Developing Your Own Sourdough Recipe: A Method

Short answer: start from a baseline recipe (500g flour, 70% hydration, 20% starter, 2% salt). Change one variable per bake. Track results. After 5 bakes, you'll have a custom recipe optimized for your kitchen and preferences.

Why develop your own

Reasons to make your own recipe:

• Match your kitchen and starter
• Work with specific flours
• Achieve a particular flavor profile
• Bake bread that suits your meals
• Continuous improvement

A recipe from a book is a starting point. Your recipe is the destination.

The baseline

Start with this baseline:

• 500g bread flour
• 350g water (70%)
• 100g starter (20%)
• 10g salt (2%)
• Bulk 5h at 75°F
• Cold retard 12h
• Bake at 475°F

This is a reliable starting point. Bake it 3 times to confirm consistency.

The variable testing protocol

Change one variable per bake. Track outcomes.

Variables to test:

Hydration

• Bake A: 70%
• Bake B: 75%
• Bake C: 80%

Which gives the crumb you want?

Starter percentage

• Bake A: 15%
• Bake B: 20%
• Bake C: 25%

Which gives the flavor and timing you want?

Whole grain percentage

• Bake A: 0%
• Bake B: 20%
• Bake C: 30%

Which adds flavor without dragging down structure?

Cold retard length

• Bake A: 8 hours
• Bake B: 18 hours
• Bake C: 36 hours

Which produces the flavor and texture you prefer?

Document each test

For each test bake:

• Bake date
• Variable changed
• Measurement (e.g., 75% hydration)
• Outcome (visual, taste, texture notes)
• Score (1–10 vs baseline)

After all tests, you'll see which variables matter most for you.

A 12-bake roadmap

Bake 1–3: Baseline (confirm consistency) Bake 4–6: Hydration test (70%, 75%, 80%) Bake 7–9: Whole grain test (0%, 20%, 30%) Bake 10–12: Cold retard test (12h, 24h, 36h)

After bake 12, you have data on three major variables.

Building your custom recipe

After 12 bakes:

• Identify the best hydration for your flour
• Identify the best whole grain percentage for your taste
• Identify the best cold retard for your flavor preference

Combine these into your "default" recipe.

For example:

• 500g flour (350g bread + 100g whole wheat + 50g rye)
• 380g water (76%)
• 100g starter
• 10g salt
• Bulk 5h
• Cold retard 24h
• Bake at 475°F

This is your recipe. Bake it for the next 6 months without changes. It's now optimized for your kitchen.

Continuing to evolve

After 6 months:

• Re-test some variables
• Try seasonal adjustments (kitchen temp changes)
• Try different flours
• Adjust based on new bread interests

Recipe development is ongoing.

What variables matter most

In my experience:

• Hydration: huge impact on crumb
• Bulk timing: huge impact on rise
• Cold retard: huge impact on flavor
• Whole grain: moderate impact on flavor and texture
• Salt percentage: small impact on flavor (stay near 2%)

Focus on the high-impact variables first.

A personal recipe development log

For each variable change, ask:

• Did this make the bread better, worse, or different?
• Was the change worth the trade-off?
• Should I keep this change permanently?

Be honest about your preferences.

When to add complexity

After mastering the basic recipe variables:

• Add inclusions (cheese, fruit, nuts)
• Add multiple flours (blend)
• Try pre-ferments (biga, poolish)
• Try shaping variations

But don't add complexity for its own sake. Each addition should improve the bread.

A starter strain consideration

Different starter strains produce different breads:

• A starter from a friend: their characteristics
• A new starter from scratch: your local microbes
• A purchased starter (King Arthur, etc.): consistent

Your starter determines what you can achieve. If you want different bread, sometimes starting with a different starter helps.

A flour-driven recipe

Some bakers develop recipes around specific flours:

• "Recipe for 12.5% protein bread flour"
• "Recipe for fresh-milled hard red"
• "Recipe for artisan blend"

If you have access to specialty flour, develop a recipe just for it.

A kitchen-driven recipe

Develop recipes around your specific kitchen:

• "Summer recipe" (hot kitchen, faster ferment)
• "Winter recipe" (cool kitchen, slower)
• "Apartment recipe" (stable temperature)

Adjust hydration, starter %, and timing for each season.

A recipe-sharing benefit

Once you have your custom recipe:

• Share with others
• Get feedback
• Iterate based on others' results
• Build a community

Sharing accelerates everyone's learning.

A final note

Recipe development is one of the most rewarding parts of advanced sourdough.

You move from "following recipes" to "creating recipes." The bread becomes yours in a deeper way.

Start with a baseline. Test methodically. Document. Iterate.

Within 3 months of intentional development, you'll have a recipe that produces your favorite bread reliably.

That's a real achievement.