Baking

There are two typical methods of baking sourdough bread: 

1. In a Dutch oven
2. Open bake on a steel/stone with steam

Dutch Oven – When baking sourdough bread in a Dutch oven, you are trapping steam inside the Dutch oven which helps create the signature thick crust of the loaf. 

Open Bake – When using the “open bake” method, the loaves are typically baked on a pizza stone or a baking steel. However, with this method, steam must be added to the oven.  See additional FAQs for answers on how to add steam. 

I typically use the Dutch oven method.  The most common method is: 

1. Preheat Dutch oven in the oven with the lid off at 500F/260C.  Many bakers will continue preheating for 10-20 minutes after the oven reaches target temperature to ensure the Dutch oven is at its hottest. 
2. Lower the loaf into the Dutch oven using a sling made of parchment or silicone. 
3. Cover the Dutch oven and reduce the heat to 450F/230C.   Bake for 20 minutes covered. 
4. Remove the lid and continue baking for another 20 minutes, or until the crust is sufficiently browned. 
5. Remove the loaf from the oven and let it cool for 60-90 minutes before cutting. 

There are many modifications and alternatives to this “standard” method.  They are discussed in this FAQ section.  

Many Dutch oven manufacturers recommend not preheating them empty because they cannot predict what you will do next.  If you preheat a Dutch oven empty and then pour cold water into it, the thermal shock can damage or destroy the Dutch oven.  If you’ve ever poured cold water into a preheated glass baking dish you’ve likely seen thermal shock in action. 

Ther is very little risk of thermal shock to your Dutch oven by dropping a loaf of sourdough into a preheated Dutch oven (especially if you are using parchment paper under the loaf).  Always be aware that there is some risk when deviating from manufacturers’ recommendations.  But in my experience, I’ve never heard of anyone damaging a Dutch oven this way.  

Your Dutch oven will really undergo some wear and tear when using it for bread baking at high temperatures.  Baking at very high temperatures can cause the interior enamel coating to crack and/or separate on lower quality Dutch ovens.  I use many different Dutch ovens for bread baking.  My inexpensive enamel-coated Dutch oven is showing cracks in the enamel coating.  My more expensive enameled Dutch oven is not. 

Consider purchasing a Dutch oven just for bread baking which can withstand the high temperatures (e.g., preheating at 500F/260C+). 

See the Dutch oven buying guides below. 

Probably.  Most Dutch ovens with plastic handles are not rated for 500F/260C baking temperatures.  You can purchase heat resistant metal (e.g., stainless steel) handles to replace the plastic handle on top of your Dutch oven. 

The best size Dutch oven depends on the shape and size of your loaves.  In general, you to err on the side of a larger versus a smaller Dutch oven.  When you place your dough in the Dutch oven, you should have ample space between the loaf and the sides of the Dutch oven.  Many beginners make the mistake of thinking that a Dutch oven needs to snugly fit the size of the loaf to hold the shape of the loaf.  A well-shaped loaf should hold its shape in the center of a Dutch oven without touching the sides.

If you are baking 500g flour-weight boules (950g dough weight) a 6-quart/6-liter round Dutch oven is a good size. 

If you are baking 500g flour-weight batards (950g dough weight) a 7-quart/7-liter Dutch oven is a good size.

A 5-quart/5-liter round Dutch oven is really the smallest you would want to use for 500g flour-weight (950g dough weight) baking.

Important Note: The size of your Dutch oven, relative to the size of your loaf, can impact the ovenspring of your loaf. If your dough is crowded in your Dutch oven and does not have adequate airspace between the dough and the walls of the Dutch oven, the crust will cook too quickly and impede ovenspring.  The radiant heat from the walls of the Dutch oven is quite a bit hotter than the “air” temperature in the center of the Dutch oven.  If you are having this problem, don’t run out and buy a new Dutch oven, first try reducing your pre-heating and baking temperature. 

