Sourdough
Grow a starter, bake a loaf you're proud of.
Learn sourdough as a beginner
Sourdough looks complicated until you see it one Step at a time. In this beginner course you'll grow a starter from flour and water, learn to read when it's ready, bake a tray of discard crackers, then mix, fold, shape and bake your first loaf, and score a second one yourself. You need a kitchen scale and an oven, and no baking experience.
The path
- 1
Level 1Free Starter to First Loaf
Your first open-crumb loaf
14 Steps, about 24 minutes each. Total beginners. You need a kitchen scale and an oven. No baking experience needed.
- Chapter 1: Grow your starter. A starter you feed every day and know how to read, and your first bake: a tray of crisp discard crackers.
- Chapter 2: Your first loaf. A ready starter, your first real sourdough loaf, and the skill to read its crumb and know what to change.
- Chapter 3: Make it yours. A starter that fits your week, a second loaf with one improvement you chose, and bread you can share.
- 1Show your groupMix your starterA jar of flour and water that will become your starter, marked and in a warm spot.
A sourdough starter is flour and water that wild yeast and bacteria have colonized. These microbes live naturally on flour and in the air. Feed them regularly, and over about a week they become a stable culture that can raise bread without commercial yeast.
The yeast makes carbon dioxide, which raises the dough. The bacteria make lactic and acetic acids, which give sourdough its tangy flavor and help keep harmful microbes out.
The detail beginners miss is weighing. Cup measurements of flour can vary by 20% or more. In this Era, everything is weighed in grams on a kitchen scale, so your results are consistent and your notes mean something.
Here's an example. A clean glass jar on the scale, tared to zero. 50 grams of whole wheat flour and 50 grams of lukewarm water. Stirred until no dry flour remains. Sides scraped down. A rubber band around the jar at the top of the mixture. Lid resting loosely on top. Labeled with the date. Set somewhere around 75°F.
Right is a thick, smooth paste in a marked jar. Whole wheat or rye flour starts faster, because it carries more microbes and nutrients. Keep the lid loose; a sealed jar can build pressure.
- 2Feed it for the first timeYou've done your first discard and feed, 1:1:1 by weight.
- 3Learn to read your starterYou fed it again and noted its smell, bubbles and rise.
See all 14 Steps
- 4Keep it warm and steadyYour starter has a consistent feeding time and a spot near 75°F.
- 5Show your groupBake crackers from your discardA tray of crisp crackers made from the discard you saved.
- 6Fix a slow or sleepy starterYou know what your starter needs and you've adjusted today's feed if needed.
- 7Is it ready? The rise testYour starter doubles within 4 to 8 hours of a feed, two days in a row.
- 8Mix, fold and shape loaf oneYour first dough is mixed, folded, risen, shaped and resting in the fridge overnight.
- 9Show your groupBake your first loafA baked loaf with a brown crust and a hollow sound when tapped.
- 10Read your crumbYou've cut your loaf and know whether the dough needed more or less rise.
- 11Store your starter for real lifeYour starter lives in the fridge with a weekly feeding routine.
- 12Plan and mix loaf two yourselfLoaf two is mixed, folded, shaped and in the fridge, from the written steps alone.
- 13Score and bake loaf twoLoaf two is scored with a pattern you chose and baked to a deep brown.
- 14Show your groupSlice, store and shareYour best loaf is photographed, sliced, stored well, and shared with someone.
- 2
Level 2Unlocks after Level 1 Bakery Breads
Batards, bagels, focaccia and your own loaf
20 Steps, about 50 minutes each. Bakers who finished Level 1 or can already bake a decent sourdough boule and want to bake everything else a bakery sells.
- Chapter 1: The bakery batard. A levain built on schedule, a wetter dough handled with coil folds, and a tall batard with an ear.
- Chapter 2: Score, grain and flavor. Decorative scoring, a hearty whole wheat loaf, a cheese and jalapeño loaf, and a bake schedule that fits your week.
- Chapter 3: Beyond the loaf. Focaccia, a soft sandwich loaf, chewy bagels, pizza night and sourdough cinnamon rolls.
