Progression · Sourdough
After the first good loaf: what to change, and in what order
The hard part of sourdough is not the first acceptable loaf; it is the year afterwards, when the bread is fine and no longer improves. That happens because the variables interact — hydration changes handling, which changes shaping, which changes oven spring — so a change with a disappointing result is genuinely ambiguous about what caused it. This is the order worth changing them in, what each one actually does, and where the ceiling stops being about technique and starts being about the oven.
Sourdough is a small system with a large number of interactions. Hydration, flour, starter quantity and condition, bulk fermentation time, temperature, and the shaping and baking method are the whole list — but changing any one of them alters how at least two others behave, which is why a change and a disappointing loaf together tell you very little.
The classic example is hydration. Raising it is the single most common attempt at improvement, and it makes the dough harder to shape, which produces a slacker loaf with poorer structure, which reads as *worse* bread even though the change itself was in the right direction. The person then concludes that higher hydration does not work for them, when what actually happened is that the shaping method had not caught up.
So the discipline is genuinely useful rather than fussy: change one thing, bake it at least twice, and write down what happened. Two bakes because sourdough has enough natural variation that a single loaf is not evidence.
- Change at once
- One variable
- Bakes before judging
- At least two
- Most commonly changed first
- Hydration
- Most usefully changed first
- Fermentation timing
Step 1: Learn to read the bulk ferment rather than time it
The first and by far the most valuable change, and it costs nothing. Fermentation is driven by temperature, and a recipe time written for a warm kitchen is wrong in a cold one by hours. Judging by the dough — how much it has risen, how it feels, whether it holds a shape — replaces the single biggest source of inconsistency there is.
You will know it worked when: Loaves that are the same in January and July.
Step 2: Fix shaping before touching hydration
Shaping builds the tension that holds the loaf up in the oven, and it is the skill that everything else depends on. It is also the one that improves fastest with attention, because the feedback is immediate — a well-shaped loaf feels taut and holds its dome on the bench.
You will know it worked when: A dough that stands up rather than spreading.
Step 3: Then raise the hydration, gradually
Five per cent at a time, holding flour and method constant. Higher hydration gives a more open crumb and a softer interior, and it demands better handling at every step. Going up in small increments lets the handling keep pace; going straight to a high figure seen online produces a puddle.
You will know it worked when: A more open crumb without losing the structure.
Step 4: Introduce wholegrain flour, in a small proportion
Ten to twenty per cent changes flavour substantially and changes behaviour more than the proportion suggests: wholegrain ferments faster and absorbs more water, so it usually needs both a shorter bulk and slightly more hydration. This is the change most likely to make bread taste like something rather than like structure.
You will know it worked when: Flavour, at the cost of a slightly faster ferment.
Step 5: Use the fridge deliberately
A cold retard slows fermentation and shifts the balance of acids, which is where a more pronounced sour flavour comes from — flavour is a fermentation variable rather than a starter variable, which is the opposite of what most people assume. It also makes scoring far easier, because cold dough cuts cleanly.
You will know it worked when: More flavour, and a loaf that fits around a working day.
Step 6: Only then, the bake itself
Steam, vessel, temperature and scoring. These change crust and oven spring rather than crumb, and they are worth optimising once the dough arriving at the oven is consistently good. Optimising them before that is polishing a variable that is not the limiting one.
You will know it worked when: The best version of the loaf you already had.
- The oven, eventually — Domestic ovens are the real constraint on crust and oven spring. A covered vessel is the standard workaround because it traps the loaf’s own steam, and it closes most of the gap. Past that, the differences between home bread and bakery bread are largely differences in deck temperature and steam injection, and no technique substitutes.
- The flour, sooner than expected — Protein content and how the flour was milled both matter, and supermarket strong white flour varies between brands and between batches. This is a genuine variable and it is one people spend a long time attributing to their own technique.
- The starter, less than people think — A starter that rises reliably and predictably is a working starter, and swapping it for a more celebrated one changes very little. Starter *condition* on the day — how recently fed, how active — matters considerably; starter identity almost not at all.
- A very open crumb is a choice, not a grade — The large irregular holes that dominate photographs of sourdough are a product of high hydration and gentle handling, and they make bread that is harder to butter and worse for sandwiches. It is a style rather than an achievement, and chasing it is the commonest way to make bread you enjoy eating less.
Questions this guide answers
Listed so you can tell at a glance whether this is the page you wanted. HobbyHQ keeps one guide per question family rather than a page per phrasing.
- how do I improve my sourdough once it is ok
- should I increase the hydration of my sourdough
- how do I get a more open crumb
- when should I add wholemeal to sourdough
- why is my sourdough not sour enough
- what is the next thing to learn in sourdough baking
Part of Sourdough. Last reviewed 2026-08-20.