A sourdough was made and propagated through traditional proto- cols (sourdough type I), without using starter cultures or baker's yeast. Flour was mixed with tap water manually for 5 min, and the dough was incubated at 30 °C for 16 h. DY was 160. After this first fer- mentation, 6 backslopping steps (refreshments) were further carried out, mixing 25% of the previously fermented dough with flour and water (DY of 160), and incubating for 8 h at 30 °C. After each fermenta- tion, dough was stored at 4 °C until the next refreshment. The rate of volume increase of doughs was determined as described by Minervini et al. (2011). After five refreshments, the acidification rate and volume increase were stable, and spontaneous sourdough (SS) was character- ized. Further refreshments did not modify the acidification rate and the volume of SS.