Sourdough Schedule Planner ⏰

Enter your desired bake time to reverse-calculate the start time for each step.

The Sourdough Schedule Planner answers the most stressful question in naturally leavened baking: when do I have to start so the loaf comes out of the oven exactly when I want it? Instead of doing fragile mental math at midnight, you enter your target bake date and time and the planner works backward through every stage — feeding the levain, autolyse, mixing, bulk fermentation, pre-shape, final shape, the overnight cold retard, and scoring and baking — to tell you the precise clock time each step must begin. Each step's duration is fully editable, so you can stretch bulk fermentation on a cold kitchen day, shorten the retard, or drop the autolyse entirely, and the whole timeline recalculates instantly. It highlights the single most important moment, when to start feeding your starter, often the day before. Weekend bakers fitting bread around family life, anyone juggling a long fridge retard, and bakers adapting a recipe to their own kitchen temperature rely on it to bake with confidence.

How to Use the Sourdough Schedule Planner

  1. Set Your Bake Target — Enter the date and time you want the bread to come out of the oven. Everything is planned backward from this single moment, so pick when you actually want fresh bread.
  2. Review the Default Stages — The planner loads the standard eight stages — feed levain, autolyse, mix, bulk fermentation, pre-shape, final shape, cold retard, and score & bake — each with a typical duration already filled in.
  3. Tune Each Duration — Edit any stage's time in hours:minutes. Lengthen bulk fermentation in a cool kitchen, trim it when warm, extend the cold retard for more sour flavor, or set a stage to zero to skip it.
  4. Read the Start-Feeding Time — The highlighted card shows exactly when to begin feeding your levain — frequently the previous evening. This is the deadline that makes or breaks the whole bake, so set a reminder.
  5. Follow the Backward Timeline — Work down the timeline using each stage's start and end times and the running total duration. The day markers (D-1, D-2) tell you which calendar day each step lands on.

Formula Reference

This is a reverse (backward-chaining) timeline: each stage's end time equals the next stage's start time, and its start time = end time − duration, computed from the bake moment backward. Total project length = sum of all stage durations. Worked example, default stages summing to feed levain 8h + autolyse 45m + mix 15m + bulk 4h + pre-shape 20m + final shape 15m + cold retard 12h + score & bake 50m = about 26h 25m. To pull a loaf at 10:00 AM Saturday, you must begin feeding the levain at roughly 7:35 AM Friday. Because fermentation is temperature-driven, lengthen bulk time in a cool kitchen and shorten it when warm — a common rule of thumb is that fermentation roughly halves for every ~8°C (15°F) drop in dough temperature.

Source: Chad Robertson, Tartine Bread (Chronicle Books, 2010); Ken Forkish, Flour Water Salt Yeast (Ten Speed Press, 2012); San Francisco Baking Institute, Artisan I course notes on fermentation and dough temperature.

FAQ

When should I start feeding my levain before baking?

Feed it when the starter will be at its ripe peak as you mix — usually 4 to 12 hours ahead depending on inoculation, flour, and temperature. The planner's highlighted start-feeding time accounts for the full chain of stages, so you feed neither too early nor too late.

How does kitchen temperature change my schedule?

Temperature drives yeast and bacteria activity. Warmer dough ferments faster; cooler dough slows down. As a rough guide, bulk fermentation roughly halves for every ~8°C (15°F) rise. Edit the bulk and proof durations to match your room, and pair this with a dough temperature calculator for precision.

Can I skip the autolyse or the cold retard?

Yes. Set that stage's duration to zero and the timeline recalculates. Skipping the cold retard means a same-day bake with milder flavor and less scheduling flexibility; skipping autolyse slightly reduces extensibility but still produces good bread, especially with stronger flour.

How long can I leave dough in the fridge to retard?

Most lean sourdoughs hold well in the fridge for 8 to 18 hours, and some bakers push to 24-48 hours for more pronounced sour flavor and convenience. Beyond that, over-proofing and surface degradation risk increases. Adjust the cold retard stage to whatever window fits your life.

Why plan backward from the bake time instead of forward?

Because the bake time is the fixed point you actually care about — you want bread ready for dinner or a Saturday morning, not whenever the math happens to land. Backward planning guarantees the loaf is done exactly when you need it and reveals the true start time, even if it's the night before.

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