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Sourdough Bread

Chewy, tangy, and oh-so-delicious—sourdough bread seems complicated but is surprisingly simple to make.
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 14 hours
Cook Time 1 hour
Course Bread
Cuisine bread

Equipment

  • 1 Dutch Oven

Ingredients
  

  • 50 g Bubbly, active sourdough starter
  • 330 g Water (1⅓ cup + 1 Tbsp)
  • 9 g Salt (1½ tsp)
  • 125 g Whole wheat flour (can round to 1 cup)
  • 375 g All-purpose flour (can round to 3¼ cups)

Instructions
 

This recipe starts the night before and concludes the next day.

    The night before:

    • Whisk starter and water together in a large bowl. Mix in flour and salt with a fork until the dough becomes stiff and shaggy. Finish mixing with your hands.
    • Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
    • After resting, work the dough into a ball using the "pinch and fold" method. Grab a pinch of dough at the edge and fold it / press it into the middle of the ball. Rotate the bowl a bit and do it again, repeating until you've gone all the way around. The dough will feel tighter as you do this.
    • Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let it rise overnight at room temperature, about 10-12 hours.

    The next day:

    • After 10-12 hours, the dough should double in size. Don't panic if it doesn't; while mine does get larger, it certainly doesn't double in size. A lot of this comes down to local climate factors and my local climate is not amenable to sourdough. Sometimes if you leave it longer, it will rise some more, so feel free to do this too.
    • Sprinkle flour on your work surface, like a counter or table. Scoop the dough out of the bowl and onto the work surface. Use the pinch and fold method to start shaping the dough into a ball.
    • Once you've gone around the whole ball, flip it over so the pinched seam is down. Cover with a towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
    • Flip it over again so the seam is up. Pinch and fold the dough one more time.
    • Line a bowl with a dry towel and sprinkle the towel with flour. Let the dough ball rest in the towel, seam side up and with the towel edges covering it, for thirty minutes to an hour. The dough should rise some more, but again local climate may give you different results.
    • Preheat oven to 450℉.
    • Cut a sheet of parchment paper larger than your dough. Place the parchment over the dough and flip the bowl so the dough is now resting on the parchment in your hand. Set it down on the counter and with a sharp knife, make some shallow cuts in the top surface. For example, you could do four shallow cuts at north, east, south, and west points (or 3, 6, 9, and 12 on the clock), or some parallel lines across the top of the loaf.
    • Grabbing the edges of the parchment paper, lift the dough and place it into the dutch oven and put the lid on.
    • Reduce oven heat to 425℉ and put the dutch oven in on the centre rack.
    • Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the lid. Bake for an additional 40 minutes. If the bread doesn't seem ready, bake for ten more minutes.
    • Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for at least an hour before slicing.
    • Sourdough is best stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
    Keyword Sourdough, sourdough bread, sourdough starter