What Actually Matters When You Make Bread

Most people treat bread making like it's purely instinctual. It's not. There's a specific sequence of decisions and measurements that separate edible bread from disappointing bread. I started writing down each step two years ago after a particularly brutal batch of sourdough came out dense as a brick. I've refined it since, and it's saved me from repeating the same mistakes.

The Best Bread Making Checklist (Printable)

Here's the version I use now. I keep it printed on the fridge because checking boxes keeps you honest when you're tired or distracted. Ingredients & Weighing - [ ] All ingredients at room temperature unless recipe specifies otherwise - [ ] Scale calibrated and zeroed before every weigh - [ ] Flour weight recorded (not volume — cups are unreliable) - [ ] Hydration percentage calculated: water weight ÷ flour weight × 100 - [ ] Salt measured to 2% of flour weight - [ ] Yeast or starter quantity confirmed against recipe Mixing & Autolyse - [ ] Flour and water mixed until no dry spots remain - [ ] Autolyse period observed (typically 20–60 minutes for most doughs) - [ ] Salt and yeast/starter added after autolyse - [ ] Mixing complete when dough passes windowpane test Fermentation & Folding - [ ] Bulk fermentation held at target temperature (68–75°F ideal for most breads) - [ ] Coil folds or stretch-and-folds performed at set intervals (every 30 minutes for first 2 hours) - [ ] Dough doubled in size before shaping (roughly, not precisely) - [ ] Poke test performed: indentation springs back slowly, not at all, or immediately Shaping & Proofing - [ ] Dough gently pre-shaped and rested 20 minutes before final shape - [ ] Final tension achieved without degassing completely - [ ] Proofing basket or lined tray prepared with flour - [ ] Cold retard in refrigerator (8–16 hours) or room temp proof (1–3 hours) depending on schedule Baking - [ ] Oven preheated to target temperature at least 30 minutes before loading - [ ] Dutch oven or baking stone preheated with the oven - [ ] Steam generated for first 15 minutes (tray of hot water, spritzing, or covered pot) - [ ] Internal temperature checked: 205–210°F for lean doughs, 190–200°F for enriched doughs - [ ] Cooling rack ready — bread cut only after full cool Cooling & Storage - [ ] Bread cooled at least 1 hour before slicing - [ ] Wrapped or stored in bread box within 2 hours of cooling That's it. Twelve sections. Fifteen minutes to fill out once per bake. I ran into a real problem last winter where my kitchen stayed at 62°F because the heater was acting up. My bulk fermentation schedule was completely thrown off. The dough wasn't doubling at the expected time. I ended up adjusting by tracking dough temperature instead of relying on the clock — measured it with an instant-read thermometer and aimed for 78°F internal dough temp. That alone told me whether the ambient air was working against me or not. I stopped using time as my primary metric after that. Time is just a proxy. Temperature is the actual variable. There are two things beginners consistently get wrong on this checklist. First, they skip the autolyse or rush through it. Resting the flour and water before adding salt and yeast develops gluten structure passively. Skipping it means more active mixing, which warms the dough and makes your windowpane test less reliable. The dough feels tougher to work with even though it's underdeveloped. It's a real drag. Second, they bake without checking internal temperature. The crust tells you almost nothing about doneness. A loaf can look deeply browned and still be gummy inside. A loaf can look pale and be perfectly baked. The internal temp check takes four seconds. Not doing it is gambling with every loaf. The biggest weakness of this approach is that it doesn't account for every exception. High-hydration doughs (80%+) behave very differently from standard 70% doughs, and the fold schedule needs adjustment. Very wet doughs don't "double in size" in the traditional sense — they bubble and spread. If you follow the checklist blindly at those hydration levels you'll over-handle the dough trying to get it to pass a test it's not built to pass. For those, use the poke test and visual air pocket observation instead of the volume benchmark. For whole grain or rye doughs, hydration needs are higher than the percentages suggest because bran absorbs more water. The checklist still works but the flour weight and water weight have to be re-weighed mid-hydrate because the absorption isn't immediate. I usually let whole grain doughs rest 30 minutes after initial mix, then re-weigh and adjust water before proceeding.