Simple Sourdough Bread Recipe

Easy enough to make a couple of times a week with very little active time, this simple sourdough bread recipe is a winner.

Making sourdough bread at home

I make a lot of bread. In 2020, I jumped on the bandwagon and made my own starter. It’s still kicking two years later. In honor of its birthday, here’s a pretty comprehensive set of instructions on how you can make your own sourdough every week at home.

Making your own sourdough at home does require some preparation and planning. Getting it ready the night before you plan on baking is key.

Not only does the long cold fermentation in the fridge improve the structure and taste of your bread, but spacing out the mixing and baking simplifies the next day’s process.

A normal bread-making day for me looks something like this.

• 7 am – feed starter
• 10 am – combine ingredients, mix, cover, and set in the warmest part of my house. I usually use the proofing setting on my oven, but a sunny window works just fine.
• Throughout the morning and afternoon give a few stretches and folds as I do other things in and around the house.
• 7 pm pre-shape
• 7:30 pm shape and add to a floured towel-lined bowl and cover. Set in fridge.

From here, you can bake anywhere from 12 to 20 hours later.

About an hour before you bake, bring your dough out and let it warm up a bit.

There is some planning involved, but this sourdough recipe is so simple, that with practice you will be baking up a storm.

Do I need any special equipment?

Sourdough recipes are high hydration – IE it’s super wet. For this reason, it’s very helpful to have a plastic dough scraper with a rounded edge that can help get everything out of your bowl.

A sturdy bench scraper is also useful when shaping your loaf.

For baking, I use a scale to measure ingredients. If you have one it’s very helpful.

I use a stand mixer to make things easier, but that is not required.

Other than those things, the most important tools are your hands for the stretch and folds.

Techniques for sourdough

Even if you have a lot of experience with yeasted bread baking, because of the high hydration and long fermentation, sourdough is a horse of a different color in every way.

Here are just a few basic techniques and terms that will come in handy as you are baking.

Stretch and Fold

To help build structure and develop gluten, sourdough is often stretched and folded instead of kneaded. To do this, visualize your bowl in quarters.

Dampen or oil your fingers and, starting in one quadrant, pull the dough up from the bottom and toward you without breaking it. Then, fold it toward the opposite quarter.

Repeat stretching and folding until you have worked your way clockwise around the bowl.

This should be done at least 3 times over a few hours, but can be done more if you like.

Pre-shaping

Pre-shaping gives the bread structure an idea of what’s going to happen to it next. Gluten forms a kind of grain in bread, and working it a little at a time helps it hold its shape better.

On a very lightly floured work surface, scrape out your dough.

Using a bench scraper, hook it underneath the dough on the side opposite you and pull it toward your body. The dough will kind of balloon out in front of the scraper.

Do this a few more times until it has formed a loose ball.

Bench rest

After pre-shaping, the bench rest provides the dough time to relax, getting it ready for its final shape. To do this, you simply cover your pre-shaped dough with a tea towel and walk away. For this bread, the ideal rest time is about 30 minutes.

Shaping

Boule shapes are my favorite, and what most people visualize when they think of sourdough. It also happens to be the easiest in my opinion.

To shape a boule, first flip your rested dough over, so the bottom is now the top.

Try to visualize 4 quadrants again. Pull the top right “corner” toward the middle, working clockwise at each corner until you have completed the round.

Next, lightly flour your workspace.

Place your dough in the top left (I’m right-handed so I work from left to right) and gently tuck and spin the dough towards you. You are sealing the bottom with the spin, and encouraging the shape with the tucks.

It takes a bit of practice, and if it doesn’t work perfectly it will still be delicious.

Steam

Sourdough has a nice golden crust. This characteristic crackle is achieved using a steam bath.

If you have a dutch oven, baking with the lid on is perfect. Bake covered for the first 20 minutes and then (carefully) remove the lid.

If not, you can just fill a bread tin with water and place it on the bottom rack of the oven. After 20 minutes of baking, you can (carefully) remove the pan.

How to make Simple Everyday Sourdough

The day before you plan to bake, feed your sourdough starter to make sure it is nice and active.

Assemble your ingredients. I use Organic Lilly White flour, which has a lower gluten content than all-purpose and isn’t traditionally recommended.

Feel free to use any flour you like.

A lot of bakers use King Arthur all-purpose.

Weigh out your dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer, or if mixing by hand, a large bowl that will fit into your refrigerator.

Weigh your sourdough starter and water into the same bowl.

Mix on low speed to start, moving to medium until everything is well incorporated.

Cover and let rest, performing at least three stretch and folds over the next few hours.

From here, you can simply cover and let rest in the refrigerator overnight, or move on to the next step.

Remove your dough from the fridge and let it warm up a bit before working with it again.

Scrape it out onto a very lightly floured work surface.

Pre-shape your dough following the instructions above, and then cover and let rest for about 30 minutes.

Shape your dough and flour the top.

In a clean bowl, lay a clean kitchen towel and flour liberally.

Turn your dough upside down into the bowl and cover with the corners of the towel. This is the second place you could let your dough rest overnight in the fridge.

When you are ready to bake, set your oven temperature to 480 degrees Fahrenheit.

If using a baking sheet to bake your bread, add a bread tin about half full of water to the oven now to create steam.

When your sourdough and oven are ready, place parchment on your work surface and turn out your dough.

Score using a very sharp knife or lame, into any pattern you like.

Gently lift the parchment paper with the dough on it into the dutch oven or onto a baking sheet.

Place into the oven and reduce the heat to 450 degrees.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, and then remove either the lid or the water.

Bake for another 20 to 25 minutes until the crust is golden, and the bread sounds hollow when tapped.