Trending Bread Making

Why everyone is suddenly baking sourdough again and what actually works

The bread aisle at my local grocery store has been empty for three weeks. Not because people are buying all the loaves, but because the guy who brings in the rye every morning quit to do this full time. He posted a video of himself folding dough in a cast iron pot and now half the neighborhood is doing the same thing. I've been doing this since 2014, before it was anything other than a weird hobby, and honestly the technique hasn't changed. What's different is that everyone discovered it at the same time and nobody had the supplies. So here's the actual process. Start with 500 grams of bread flour and 350 grams of water. Mix it until there's no dry flour left, then let it sit covered at room temperature for 12 to 14 hours. That's your starter culture. If you don't have one already, mix equal parts flour and water in a jar and leave it on the counter. Feed it daily with another 50 grams each of flour and water until it doubles in size within six hours of feeding. That usually takes about a week if your kitchen is warm. My first starter died twice because I kept putting it in the fridge and forgetting about it. Third attempt worked.

What Trending Bread Making Actually Requires

The trending stuff online makes it look like you just mix flour and water and wait. You do. But the waiting isn't passive. You need to do stretch and folds every 30 minutes for the first two hours after mixing. Four sets of folds total. Each set involves grabbing the dough from one side, pulling it up, and folding it over the center. Rotate the bowl and repeat four times. This develops gluten without kneading. Without this step your loaf comes out flat and dense no matter what recipe you follow. I learned that the hard way with my second batch. After the folds, let the dough bulk ferment for another 4 to 6 hours depending on how warm your kitchen is. Then shape it into a round boule, put it in a banneton or a bowl lined with a floured towel, and refrigerate overnight. That cold retardation is the part that most people skip and then wonder why their bread tastes bland. The long fridge time develops flavor through slow fermentation. Two hours in the fridge does almost nothing for taste. Twelve to twenty-four hours is the sweet spot. When you're ready to bake, preheat your Dutch oven at 500°F for at least 45 minutes. Transfer the dough onto parchment paper, score the top with a razor blade or sharp knife, and slide it into the hot pot. Cover with the lid and bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake another 20 to 25 minutes at 450°F until the crust is deep brown. Let it cool completely before slicing, or the inside will be gummy. I know that sounds extreme but cutting into hot bread destroys the crumb structure. Always wait at least an hour.

Here's something nobody mentions in the tutorials: hydration level matters more than people think. The 350 grams of water to 500 grams of flour gives you 70% hydration, which is manageable for beginners. If you go to 80% hydration, the dough becomes almost unhandleable and you need a lot more practice with shaping. The trending videos that show beautiful open crumb usually have 85% hydration, and the people posting those have been baking for years. Don't compare your first loaf to their tenth batch. Another thing that goes unmentioned is that your flour matters. King Arthur bread flour at 12.7% protein gives you a different result than Bob's Red Mill at 11.5%. The lower protein flour won't trap gas as well, which means less oven spring and a tighter crumb. If you're in Europe you'll be using Tipo 00 or strong bread flour with different protein percentages entirely. Adjust your water accordingly. Higher protein flour can handle more hydration. Lower protein needs less water or the dough will spread instead of rise. The biggest bottleneck for most people is temperature control. If your kitchen is below 68°F, that 12-hour bulk fermentation might not be enough and the dough won't have developed properly. If it's above 80°F, the dough can overferment in the same timeframe and collapse. I keep a thermometer next to my proofing basket and adjust my timing based on what it reads, not on a clock from a blog post. A 10-degree difference can change your entire schedule.

If you want a starter delivered to your door, there are companies like Captain's Guide or Poppy in the Pan that ship dehydrated starter. It arrives ready to activate. I tried it once and it worked fine but the flavor profile was neutral compared to what I get from my own culture. Store-bought starters are convenient but they produce consistent bread, not interesting bread. The whole point of doing this at home is the variable. embrace it. The equipment list is shorter than you think: a digital scale accurate to one gram, a large mixing bowl, a bench scraper, a Dutch oven or cast iron pot with a tight-fitting lid, a banneton or substitute bowl, and a razor blade for scoring. That's it. No stand mixer. No bread machine. Nothing expensive. The scale is non-negotiable. Volume measurements like cups are wildly inconsistent and that's why so many people fail on their first try. I've tried the no-knead method from Jim Lahey and the extended autolyse approach from Tartine. Both work but they require different timing and the results are noticeably different. No-knead gives you a thinner, more blistered crust and a slightly denser crumb. Extended autolyse with longer fermentation gives you more oven spring and an open, airy interior. Pick one approach and stick with it for at least five loaves before judging it. Most people switch methods after two attempts and never master anything.

One edge case that catches people off guard: if you live somewhere with hard water, your starter can slow down or develop off-flavors. I lived in a city with heavily chlorinated water and my sourdough would take twice as long to rise and smell slightly chemical. Switching to filtered water fixed it immediately. Your local water quality affects your bread more than any ingredient you add. Check your municipality's water report online if you're unsure. The reason this is trending now isn't because the technique is new or because sourdough is healthier. It's because people are tired of buying bread that tastes like cardboard and costs eight dollars. Making it at home takes about ten minutes of active work spread across a day and maybe two days of waiting. The cost per loaf is roughly seventy cents in ingredients. That's the real draw. The aesthetics on Instagram are secondary. If you decide to stop, don't throw away your starter. Dehydrate it on parchment paper in the oven at its lowest setting for a few hours, store it in an airtight container, and reactivate it whenever you feel like baking again. It goes dormant, not dead. I've had starters that sat in my pantry for four months and came back to life with their first feeding.