Send us a question or voice memo! In Lessons Episode 4, we take the country dough formula we created in our Baker’s Math episode and finally turn it into a loaf of bread. I’ll walk you through the entire process, beginning with the night-before levain build and continuing through the autolyse, mixing, gluten development, bulk fermentation, folds, pre-shaping, final shaping, basket proof, cold retard, scoring, baking, cooling, and evaluating the finished loaf. Along the way, we’ll cover: How to recognize when your levain is ripe and ready What an autolyse does—and when it may be helpful Mechanical mixing and the windowpane test How to reach a Desired Dough Temperature of 78°F Stretch and folds versus coil folds How to measure percent rise during bulk fermentation The signs of under-fermented, properly fermented, and over-fermented dough Pre-shaping, bench rest, and final shaping Choosing the right banneton The room-temperature basket rise before refrigeration Covering your dough during an overnight cold retard Scoring and baking in a Dutch oven How to evaluate the crust and crumb after baking Most importantly, we spend time answering one of the most difficult questions in bread baking: How do I know when bulk fermentation is finished? There is no single bubble, jiggle, percentage, or number on the clock that can answer that question by itself. Instead, we’ll learn how to look for several signals that begin telling the same story: the dough has developed enough gas to feel light and alive, while retaining enough strength to be shaped into a loaf. This is not intended to be a strict bake-along. Listen through the episode once before beginning, then return to individual sections as you work through your own loaf. Your dough may move faster or slower than mine. The goal is not to force it to follow my schedule, it is to understand what you are trying to accomplish during every stage. If sourdough starter maintenance, levain building, or baker’s math still feels unfamiliar, begin with Lessons Episodes 1–3 and then return to this episode. Next time, we’ll use what we learn from this bake to begin troubleshooting under-proofing, over-proofing, weak dough, dense crumb, scoring problems, dark bottoms, and more. Happy baking, and long live real bread. Formula for the Show Notes Levain Build 10 g ripe starter 25 g bread flour 25 g whole wheat flour 50 g water Total levain: 110 g Use 100 g in the final dough. Final Dough 375 g bread flour 75 g whole wheat flour 325 g water 100 g ripe levain 10 g salt Approximate total dough weight: 885 g Total Formula 500 g total flour 20% whole wheat flour 75% hydration 10% pre-fermented flour 2% salt Links and Mentions Follow Saving Bread on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/savingbreadpodcast/ Listen to or review Saving Bread on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/saving-bread/id1896790106 The Perfect Loaf: Complete Bread-Shaping Guide https://www.theperfectloaf.com/guides/shaping-bread-dough/ The Perfect Loaf: How to Shape a Batard https://www.theperfectloaf.com/guides/shaping-a-batard/ Rosehill Sourdough: The BreadMat https://rosehillsourdough.com/product/the-breadmat/ Rosehill Sourdough: Oven Gloves https://rosehillsourdough.com/product/gloves/ Music by Joshua from DOPE
