Simple Sourdough Bread
So here’s the deal. Forget what everyone has told you about sourdough being crazy complicated.
Ingredients? Flour, water, salt, and your starter (which is made out of flour, water and wild yeast from the air).
Also, let’s just take a moment to recognize how incredible that is… three ingredients for delicious, melt in your mouth crispy on the outside/soft on the inside bread!
Tools? Yes, you may need to pick up a couple extra, but they have far and beyond earned themselves since we literally don’t buy bread anymore.
You WILL need a little bit of patience, technique and planning. But these are things that will become easier and faster as you make more bread. AND I’m here to talk you through it step by step.
This is by far the most delicious bread I have ever had in my life, and now that I have a system down, I am able to truly enjoy the process of making sourdough. It’s part science and part art. Part get your hands dirty, get in tune with yourself and the dough, and slow your roll. A hobby that brings joy, deliciousness, and warmth into your home and family.
I want to give a huge shoutout to my friend, Sage, the guru and master of sourdough baking, who taught me how to make sourdough bread! I am forever grateful that she took the time to share her expertise and knowledge with me.
One of the things that we talked about that really resonated with me is how sourdough bread baking (an ancient technique dating back to the Egyptians) used to be something that was taught and passed down through families and how incredibly sad that this practice seems to have been lost. In taking the time to teach me, she wanted to help restart that pattern so that I could in turn share this incredible gift with others as well (and she is graciously allowing me share this recipe with you guys)! Note: Sage also has her own bread baking company, The Gypsea Baker, and creates the most incredible artisan sourdough breads for pick up and delivery in Santa Cruz and North Monterey County. If you live in that area and would like to just buy bread instead of making it, please contact her! It is out of this world! You can find her @thegypseabaker on Facebook and Instagram to put in your orders.
So what is sourdough? And the golden question - can you make it gluten free?
Sourdough is basically a slow-fermented bread. No yeast or magic ingredient, but just flour, salt, and water with a live fermented culture - your starter. The reason why so many people who have to eat gluten free are ok with or tolerate eating sourdough is because in the slow fermentation process, it breaks down a lot of the proteins and enzymes that are in the wheat. Please note: I do not recommend sourdough for people who have Celiac since fermentation does not completely eliminate all gluten. For people like my husband though who are gluten intolerant, he has no issue with anything “sourdough” that I make.
So without further ado, here is your guide to making sourdough bread. Mix in a little flour, salt, and water, a LOT of love, and some of your own experimentation and creativity! Also, it brings me so much joy when you all tag me in your photos and stories on social media, so please share!
Sourdough Steps at a Glance
Feed your starter until bubbly and active
Make your dough
Stretch and Fold - First Rise (3 hours)
Shape the dough (35 minutes)
2nd Rise and Rest (2 hours)
Overnight in the Fridge (12-16 hours)
Score & Bake (30 minutes)
Cool, slice & ENJOY!
Simple Sourdough Bread
Yield: 1 Loaf Author: Jenna Lodin
Ingredients:
75g Bubbly Starter
345g Purified Water (room temperature)
10g fine sea salt
500g Organic All Purpose Flour
Organic Rice flour for dusting
Directions:
1. The night before or early morning of, feed your starter (mine is called “Bubba”) to get it bubbly and active. I usually feed my starter 20% of it’s weight (about 1/3 cup) for normal daily feedings (equal parts room temp water and flour), but I increase that amount to at least 40-50% (about 1/2 cup) for the feeding before I mix my dough. Check out my Starter 101 Blog Post for all Starter questions on acquiring, feeding, using, and maintaining your stater!
2. Make your dough - Before starting, ensure your starter is ready to bake with. It should have doubled since you fed it and ideally, it is at its peak (before it starts to deflate again). There are two tests you can do to determine this. Test #1 is to gently drop some starter into your water and see if it floats (not all of it will, but most of it should). Test #2 is to give your starter a good stir and see if bubbles reform. If it does, it should be good! If your starter is ready, put a large bowl on a scale and zero it out. Add your room temperature water, salt and bubbly starter. Gently together with a fork or spatula. Add the salt (make sure to zero your scale back out after each ingredient) and mix. Add the flour and mix with your hands or a large spatula.
