Most of the errors I made in my first year of sourdough happened because I was following timers rather than reading the dough. A recipe would say ‘bulk ferment for five hours’ and I would set a clock, regardless of what the dough was actually doing.

The truth is that fermentation time is a function of temperature, starter percentage, hydration, and flour type. A five-hour bulk fermentation at 20 °C is a completely different biological event to a five-hour bulk at 26 °C. The panel below maps the phases so you know what to look for at each stage.

The windowpane test — stretching a thin piece of dough against backlit glass — is still the most reliable way I know to confirm the gluten is ready. No timer substitutes for it.