Can you bake sourdough starting from a cold oven?
A cold start works well for loaf pan bread, which the book bakes in a non-preheated oven for around 30 to 50 minutes. For a freestanding loaf, though, a preheated oven and hot surface give you the burst of heat needed for good oven spring, so preheating is worth it there. Either way, check doneness with a thermometer at about 92C core.
Answered by Hendrik, The Bread Code
From the book
Knowing the exact baking time is sometimes a little challenging as it might be that the outside of your bread is cooked but the inside is still raw. The best way is to use a thermometer and measure the core temperature. At around 92 °C (197 °F) your dough is done. I generally bake loaf pan bread at around 200 °C (390 °F), which is a little less than my freestanding bread which I bake at 230 °C (445 °F). That’s because it takes a while for the dough to bake properly inside the loaf pan. The edges don’t heat up as quickly. Then the top part of the dough is properly cooked, while the inside isn’t yet. When baking make sure to use steam or simply place another equally sized loaf pan on top of your loaf pan. This way you simulate a Dutch oven. The dough’s evaporating moisture will stay inside.
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