How long will my dough take?
Set your dough temperature and how much starter you use. You get bulk fermentation, proofing and a schedule for your day, based on Bill Wraith's fermentation model.
These are rough ballpark figures. Every starter, flour and kitchen is different. Use the times to plan your day, not to decide when your dough is done. For the details, follow the bulk fermentation chart in my book. The limits of this table are listed below.
All the numbers
Find your dough temperature, then go across to the amount of starter you use. Tap a time to see all four times for that dough.
Bulk fermentation for a dough with 2% salt, starter at 100% hydration as a share of the flour weight. Rough ballpark figures.
| Starter → dough temp. ↓ | 2% (1.0% inoc.) | 5% (2.4% inoc.) | 10% (4.8% inoc.) | 15% (7.0% inoc.) | 20% (9.1% inoc.) | 30% (13.0% inoc.) | 50% (20.0% inoc.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 °C (50 °F) | 80h | 64h | 52h | 45h | 40h | 34h | 28h |
| 12 °C (54 °F) | 57h | 45h | 37h | 32h | 29h | 24h | 20h |
| 14 °C (57 °F) | 41h | 33h | 26h | 23h | 21h | 18h | 14h |
| 16 °C (61 °F) | 30h | 24h | 19h | 17h | 15h | 13h | 10h |
| 18 °C (64 °F) | 22h | 17h | 14h | 12h | 11h | 9h 25 | 7h 40 |
| 19 °C (66 °F) | 19h | 15h | 12h | 11h | 9h 35 | 8h 10 | 6h 40 |
| 20 °C (68 °F) | 17h | 13h | 11h | 9h 15 | 8h 25 | 7h 10 | 5h 50 |
| 21 °C (70 °F) | 15h | 12h | 9h 20 | 8h 05 | 7h 20 | 6h 15 | 5h 05 |
| 22 °C (72 °F) | 13h | 10h | 8h 20 | 7h 15 | 6h 30 | 5h 35 | 4h 30 |
| 23 °C (73 °F) | 12h | 9h 15 | 7h 30 | 6h 30 | 5h 50 | 5h 00 | 4h 00 |
| 24 °C (75 °F) | 10h | 8h 15 | 6h 45 | 5h 50 | 5h 15 | 4h 30 | 3h 40 |
| 25 °C (77 °F) | 9h 40 | 7h 40 | 6h 15 | 5h 25 | 4h 50 | 4h 10 | 3h 20 |
| 26 °C (79 °F) | 8h 55 | 7h 05 | 5h 45 | 5h 00 | 4h 30 | 3h 50 | 3h 05 |
| 27 °C (81 °F) | 8h 25 | 6h 40 | 5h 25 | 4h 45 | 4h 15 | 3h 35 | 2h 55 |
| 28 °C (82 °F) | 8h 15 | 6h 35 | 5h 20 | 4h 35 | 4h 10 | 3h 30 | 2h 50 |
| 29 °C (84 °F) | 8h 00 | 6h 25 | 5h 10 | 4h 30 | 4h 05 | 3h 25 | 2h 50 |
24 °C, 10% starter
4.8% inoculation, dough with 2% salt
What the numbers mean
Bulk fermentation
From mixing until you shape. Bill ends bulk a little before the dough has doubled.
Proofing
From shaping until the dough is ready for the oven, at the same temperature.
Mix to bake
Bulk fermentation and proofing together: when your bread goes into the oven.
Doubling time
How long the dough would take to double if you left it alone. Use it to compare your starter with Bill's.
What changes the time
- Dough temperature. Measure the dough, not the room. Between 18 and 24 °C (64 and 75 °F), every degree Celsius warmer saves about 10 to 13% of the time. Below that it's about 15% per degree. Above 27 °C (81 °F), more warmth hardly speeds things up anymore.
- How much starter. Twice the starter cuts bulk fermentation by about a quarter. The Sourdough Framework recommends 5 to 10% starter and explains why.
- Salt. 2% salt makes everything about 20% slower. Use "no salt" for a levain or for your starter itself.
- Your starter. A lively starter can be twice as fast as a sleepy one. That's why the times are a first guess until you have compared your starter with Bill's.
Inoculation, explained
Bill's table counts the flour that is already fermented, the flour inside your starter, as a share of all the flour in the dough. He calls that the inoculation. A starter at 100% hydration is half flour, so 20% starter in a recipe is about 9% inoculation, and 10% starter is about 5%. This page does the conversion for you.
Limitations: read this before you trust the clock
Every time on this page is a rough ballpark figure. Bill built the model from his own test doughs in 2007 and 2008. It is a good way to plan your day, but it doesn't measure your dough. These are its known limits:
- Bill's starter, Bill's flour. The times are tuned to his starter and a flour mix of about 85% white, 10% whole wheat and 5% whole rye. Your starter can be much faster or slower.
- One kind of dough. 75% hydration with white flour, and either no salt or 2% salt. Whole grain, very stiff or very wet doughs, and doughs with sugar, butter, milk or eggs ferment differently.
- One temperature from start to finish. Real kitchens warm up and cool down. Proofing in the fridge isn't covered at all.
- Limited range. 10 to 29.4 °C (50 to 85 °F) and 0.5 to 25% inoculation. Outside that, this page shows the nearest edge of the table.
- Fixed end points. Bulk ends a little before doubling, proofing at Bill's idea of ready. How far you can push your dough depends on your flour: stronger flour can take more.
- Not in the model. Starter health (a sleepy starter straight from the fridge), the flour's freshness and enzymes, the temperature right after mixing, stretch and folds, your water.
- Estimates between the points. Bill's table has 5 °F steps and eight starter amounts. Everything in between is our interpolation.
My book puts it plainly: "The worst thing you can do when fermenting sourdough is to rely on a recipe's timing suggestions." Use the table to plan, then let the dough decide. For the details, start with the bulk fermentation chart. The Sourdough Framework is free to read online:
- The bulk fermentation chartAll the ways to tell when bulk is done
- How much should it grow?Size increase for your flour, with the aliquot jar
- How much starter?Why less starter can make better bread
- ProofingAt room temperature and in the fridge
- Is your starter ready?How to tell before you bake
- Bulk fermentationThe whole chapter section
Credit
The model and every number in this table are by Bill Wraith, known as bwraith on The Fresh Loaf. He built it in 2007 and 2008 from his test doughs, scientific papers and baking books, and shared it with the words "Use it as is, and modify it as you like." His website is no longer reachable, so I keep his original table, unchanged, here. This page is my easier way to read it: same numbers, interpolated in between.