No.  If you have done a cold retard of your dough, take it directly from the refrigerator, quickly score it, and place the cold loaf into the Dutch oven.  This often produces the best ovenspring, and the loaf is easier to score when it is cold. 

If you are baking your loaves in a Dutch oven, you do not need to use convection/fan.  Convection fans move heat around the inside of the oven to produce more consistent temperatures throughout the oven.  The heat distribution inside the Dutch oven is not impacted by the air movement in the oven (at least until you remove the lid).  

If you are doing open baking on a steel or stone, your loaves may benefit from the convection/fan setting. 

Every oven is different and there is not a consensus on using convection baking for bread among sourdough bakers.  I suggest experimenting with your settings and see what is best for your oven and your baking style. 

210F/99C is the target temperature for a sourdough loaf.  However, your loaf will hit that temperature about 10 minutes before it is fully baked.  Baking bread is not like baking a turkey.  You cannot go by the internal temperature to determine when it is done.  But you can test the internal temperature when you believe it may be done (based on the exterior color) to ensure it is baked inside.

When taking the internal temperature of your dough, use a kitchen probe thermometer.  You will find that sometimes the temperature will “stall” at 208F/98C and will not get any higher.  Watch the outside crust color of your loaf.  If it is dark and starting to burn, then 208F/98C is sufficient.  There may be minor inaccuracies in your thermometer. 

If you are baking at 450F/232C, the internal dough temperature will always hit 208F/99C before the exterior of the loaf is baked. So, most bakers judge the endpoint of their baking based on the color of the crust. When the crust is fully browned it is extremely unlikely for the inside of the loaf to be under temperature or underbaked.  

The loaf surface temperature needs to be about 300F/150C for the crust to start browning (i.e., the Malliard Reaction).  It is nearly impossible for the interior of the loaf to remain below 208F/99C when the surface temp is that hot.  

Many bakers also do the “tap test.  Bakers will tap on the bottom of the loaf and listen for a hollow sound.  What bakers don’t tell you is they are also assessing the weight of the loaf in their hand when they lift it to do the “tap test.”  So, the “tap test” is really more of a test of sound and weight.  If the loaf feels heavy, it needs more baking time to steam off some of the internal moisture.  If it doesn’t sound hollow, it needs more baking time.  But more likely, it is a combination of both.  This takes some practice, but you’ll get a feel for fairly quickly.  

Yeast will generally die when the dough temperature reaches 130F/54C.   During the first 10-15 minutes of baking, the yeast will reactivate as the dough warms up and will continue fermenting and creating carbon dioxide in the loaf.  Many bakers forget that this is the last stage of fermentation.  

Once the dough temperature reaches 130F/54C, the yeast and lactic acid bacteria die off and stop consuming sugars.  The dough continues creating sugars and when the dough surface temperature reaches 285F/140C, this begins the Maillard Reaction which creates the browning of the crust. 

The “Maillard Reaction” occurs at 285F/140C.  This is the process that browns the crust as sugars and proteins reach that temperature.  This process continues until the surface temperature reaches about 340F/171C when the loaf can start to char or burn. 

The steam environment in a Dutch oven with the lid on helps delay the Maillard reaction and allows the loaf to fully spring before the crust begins setting up.  

If your loaves are not achieving full ovenspring it can be due to preheating your Dutch oven too hot.  This shortens the time available for the loaf to spring and prematurely sets up the crust which impedes ovenspring. 

Put a piece of foil on top of the loaf. It will keep it from burning.

You can also spritz the entire surface of the loaf with water.  That will slow down the browning and give the loaf more time to bake internally.

This is a common problem.  Put a separate oven rack below the rack your Dutch oven is sitting on.  Put a baking sheet (upside down) on the rack below the Dutch oven. This creates a heat deflection shield between the bottom of your oven and the bottom of the Dutch oven.  This technique works for most bakers. 

There has been a recent trend to preheat the oven to 500F/260C then when loading the loaf in the oven, turn the oven completely off for the first 20 minutes to get best ovenspring. 

