Open Baking Sourdough Without a Dutch Oven: How to Bake 6 Loaves at Once

Open baking sourdough — baking your loaves right on a sheet pan, no Dutch oven needed — completely changed the way I make bread at home. I’ve been open baking my sourdough for about six months now, and if you’ve been following along, you’ve seen me talk about it non-stop. For good reason.

I’ll be honest: I tried open baking on a whim. I was tired of baking bread every other day. It was starting to feel like a part-time job, and I needed a solution where I could bake multiple sourdough loaves at once, freeze them, and pull them out over the following weeks. Almost like having my own little grocery store at home.

Turns out, open baking was exactly that solution. And it’s so much easier than you’d think. In this guide, I’ll walk you through everything: the equipment, the steam setup, my 5-to-7-minute scoring technique for a dramatic ear, exact temperatures and bake times, and how to freeze your loaves so they stay fresh for months.

What is open baking sourdough?

Open baking means baking your sourdough bread directly in the oven — on a baking sheet — instead of inside a Dutch oven. The Dutch oven’s job is to trap steam around your loaf, and steam is what gives sourdough its beautiful crust, shine, and oven spring. When you open bake, you create that steam yourself with a pan of boiling water at the bottom of the oven.

The huge advantage of baking sourdough without a Dutch oven? You’re no longer limited to one loaf at a time. I can bake up to six loaves in a single bake, depending on their size — which makes open baking the best method for batch baking sourdough at home.

Do you need a convection oven to open bake sourdough?

No — and this surprises a lot of people. Open baking works great in a regular home oven. Mine has a convection option, but you truly don’t need one, and honestly, sometimes convection works against you. The fan can push the steam out of the oven rather than keeping it in, and steam is the whole point here. A normal, basic oven works just as well, if not better.

Equipment for open baking sourdough

You don’t need much to open bake sourdough bread, but a few things make a real difference:

Extra-large baking sheets

This is my number one recommendation. This one has been my go-to for all my sourdough bakes — it’s huge and takes up essentially the whole width of the oven, so you can fit more loaves per tray. I usually place 2 to 3 loaves per sheet and run two sheets at once.

A metal pan for the steam water

Any oven-safe pan or tray that can sit at the bottom of your oven and hold boiling water. This is what creates the steam that replaces the Dutch oven.

A scoring blade

For quick, confident cuts at the 5-to-7-minute mark.

A kitchen cloth

You’ll drape this over the glass of your oven door while pouring the water. If boiling water splashes onto cold oven glass, it can shatter — the cloth is cheap insurance. Don’t skip it.

Extra-large freezer bags

For storing your loaves afterward. I fit about three sourdough loaves per bag.

The secret to better open baking: bake more than two loaves

This surprised me when I started, but open baking sourdough actually works better with a fuller oven. With only one or two loaves, the bread tends to come out a bit drier and the crust doesn’t look quite as good. With four to six loaves, each loaf releases moisture as it bakes, which adds to the humidity in the oven — the loaves essentially help steam each other. So if you’re going to open bake, make it worth it and batch bake.

Prep your sourdough the night before (cold dough is key)

My batch baking routine is simple: I prep all of my dough, shape the loaves, and put them in the fridge overnight. I use the whole wheat sourdough recipe from my Introduction to Sourdough eBook — it’s my go-to for all my batch baking. It’s beautifully balanced and gives you that artisan boulangerie look and taste, without the boulangerie price tag.

Cold dough is your best friend for open baking. You can open bake a room-temperature loaf, but cold-proofed sourdough holds its shape better and is much easier to handle. If you’re in a crunch, pop your shaped loaves in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes to firm them up before baking.