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Sourdough Bread ideas (Must watch)
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Jun 15, 2025
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View Video Transcript
0:03
[Music]
0:08
if you're like most home bakers you've
0:10
probably been in this situation you wake
0:11
up nice and early ready for a day of
0:13
baking get out your carefully curated
0:15
sourdough starter and spend all day
0:17
mixing folding and shaping your dough
0:19
and so far everything's going great you
0:21
throw your loaf in the oven and come
0:22
back 20 minutes later expecting to find
0:24
your perfectly risen loaf you remove the
0:26
lid and bam it's still flat as a pancake
0:29
that lack of oven spring is one of the
0:31
most frustrating things that can happen
0:32
in sourdough baking but it's definitely
0:34
not an uncommon issue and there's plenty
0:36
of things you can do to fix it so today
0:38
we're going to talk about that let's get
0:39
into
0:41
it if you're new here my name is Charlie
0:44
and on this channel I show you how to
0:46
make delicious food using simple
0:47
ingredients and techniques so that you
0:49
can become a more confident home cook so
0:51
let's talk sourdough for those of you
0:53
that don't know oven spring is basically
0:55
that initial rise that you see in your
0:56
bread during the first 10 to 15 minutes
0:58
of baking as the fermentation speeds up
1:00
and the gases in the dough start to
1:02
expand so it's really important to
1:04
maximize your rise during that time
1:06
because by the time those first few
1:07
minutes are over the bread heats up to
1:09
the point where the yeast can no longer
1:10
survive which marks the end of the
1:12
fermentation process and therefore the
1:14
end of the rise so let's get into five
1:16
tips that I've picked up throughout my
1:17
sourdough baking endeavors that'll help
1:19
you get a better oven spring on your
1:21
loaves keep in mind these steps aren't
1:22
necessarily listed in order of
1:24
importance in fact they're all necessary
1:26
steps in getting a great oven spring so
1:28
make sure to watch the entire video so
1:30
you get all the info that you need so
1:31
let's get into it so tip number one is
1:33
to make sure that your starter is nice
1:35
and strong and that you add it to the
1:36
dough at the proper time it seems pretty
1:38
obvious but to get a bread that rises
1:40
sufficiently you'll first need a starter
1:42
that rises sufficiently if you're
1:43
struggling with your starter I've got a
1:45
video about that too which I'll link in
1:46
the description below but basically your
1:48
starter should rise and fall within a 12
1:50
to 24-hour period and at its maximum
1:52
rise it should be about doubled in size
1:54
if your starter is just weakly bubbling
1:56
and not really rising much then it's
1:58
probably not strong enough and you'll
1:59
end up with a weak rise to your bread
2:01
the starter is the foundation of your
2:03
entire loaf so it's really important to
2:05
build up that strength but once you've
2:06
built up a strong starter the next
2:08
factor you need to pay attention to is
2:09
the timing the best time to mix your
2:11
starter into your dough is when it's
2:13
achieved its maximum rise and is just
2:15
starting to fall because that's when the
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yeast activity is going to be at its
2:18
maximum so like I said the starter
2:20
should be at least doubled in size at
2:21
that point and it should also pass the
2:23
float test which indicates that it's
2:24
nice and airrated for me this usually
2:26
happens about 12 hours after I mixed my
2:28
levan but your timing will depend on
2:30
your particular environment and the
2:32
feeding ratios that you're using so now
2:34
let's move on to tip number two which is
2:36
the shaping proper shaping is crucial
2:38
for developing tension on the dough's
2:40
outer surface which will help the loaf
2:41
rise up rather than spreading out so
2:44
learning to shape a high hydration dough
2:46
like sourdough does take a bit of
2:47
practice but there's a few things you
2:49
can do to make it a little bit easier
2:50
the first is just making sure that you
2:52
have a nice large work surface with
2:54
plenty of space and that you're using
2:55
the proper technique scraping the dough
2:57
from the side as you rotate it 90° and
2:59
scrape it back toward yourself and the
3:01
next factor is proper use of flour so
3:03
you want to make sure that the top of
3:05
the loaf is sufficiently fled and you
3:07
can also feel free to flour your hands
3:08
and your bench scraper as necessary to
3:10
make sure they don't stick but you want
3:12
to leave your actual work surface and
3:13
the bottom of the loaf as unflowered as
3:15
possible so that it can pick up traction
3:17
as you scrape it along your surface and
3:19
then the last factor is to make sure not
3:21
to overshape the dough you may think
3:22
that the tighter you shape the loaf the
3:24
better it's going to end up but it is
3:25
actually possible to shape it too
3:27
tightly which will cause the surface to
3:28
tear here you can see a loaf that I
3:30
totally overshaped right next to a
3:32
well-shaped loaf and it's easy to see
3:34
that the overshaped loaf completely lost
3:36
its structure so really just a few good
3:38
turns to develop some tension is all you
3:40
need you can refer to my complete
3:41
sourdough bread baking tutorial which
3:43
I've also linked below for a more
3:45
in-depth walkthrough on shaping but
3:47
those are the most common issues that
3:48
I've encountered now this leads us into
3:50
tip number three which is to make sure
3:52
not to over ferment your dough and this
3:54
