Sourdough loaf timings.

[Dinopawus]

Has anyone cracked sourdough loaf timings once their starter is ready?

I have followed Barney Desmazery's recipe (below) with good results but find it tricky to fit all the steps in on day 2.
I start the levain on a Thursday evening and leave overnight, then do the remaining mixing and folding steps on Friday, before shaping and leaving overnight again to cook on Saturday morning.

Which is fine in theory until Friday gets busy and I either miss out a step or stay up very late. Has anyone got a foolproof method that's a bit less demanding?

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/white-sourdough

I use Bake with Jack sourdough 101. It takes about 7 hours. I fell asleep this afternoon and didn't start it until 4pm, just waiting up to put into the baskets .

I use Alexa to remind me when to do the folds.

www.bakewithjack.co.uk/videos/2019/6/6/bread-tip-101-beginners-sourdough-loaf-start-to-finish

If your starter is lively, you can mix late afternoon/early evening, do stretch and folds and chill in banetons overnight in fridge. Then bake when you're ready. Don't need to do two overnight unless it suits you.

Thank you both. I definitely want to try again and feel like I need to get into a better routine with it.

I mix starter with flour and water early evening, around 6pm. 4 stretch and folds before bed, prove overnight at room temperature then shape and in the banneton and in the fridge in the morning (bake same day after a few hours or leave 24h in fridge). This is with 50g starter/500g flour/350g water/10g salt.

I have Theories about over complex sourdough recipes. I think it's more about making bloggers look Special and Important than about putting bread on the table.

My recipe (passed to me by a friend): Morning, feed starter. Before bed, chuck flour in bowl, add starter and a bit of warm water, fold until mixed. Next morning: fold a couple of times, plop onto floured trays, bake. Voila!

I couldn’t agree more crackofdoom. I do exactly as you write, which is basically Bread Ahead’s no knead sourdough. I’ve tried far more complex recipes but for us this one is the best.

I think the only difference in waiting and refrigerating is supposed to be the sourness.