This is a controversial method because it depends on so many individual factors for each baker, in particular, the heat retention of each individual oven and Dutch oven.  

The science behind this approach is sound. If the crust of your loaf sets up too quickly, it can impede ovenspring.  However, the technique is highly variable based on each baker’s oven, baking vessels, etc.  Stay tuned for more research on this topic.  I will be creating a new video shortly.  

A typical 500g flour-weight loaf (900-1,000g total dough weight) bakes for about 40 minutes.  A 250g flour-weight (400-500g total weight) loaf will bake in about 30 minutes.  I usually bake all loaves in a Dutch oven with the lid on for 20 minutes (regardless of loaf size), then remove the lid and bake for the remaining time required for the crust to sufficiently brown.  With large loaves the remaining time is about 20 more minutes.  With small loaves it is 10-15 minutes.  Keep baking until the loaf reaches the desired crust color. It is uncommon to underbake the inside of the loaf if the crust is burning.  

Most recipes recommend cooling your dough for 90 minutes before cutting.  The dough is still “cooking” as the loaf cools down.  After about 1 hour, the dough is usually below 100F/38C, so there is probably not much “cooking” going on at that temperature, but the crumb is still setting up.  You can get a gummy crumb by cutting it too early. 

Sometimes you cannot resist the temptation of eating warm bread.  However, the loaf is still cooking when it comes out of the oven. It takes about 1 hour for the internal dough temperature to drop to 100F/38C.  Even after that point, the loaf benefits from cooling to room temperature because it allows the starches to “set up” in the crumb. Cutting into a loaf while it is hot will typically result in a gummy crumb.  

A cooling rack is recommended but not essential.

If you cool your loaf on your countertop or on a cutting board you will get some condensation building up on the bottom of the loaf which can cause a soggy bottom.  But in some cases, if you prefer a softer bottom crust, try cooling your loaf on a cutting board.  The accumulated condensation will slightly soften the bottom crust.  

High-hydration loaves can have this issue of being dense, heavy and/or wet.  After your loaf has fully baked, remove the loaf from your Dutch oven and place it back in the oven directly on a baking rack and let it continue to “cure” as the oven cools down.  (If the crust starts burning, slightly open the oven door).  This extra heating of the loaf will produce a crisper crust and will continue to dry out some of the moisture in the loaf. 

Yes!  Bake your loaf approximately 75-80% of the typical total time.  For example, if a loaf normally bakes for 40 minutes, try baking it for 30-32 minutes.  The crust will typically not be fully browned yet, and the internal temperature should be at least 208F/98C.  

Let the loaf fully cool, then seal it airtight in a plastic bag and freeze it. 

When you are ready to bake it, place it in the oven at 450F/230C for about 15 minutes until the crust sufficiently browns.  You can bake it directly from the freezer, or you can bring it up to room temperature.  

Check out the video below, “The Secrets of Ovenspring and Baking Temperature” for a great series of experiments on this topic.  

This video is a six-loaf experiment and is the result of over three months of detailed experimentation on baking temperatures and ovenspring.  This is the most detailed video on this topic.  

The “cold start” or “cold bake” method was popularized by Elaine Boddy.  The method involves loading cold dough into a cold Dutch oven and loading it into a cold oven with no preheating.   Then, turn up the oven to 450F/232C and bake for 55 minutes with the lid on and 5-10 minutes with the lid off.  

A few considerations: 

1. Different baking vessels will come up to oven temperature at different speeds.  For example, a steel roasting pan will reach the oven temperature much more quickly than a heavy cast iron Dutch oven.  
2. With a slow ramp up of the oven and Dutch oven temperature, the loaf starts fermenting again and you may get about 15 minutes of extra proofing/fermentation before the yeast hits the die-off temperature of 130F/54C, as compared to a standard bake in a preheated Dutch oven.  I don’t believe this additional proofing makes a material difference in the outcome of the loaf, but it is something to be aware of when you use this method. 
3. Baking for 55 minutes with the lid on seems like a long time, but it works and is essential to give the loaf sufficient time to fully spring. 
4. The final baking time of 5-10 minutes with the lid off seems short.  The loaf will brown very quickly when you remove the lid.  Because the loaf has been baking for 55 minutes prior to removing the lid, the loaf starts to dry out (even with the lid on), and when the hot air hits the dry surface of the loaf it will brown very quickly.  I’ve burned a few loaves by baking for the full 10 minutes with the lid off.  Watch your loaves carefully during the final step. 

