Instructions
Start with bake time, then let the plan get realistic.
Sourdough Bulk Planner is built to answer the practical question: if you want bread or pizza at a certain time, when do you feed starter, mix, fold, shape, chill, bake, or freeze?
Quick start
Follow this order when you open the app. It keeps the plan centered around starter readiness and the time you actually want to bake.
Choose what you are making
Select bread or pizza. For pizza, choose whether you plan to bake soon, cold proof, or freeze after balling.
Set the target
For bread, choose the bake time. For pizza that will be frozen, choose when you want the dough ready to ball and freeze.
Log or confirm starter
Feed starter now, use a recent feed if it belongs to this bake, log a past feed, or override and confirm it will be ready.
Choose the proof path
The app can suggest same day, short cold, 12 hour, or 16 hour timing when that path fits your target.
Build the dough
Use the recipe builder or load a saved formula. Check total dough, fresh flour, water to add, starter, salt, and flour breakdown.
Review the realistic plan
If starter readiness or bulk timing makes the target hard to hit, adjust the target time or choose the suggested path.
Start mixing when flour, water, and starter meet
Once the schedule starts, the app focuses on the active bake and keeps the plan locked so accidental edits do not move the dough.
Recipe builder instructions
The recipe builder turns plain choices into baker percentages and grams. You can use the defaults, load a formula, edit it, then update or save a new one.
Use this when making loaves.
- Loaves: Choose how many loaves you are making.
- Size: Small, standard, and large scale the target dough weight.
- Feel: Easy is more forgiving, balanced is the default, and airy pushes a wetter dough.
- Flour path: White, mixed, and whole grain adjust the formula and timing expectations.
- Saved formulas: Load a formula when you already know what you want. Use Update after edits, or Save as New for a separate version.
Use this when making pizza balls.
- Count: Choose the number of pizza balls.
- Size: Use 10, 12, or 14 inch targets to set practical ball weights.
- Crust style: Choose a thinner, regular, or thicker path depending on the pizza you want.
- Storage: Choose bake soon, cold proof, or freeze after balling so the finish steps make sense.
- Whole grain: Higher whole grain pizza usually wants gentler handling and a lower bake temperature than all-white dough.
These are the main formula outputs.
- Total dough: The full batch weight.
- Fresh flour to add: Flour added at mix, excluding starter flour.
- Water to add: Water added at mix, excluding starter water.
- Starter: Mature 100% hydration starter to use.
- Salt and oil: Salt for bread and pizza; oil only appears when the formula uses it.
Use the water temp as a starting point.
- Suggested water temp: Based on target dough temp, room temp, flour temp, starter temp, and friction factor.
- Projected dough temp: The app estimate after mixing.
- Dough health: A quick warning if the formula is likely to be hard to handle.
If you use 100 g of a 100% hydration starter, the app counts that as 50 g flour and 50 g water. That is why fresh flour and water to add are lower than the total flour and water in the formula.
Starter setup
The schedule is only useful if starter readiness lines up with mix time. Starter feeds are meant to support the bake they were logged for.
Use this when you are starting from the current time.
The app estimates the earliest realistic bake window based on when that feed should be ready.
Use this only when the feed belongs to this bake.
If you logged a starter feed a couple of hours ago and it is still part of the current plan, the app can use it.
Use this when you know the starter will be ready.
This is helpful if you fed earlier, know your starter schedule, or plan to mix when it peaks even if the app cannot verify it.
Wait for the starter or use the app's push-out options. Mixing with starter before peak can still work, but the dough may need more fermentation time and the bake may land later.
Timers, reminders, and active baking
Once the plan starts, the app shifts into a focused baking flow. Formula choices are locked, important recipe amounts stay visible, and alerts stay tied to the live schedule.
Set reminders if you are waiting.
Use mix reminders when the plan starts later. If notifications are not enabled, the app prompts you to turn them on.
Follow fold and stop-bulk alerts.
The timer keeps autolyse, stretch and fold, preshape, final shape, and cold proof steps in order.
Log what happened.
Use under, good, or over plus notes about crumb, spring, flavor, crust, starter, and timing.
Common questions
Why does the app say the plan is not realistic?
Usually the starter cannot be ready by the planned mix time, the cold proof path does not fit the bake target, or the stop-bulk time lands somewhere impractical. Move the target or choose the suggested path.
Why is there no bake time on frozen pizza dough?
If you freeze after balling, the goal is getting dough safely mixed, fermented, divided, and frozen. The bake happens later after thawing.
What if I start early?
Starting early moves the live schedule. The app can adjust later steps or extend cold proof depending on the path.
Can experienced bakers still edit formulas?
Yes. Use saved formulas and the builder to adjust hydration, starter, flour percentages, salt, oil, dough size, and pizza ball targets.
Start simple, then save what works.
Run one normal bake, log the result, then adjust. The app is strongest when it knows your actual starter, room, fridge, and schedule.