumb.  Bulk fermentation is the most important step in sourdough baking and it produces 80%, or more, of what you see in the final outcome of the loaf. 

However, bulk fermentation is incredibly challenging because the fermentation process is temperature dependent.  Warm dough ferments much faster than cool dough, so sourdough bakers need to be aware of their dough temperature at all times. 

Perfecting Bulk Fermentation

Sourdough baking is challenging for beginners because it requires experience to learn when the dough is fully fermented.  Most popular recipes and guides don’t offer much help in learning this skill.  The most common guidance is: 

• “Let your dough double in size at room temperature,” or
• “Learn to read the dough.”

This is some of the worst guidance in the history of baking instruction. 

The Two-Factor Method – Measuring Temperature and Percentage Rise

After years of research and hundreds of experiments, I’ve developed a new method for beginners (and experiened bakers) to easily determine when bulk fermentation is finished — by measuring the dough temperature and the percentage rise in the dough. 

I first described this method in the article, “The Mystery of Percentage Rise in Bulk Fermentation,” when I published this popular chart:

How does it work?

The method is quite simple.  You should measure the percentage rise in your dough during bulk fermentation, and your dough temperature.  Warm fermenting dough needs to be cut off earlier than cool fermenting dough.  

The method allows you to ignore the clock and simply measure the temperature and percentage rise. 

For example, dough fermenting at 80F/27C should be cut off at about a 30% rise, and dough fermenting at 70F/21C should be cut off at a 75% rise.  These cutoffs assume a cold retard / final proof in the refrigerator.  

The reason you need to cut off the rise of warm dough earlier than cool dough is because warm dough keep fermenting in the refrigerator.  When fermenting warm dough, you need to hit the brakes earlier than with cooler dough.