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Everything you need to know about this topic — from the basics to the deep end.
Best Flour for Sourdough Bread in the UK — A Home Baker's Guide
For UK home bakers, the best flour for sourdough is a strong white bread flour with at least 12% protein — Marriage's Finest, Shipton Mill Canadian, Allinson's Strong White, or Doves Farm Strong White all qualify....
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Sourdough Proofing: How to Know Your Dough Is Ready (the Poke Test)
The poke test is the single most reliable way to know if your sourdough is ready to bake: press a damp finger 1 cm into the shaped loaf and watch how the dimple recovers. Springs back...
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Why Is My Sourdough Flat, Dense or Gummy? The Universal Troubleshooter
A flat, dense or gummy sourdough almost always traces back to one of three things: an under-developed dough, a wrong fermentation window, or an underdone bake. This troubleshooter walks through every common failure mode by symptom...
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How to Score Sourdough Bread — Patterns, Technique, Common Mistakes
Scoring sourdough is the single cut that decides whether your loaf opens up beautifully or splits at random. Hold the lame at a 30° angle, slice fast and shallow (about 5 mm deep), and finish in...
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Bulk Fermentation and Cold Retard — A UK Timing Guide
Bulk fermentation is the long first rise after mixing — typically 4–6 hours at 24°C, or 8–12 hours at the cooler UK ambient temperatures of 16–20°C. Most first-time bakers either rush it or run it long,...
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Sourdough Hydration Explained (75% / 78% / 85% — What It Means for Your Loaf)
Sourdough hydration is just the ratio of water to flour in your dough, written as a percentage. A loaf at 75% hydration has 750 g of water for every 1,000 g of flour — that's it,...
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Complete UK Beginner's Guide to Baking Your First Sourdough Loaf
Your first sourdough loaf takes about 36 hours from a mature starter to a baked loaf — but only 2 of those hours are active work. This guide walks UK home bakers through every step: feeding...
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