How to Bake the Best Loaf of Sourdough (+ My Recipe!)
Ahh yes, I too have jumped on the sourdough train. And we’re not stopping! In this post, you’ll find some tips and tricks I have learned along my bread-making journey, as well as my favorite go-to sourdough recipe for a soft and tasty classic loaf.
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Why I Love Sourdough Bread
Sourdough bread didn’t just become a thing during the pandemic. It has a rich history that dates back thousands of years. Its origins can be traced to ancient Egypt, where it was first leavened with wild yeast captured from the environment.
Over time, sourdough became a staple in many cultures around the world, each adding its own unique twist to the recipe. I’m not much of a history girl, but it’s interesting that sourdough has been around for so long!
What sets sourdough apart from other breads is its fermentation process. Instead of commercial yeast, sourdough relies on a wild yeast and bacteria culture, often referred to as a starter or levain. This culture is a living ecosystem of microorganisms that ferment the flour and water mixture, creating bubbles of carbon dioxide that give the bread it’s airy texture and distinct “sour” flavor.
Sourdough also takes patience and skill to perfect it. The conditions of your home can even play a factor in how your loaf turns out, such as your water quality and the temperature of your kitchen. That’s part of what makes getting it right kind of tricky, but those things also make your starter and bread so unique.
The process is really therapeutic for me. Baking in general gets me off the couch and up working with my hands. It’s also fun experimenting with different flours and recipes. So far I’ve made sourdough loaves, bagels, focaccia, and a few discard recipes.
Homemade Bread vs Store-bought Bread
From a health perspective, homemade bread is way better than store-bought. Although homemade doesn’t last as long, having bread with just a few simple ingredients is worth it going bad a little quicker in my opinion. Usually in our house, a sourdough loaf gets eaten within 3-5 days, so we don’t worry much about that.
Many people with gluten sensitivities report that they don’t have the same negative reaction to sourdough. Part of why we are seeing gluten allergies and sensitivities more often is due to the commercialization of wheat and grains. Crops are heavily sprayed with pesticides, we are genetically modifying food now more than we ever have, and the added fillers and preservatives in store-bought bread don’t help either. It’s really one big recipe for a gut health disaster.
The problem is not that Americans eat too much bread, it’s the quality that’s the main issue here. But this topic could be for a whole other blog post, or novel really, so I’ll just leave it at that. (:
Making your own bread at home is also a great way to save waste. Pretty much all store-bought bread comes packaged in plastic, sometimes it even comes double wrapped in two plastic bags to help keep it fresh. I know lots of people that keep their sourdough in a bread box or linen bread bag, but I personally just keep reusing the same gallon-sized plastic bag over and over. Your kitchen environment also plays a role in bread storage, so this is something you might need to play with to find what keeps your bread fresh.
Perfecting Sourdough Takes Time and Practice
By no means do I consider myself a sourdough expert. I’m just a girl who loves baking, and making my own food from scratch is a deep act of self-care. Sourdough is a great thing to get into if you love baking for yourself and for others too! That’s why my recipe yields two loaves instead of one.
After a few months of trial and error, I have perfected a sourdough recipe and process that leaves me with a good rise, great flavor, and beautiful crumb.
At the end of the day, bread is bread. What I mean by that is as long as it’s cooked through, who cares what it looks like? I’ve made some uglyyy looking loaves. Not all of them have turned out as good as the ones pictured here. But I still eat them, and they taste great! So if you feel intimidated by sourdough or discouraged by how your bread looks, don’t be, because it probably still tastes amazing even if it doesn’t look the way you wanted it to. You know we’re all about saving food waste around here, so if it turns out flat or ugly, whatever you do, do NOT throw it away!
The Best Flour for Making Sourdough
I’ve tried several different flours for making sourdough, and this one is one I keep going back to. I really love the King Arthur Organic Bread Flour. I use this for feeding my starter most of the time, and it’s what I use in my recipe along with organic all-purpose flour.
You don’t have to use organic flour, but personally, if I’m going to make homemade bread, I’m going to make it high quality. King Arthur also has a non-organic bread flour that is slightly cheaper, so feel free to give this a try!
King Arthur Flour
Tips for Baking Great Sourdough Bread
A Strong Starter is Key
You’ll notice in my sourdough recipe I feed my starter two times before using it to make the dough. This isn’t necessary, but I’ve found that this helps to get more activity and strength going in my starter. A strong, active, and well-fed starter will make a good dough that rises well and has lots of bubbles. Good bread starts with good dough, and good dough starts with a good starter.
