Fermentation in progress

A seven-day journey in flour, water & time

Bread that begins
with nothing but
patience.

No commercial yeast. No shortcuts. Just a jar of flour and water, a week of feeding, and the oldest leavening method on earth. Follow the full journey — from the first bubble in the mother to the first crack of the crust.

Begin the journey
Stage I

Creating the mother

Days 1 – 7
Day 1 flat & quiet Day 3 first bubbles Day 5 sour aroma Day 7 doubles in 6 hrs — ready Four glass jars of sourdough starter side by side, progressing from flat to fully bubbled and risen
The mother, day by day — flat, then bubbling, then alive

Equal parts flour and water. That's the entire recipe. Wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria live on every grain of wheat and in the air of your kitchen — the mother is simply a home you build for them.

Each day you discard half and feed her fresh flour and water. By day three she sighs her first bubbles. By day five she smells of green apples and yogurt. By day seven she doubles in six hours and you know: she's ready to raise bread.

Mix 50g whole wheat flour + 50g water in a clean jar. Cover loosely.
Feed daily: discard half, add 50g flour + 50g water. First bubbles appear.
Feed twice daily. Mark her height with a rubber band and watch her climb.
The float test: a spoonful dropped in water floats. She's strong enough to bake.
Stage II

Building the dough

Hours 0 – 12
stretch, never tear — gluten does the rest A ceramic bowl holding a rough, shaggy ball of freshly mixed sourdough dough, dusted with flour
Stretch & fold — strength without kneading

Sourdough is not kneaded. It is coaxed. Mix flour, water, salt, and a few spoonfuls of the bubbling mother — then let time build the structure for you.

Every half hour, wet your hands, lift one side of the dough high, and fold it over itself. Four folds, four times. Between each set, the dough rests, ferments, and quietly transforms from a shaggy mass into something smooth, glossy, and alive — jiggling like a held breath.

flour + water, mix into a shaggy dough and rest alone for an hour. Gluten begins forming itself.
Add the active mother and mix it in, then add . Pinch and squeeze to combine.
every 30 minutes. Watch the dough turn silken.
Incorporate any additional ingredients and distribute them evenly throughout the dough during the final two stretch-and-folds.
then , then a cold overnight proof in the fridge.
Stage III

Into the fire

45 minutes at 245°C / 475°F
FLOUR 245°C / 475°F A pale ivory Dutch oven with its lid removed, holding a risen sourdough loaf inside a professional oven
Lid off at minute 25 — when the crust learns its color

The oven spring is the payoff for a week of patience. Cold dough meets a roaring Dutch oven, trapped steam keeps the crust soft for those first crucial minutes — and the loaf leaps upward, splitting along your score line into a proud ear.

Then the lid comes off, and the kitchen changes. The smell of caramelizing crust at dusk, the window fogging, the tick of the cooling stone — this is why people fall in love with baking bread.

Preheat the Dutch oven at 245°C / 475°F until it's ferociously hot.
the cold loaf in one confident stroke, lower it in.
mist the dough with water or add a couple of small ice cubes to the Dutch oven, then lid on.
Lid off. Lower the oven to 220°C / 425°F and bake 20 more minutes until the crust is deep mahogany.
Wait. The crackle as it cools is the bread still cooking. Don't cut early.
Stage IV

The loaf

Worth every hour
the open crumb — . A sourdough loaf sliced in half on a wooden board, revealing an open glossy crumb, with a curl of butter beside it
Mahogany crust, singing ear, wild open crumb

Tap the bottom: it should sound hollow, like a drum. The crust shatters; the crumb inside is cream-colored, glossy, and riddled with wild, irregular holes — the fingerprints of fermentation.

The flavor is what no commercial yeast can fake: gentle tang, deep wheat sweetness, a whisper of the week it took to get here. Butter while it's still barely warm. Share it. Then feed the mother again — she's hungry, and there's always a next loaf.

Deep mahogany with blisters — proof of a long cold proof.
A raised ridge along the score, lifted by a violent oven spring.
Open and glossy, never gummy — patience made visible.
Still in her jar, fed and resting, ready for the next bake. She can live for decades.
The Workbench

Tools of the trade

The baker's math

Set your loaves and hydration — the formula adjusts in real time. Levain is held at 20% and salt at 2% of flour weight, the classic ratios.

Bread flour915 g
Water685 g
Active levain the mother, at her peak185 g
Fine sea salt18 g
Total dough1800 g

70% is the easiest place to begin; 75% is forgiving; 80%+ rewards experienced hands with a wilder crumb.

Feeding the mother

Log each feeding and she'll tell you how she's doing. A mature starter at room temperature likes to eat every 12–24 hours.

No feedings logged yet Press the button after her first meal.
  • Her diary is empty
0 feedings on record

The baker's weekend

Once the mother is alive, every loaf follows the same gentle rhythm. Here's the full arc, Friday evening to Sunday lunch.

Feed the mother so she peaks overnight.

— flour and water rest together.

Add mother & salt. Begin stretch & folds.

Shape the boule. Into a banneton, into the fridge.

Preheat the Dutch oven to 245°C / 475°F.

Score, bake, and let it sing on the rack.

First slice, good butter, no regrets.

The Pantry

Five variations

Once the plain loaf is second nature, build flavor into it. Fold these in during the final two stretch-and-folds so they distribute evenly without tearing the gluten — except the everything-bagel crust, which goes on the outside.

Rosemary, Roasted Garlic & Parmesan

Rosemary brings piney aromatics, roasted garlic turns sweet and mellow — a world away from raw garlic’s sharpness — and parmesan adds salt and umami. Three different flavor dimensions, so nothing competes.

About 2 tbsp chopped rosemary, 1 head roasted garlic, 100 g grated parmesan.

Fold in

Jalapeño & Sharp Cheddar

The cheese’s fat tames the chili’s heat, and cheddar’s tang plays with sourdough’s own tang rather than clashing — two kinds of acidity layering instead of fighting.

About 2–3 jalapeños, diced, and 150 g sharp cheddar in small cubes.

Fold in

Kalamata Olive, Thyme & Oregano

Briny and herbal — basically focaccia flavors baked into a boule. Salt from the olives amplifies everything else around it.

About 150 g pitted kalamata, halved, with 1 tbsp each thyme and oregano.

Fold in

Toasted Walnut & Dried Fig

Sweet-savory, with great textural contrast between crunchy nut and chewy fruit. A natural cheese-board loaf. Swap figs for dried cranberries if you prefer.

About 100 g toasted walnuts and 100 g dried figs or cranberries, chopped.

Fold in

Everything Bagel

Sesame, poppy, dried garlic and onion, flaky salt. This one’s purely a crust treatment — nothing gets folded into the dough at all.

Brush the shaped loaf with water, then roll or sprinkle the topping on just before scoring.

Crust topping