You now have what is called “shaggy dough”. Cover with a towel and let it rest for 30 minutes. Replenish your beloved starter with flour and water and give it a little love tap and thank you.
3. Stretch and Fold - First Rise (3 hours) - With wet hands, stretch and fold the dough. Reach underneath the dough with one hand, pull up, then fold it over. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat until the dough has been stretched and folded on each side and is starting to form a fairly smooth ball. When it starts getting harder to stretch, you know you’ve done it enough. I like to flip the dough on top of itself at the end of the stretch and fold session (it traps more air inside). Cover the bowl with the towel and set your timer for 45 minutes. Repeat this 3 more times every 45 minutes, allowing the dough to rest after each stretching. This resting time allows your dough time to absorb water and you will notice that the dough becomes easier to handle after each stretching.
*Note: Temperature is key to this step. Ideally your kitchen should be about 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit. If it is winter or a little cooler, a trick that I do is to turn on the oven light and leave it in there in between stretch and folds. Also, it doesn’t have to be exactly 45 minutes. It should be at least 45, but sometimes I’ve left it up to 1-1.5 hours if I’m out running errands, etc. Lastly, if you wanted to add any flavor mix-ins (some of my favorites are chocolate chips, dried fruit, olives, seeds, nuts, cheese, herbs, etc.), then do that before your third fold. Then fold to incorporate. As a general rule of thumb, inclusions should/can be about 20% of your flour weight. So about 50g for this recipe and 100g if you double it.
4. Shape the dough - Using a scraper (this is my favorite and it’s only $3), coax the dough onto a lightly floured surface (*Note: My husband has a gluten allergy, so I use rice flour since the flour on the outside of the bread is not part of the fermentation process), taking care not to deflate too many air bubbles.
Note: If you doubled the recipe and are making two loaves (or 1 loaf and 2 pizzas as I frequently do), you will need to separate the dough into two portions. Dust flour down the middle where you are going to cut, then use a bench scraper (it’s important to have a sharp edge) and cut the dough into two portions.
Using the bench scraper, shape your dough (or each portion if doubled) into a round by moving it in a circle until it tightens and the surface smoothes. Allow the rounds to sit (bench rest) for 10-15 minutes (this allows the gluten in the dough to relax after shaping again). While you are waiting, prepare your bowls or proofing baskets that the dough will have a 2nd rise and also sit in the refrigerator in. Line the bowls/proofing baskets with towels or the liner (some come with it) and dust with rice flour.
Note: You can leave your proofing baskets unlined which will leave a “powdered” look on your loaves. It will also show more of the lines from then basket. It’s up to you! Just make sure your proofing basket has a good layer of flour to keep the dough from sticking to it.
Dust the top of the round. Flip it over using the bench scraper. Stretch and fold the top into the middle, then the bottom into the middle, followed by the sides. Flip the dough back over and cup your hands around the dough. Using the outer edges of your hands and pinky fingers, gently and slowly pull it towards you. Continue doing this until the surface tightens, bubbles form, and it’s in a tight round. Make sure that your precious bubbles don’t pop or tear! If so, then you are shaping it too much. Do the same to the second round if you doubled the batch.
Dust the top, then place your dough round(s) in their bowls/proofing baskets, seam side up. Dust with flour then fold the towels on top of the dough if you used them.
5. 2nd Rise - Allow the dough to rise at room temperature (or in the oven with the oven light on) for the final proof for 2 hours or until it doubles in size. This allows the dough to build back strength after the shaping. It’s also helpful to do a poke test to determine if it has proofed enough. Press an indentation into the dough. If it springs up immediately, it is under-roofed and needs more time. If it slowly springs up about halfway, it is adequately proofed. If it doesn’t spring it at all, you may have over-roofed your dough.