Does the cold start method save electricity? 

It depends.  In my experience, I only preheat my Dutch oven for 25 minutes and bake my loaves for about 35 minutes, so the total elapsed oven time is the same in my standard method and the cold start method.  

For those who preheat their Dutch oven for one hour (which I believe is unnecessary), you would substantially reduce your total oven time using the cold start method.  Obviously, if you bake a second loaf in succession, you are not using the cold start method on the second loaf, so it is also an inconsistent process to employ for successive bakes.  

Some bakers have had inconsistent results using this method.  Everyone’s ovens and Dutch ovens are different so it requires some trial and error in your specific environment.  It is not a fool-proof method, but I’ve had success with it.  

It depends.  Check out the video below, “The Secrets of Ovenspring and Baking Temperature.”  I do a number of experiments with different preheating methods in that video. 

A few details to be aware of: 

1. If a recipe suggests preheating your Dutch oven in the oven until the oven reaches the target temperature (e.g., 500F/260C), the Dutch oven temperature may only be 400F/204C.  This is not a problem if that is intended in the recipe (which it typically is).  
2. If a recipe suggests preheating your Dutch oven in the oven for one hour, the oven temperature and the Dutch oven temperature will be at 500F/260C.  So, your intitial baking temperature in this scenario is much hotter than in Scenario #1.  Your loaf only knows the temperature inside the Dutch oven, not the oven temperature. 

My oven and Dutch oven fully heat to 500F/260C in about 45 minutes.  The extra 15 minutes of preheating are not required in my oven.  I test the Dutch oven wall temperature with an infrared thermometer.  You can find one on the Products page.

This question is impossible to answer because there are different temperatures to consider.  The most important temperature to consider is the temperature inside your Dutch oven.  This may be different than your oven setting or your oven temperature.  Measure the temperature of your Dutch oven walls with an infrared thermometer for the best indicator of your loaf’s true baking temperature.  

In my experience, I’ve had the best success with a Dutch oven wall temperature of approximately 425-450F / 218-232C. 

Check out the video below, “The Secrets of Ovenspring and Baking Temperature” for a great series of experiments on this topic.  

No.  There is a limit.  If your oven and/or Dutch oven get too hot, this can impede ovenspring by setting up the crust of the loaf before the loaf has time to fully spring.  

Check out the video below, “The Secrets of Ovenspring and Baking Temperature” for a great series of experiments on this topic.   Loaf #6 in the experiment shows the impact of baking at too high of a temperature. 

Good parchment paper should not stick to the bottom of your baked loaf.  If your parchment is sticking, try upgrading to a higher quality parchment paper. 

Many bakers also dust the bottom of their loaves with rice flour, semolina or corn meal to prevent the loaves from sticking.  I prefer rice flour because it does not add additional flavor to the loaf. 

Half-sized loaves (e.g., 250g flour-weight), only take about five minutes less baking time than full sized loaves.  

I recommend baking with the lid on the Dutch oven for the same amount of time (e.g., 20 minutes at 450F/232C), then remove the lid.  Instead of baking for another 20 minutes (at same temperature), check the loaf at the 15-minute mark.  If the crust is browned to your satisfaction, the loaf will be done on the inside.  

Here is a helpful link from The Perfect Loaf Baking Bread with Steam in Your Home Oven

Try dusting the bottom of your loaf with rice flour.  This will keep the parchment from sticking.  If you do not have rice flour, you can use corn meal.  

The Challenger Baking pan is a pricey, but very popular baking vessel used by many home and pro sourdough bakers.  

