Bread Machines

Sourdough, like all wild yeasts, needs longer to prove than commercial baker’s yeast. For this reason, sourdough is not immediately suitable for making in a standard bread machine.

One way around this is if your machine has “dough only” and “bake only” settings. In which case, you can use the dough setting to knead the dough, then leave it for 5-6 hours before using the bake setting.

Some bread machines have user-programmable settings, which may allow you to set a long enough period for the various stages.

I’ve read other reports of people successfully using a “French Bread” setting, with decent results.

Alternatively, a small amount of instant yeast (¼ teaspoon) may be mixed into the water at the initial mixing, together with 1 teaspoons of sugar. This is a bit of a cheat, in that you are now relying upon the sourdough for taste only, and the instant yeast and sugar as the rising agent. I have also read of people using baking soda (¼ teaspoon) instead of instant yeast/sugar.

I haven’t tried any of these methods, but feel free to experiment.