Food & DrinkThe ProfessorBeginner
Baking Your First Sourdough course icon

Baking Your First Sourdough

Like Duolingo, but for Baking Your First Sourdough. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.

24 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free during early access · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Bubbles the Baker
Baking Your First Sourdough
with Bubbles the Baker
24
Levels
3
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Baking Your First Sourdough

  • Cold temperatures significantly slow down fermentation
  • Mixing and stretching occur at the start of the process
  • The 'cold proof' allows shaped loaves to sit in the fridge overnight
  • Shaping happens after the bulk rise but before the final proof
  • How to use refrigeration to control the baking timeline
  • Identifying the sequence of active touchpoints in the process
  • Most of the sourdough process is passive fermentation
  • Active steps are concentrated at the beginning of the timeline
  • Distinguishing between active work and passive waiting periods
  • The initial mix should be a 'shaggy mass' rather than a smooth ball
  • Flour is compressible, making volume measurements inconsistent
  • Dry flour pockets prevent even hydration and gluten development
  • Sourdough requires precise ratios of water to flour for predictable results
  • Ingredients must be weighed before mixing to ensure the correct hydration
  • Recognizing the correct visual state of the dough after the initial mix
  • The rest period happens only after all flour is fully hydrated
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Baking Your First Sourdough the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Mastering the Baking Timeline

When should you plan to do the most hands-on work, such as mixing and stretching the dough?

Get it right to open this lesson and 23 more in the app.

Course map

Where Baking Your First Sourdough takes you

Stop buying expensive loaves and start baking tangy, crusty bread at home. Learn to keep a starter alive and master the rhythm of the sourdough kitchen.

  1. 1

    Get Your First Loaf in the Oven

    • The No-Stress Baking Schedule
    • Mixing Your First Dough
    • Folding for Strength
    • The Magic of the Dutch Oven
    • How to Tell When It's Done
  2. 2

    Master the Art of the Starter

    • Feeding Your New Pet
    • The Float Test Secret
    • Using Your Leftover Discard
  3. 3

    Control the Flavor and Texture

    • Making It More or Less Sour
    • Getting Those Big Air Bubbles
    • Choosing the Right Flour
    • Why Wild Yeast is Different

3 sections · 12 units · 24 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Professor

Baking Your First Sourdough is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

Keep going

More Food & Drink on Tomo

Start free

Start Baking Your First Sourdough today.

Download Tomo, search Baking Your First Sourdough, and play your first lesson in under a minute.