A sourdough loaf takes two days and ten steps: build the levain, mix the dough, bulk ferment with folds, divide by weight, pre-shape, shape, retard overnight in the cold, bake, cool, and bag and date. The two long steps, bulk fermentation and the cold retard, are where the flavor comes from, and they're also what make sourdough fit a small bakery's week: mix in the afternoon, shape in the evening, bake first thing. Dividing by weight keeps every loaf the same size and bake. Loaves cool fully before bagging, or the crust goes soft. In the example below, a North Dakota home micro bakery runs a week's subscription bake.
The short version
- Ten steps: levain, mix, bulk, divide, pre-shape, shape, retard, bake, cool, bag.
- Build the levain so it peaks when you mix.
- Bulk ferment with folds; watch the dough, not only the clock.
- Divide by weight for even loaves.
- Retard overnight in the cold for flavor and a morning bake.
- Cool fully before bagging, then date.
- TaroStack records the levain, the dough and the loaves as batches, linked by lot. More below.
The ten steps
| Step | What happens | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Levain | Starter fed to build the levain | Feed time, temperature |
| 2. Mix | Flour, water, levain and salt mixed | Flour lot, dough temperature |
| 3. Bulk ferment | Rested with folds every 30 minutes | Time, folds |
| 4. Divide | Cut to weight | Piece weight |
| 5. Pre-shape | Rounded and rested | Time |
| 6. Shape | Shaped into baskets | Count |
| 7. Retard | Overnight in the cooler | In and out times, temperature |
| 8. Bake | Scored and baked with steam | Oven temperature, time |
| 9. Cool | On racks | Time |
| 10. Bag and date | Bagged, dated, set out for pickup | Loaves, lot |
Baking 60 loaves at a time is in how to make sourdough bread in bulk, and what a loaf sells for in how to price sourdough bread.
An example: a subscription bake
Prairie Hearth Bread, the made-up home micro bakery in Fargo, North Dakota, I use in these examples, bakes sourdough for a weekly subscription and a Saturday market under North Dakota's cottage food law:
| Step | What happened |
|---|---|
| Levain | Built Wednesday morning, peaked at 2 p.m. |
| Mix and bulk | Flour lot FL-1001; dough at 77°F; four sets of folds, bulk done at 6:30 p.m. |
| Divide and shape | 64 pieces at 900 g, shaped into baskets |
| Retard | Into the cooler at 8 p.m., out at 5 a.m. Thursday |
| Bake | 4 loaves at a time in the deck oven, 45 minutes each round |
| Cool, bag and date | 62 good loaves, 2 underproofed went to the house; lot PH-1001 |
Two loaves came out of the oven flat, the last two shaped, which had sat warm too long before going in the cooler; they went to the family table, not the subscribers. The subscribers pick up Thursday afternoon, sold straight to them as North Dakota's cottage food law requires, in north dakota cottage food laws.
Get the run sheet
Download the sourdough production run sheet. Two sheets: a blank run sheet to print for each batch, with the ten steps, the check at each and its target, and spaces for the actual reading, the time and initials; and the same run filled in from the example. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The run sheet covers one bake. A levain, a dough and the loaves on two different days, 60 subscribers and a market: when a flour lot is recalled, the trace has to run through the dough to every subscriber.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack records the levain, the dough and the loaves as their own batches, linked by lot.
The dough as a batch. Wednesday's dough is a batch from its recipe, taking the flour and salt off stock with their lots.
Loaves from the dough. Thursday's bake is a batch that uses the dough, with its own lot, and records the good loaves against what the dough should make.
Where it went. Each subscriber's order records the lot it got, so one recall report runs from a flour lot to every customer.
| The job | Clipboard | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday's dough | A note on the tub | A batch with its lots |
| Thursday's loaves | Counted at the end | A batch from the dough |
| Which subscribers got a lot | A list on the fridge | One recall report |
Recipes, batches, lots and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.