My easy to follow sourdough bread recipe.
One of my favorite things to do during the winter months is to bake bread, specifically sourdough. I have followed so many recipes and never could get it right. Until I experimented with 3 different ones to make tweaks that work for my home. One thing you need to know before you dive into this world of making bread is that with conditions in your home (temperature, humidity, etc.) you may have to make a few tweaks to this to work in your kitchen. One example, I have to let my bread rise in the living room and not the kitchen. If I try and let it rise in the kitchen it will take me 12 hours even in the dead of summer to get it to rise. For some reason my living room, 2-3 hours and my bread is ready to bake. So don’t be frustrated is this doesn’t work for you. Just experiment. Something that I wish someone had told me when I first tired to make bread.
My recipe is in grams, this is how I do all baking. I do not have the conversion to cups. When baking you will get it correct every time if you use a food scale (linked below). I do not recommend using measuring cups.
Now lets just get into it, because if you are like me you hate when there’s a bunch of fluff and the recipe is at the very bottom and not right at the top. So here it is. But trust me, read it all.
Ingredients:
200 grams - Sourdough starter
200 grams - very warm water
25 grams - high quality olive oil (yes olive oil, not any other type of oil)
2 grams - quick rise yeast
Mix this all together, it should be smooth
Now add in your dry ingredients
500 grams - unbleached bread flour ( I like to use King Arthur but any brand should work)
10 grams - salt
** If you don’t have a sourdough starter I have linked below where to buy one, this is the one I bought and use **
Mix:
You are going to want to use a stand mixer for a few minutes or use your hands and really mix it well. A little tip, cover your hands in a bit of olive oil to help keep the mixture from sticking to your hands.
Quick Rise:
Once mixed let it rise with either a lid on the bowl or use a hand Towle that’s wet with very hot water rung out. The amount of time it needs to rise is going to depend on a few of things. Temperature being the biggest. I usually will turn the heat on during the winter so it will rise a bit faster. Most cases its about 30min - 1hour.
Bulk Rise:
Once it doubles in size you need to give it a second mix. Just a quick mix with your hands (cover them in some oil again) and shape it into a ball. This is usually when I will split the dough into two. I prefer smaller loafs but you can leave it as one. Now it needs to rise again. This is the rise that’s going to take the longest. I leave it for about 4 hours minimum or over night and bake it first thing in the morning. Best practice is to use a cloth lined basket (linked below) with flour but I do use a metal bowl that I rubbed with some olive oil so it doesn’t stick.
Bake:
Preheat the oven to 450° F/ 232°C
Last step is get your Dutch Oven 5.5qt and place a bit of parchment paper (NOT WAX PAPER) in your Dutch Oven. This is to prevent it from sticking. Trust me, you want to do this. Once you turn on the oven to preheat go ahead and place your bread in the Dutch Oven so it can rise in there for a few minutes. Right before it goes into the oven score the top. Make a 3” long cut and 1/2” deep on the top of the loaf. (I do forget to do this more often than I would like to admit, the bread will just split in random places.)
Now toss it in the oven for 15-20 minutes with the lid on. Then reduce temperature to 400° F/ 204°C for 30-40minutes and take the lid off. This is how it will brown up and finish cooking. Keep an eye on it as every oven it different. My oven is crazy and some days it’s 30 minutes and some days is 40 minutes. Basically once you have a nice golden brown colors and its a filled out in size it's done.
Cooling:
This is actually really important. Your bread is still continuing to cook when you take it out of the oven and it needs to do this. If you take your bread of the oven and cut into to to try the wonder creating you have just made there’s a good chance that when cut the bread it will be gummy inside. My self control is basically 0 so I do…cut one side, like the butt of the loaf because I need to try it. It's usually a bit gummy. Still so good. Do as I say and not as I do, let it just sit for 20 min on the counter. It needs it.
There you go, homemade sourdough bread! Trust me it’s so easy after you do it once. You will be so hooked on homemade bread.
Enjoy!
-Affiliate Links-
Sourdough starter:
Food scale:
Bread proofing basket:
Dutch oven:
LeCruset Dutch oven:
How much starter to use if using dry starter instead of wet
Thanks for taking the time to write a very detailed recipe. Making sourdough bread has always been intimidating to me, the feeding part I think it’s what does it to me. I think that I would give it a try one of these days. I always make artisan breads and we love them. Fresh warm bread is something that I can eat everyday!