Is Sourdough Worth It in Summer? It can be, and for some it needs to be. There is a trick to baking bread in the summer, though, and it’s all in creating a Simple Sourdough Summer Routine.
Simple Sourdough Summer Routine
For our family, a few of us have issues with straight wheat, so we either need to be gluten-free or do sourdough. For the last three years, I’ve been refining a simple summertime sourdough routine that works well for us, and I’m going to tell you all about it as I bake for my family in this video.
Summer Sourdough Routine
When the days stretch long and hot, the last thing I (or anyone) want is to be stuck in the kitchen with a warm oven blazing. But we still want and need fresh bread—soft sandwich loaves, chewy naan, and crispy crackers that disappear faster than I can cool them. That’s why I’ve developed a simple, efficient summertime sourdough routine that keeps our kitchen as cool as possible and our plates full.
Simple Sourdough Summer Routine Tip 1
The first tip I have in baking sourdough bread in the summer is the approach of once-a-week feeding, dough mixing, and by the way….zero discard. Yes, you read that right!
I feed my starter just twice a week. I usually take about two days to build it up. Then, once it’s bubbly, I mix up several batches of dough using my go-to recipe (yes, it’s on the blog), and I portion them into containers and stash them in the fridge. This chilled dough becomes our bread for the week. Whenever I need a loaf, naan, crackers, cinnamon rolls, bagels, English muffins, whatever, I simply pull out a container, let it warm to room temp, process the dough, let it rise, and bake it—usually in the cooler evening hours once the day has started to cool. I’ll open the windows to let the evening air in, and bake a couple of loaves.
Learn More About My Sourdough Method
Sourdough doesn’t have to be complicated.
Sourdough made simple is my new course on Patreon where I teach how you can make sourdough simply—no scales, no grams, no discard, no mile long tedious instructions that you need a PhD and a week to decipher.
In Sourdough Simplified, you’ll learn an easy, no-fuss method that fits real life. No tedious steps, no waste—just wholesome, delicious bread made with what you have.
Simple. Practical. Homemade.
Simple Sourdough Summer Routine Tip 2
Another trick I’ll do in my Simple Sourdough Summer Routine is to keep an eye on the weather. I’ll look for the coolest days of the week, and pull the dough out to bake on those days.
This is how we keep fresh bread on demand.
Simple Sourdough Summer Routine Tip 3
My 3rd tip is to keep things super simple by using the same basic dough every time. This master recipe is my workhorse. It’s soft enough for sandwich bread, pliable enough for naan or pita, and strong enough to hold up to cinnamon rolls and even our favorite sourdough artisan bread.
Crackers
I do use a different recipe for the crackers, though. I like to add some oat flour, and some more fat to these to help them crisp up.
One big batch of my crackers barely made it two hours. I made a large batch, around 3 gallons. The day I made them one vanished before dinner. Apparently, they were absolutely addictive. They’re one of those snacks you tell yourself you’ll have “just a few”… and suddenly the container’s empty. I do have those in a video on my new cooking channel, Mountain Mama’s Home Kitchen, if you would like to learn more about them.
Throughout the week, we get creative with how we use the dough. One of my sons, who’s a budding baker, pulls a batch every Saturday and makes sourdough cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning. He’s gotten so good at it, I don’t even have to supervise anymore. And when bread starts to go stale, my daughter rescues it by making my sourdough breakfast soufflé (also on the blog!). Nothing gets wasted—and everything gets enjoyed.
For sandwich bread, I let the dough rise slowly throughout the day, and I bake in the evening when it’s cooler. Once it’s done baking, I don’t even open the oven because that would heat the house more. I just turn it off and leave the loaf inside overnight. This little trick traps in moisture and makes the bread softer. By morning, the loaf is cool, tender, and ready for slicing.
This rhythm of once-a-week feeding, bulk mixing, and baking as needed gives us flexibility and simplicity. It’s sourdough that works for us, not the other way around.
If you are still trying to learn sourdough baking, I invite you to check out my Sourdough Simplified course. I break everything down step-by-step: no scales, no grams, no discard, no overcomplication. Just real, flexible, nourishing sourdough—taught the way I bake it in my own kitchen, every week, even through summer.
Sourdough doesn’t have to rule your life. It can serve your home beautifully with less effort than you think.
Simple Sourdough Summer Routine