It is a cast iron vessel specifically designed for artisan and sourdough bread baking.  I was hesitant to buy one because of the price ($300), but when I finally did, I must say I have been impressed.  It bakes beautiful loaves, and it seems to be indestructible. 

Some bakers have struggled with the weight.  It is heavy, but not much heavier than my other dutch ovens.  It also has 4 handles on it to make it easy and safe to lift.  

It also takes some time to get the baking temperature dialed in with the Challenger.  They recommend preheating it in the oven for 60 minutes at 500F/260C, but I find this bakes too hot for me.  I’m still experimenting with my optimal baking times and temperatures and will post a video on this in the near future. 

After removing the lid partway through the bake, they recommend place the bottom of the pan on top of the inverted lid.  This helps keep the bottom from burning, but it is a tricky maneuver to do in the oven, and you’ll lose some oven heat in the process.  I’m still testing this process to see how it works. 

Lastly, they recommend adding a few ice cubes to the vessel for best ovenspring.  I never have done this in my other baking vessels, but I do find it helps in the Challenger to add some ice cubes to create a little more steam in the vessel.  Again, this may be due to the very high baking temperature.  I prefer to bake at a lower temperature without adding the cubes. 

Also, read the instructions for how to clean and season the pan to keep it in top shape.  

“Damp crumb” is a common problem with high-hydration sourdough recipes.  

If you want to take some of the moisture out of your crumb, after the loaf has baked, put it back into the oven on the center rack with the oven temperature turned off, and leave the loaf in the oven for 30-40 minutes as the oven cools down.  This process will “cure” the loaf and evaporate some of the moisture out of it.  

If your oven is too hot immediately after baking, crack the door open with the loaf in the oven for the first 10 minutes or so.  Then close the door for the remaining time. 

As your dough cools down in the oven for 30 minutes, it will remove approximately 25 grams of water through evaporation.  

Keep your loaf surface temperature below approximately 260F/125C to keep the loaf from continuing to brown.  Some light browning may occur.  You can spritz the top of the loaf with water to keep it from browning (but then you are adding more moisture!)  Or, you can slightly underbake the loaf to the desired crust color and leave a little room for color to be added during the curing process.  

Here is some very interesting content on this question, from The Fresh Loaf discussion group.  Causes of Oven Spring | The Fresh Loaf

Cast iron Dutch ovens can be heavy.  There are a alternative options: 

1. Open baking – bake your loaves on a baking steel or baking stone in your oven.  You will need to add a source of steam for open baking. 
2. Enamel Roasting Pan – You can get good results with a lightweight enamel roasting pan (the kind you would roast a chicken in). 
3. Cast Aluminum Dutch Oven – I don’t recommend baking in raw, uncoated aluminum Dutch ovens, but some manufacturers now make coated, cast aluminum Dutch ovens.  They are very lightweight and bake similarly to cast iron. 
4. Steel and “Shell” – Brod and Taylor sells a combination package of a lightweight baking steel, and a round or rectangular, aluminum “shell” that sits on the steel to cover the loaf for the first half of baking.  The shell is incredibly lightweight and I’ve had good success with this setup as an alternative to Dutch oven baking. 
5. Loaf Pans – Some bakers also bake sourdough with two 9″ x 5″ loaf pans.  Put the dough in the bottom pan, and place a second pan on top as a “lid.”  Remove the top pan halfway through the baking.  This is a lightweight baking option, and you can also fit many more loaf pans in your oven than when using Dutch ovens.  Many micro-bakers use this option to increase their baking capacity without purchasing a dedicated bread oven. 

Hard bottom crust is a common problem when baking in a Dutch oven.  When you remove your loaf from the oven, rather than cooling it on a cooling rack, place the loaf directly on a cutting board.  That will trap some moisture and steam on the bottom of the loaf is it cools and it will soften the bottom crust.  

If the entire crust is too hard, you can also wrap the loaf in a kitchen towel as it cools down after baking.  It will soften the crust.