If you've always wanted to make sourdough bread, this beginner sourdough bread recipe is the perfect place to start. It's simple, easy to follow, and makes a beautiful crusty loaf with a soft, chewy center. Enjoy a slice toasted with creamy avocado or have it with butter. Once you make this easy sourdough bread, you'll want to bake it again and again!
Why you'll love this?
- Simple ingredients: You only need a handful of basic ingredients, especially if you already have an active sourdough starter.
- Easy and rewarding: Sourdough baking may seem intimidating at first, but the process is surprisingly simple when you follow each step. The result is a beautiful, delicious loaf you'll be proud to make from scratch.
- Satisfying to make: Baking your own bread can feel almost like therapy, and that feeling when you pull a beautiful loaf from the oven and slice it is pure bliss!
- Fresh and wholesome: You know exactly what goes into your bread, with no unnecessary ingredients and preservatives; it's easier to digest and has a lower glycemic index than regular bread made with yeast.
- So versatile: Enjoy it for breakfast with butter or avocado, use it for lunch sandwiches, or pack it along for outings, road trips, and picnics.
Ingredients Needed
- Active Sourdough Starter
- All-purpose Flour
- Water
- Salt
- Rice Flour
How to make Sourdough bread?
Start by making an active sourdough starter. You can either make one from scratch or get one from a baker. Making a starter requires patience and consistent feeding. It may take as little as 10 days, but sometimes two weeks to a month for it to become strong and active enough to reliably double in size within about 4 hours of feeding.
The key is to consistently discard and feed your starter using the right ratio of flour and water for at least two weeks, or longer if needed. I finally had success with a 1:3:3 feeding ratio of active starter, water, and flour. For my final starter that I used for baking bread, I used 20 g of active starter, 60 g of water, and 60 g of flour, a combination of whole wheat flour (30 g), all-purpose flour (15 g), and bread flour (15 g).
I'll share a detailed recipe for making a sourdough starter from scratch in a separate post. If you'd rather skip the wait, you can always purchase one or get some from a friend who bakes sourdough!
In a large bowl, add about 125 gms of active sourdough starter. To it, add 350 gms of water and stir it well. Add 500 gms of All-purpose flour and 10 gms of salt and combine well so all of the flour is absorbed by the flour to make a shaggy dough.
Place the shaggy dough in a bowl, cover loosely with a linen cloth, and let it rest on the counter for 30 minutes. Next, we do a stretch and fold. Lift one edge of the dough and fold it back over itself, as shown in Picture 7. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat on all four sides. Let the dough rest for another 30 minutes, then repeat the stretch and fold.
After another 30-minute rest, perform a coil fold by lifting, stretching, and slapping. Lift the dough as shown in Picture 8 and gently slap it back down into the bowl. Rest for 30 minutes and repeat the coil, stretch, and slap.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a cloth, and leave the dough on the counter to bulk ferment for about 5-6 hours, depending on the room temperature. You'll know it's ready when bubbles form on the surface, and the dough releases easily from the sides of the bowl. Lightly dust your counter with rice flour and gently turn the dough out onto it. Divide the dough into two equal portions, then shape each into a rectangle with your hands.
Fold the two sides of the rectangle toward the center (picture 13 below), then roll the dough from one corner to form a ball(picture 14 below). Place the shaped dough seam-side up in a well-floured banneton basket. Cover with a linen cloth, place the basket inside a plastic bag, and refrigerate for 12-24 hours for cold proofing.
The next morning, once the dough has cold-proofed in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours, it's ready to bake. Carefully score the dough with a sharp blade, making cuts as shown in the pictures below. Preheat a Dutch oven to 475°F. Transfer the scored dough into the preheated Dutch oven using parchment paper and a sling.
If you like, add a couple of ice cubes below the parchment paper to create extra steam. This is optional. Cover and bake for 35 minutes. Then remove the lid, reduce the temperature to 425°F, and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the bread develops a beautiful golden-brown crust.
Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the hot oven using your mittens and uncover it. Transfer the bread, along with the parchment paper, to a wire cooling rack. Let it cool completely before slicing with a serrated bread knife. As tempting as it may be, resist the urge to slice the bread while it's still warm; allowing it to cool fully helps set the crumb and gives you the best texture.
Sourdough bread sliced fresh out of the oven.
Useful Tips for Making Sourdough Bread
- Use an active sourdough starter: Use your starter when it has risen well and is active, ideally at or near its peak, before it begins to fall.
- Use lukewarm water: Lukewarm water can help with fermentation, although it isn't essential.
- Wet your hands: Lightly wet your hands before performing stretch and folds or coil stretches to make handling the sticky dough easier.
- Flour the banneton generously: Dust the banneton basket generously with rice flour to prevent the dough from sticking and help it release easily after cold proofing.
- Score and bake promptly: Score the dough just before transferring it to the preheated Dutch oven for baking.
- Add ice cubes for steam: If you like, you can place a couple of ice cubes under the parchment paper in the Dutch oven to create steam during baking.
- Let the bread cool completely: Resist the temptation to slice the bread while it's warm. Allowing it to cool completely, as mentioned, helps the crumb set and gives you the best texture.
Recipe FAQ
Longer fermentation times can increase the sourness or the tangy taste of the baked bread. So adjust accordingly. Additionally, fermentation in cool temperatures around 75F to 76F will give a less sour or milder taste.
Ensure that you slice the bread only when completely cooled to avoid the gummy texture; do not cut it as soon as it comes out of the oven. Let it rest and cool on the cooling rack first. The sourdough bread can turn out flat without a rise when the dough is underproofed or overproofed.
Related Recipes
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Beginner Sourdough Bread Recipe
Equipment
- dutch oven
- baking oven
Ingredients
- 125 gms sourdough starter
- 500 gms all-purpose flour
- 350 gms water
- 10 gms salt
- 1 cup rice flour for rolling dough
Instructions
- Measure the active starter and add it to a bowl.
- Add lukewarm water and stir well.
- Add AP flour and salt and mix into a shaggy dough.
- Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- Do the first set of stretch and fold, and rest the dough for 30 minutes.
- Do the second set of stretch and fold, and rest the dough for 30 minutes.
- Do the first set of coil, stretch, and slap, and rest the dough for 30 minutes.
- Do the second set of coil, stretch, and slap, and rest the dough for 30 minutes.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for bulk fermentation for about 4 to 6 hours.
- Transfer the fermented dough onto a counter dusted with rice flour, and divide into two parts.
- Shape into a rectangle, fold both sides, and roll into a ball.
- Transfer the shaped dough into a banneton basket dusted with flour.
- Cover with a linen cloth, put it in a plastic bag, and place it in the refrigerator.
- After 12 hours, take it out of the refrigerator and score it.
- Preheat the Dutch oven to 475 deg F.
- Transfer the dough into the Dutch oven lined with parchment paper and ice, if using.
- Bake at 475 deg F for 35 minutes, covered with the lid.
- Lower to 425 deg F and bake for 15 minutes, uncovered, until it gets a golden brown color.
- Transfer the sourdough bread to a cooling rack.
- Cut into slices when cool.
Baked my first loaf with this recipe and it turned out so good! Got that golden, crackly crust on the outside with a light, chewy crumb inside. Perfect with a thick smear of butter!
Wonderful recipe for beginners. Cannot wait for it to cool enough to cut into!