Mixing

A bâtard with one long score and an ear — the shape used in the teaching country loaf.

Printed from https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/mixing/

Combining flour, water, salt, and leaven so that gluten can form and fermentation can begin evenly.

Appears in Learn sourdough · Previous: Fermentation · Next: Dough development

Mixing is not merely stirring. It hydrates flour, distributes salt and Levain, and begins Gluten development.

How aggressively you mix changes oxidation, dough temperature, and the work left for folds later. The professional control for that heat is Desired dough temperature. Calvel treats mixing as a technical choice with consequences for flavor and crumb, not as a single correct speed ¹.

After mixing comes Dough development — strength gained in time, not only in the bowl.

Ingredient

Wheat flour

Connected from

Appears in pathways

Learn sourdough

Sources & further exploration

Cited in this article

Raymond Calvel. The Taste of Bread. Aspen Publishers. 2001. ISBN 978-0-8342-1646-4

Updated 2026-08-25. gg:topic:mixing · CC BY 4.0

Cite this page

Cite the dated version. The live page may change.

Recommended

Gourmet Gastronomer. "Mixing." Updated 2026-08-25. https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/mixing/ gg:topic:mixing.

Chicago

Gourmet Gastronomer. "Mixing." Gourmet Gastronomer. Updated August 25, 2026. https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/mixing/.

APA

Gourmet Gastronomer. (2026, August 25). Mixing. https://gourmetgastronomer.com/baking/sourdough/mixing/