Sourdough Bread

If you are looking for a simple Sourdough Bread recipe, you have come to the right place. This easy sourdough recipe is perfect for beginners and seasoned bakers.

There is something quite therapeutic about baking a loaf of homemade sourdough bread. The quality is far better than any sourdough that you can buy from the store. Not to mention, you control what goes in it.

The entire process, from feeding the starter to stretching and folding the dough, fermenting, shaping, and finally baking, becomes more intuitive and effortless with each attempt. The ultimate reward is the end product: a beautifully crusty and delicious loaf of sourdough bread, handcrafted by you!

Sourdough bread has gained popularity due to its simplicity in preparation and its health benefits over traditional sandwich bread.

The fermentation process that sourdough goes through make the bread much easier to digest than bread that is made without the fermentation process.

Making the dough the day before and allowing it to sit overnight in the refrigerator makes it easy to fit into my daily schedule. Which means I am baking my bread first thing in the morning. If baking your bread in the morning is not an option, you can adjust the times to fit your schedule.

I find that the best fermentation happens with at least 12 hours of resting in the refrigerator. However, you can bake in as little as 10 hours or even longer than 12 hours.

The key to successful sourdough bread is ensuring that your starter is active and ready for use. An inactive starter means your bread won't rise. Fortunately, it's simple to test. I like to place a rubber band around the jar at the level of the starter when I feed it. After a few hours, I can easily see if the starter has risen and by how much.

You can gauge the activity of the starter by the bubbles on its surface; an active starter will have many. To test it, drop a small amount of the starter into a bowl of water; if it floats, it's active and ready for use.

A kitchen scale is essential for accurately measuring ingredients. Especially since it is best to measure in grams.

Large mixing bowl is needed to allow the dough enough room to rise.

Bread Lame or razor blade to score the bread. If you do not have either of the two, a really sharp knife can be used.

Banneton is a basket used to proof bread in. You can use a bowl if you do not have a banneton.

Dutch Oven for baking the bread. Covering the dough as it bakes allows it to steam, which creates the super crusty crust. I use a Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven that I found on amazon. I absolutely love baking my sourdough in this dutch oven.

Bowl Scraper is your best friend when making anything with sourdough.

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Below is a schedule for making sourdough bread. It's important to note that the entire process relies on a warm environment. In a colder setting, the process could take significantly longer.

I use warm water when feeding my starter and put it on my stove with the stove light on. This helps the starter become active faster. When the kitchen is colder, I will keep my dough in the oven and periodically warm it up by turning the oven on for 10 to 15 seconds, just enough to warm it. I will do this every time I do a stretch and fold. Again, while it is bulk fermenting.

If your schedule is more flexible or it is warmer where you are making it, then you may not need to do these things. Also keep in mind that the entire schedule can vary depending on the amount of time it takes your starter to be fully active and ready to be used.

7 a.m Feed your starter.

12 p.m. Mix together the flour and water and set aside to autolyse.

1 p.m. Mix in the remaining ingredients. Begin the slap and fold technique. This a kneading technique used for wet doughs that are rather tricky to handle.

Keep a bowl of water nearby to help handle the sticky dough.

Begin by putting the dough onto a clean work surface. Dip your fingertips in the water, grabbing from the middle, pick the dough up with both hands. Slap it down onto the work surface then stretch it up towards your body and fold over the dough.

When picking the dough back up, grab from the middle, turn 90° and repeat the process for 5 minutes. The dough will start to smooth out as you knead.

(Recently, I've adopted a gentler version of the slap and fold method, performed directly in the bowl. I use the same technique but without the slapping motion; instead, I allow the dough to stretch slightly before folding it over to continue the process.)

Place the dough back into your bowl, cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap, place in a warm spot and let rest for 30 minutes.

1:35 p.m. Begin stretching and folding the dough.

With the dough still in the bowl, dip your fingers in the water and reach down into the bowl, grab the bottom of the dough firmly and pull up, stretching as far as the dough allows, and then fold it over to the other side.

Turn the bowl slightly and continue until all of the dough has been stretched and folded 1 time. Do this 6 times, allowing the dough to rest for 15 minutes in between the first 3 stretch and folds and 30 minutes in between the last 3 stretch and folds.

3:50 p.m. Cover and let rest to bulk ferment until doubled.

8 p.m. This time may vary, depending on how long it takes for your dough to double in size. Pour the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Being gentle to prevent deflating the bubbles in the dough.

Shape the dough by pulling the right side over onto the left side, then pulling the left side over onto the right side. Then pull the top up and back towards your body, using the dough to round out the dough and make the shape tight.

Place into a generously floured banneton with the seam side facing up. Dust with more flour, cover with plastic wrap or a towel and place in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.

In The Morning

8:30 a.m. Preheat a dutch oven in a 450° F oven for 1 hour.

9:30 am Lightly flour the dutch oven or line with parchment paper. Remove the bread from the refrigerator and score with a bread lame. Carefully place in the dough in the dutch oven, place the top of the dutch oven back on and place into the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and continue baking for another 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Now for the hard part, allow the bread to cool completely before slicing. Enjoy!

Yes, you should always let your bread cool completely before slicing it. Slicing the bread before it properly cools will result in a sticky, gummy interior texture.

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