Sourdough Bread Recipe

Sourdough bread loaf with a slice resting against it.

This sourdough recipe uses just 5 basic ingredients and no fancy equipment. It yelds a hearty, flavorful bread with a soft, springy crumb and a crusty exterior. I'll walk you through all of the steps in detail, and the recipe includes a how-to video! If this is your first time making sourdough bread, I recommend reading through the post and the instructions and watching the video before beginning.

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Prep Time 2

Cook Time 50

Rising Time 16

Total Time 18 50

Servings loaf

Calories 1820kcal

Author Sam Merritt

Equipment

Mixing bowls
2 loaf pans
Bench scraper (optional)
Bread lame (optional, or use sharp knife)

Ingredients

⅔ cup (150 g) active starter bubbly, active, fed
1 ⅓ cups (315 g) warm water 90F
1 ½ Tablespoons (18 g) olive oil
3 ⅔ cups (450 g) bread flour
2 teaspoons (13 g) table salt
Oil or butter for greasing pan
Additional flour for dusting work surface

Instructions

Make the dough

In a large mixing bowl, combine sourdough starter, water, and olive oil. Stir until combined.
⅔ cup active starter, 1 ⅓ cups warm water, 1 ½ Tablespoons olive oil
Add bread flour and sprinkle the salt overtop. Use your (clean) hands or a wooden spoon to stir together until dough is mostly combined. It will still be a bit shaggy and should not be cohesive (don’t over-mix) but no dry patches of flour should remain.
3 ⅔ cups bread flour, 2 teaspoons table salt
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit undisturbed for one hour (this is the “autolyse” period).

Stretch & Fold

Form dough into a ball with your hands.
Run your hands under cool water (prevents sticking!) and grasp the top of the dough and stretch it over the bottom. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat. Turn 90 degrees and repeat again, then once more (four total stretch & folds).
Allow dough to rest, covered, in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Repeat step 2 above every 30 minutes as dough rises.
Allow dough to rise (stretching and folding every 30 minutes as indicated) until dough has increased in size about 80% (how long this takes depends on the temperature of your kitchen, typically mine is ready within 4-6 hours).

Forming the Dough

Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan with olive oil or butter.
Oil or butter for greasing pan
When dough has risen sufficiently, turn it out onto a clean, lightly floured surface.
Additional flour for dusting work surface
Use your hands to gently deflate the dough and pat it into a rectangular shape. Lift the right side of the dough and fold it into the center (almost as if you were closing a book). Then, lift the left side of the dough and fold it over the first fold (use a bench scraper if the dough is sticking to your counter).
Starting with a skinny end, tightly roll the dough, as if you were rolling up a cinnamon roll. Tuck the ends under and carefully transfer to prepared bread pan (See Notes if you would like to bake in a Dutch oven). Don’t worry if the bread doesn’t fill the pan right now.
Cover pan tightly with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to rest overnight/for 12-48 hours.

Baking

Remove the sourdough from the refrigerator and preheat your oven to 450F (230C). Allow the dough to rest (covered or uncovered) in a warm place while the oven preheats, for at least 30-35 minutes, before proceeding. (if the center of the dough hasn't risen to above the lip of the pan, I will sometimes let the bread rest at room temperature until it does, 1-2 hours).
Once oven has preheated, uncover bread (if still covered), and make a clean slice (about ¼” deep) down the center with a sharp knife or bread lame (to score it) then cover with another 9x5 pan (if you don’t have a second pan, you can make a makeshift lid using aluminum foil; tent it as high as the bread pan is deep).
Transfer to center rack of preheated oven. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes then remove the lid and continue to bake another 20-23 minutes/until golden brown and the center of bread reaches 206-208F (97C) when temped with an internal read thermometer.
Allow bread to cool in pan for 10-15 minutes before gently turning it out onto a cooling rack (careful, the pan will still be hot!) to cool for at least an hour or two before cutting into it.

Video

Notes

Cleaning note

Never wash sourdough starter or any of the sourdough dough down your sink, it can block it in a hurry. Instead use a bowl scraper to scrape any excess scraps of dough out and straight into the trash can.

How to bake in a Dutch oven.

After shaping the dough, place it in a lightly floured banneton or a bowl lined with a floured kitchen towel (I like to use my stand mixer bowl!) Cover and refrigerate overnight. The next day, gently turn the dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper and lower into a 4.5qt Dutch oven (a larger one works but will yield a flatter loaf and may need to bake a bit less time). Allow to rest uncovered while your oven preheats (or for up to an hour) then score, cover with lid, and bake as directed.

To bake the same day:

Follow recipe through step 4 under the "Forming the Dough" section. Immediately after transferring dough to pan, preheat oven to 450F (230C). Allow dough to rest uncovered while oven preheats, at least 30 minutes. Once oven is preheated, follow directions in recipe starting with step 2 under the "Baking" section. Note that bread will not be as flavorful or nutritious & texture will not be as great if it is not allowed to sit in the fridge overnight.

Storing & Freezing

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

You may also freeze this bread. Freeze the whole loaf by wrapping tightly in plastic wrap and then wrapping in foil. When ready to thaw, keep covered completely and defrost at room temperature before unwrapping.

We prefer to freeze pre-sliced: Cut bread into slices and storing in a plastic Ziploc bag (remove as much air as you can before freezing). If you struggle with freezer burn or plan to freeze the bread longer than a few weeks, you can individually wrap each slice in plastic wrap before closing in the plastic bag.

Nutrition