P
American
San Francisco Sourdough
A round boule or long batard of bread with a thick, deeply crackled crust (dark golden to mahogany), a moist, open crumb with large, irregular holes, and a distinctly sour, tangy flavour. The tang should be pronounced but not overwhelming — a balance of acetic acid (sharp, vinegary) and lactic acid (milder, yogurt-like). The crust should be thick enough to crackle audibly when torn. The interior should be moist, slightly chewy, and aromatic.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the leaven
1 tbsp
mature sourdough starter
active, fed within 24 hours
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
50 g
bread flour
Origin · CanadaNot yet stocked in British Columbia
50 ml
water
room temperature
Your own market
For the dough
375 g
bread flour
Origin · CanadaNot yet stocked in British Columbia
25 g
wholemeal flour
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
300 ml
water
room temperature (75% hydration)
Your own market
9 g
fine sea salt
Your own market
II
The Method
1
Build the leaven: combine the starter, flour, and water in a clean jar. Stir thoroughly, cover loosely, and leave at room temperature for 8–12 hours. The leaven is ready when it has doubled in volume, smells yeasty and mildly sour, and a small spoonful dropped into water floats — this float test is the only reliable signal that the culture holds enough gas to leaven the dough.
2
Mix the dough: combine the bread flour and wholemeal flour in a large bowl. Add 275 ml of the water and mix until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest 30 minutes (autolyse). Add the leaven and salt, then the remaining 25 ml of water. Squeeze and fold the mass until the additions are fully incorporated and the dough feels cohesive and slightly tacky — not sticky and not dry.
3
Bulk fermentation and folding: leave the dough at room temperature (ideally 24–26 °C) for 3–4 hours. During the first 2 hours, perform a set of four folds (pick up one side, stretch it upward, fold it over the centre; rotate the bowl 90° and repeat for all four sides) every 30 minutes — four sets in total. After the final fold, leave the dough undisturbed. Bulk fermentation is complete when the dough has grown by 20–30%, the surface appears slightly domed and bubbled, and the texture feels airy rather than dense when gently pressed.
4
Shape: turn the dough onto an unfloured surface. Using a bench scraper, fold the edges toward the centre, then flip the dough so the seam is underneath. Drag it gently across the surface to build tension in the outer skin. The surface should feel taut and hold its round form without spreading — any slack or tearing indicates insufficient tension.
5
Cold fermentation — this is where the dish lives or dies. Place the shaped dough seam-side up in a well-floured banneton or bowl lined with a floured cloth. Cover and refrigerate for 12–48 hours. The cold arrests the yeast but allows Lactobacillus bacteria to continue generating lactic and acetic acids; the length of this retard directly determines the depth and character of the tang. A 12-hour retard yields a mild sourness; 48 hours produces the pronounced, layered acidity definitive of San Francisco sourdough. Do not shorten this stage.
6
Preheat and bake with steam: place a lidded Dutch oven in the oven and preheat to 250 °C for at least 45 minutes. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, invert onto a sheet of baking paper, and score the surface with a single deep slash or an ear cut using a lame or sharp blade. Lower into the Dutch oven, cover with the lid, and bake at 230 °C for 20 minutes. The lid traps steam from the dough itself, delaying crust formation and allowing full oven spring — the loaf should visibly surge upward within the first 10 minutes.
7
Finish and test: remove the lid and continue baking for a further 20–25 minutes until the crust is deep mahogany and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped firmly on the base. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool for a minimum of 1 hour before cutting. The crumb continues to set as it cools; cutting early compresses the open structure. When torn, the crust should crackle audibly.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — A living starter maintained from a Bay Area culture, ideally one with documented lineage, yielding the specific Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis and Candida milleri profile named for the city's fog-damp terroir. Stone-milled, high-extraction bread flour. Full 48-hour cold retard.
02
Estate — A mature home starter fed on consistent, quality bread flour for several months, producing reliable sourness. Unbleached strong bread flour from a named mill. Cold retard of 24–36 hours.
03
Market — A well-maintained starter of 6 months or older, fed weekly. Standard supermarket strong bread flour. Minimum 12-hour cold retard. Crust and oven spring will be sound; tang will be mild rather than pronounced.
04
House — A young starter (under 3 months) producing weak leavening and thin flavour. All-purpose flour at lower hydration. Short room-temperature rise only. The result is edible leavened bread but lacks the open crumb, thick crust, and sour depth of proper sourdough.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. Leaven has doubled and a spoonful floats in water — the float test confirms sufficient gas production before the dough is mixed.
◇Touch. After bulk fermentation, the dough feels airy rather than dense under a gentle press and has grown by 20–30%.
◇Sight. The shaped loaf holds a taut, round form on the surface without spreading or slumping.
◇Sight. Inside the Dutch oven, the loaf visibly surges upward within the first 10 minutes — oven spring confirming adequate steam retention.
◇Sight. Crust colour reaches deep mahogany across the scored surface and sides.
◇Sound. The base of the baked loaf sounds hollow when tapped firmly — the definitive signal that the crumb has set and moisture has left the interior.
◇Sound. When the cooled loaf is torn, the crust crackles audibly — confirming crust thickness and dryness.
◇Where it lives or dies. The cold fermentation of 12–48 hours cannot be shortened: it is the sole period in which Lactobacillus bacteria build the lactic and acetic acids that define the bread's character.
Pillar V
Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.
The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
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VI
What to Pour
The bread's sharp acetic and milder lactic acids call for something with enough body and acidity to match rather than be overwhelmed: a glass of dry, unoaked Chardonnay or a crisp Californian Sauvignon Blanc alongside clam chowder in the Boudin bread-bowl format; or a clean, malty amber ale when the bread is served with cheese or cured meats.
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year