- Chapter 4: Your signature loaf. Baguettes, a crumb you can read and fix, your own formula on paper, and a signature loaf shared with friends.
- 1Show your groupBuild a levainA levain mixed from your starter, timed to be ready for tomorrow's dough.
A levain is a small, separate batch of starter built just for one bake. Instead of using your main starter directly, you take a little, feed it, and let it ripen. Your main starter stays safe in the fridge, and the levain is timed to peak exactly when you mix.
The ratio controls the timing. A small amount of starter with lots of fresh flour and water takes longer to peak. That lets you mix it at night and use it in the morning.
The detail beginners miss is that temperature changes everything. A levain that peaks in 10 hours at 75°F might take 14 hours at 68°F. Note your kitchen's temperature and how long the levain takes, and adjust next time.
Here's an example. Main starter fed and peaked. In a clean jar: 25 grams of ripe starter, 50 grams of bread flour, 50 grams of whole wheat flour and 100 grams of water at 78°F. Mixed, covered, left on the counter overnight at 72°F. Rubber band marks the level.
Right is a levain mixed and timed to be ready tomorrow morning. The rest of your starter goes back in the fridge. Use clean jars to keep unwanted molds out.
- 2
- 3Coil folds and bulkFour sets of coil folds and a bulk rise judged by the dough, not the clock.
See all 20 Steps
- 4Shape a batardDough pre-shaped, rested and shaped into a tight oval in the banneton, then into the fridge.
- 5Show your groupScore for an earYour batard scored with one long, shallow cut and baked tall with an ear.
- 6Score a patternA loaf scored with a decorative pattern: a wheat stalk, a leaf, or your own design.
- 7
- 8Fold in cheese and heatA cheddar and jalapeño loaf with the fillings spread evenly through the crumb.
- 9Fit it into your weekA bake schedule written for your real week, and a loaf made on it.
- 10Show your groupBake two at onceTwo loaves from one double batch, baked back to back, one to keep and one to give.
- 11
- 12Soft sandwich loafA soft, sliceable sourdough sandwich loaf baked in a pan.
- 13
- 14Pizza nightSourdough pizza dough made ahead and baked into crisp, blistered pizzas.
- 15Show your groupSourdough cinnamon rollsA pan of soft cinnamon rolls made with your starter.
- 16Read your crumbThree of your loaves cut open and diagnosed: underproofed, overproofed or just right.
- 17Shape baguettesTwo or three sourdough baguettes, shaped long and even, scored and baked.
- 18Write your own formulaYour own loaf formula written out in baker's percentages and grams.
- 19
- 20Show your groupShare a bread boardA bread board of your best Level 2 bakes, shared with friends, and a loaf frozen for later.
Level 3Unlocks after Level 2 Rye and Enriched
Rye, brioche and holiday breads
Where it ends: a reliable weekly loaf
Questions about learning sourdough
How long does it take to learn sourdough?
Level 1 is 14 Steps of about 24 minutes each, around 6 hours in all, split into 3 chapters. Go at your own speed: one Step a day, or a whole chapter in a sitting.
What do I need to start sourdough?
You'll need digital kitchen scale (grams), bread flour, 5 lb bag, whole wheat flour, 2 lb bag, wide glass jar, about 1 quart, and a rubber band and bench scraper. Expect to spend about $35 to start Level 1.
Can a complete beginner learn sourdough?
Total beginners. You need a kitchen scale and an oven. No baking experience needed.
What will I have made by the end of Level 1?
A living starter you made from flour and water, a tray of crackers, and two open-crumb sourdough loaves.
Is this sourdough course free?
Yes. Level 1 of every hobby on Eras is free, and every Step links free lessons from great teachers online. Eras Plus is an optional subscription that opens the levels after it.
Free lessons in Starter to First Loaf come from King Arthur Baking, Matthew James Duffy, The Clever Carrot, moon + magnolia, The Perfect Loaf, Natashas Kitchen, Grant Bakes, Brian Lagerstrom, Challenger Breadware, Sourdough LoafHacker. We link to their work and never copy it.