is the biggest mistake that I made when
3:55
I first got into sourdough but once I
3:57
figured it out it made all of the
3:59
difference in my loaves over
4:00
fermentation basically just happens when
4:02
your bulk rise phase is too long and it
4:04
causes your dough to become really wet
4:06
and sticky and prevents it from holding
4:07
its shape properly so not only is an
4:09
over fermented dough really hard to work
4:11
with but it also won't rise properly in
4:13
the oven because the yeast activity has
4:15
already peaked too early and started to
4:17
decline again by the time you throw the
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bread in the oven i know it's tempting
4:20
to extend the bulk rise phase as you see
4:22
your dough getting softer and airier but
4:24
you really just want to let it go until
4:26
you start to see some bubbles forming
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and the dough has grown in size by about
4:30
20 to 30% so if you're currently doing a
4:32
4hour bulk rise phase for example maybe
4:34
try reducing it to about 2 and 1/2 or 3
4:36
hours and I think you'd be surprised by
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how big of a difference that can
4:39
actually make now moving on to tip
4:41
number four which is to score your
4:44
loaves properly a good score will allow
4:46
the steam and other gases to escape
4:48
through the top of the loaf which will
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lead to a nice clean rise and it'll also
4:52
give your loaf a good ear which is that
4:54
little flap of dough that springs up as
4:56
it bakes and gets nice and charred if
4:58
you don't score the loaf the gases will
4:59
just try to escape wherever they can
5:01
causing your loaf to burst in unexpected
5:03
places and sometimes causing big air
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bubbles to form inside of the loaf so
5:07
it's definitely not a step that you want
5:09
to skip really the main two things to
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consider when scoring are one to score
5:12
the loaf deep enough so I'd recommend
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about half an inch to one inch deep and
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then two to score at a slight angle
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rather than directly perpendicular to
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the loaf and you want to score in one
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smooth swift motion so having a sharp
5:24
razor definitely helps with this as you
5:26
get more advanced you can try out some
5:28
fancier scoring patterns but really one
5:30
single slash right down the middle will
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make all of the difference in allowing
5:33
the gases to escape properly leading to
5:35
a better oven spring now finally tip
5:38
number five for achieving a perfect oven
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spring is to create steam in your oven
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during the first few minutes of baking
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this steam helps the crust to remain
5:45
soft for longer so the loaf can rise
5:47
freely at the beginning of the baking
5:49
process commercial bakeries use special
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ovens that can actually inject steam
5:53
inside during the first few minutes of
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baking but since most of us don't have
5:56
access to those the easiest way to
5:58
duplicate this effect at home is just to
6:00
bake your bread inside of a Dutch oven
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so as the bread starts to bake and
6:03
releases steam that steam gets trapped
6:05
within the Dutch oven creating that
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humid environment that we're looking for
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then after about 20 minutes of baking we
6:11
can remove the lid from the Dutch oven
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which allows the crust to get nice and
6:15
brown and crispy i'd recommend this
6:17
Dutch oven combo cooker which is pretty
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inexpensive and the low sides make it
6:21
easy to just drop the loaf in score it
6:23
toss the lid on and throw it in your
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oven but if you don't have a Dutch oven
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you could also just toss a baking tray
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filled with water onto the bottom rack
6:30
of your oven and then add some damp
6:31
towels or lava rocks to slow the release
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of steam then after about 20 minutes you
6:36
can remove that tray from your oven to
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allow the crust to get nice and brown so
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both methods work but in my experience
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the Dutch oven method does work quite a
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bit better and it's a lot easier too so
6:45
I hope this video helped you out and
6:47
remember for a full walkthrough on my
6:49
favorite sourdough baking recipe be sure
6:51
to click the video in the bottom right
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corner of the screen so there you go
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i'll see you all in the next one
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