I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten this message in the group.
“Henry, can you convert this sourdough recipe to yeast for me?”
Or the opposite: “I found this amazing yeasted recipe, but I want to make it with sourdough. Help?”
And I get it. The math isn’t simple. You’re juggling hydration percentages, trying to figure out what to do with all that starter, wondering if you should adjust the water or the flour or both. Then there’s the enrichment, butter, eggs, milk and how those change everything. And don’t even get me started on fermentation times and rise schedules. Yeast and sourdough don’t play by the same rules.
So you do what most of us do. You give up. Or you wing it and end up with a loaf that’s… not quite right.
I’ve been there. And after fielding hundreds of these questions, I decided to stop talking about how hard it is and actually do something about it.
The Problem with Other Converters
Look, there are other conversion tools out there. I know because I’ve tested them. Three different deep-dive investigations to compare what’s on the market. Most of them fall into one of these categories:
- Math-heavy calculators that assume you have a degree in baker’s percentages
- Clunky interfaces that make you want to throw your phone across the room
- Ad-riddled sites where you can’t find the actual tool under all the pop-ups
- Download-required apps that sit unused on your device
And even when you find one that works, it usually only goes one direction. Sourdough to yeast? Sure. But yeast to sourdough? Good luck.
What We Built Instead
So I put some real hours into this one. Not just me, either. We tested it with recipes from the group, recipes from my books, recipes members sent in. We wanted something that actually works the way you work in your kitchen.
The Baking Great Bread at Home Sourdough ↔ Yeast Converter does exactly what you wish those other tools would do:
Just paste your recipe. Or upload a PDF. Or take a picture of a recipe card from your grandmother’s binder. The tool reads it, extracts the ingredients, and shows you what it found with confidence levels so you know if something needs a quick check.
Pick your direction. Converting a sourdough recipe to yeast? Done. Want to take that King Arthur yeasted sandwich bread and make it with starter instead? Also done. Two-way conversion, same tool.
Get a clean, formatted recipe. Not a spreadsheet. Not a jumble of numbers. An actual recipe you can read, with method steps adjusted for your chosen leavening, proper hydration, realistic timing.
Download or print it. You get a PDF. Save it to your recipe folder, print it for your binder, email it to yourself. Whatever works for you.
What Makes This One Different
No downloads required. It lives online. Open it on your phone while you’re looking at a recipe book. Pull it up on your laptop. Bookmark it. That’s it.
No ads. I’m serious about this. No pop-ups begging you to subscribe. No “Wait 15 seconds” timers. Just the tool.
No complexity. You don’t need to understand baker’s percentages or hydration math. The tool handles that behind the scenes. You just get the recipe.
Actually free. Not “free trial.” Not “free with limits.” Free, period. Because this is for the community. You’ve asked for it, we built it.
Why I Built This
Here’s the thing. I love sourdough. You know I do. But I also know not everyone’s there yet. Some of you are just starting out and you want to try a recipe with yeast first. Some of you are experienced yeast bakers who are sourdough-curious. Some of you go back and forth depending on what you’re making or how much time you have.
Every one of those scenarios is valid. And every one of them deserves a tool that doesn’t make you feel like you need an engineering degree to bake bread.
After comparing what’s out there, and I mean really testing the competition, I can tell you this is one of the best converters available. Maybe the best. We’re not charging for it. We’re not hiding it behind a paywall. We’re just putting it out there for you to use.
Go Try It
Seriously. Grab a recipe you’ve been eyeing but couldn’t use because it was in the “wrong” format. Go to sourdough-yeast-converter.vercel.app, paste it in, and see what happens.
You might be surprised how simple it is.
And if you run into any issues or have suggestions for making it better, you know where to find me. The group’s always been about helping each other bake better bread. This tool is just one more way to do that.
Now go convert something!
—Henry
Try the Sourdough ↔ Yeast Converter
Ready to Put Your Converter to Work?
Try converting my whole wheat sourdough recipe to see how the tool handles high-hydration doughs with whole grains. It’s a great test case for understanding baker’s percentages in action.
Or if you’re feeling adventurous, test it with my cranberry walnut sourdough it’s perfect for seeing how the converter handles enriched doughs with mix-ins and adjusts hydration accordingly.
And for something really fun, try the sourdough bread bowls recipe converting it to yeast makes it accessible for beginners while still delivering that crusty exterior and chewy interior perfect for soup nig
The Goldie has become one of the few tools I keep out on my counter all the time. It takes the guesswork out of starter care by holding it in that steady “just right” zone where yeast and bacteria stay happy. No more oven-light experiments, no more balancing jars on the fridge, no more cooler-box contraptions. It looks clean, it works, and it brings a calm consistency to your baking routine.
When I partnered with Sour House, I asked for a way to make it easier for you to try it. Times are tight and a little help matters, so here’s mine: use my link https://sourhouse.co?ref=BAKINGGREATBREAD and code HBK23 for 10% off. If you want fewer variables and more predictable baking, this is a simple upgrade that makes a real difference.
