Beginner Sourdough Bread Recipe
This beginner sourdough bread recipe is simple and will give you the confidence you need to stick with sourdough! Learn everything you need to know to create a crusty artisan loaf.
Equipment
- 1 Glass Bowl
- Measuring Cups / Spoons
- Plastic Wrap Or Tea Towel
- 1 Dutch Oven
- 1 Bowl or Banneton For final proofing
- 1 Razor blade or bread lame
Ingredients
- 3 cups Flour All purpose or bread flour
- 1 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 cup Active sourdough starter
- 1 1/2 cup Filtered water
Instructions
Feed Your Sourdough Starter
- Roughly 4-12 hours before you plan to mix bread dough, feed your starter. I usually aim for a 1-1-1 ratio (sourdough starter-flour-water).
Mix Your Bread Dough
- Combine flour and salt in a large glass bowl. Mix together
- Add sourdough starter and mix until just combined.
- Add the water, starting with 1 cup. If your dough is too dry, continue adding up to 1/2 cup more. The amount of water you need depends on how dry it is where you live, and the type of flour you are using.
Cover & Ferment The Dough
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a tea towel, and put it somewhere warm in your kitchen.
- Optional: One Set of Stretch & Folds. 30 minutes into the bulk fermentation, you can do an optional set of stretch an folds. You don't have to do this, but it's really fun and not too difficult.
- Recover the dough, and allow it to bulk ferment for anywhere from 6-12 hours until it has roughly doubled in size. One trick you can use if your dough doesn't seem to be rising, is to put it in the oven and turn the light on.
Preheat The Oven
- Once your dough has doubled in size, preheat the oven to 450. Put the dutch oven you plan to bake with inside the oven when you preheat it!
Shape & Final Proof
- While your oven is preheating, you are going to shape your loaf and allow it to have a second rise.
- Spread the dough out on the counter or cutting board in a rectangular shape
- Fold the dough in 3rds (the long way), and then fold the other half back on top of the first half. If you find the dough is sticking, use a bench scraper to help fold.
- Rotate the dough and roll it up the opposite direction.
- Tuck the ends underneath, spinning it gently as you go until the entire surface is round and flat.
- Now you want to protect the shape you just created for the final proof. For this you can use a parchment lined bowl, or a banneton with a cloth linen.
- Parchment Paper: For this step, you are going to sprinkle a piece of parchment paper with flour. Move the dough onto the parchment paper, and place the parchment paper into a bowl. Cover it with a tea towel.
- Cloth-lined banneton: Sprinkle the seam side of the liner with flour, and place your loaf smooth side down into banneton. You will need to flip the dough ball over to protect the smooth side on the towel.
- Let the dough rest 30 minutes – 1 hour, or until it is puffy. It does not need to double in size. I have found that often 30 minutes is enough for my bread.
Score & Bake
- Prepare a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle it with flour (skip this step if you used parchment paper in a bowl).
- Flip your bread dough out of the banneton onto the parchment paper.
- Dust the bread dough with a little more flour, and smooth it out with your hands.
- Using a sharp knife or a bread lame, make a large slash down the center (or slightly off center) of the dough. You want at least one large score (2-3 inches long) to allow the bread to expand, and you can add smaller “aesthetic” scores if you want.
- Remove the hot dutch oven from the heated oven. Place the parchment paper and bread dough into the dutch oven, and cover with the lid.
- Bake for 20 minutes with the lid on, then carefully remove the lid and bake for 20 more minutes.
Cool & Enjoy!
- Remove the dutch oven, and take the bread out of the dutch oven right away. It should be golden brown and have a nice round shape! I like to grab the parchment paper and pull it out that way to avoid burning my hands. Allow the bread to cool on a wire rack for at least an hour (it really helps with the final texture if you can be patient!).