If you’d like instructions on how to get a stater going, you’ll have to wait for another blog post. I was lucky enough to get my starter from someone else, so I personally don’t know all the ins and outs of making one. It can be done, but it takes a week or two to get it ripe enough to make bread. If you really want to make your own starter, check out this helpful blog post for some tips. Otherwise, I’d recommend getting your starter from a friend or neighbor. Sourdough bread is also called “friendship bread” for this reason.
Be Mindful of Temperature
During the “bulk fermentation” phase, I like to keep my dough in the oven, with the light on, and with a tea towel covering the bowl. I’ve found that this is the perfect environment in my house for my dough to rise and stay relatively warm. Our house is old, so in the winter especially the kitchen gets cold. The dough should have a warmer environment to get activity going. You can use the oven trick like I do, or if you have another warm spot in your house where your dough can hang out, use that.
Watching the Time
I have to admit, I am TERRIBLE at this in the kitchen. But I’m the teacher in this post, not the student hehe. Do notttt forget about your sourdough. Wether you’re in between stretch and folds or you have it in the oven, timing is everything. It can really make or break your loaf. For example, just this week I put my oven on broil towards the end of my bake to get my crust nice and brown…and what do ya know, it’s now a hockey puck.
Sourdough isn’t exactly a set it and forget it activity. You can certainly do other things in between your tasks, but just make sure to watch the clock.
If you’re like me and get distracted very easily, I highly recommend using a timer. You’ll tell yourself that you won’t forget about your bread proofing on the counter, but trust me, you will.
Tools to Make Sourdough Baking Easier
When I started baking bread, I realized I didn’t have much to help assist me in making it. My large pot was barely oven-safe! You really don’t need a ton of stuff, but having a few of these items can make your baking experience run smoothly. Plus all of these items are reusable, so it’s an eco win (:
- Banneton baskets: You can thrift a simple small basket and use a towel as a liner instead. I did this for a few bakes but then I ended up buying this one for bread baking.
- Bread lame: This is for scoring your bread and slicing it open to give it that open “ear”. You could just use a naked razor blade, but a bread lame is a nice safe option to have.
- Silicone bread sling: I LOVE this thing. I was using compostable parchment paper to bake my bread, but this is so easy to use and I love that it’s reusable. You can check out the one I got here.
- Dutch oven: A Dutch oven is not just for bread baking, it can truly be a kitchen staple. I did not have this when I first started but it’s made a nice difference in my bakes. You can find one secondhand pretty easily, or you can invest and get a new one depending on what you want. I got this one from Staub and I love it. I recommend a 5.5 quart one or larger for baking bread!
My Sourdough Recipe for a Perfect Loaf
I could go on and on about sourdough, but I’m sure at this point you’re itching to make your own! It takes a little prep before you can start baking, and everyone’s first loaf is not their best, so try to be patient and not get discouraged if it doesn’t look the way you want it to on the first try. I did just give you some golden tips, so hopefully those help. (;
Classic Homemade Sourdough Bread
Equipment
- glass jar for your starter
- mixing bowl
- dutch oven or large pot with a lid make sure your pot AND lid are oven-safe for up to 450 degrees.
- banneton basket you can use any basket, but a round or oval one is peferred.
- tea towel
- dough scraper optional but useful tool
- sourdough starter adding this to the equipment section since this is something you will already have to have to make this recipe. see above for ways to obtain a starter!
- scale
- bread lame optional, for scoring your dough. can also use a razor blade.
Ingredients
For The Starter
- 30 grams sourdough starter
- 150 grams bread flour you can use other flour, but this works best for my starter.
- 150 grams water
For the Bread
- 200 grams active starter
- 20 grams salt
- 600 grams water
- 600 grams all-purpose flour
- 300 grams bread flour if you don't have this, just use all-purpose.
Instructions
Day 1: Feeding the Starter
- In the morning or early afternoon, take your starter out of the fridge and grab a clean glass jar. Using a scale to measure, spoon 30 grams of starter into the jar, along with your water and flour. Mix together thoroughly until no dry clumps remain. Scrape the sides of the jar to keep the mixture together. Cover this and leave this on the counter next to your oven for the day. I like to loosely cover mine with a lid to allow it to breathe a bit.
