Sourdough for the Holidays: A Bake Schedule Working Back From Serving Time

By Tuan · Published 23 October 2026

Fresh sourdough on the holiday table is lovely; shaping dough at midnight on Christmas Eve is not. The fix is to plan backwards from when you want to serve the bread, and to build in the slack that a busy kitchen needs.

The example is Christmas lunch, but it works for Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 26, 2026) or any gathering; just move the dates.

A note on times: every time below is a typical range. Fermentation depends heavily on temperature (and on your starter and flour), so treat the times as a starting plan and watch the dough, not the clock.

The example: two loaves for Christmas lunch

• Serve: Friday, December 25, 2026, lunch at about 1:00 pm
• Dough: two loaves of 900 g each (1,800 g total)
• Formula: 75% hydration, 20% starter, 2% salt (baker's percentages, all relative to flour)

Put those numbers into the hydration calculator and you get the amounts below (the calculator rounds to whole grams; one decimal is shown here):

The maths: total percentage = 100 + 75 + 20 + 2 = 197%, so flour = 1,800 ÷ 1.97 = 913.7 g, and everything else is a percentage of that. Because the starter is half flour and half water, the true hydration of the dough is (685.3 + 91.4) ÷ (913.7 + 91.4) = 77.3%, a little wetter than the nominal 75%. If that's more than you're used to, my guide to 80% hydration sourdough explains how wetter doughs behave, and the starter percentage guide explains how the starter amount affects timing.

Not sure 900 g fits your tin? Check the Dutch oven and banneton dough size guide first.

Working backwards from 1:00 pm on December 25

The whole plan, then each step:

Step 1: Wake up the starter (two to three days before)

If your starter lives in the fridge, give it one or two room-temperature feeds before the levain build, so it's rising predictably. Taking it out on the evening of the 22nd and feeding it again on the morning of the 23rd gives you a day to see how it's behaving. As a rough guide, a healthy starter fed 1:2:2 peaks in about 8–10 hours at around 20 °C (68 °F), or 6–8 hours at around 24 °C (75 °F). A freshly revived or sluggish starter will be slower.

If it's barely moving by the evening of the 23rd, feed it again and push the whole plan back.

Step 2: Build the levain the night before mixing

You need 182.7 g of starter for the dough. Build a bit extra so you have something left to keep going: 20 g ripe starter + 100 g flour + 100 g water = 220 g at 1:5:5, leaving about 37 g spare.

A larger ratio like 1:5:5 slows the levain, which suits an overnight build. Around 20 °C, it typically peaks in roughly 12–14 hours. Build at 9:00 pm, and it should be ready around 9:00–11:00 am. In a warmer kitchen (around 24 °C), expect nearer 10–12 hours, so build later or use 1:10:10. My levain build ratios guide shows how to scale any ratio to the exact amount you need.

Step 3: Mix and bulk ferment (Christmas Eve)

Mix when the levain is at or near its peak. Dough temperature has a big effect on bulk fermentation time. With about 20% starter, typical ranges are:

To hit a target dough temperature, use the water temperature formula from the desired dough temperature guide: water = (target × 4) − (room + flour + starter + friction). For a 24 °C target in a 20 °C kitchen, with flour at 20 °C, starter at 22 °C and 1 °C friction for hand mixing: 96 − 63 = 33 °C water.

At 24 °C, a 10:00 am mix puts the end of bulk at around 3:00–5:00 pm. Judge it by the dough: risen by roughly 50–75%, domed, airy, with bubbles at the sides.

Step 4: Shape and cold retard overnight

Shape, put the loaves in bannetons, cover them and refrigerate. A cold retard at around 3–5 °C typically works anywhere from about 8 to 16 hours, and the fridge slows things so much that it gives you a wide window. Into the fridge at 4:30 pm and baked at 8:00 am is 15.5 hours, within that range. If bulk runs late, you still have room.

Step 5: Bake on the morning, then let it cool

Preheat the oven, and the Dutch oven if you use one, following your recipe. Bake the loaves straight from the fridge. If you only have one Dutch oven, bake one loaf after the other and leave the second in the fridge until its turn.

Let the bread cool for at least an hour or two before slicing; the crumb is still setting. Baking at 8:00 am also frees the oven well before any roast needs it.

If the timing slips

• Starter slow? Feed again and move everything back a few hours. The cold retard can absorb it.
• Kitchen cold? Find a warmer spot or use warmer water.
• No time on the day? Bake on Christmas Eve, cool completely, wrap, and refresh in a hot oven for a few minutes before serving.

Keep the numbers to hand

The free printable hydration chart gives water weights from 60% to 90% hydration and shows how your starter changes the true hydration. If you'd like the starter feeding schedule, bulk fermentation and proofing times by temperature, hydration ranges by flour type and conversions in one place, my Sourdough Baker's Cheat Sheet Pack is a printable set for $1. If you're baking more than bread this season, my Holiday Baking Planner has a long-rise and sourdough bake timeline page, a weekly baking schedule with oven space, and a make-ahead log.

Disclosure: the cheat sheet pack and the baking planner are my own products on Payhip, priced at $1 each. The hydration chart is free. All times here are typical ranges and depend strongly on temperature, flour and your starter.