One of the easiest ways to understand your sourdough dough is to watch how it changes as you mix it.
It starts off rough and shaggy, then gradually becomes smoother, stronger and more elastic as the gluten develops. Once you know what these changes look like, it becomes much easier to tell when your dough is ready to move on to the next stage.
Whether you mix by hand or use a spiral mixer, these simple cues can help you get to know your dough and bake with more confidence.
If you're new to sourdough and looking for the full process from start to finish, check out our Sourdough Bread Recipe: Step-by-Step for Beginners. Then, come back here to learn more about what to look for during the mixing stage.
Here's what to look for from the initial mix through to the windowpane test.
1. Start With Your Ingredients
Before you begin, weigh all of your ingredients. Accurate measurements help keep your dough consistent from one bake to the next. Our Digital Kitchen Scale makes it easy to measure your ingredients accurately and is available in our shop.
It's also worth thinking about your water temperature.
Mixing creates heat through friction, so using slightly colder water can help keep the dough from getting too warm as it mixes. Your ideal dough temperature will depend on your recipe, but starting with cooler water is a simple way to help manage the temperature of your dough.
2. Bring Everything Together
Start with your flour, followed by the water, active sourdough starter and salt.
Begin mixing at a low speed, giving the ingredients time to come together.
At this point, your dough will look rough and shaggy. That's exactly what you want to see. The flour is absorbing the water and the ingredients are starting to form a dough.
There's no need to rush this stage. Let everything come together before gradually increasing the mixing speed.
3. Watch Your Dough Get Stronger
As you continue mixing, you'll start to see some of the most noticeable changes.
The dough will gradually become:
- Smoother as the ingredients become fully incorporated
- Stronger as the gluten develops
- More elastic as it becomes better able to stretch without breaking
- More cohesive as it begins to pull together around the hook
This is the part of mixing where you can really start to see the dough develop.
With the Ooni Halo Pro, the spiral dough hook works together with the rotating bowl to gently stretch and fold the dough as it mixes. This helps develop the gluten while keeping the dough moving through the bowl.
4. Look for the “Pumpkin Shape”
As the dough develops, you may notice it starting to gather around the hook into a smooth, rounded shape almost like a little pumpkin.
It's a simple visual cue that your dough is becoming stronger and more cohesive.
Every dough will behave a little differently depending on the flour, hydration and recipe, so don't worry if yours doesn't look exactly the same. What matters is seeing that progression from rough and shaggy to smooth and elastic.
5. Try the Windowpane Test
Want a simple way to check your dough?
Try the windowpane test.
Wet your hands and take a small piece of dough. Gently stretch it between your fingers until it's nice and thin.
If you can stretch it thin enough to see light through it without the dough tearing, that's a good sign that your gluten has developed well and your dough is ready for bulk fermentation.
If it tears easily, give it a little more time to develop.
It's a simple test, and one that gets easier to recognise the more you bake.
6. Time for Bulk Fermentation
Once your dough is mixed and you're happy with its development, cover it and let it begin its bulk fermentation.
This is where your dough gets time to ferment, develop flavour and build structure.
The timing can vary quite a bit. Depending on your recipe and the temperature of your kitchen, bulk fermentation might take around 3 to 3½ hours, or it could take 8 hours or more. That's completely normal.
Knowing when your dough has fermented enough is an important part of the process. Temperature, timing and the behaviour of your dough all play a role.
Want to learn more? Read our guide to Achieving the Perfectly Proofed Sourdough for more tips on knowing when your dough is ready for the next stage.
7. Shape, Chill and Bake
Once bulk fermentation is complete, it's time to shape your dough.
Shape it and place it into a banneton, then transfer it to the fridge for its cold proof. From there, you can bake it the next day.
Every sourdough recipe has its own process, so don't worry if your timings look a little different from someone else's. The more you bake, the easier it becomes to understand what works for your dough.
How Spiral Mixing Can Help
You don't need a mixer to make great sourdough. Plenty of home bakers mix and develop their dough by hand.
But if you bake regularly or make larger batches, a spiral mixer can make the mixing process easier and more consistent.
The Ooni Halo Pro combines a spiral dough hook with a rotating bowl to gently stretch and fold the dough as it mixes. You can start at a low speed and gradually increase it as the dough develops, giving you more control throughout the mixing process.
It's professional spiral mixing technology designed for the home kitchen, whether you're making a single sourdough loaf or preparing a larger batch.
Get to Know Your Dough
You don't need to be an expert to recognise when your sourdough is developing well.
Start by watching the simple changes: rough and shaggy becomes smooth, the dough becomes more elastic, and it starts to hold its shape. Then, when you're ready, the windowpane test can give you another helpful indication that your dough is ready for fermentation.
The more you bake, the more familiar these cues become.
And whether you're mixing by hand or using the Ooni Halo Pro, understanding what your dough is doing is one of the simplest ways to become a more confident home baker.