- Later in the afternoon, your starter should have doubled in size and you should see lots of bubbles on the side of the jar. Repeat everything in step 1 again and leave the mixture out over night this time. (If you'd like you can use the same jar, just make sure you discard your extra starter into another container. You can compost this or save it in your fridge to make discard recipes!)
Day 2: Making the Dough
- Check your starter to make sure it rose again over night, then grab your scale and mixing bowl. In your mixing bowl, add 600 grams of water, then add 200 grams of your active bubbly starter. Give this a mix and let it sit for a minute or two. Add in your salt and give it another mix. Slowly start incorporating your flour into your water and starter mixture. Do this until all of the flour is used and you have no dry bits of flour in the bowl. You now have your dough made.
- Gently shape the dough into a ball and set aside for 30 minutes. At this point, you can cover your dough with a towel and leave it in a warmer place in your kitchen if you'd like.
Bulk Fermentation (Stretch and Folds)
- After 30 minutes of resting, it's time for the first set of stretch and folds. Take your dough and imagine it has four sides to it. Gently lift one of your "sides" out of the bowl, stretching up and folding it over to the opposite side. Work your way around the bowl folding each side one time. Once that's done, gather your dough back into a ball in the center. Then put the tea towel back over the bowl and let it rest for another 30 minutes.
- Repeat the stretch and fold process two more times. After your third set of stretch and folds, take your dough out of the bowl and place it on the counter.
- Round your dough into a tight ball, and place it back into the bowl with the tea towel over it. This time, you're going to let your dough sit until it doubles in size. This typically takes 2.5-4 hours depending on how warm your kitchen is. Try not to let it go over double.
Shaping the Dough
- After your dough has doubled, it's time to divide and shape it. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Using a dough scraper or a butter knife, divide the dough evenly. Take one of your dough pillows and pull at the sides to create four corners, stretching it into a square. Fold one side of your dough 2/3 of the way over, then fold over the other side to create a long rectangle.
- Take the top of the rectangle and start rolling the dough in towards you into a tight ball. Flip the dough over so the crease is on the counter and continue to tuck and roll the dough ball to get it tighter. Set your dough aside and repeat the process for your other dough pillow.
Proofing
- Lightly dust the inside of your baskets with flour.* Place your dough into the baskets with the seam side up.
- Take a banneton basket cover or the tea towel from earlier and cover both baskets. Let it sit for 30 minutes to get a head start on the proofing process.
- After the 30 minutes, place your dough in your fridge to proof over night.**
Day 3: Baking Day
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees with your Dutch oven or large pot inside of it. You will want the Dutch oven to be nice and warm for the dough to bake nicely. Because the Dutch oven takes up a lot of space, I only bake one loaf at a time.
- After about 20 minutes, take one of your baskets out of the fridge. Roll your dough out of the basket onto a piece of parchment paper or silicone bread sling (the one I use is linked above). Using your bread lame or razor blade, slice your dough gently on the surface from top to bottom. This will help open up your dough and give that "ear" on your loaf.
- Open up your Dutch oven and carefully place your dough inside. Put the lid back on and let it bake for about 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, remove the lid from your Dutch oven and let your bread bake for another 10-15 minutes. This will help you get a nice golden brown crust on your bread.
- Once your bread is crisped to your liking, carefully remove it from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. DO NOT cut into your bread right away! Let it fully cool for at least an hour before cutting into it. If you dive in too early, you'll get a gummy crumb and your bread will be chewy.
- Repeat all Baking Day steps for your second loaf.
- Once your bread is fully cooled, now you can enjoy it! I love a slice of sourdough with butter and jam.
Storing your Bread
- There are many ways you can store your bread. The best way to store it depends on how quickly you'll eat it and also the temperature of your kitchen. I keep mine in a gallon zip lock bag that I keep reusing for bread. Eventually, I'd like to get a bread box. I've seen people have luck with a linen bread bag or wrapping it in a towel, however, when I did this it went stale within a day.
Notes
I hope you enjoy this recipe! It looks more complicated than it really is with all the details, but once you do it a few times you’ll be a pro. Let me know how it works out for you!
this recipe looks great! I did not know about bread slings, I’ll have to get one.
Thanks for reading Sara 😊 The bread sling makes it easy to take it out of the hot oven. Happy baking! 🍞