6. Overnight in the Fridge - Cover the bowls/proofing baskets (and towels if you used them) with plastic bags to keep the dough from drying out and allow them to rest in the fridge overnight (about 12-16 hours). *Note - You could technically bake your dough at this point, but since my husband has a gluten sensitivity, I ALWAYS do a 24 hour fermentation to reduce as much gluten as possible.
7. Score and Bake - When you are ready to bake your loaf, preheat the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit. Put your your dutch ovens or baking pots in the oven as it preheats. It’s important that they are already hot when you put your dough in. When the oven is fully preheated, remove your dough round(s) from the fridge. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the bowl and flip the dough onto it. Using a sharp steak knife, razor blade, or bread lame, score the top of your dough. This allows steam to escape and controls where your loaf will open up. Pick up the sides of the parchment paper and very carefully transfer the dough to your pot. Put the lid on and put it in the oven to cook for 35 minutes. After 30 minutes is up, remove the lid(s) and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Note: if you only have one dutch oven or large enough baking pot, you can bake one loaf at a time. Remove the pot from the oven, carefully take your loaf out and place it on a cooling rack or cutting board.
Now get ready for the hardest part… allow it to cool for at least an hour before slicing. If you cut into them too early, the loaf will deflate slightly.
8. ENJOY! Slather that bad boy with some grass fed butter and take a bite into the most delicious bread you will have ever tasted!
Tools List:
3/4 L Weck Jars - These are the best jars I’ve found for my sourdough starter. Your starter needs to breathe, so the lids are prefect for since they just sit on top.
Spatula set - one large for mixing, one small for starter feeding/mixing (SO incredibly helpful)
Scale - a good scale is essential as it is very important to measure your ingredients out in grams
Large Mixing Bowl - the large 5 quart one in this set is my favorite for doing double batches (usually what I do)
Organic Unbleached All Purpose Flour - Central Milling is my favorite (Bob’s Red Mill is also great), but any Organic Unbleached All Purpose Flour will work. You can eventually experiment with ratios of other flours, but for starting out, using the unbleached all purpose will give you the best results.
Sea Salt - any pure sea salt works
Bowl Scraper and Bench Scraper - both incredibly helpful tools!
Proofing bowls or baskets - You can use either bowls (the two largest in this set work well) or actual proofing baskets
Flour Sack Towels - These are perfect for covering your bowl during proofing
Dusting Wand - so great for evenly dusting flour… not to mention my 3 years old’s FAVORITE part of making bread with me!
Oven Thermometer - Temperature is very important with sourdough bread, so getting a $7 oven thermometer is great to ensure that you oven is actually heating up to the right temperature.
Parchment Paper - I actually save money buying these precut papers rather than tearing it from a roll. Bonus - it perfectly fits a baking sheet for your other cooking (I frequently roast veggies in the oven) and baking needs.
Bread Lame - it is very helpful to have a sharp tool to make clean cuts with. If you want to do any type of bread art with sourdough (beyond a simple cut), this is a must. The first link is to a basic lame that you can get on Amazon. This link is to a shop called Wire Monkey that makes gorgeous wood lames that are my absolute favorite though.
Dutch ovens or Baking Pot - I love my Lodge Dutch Oven and Le Creuset 5 1/2 qt. pots for sourdough!
Reusable Beeswax Bread Bags - I find this is the BEST to store bread in and keep it fresh! Trader Joes also sells large waxed cotton food bags (10 x 12 inches) for slightly cheaper. These bag keep a loaf soft and fresh for days.
*Note: you don’t have to have all of these items in order to start your sourdough bread journey. Some of these are incredibly helpful and make the process easier, but aren’t 100% necessary, so don’t fret! The basics? Flour, water, salt, scale, mixing bowl (and more bowls for proofing), flour sack towels, parchment paper, and a 5 1/2 qt baking pot.
I hope that this guide has been helpful to you. Please don’t hesitate if you have any questions at all and I can’t wait to see all of your creations (please tag me in them @gingerhillhomestead)!
Also, stay tuned (and make sure to subscribe to my email list) for more! Make sure to check out this page for all of my other sourdough recipes and Sourdough Starter 101 Guide!
