Planning and maths

A sourdough schedule: plan backwards, proof overnight, bake in the morning

Updated October 2026 · 2 min read

A sourdough loaf takes a whole day from mixing to slicing. Plan it backwards and you never have to get up at three in the morning.

Plan backwards

Start from the time the bread should come out of the oven and subtract the phases one by one. An example for a 900 g loaf in a cool kitchen, ready at 6 pm:

Step	Start	Duration
Refresh the starter (1:5:5)	evening before, 10 pm	10–12 h
Autolyse: mix flour and water, let it rest	9:25 am	30 min
Bulk fermentation with stretch and folds	9:55 am	4 h
Shape	1:55 pm	20 min
Final proof	2:15 pm	3 h
Preheat the oven, alongside the final proof	4:30 pm	45 min
Bake	5:15 pm	45 min

The first row solves the usual problem: refreshing the starter 1:1:1 in the morning would mean getting up around 4 am. A 1:5:5 feed the evening before is ripe by morning on its own. More in Feeding your sourdough starter.

If the bread should be on the table for a meal, allow about an hour and a half for cooling after baking. Sourdough is sliced only once it has cooled; before that the crumb is still damp.

Overnight: the cold proof

The fridge slows proofing so much that the shaped loaf can stay there for 8–16 hours. That moves baking to the next morning:

Around midday, mix the dough and start bulk fermentation.
In the evening, shape and put the covered loaf in the fridge.
In the morning, preheat the oven and bake the loaf straight from the fridge.

Nothing falls in the night, and the bread is ready for breakfast. A cold loaf is also easier to score cleanly.

When something doesn't fit

If a step lands in the middle of your night, there are two ways out: push the whole bake later, or move the final proof into the fridge. If the dough is ready earlier than planned, put it somewhere cool to buy time. If it is slower, move it somewhere warmer.

Common questions

How long can the loaf stay in the fridge?

Up to about 24 hours is usually fine. The longer it stays, the more sour the bread. 8–16 hours is a good range.

Does the loaf need to warm up before baking?

No. It goes straight from the fridge into the hot oven. That makes scoring easier and the loaf holds its shape better.

How do I plan for bread at dinner?

Count back from the meal: about an hour and a half to cool, before that the baking time, before that every other phase. The plan above shows the maths for 6 pm.