I love baking sourdough bread.
Baking sourdough bread is a true labor of love but absolutely worth it in the end. At minimum a three day process (with lots of potential pitfalls along the way), it’s by no means an easy bake. But when you crack the code and pull a perfect golden loaf out of the oven… there is no better feeling.
After many years of trial and error, I’ve finally figured out a method that works consistently for me. However, I strongly urge you to use my method as guideline and figure out what works best in your kitchen. Let’s get baking!
What makes Sourdough Bread different?
Sourdough bread is a naturally leavened bread. Instead of using commercial dry yeast, it’s leavened by wild yeast that has been cultivated through a starter. This yeast is what gives sourdough it’s classic sour tang and chewy texture.
What is a Sourdough Starter?
A sourdough starter is a culture of the wild yeast from your environment. Using specific ratios of flour and water, you can encourage this yeast to grow in a controlled way. When incorporated into bread dough, this yeast will feed off the water and flour, creating carbon dioxide, and causing the dough to rise. You will never use your entire starter for a bake, only taking small parts of it to create other preferments (like a levain) and then continuing to feed the main starter culture. It’s best to think of your starter like a plant as you’ll need to feed/water it every couple days. Since starters are technically alive (and can be killed), many people name their starters. For example, meet my starter, Susan B. Sourdough, aka Susie!
What is a Levain?
A levain is an off-shoot of a sourdough starter. To create one, add some ripe starter to water and flour in a separate container and let it ripen overnight. However, unlike a starter, you will use the entirety of this off-shoot in your dough as the leavening agent. You can also use your levain to change the flavor profile of your dough by adjusting what type of flour is used to create it (more whole grains = a more sour loaf.)
What is an Autolyse?
An autolyse is when you combine the water and flour in a recipe and let it rest before incorporating other ingredients. During this time, the flour absorbs the water, and the gluten strands begin to form. By incorporating an autolyse into your sourdough bread making process, you’re able to achieve a stretchier dough and ultimately a lighter and fluffier bread interior.
How to do a Strength Building Fold
A strength building fold is when you fold mixed dough onto itself to help align the gluten strands. This creates bread dough that rises well and a final loaf of bread that is light and airy. See how to do it in this tutorial:
How to Shape the Dough
Pre-Shaping
Pre-shaping your sourdough rounds creates tension in the loaf so it’s able to rise as it bakes. It’s a fairly simple process but makes a big difference in the quality of your oven spring. See how to do it in this tutorial:
Final Shaping
Like the pre-shape, the final shaping of your sourdough bread also creates tension in the loaf so it rises well and has a good oven spring when baked. There are lots of different methods out there but this is what I’ve found works best for me. See how to do it in this tutorial:
Sourdough Bread Making Equipment
Kitchen Scale
I’ve said it many times on this blog, and will continue to repeat it: GET A KITCHEN SCALE. Bread dough is all about ratios (the biggest one being hydration, so flour: water) so most recipes you find will be based on weight to make sure the ingredients are balanced properly. You can find one for $12 online and it will serve you far beyond just this bake.
Banneton Baskets
Banneton baskets are used for slow fermenting doughs (like sourdough) to keep the dough supported as it prooves. If you just left the dough out on your counter, it would become very flat and likely not rise when baked. You can make your own banneton baskets out of a floured tea towel and a mixing bowl in a pinch, however, if you’re thinking about getting into any kind of serious bread baking, buying a cheap set of baskets off of Amazon is the way to go.
Bread Lame
A bread lame (pronounced LAHM) is a long thin stick that holds a razor blade, used to score bread dough. Using a bread lame versus a sharp knife or scissors is preferred as the razor blade ensures thin and precise cuts. There are certain tips and tricks you can learn to help your sourdough develop a classic “ear” as it bakes as well as other more creative scoring designs. Like most things, you can find a cheap set on Amazon.
Dutch Oven
Dutch ovens are used for bread baking because they mimic the environment created by steam-injector ovens used in professional bakeries. If you don’t have one, you can play around with adding steam to your oven via other methods. However, a dutch oven is a useful kitchen tool to have around anyway, especially if you like cooking. I used this Lodge for years before finally upgrading to a Le Creuset and it baked many fine loaves of sourdough.
Spray Bottle
Steam keeps the exterior of sourdough bread dough pliable and stretchy and prevents the crust from forming too soon. Adding a few spritz of water to the dutch oven before the bake creates additional steam and gives your loaf the best chance at achieving maximal oven spring and the classic deep golden brown color sourdough is known for. Get one for a few bucks at your local grocery store and use it for all your bread baking projects!
A few notes:
- Stand mixing vs hand mixing: You can try to hand mix sourdough bread, but a stand mixer will help your loaves be more consistent, especially if you’re first starting out. I’ve never tried to hand mix my dough before but I’m sure you can find more guidance online if you need it.
- Fermenting the dough: I typically bake my sourdough bread the day after I make and shape the dough, only leaving it in the fridge to ferment overnight. The longer it’s left in the fridge, the richer and more sour the dough will become. Sourdough can be fermented for up to 72 hours but after that point you can risk over-proofing the dough. Feel free to experiment and see what works best for you!
- To parchment paper or not to parchment paper: I prefer placing my sourdough bread onto parchment paper first versus directly dropping it into the dutch oven. I’ve found this gives me more control when transferring it, and that the angle is better when slashing with the bread lame.
- Let your loaf get dark: Dark crust = lots of flavor. Do yourself a favor: if your dough is not dark enough after 25 minutes of baking with the lid off, pop it onto the oven rack to finish baking. One of the downsides of using parchment paper is sometimes the sides of the loaf don’t brown so this helps ensure an evenly colored crust.
- Don’t cut into it too early: Bread needs to cool before it is sliced so it can finish baking and set up properly. If you cut into a loaf of bread too early, the interior can become gummy and sticky instead of light and fluffy. So be patient!
And most importantly… figure out what works best for you!
There are so many factors that affect how your sourdough loaf will turn out. The yeast in your environment, the hydration of your dough, humidity, altitude, your equipment… the list goes on. So while I can show you what works for me (note: I am at sea level, located in Southern California), it really will be up to you to troubleshoot your own set up and method. Good sourdough takes time and practice so don’t be discouraged if your first few loaves turn out like pancakes (check out this fun blog post about how bread making/new hobbies can even improve your mood in the long run) and keep making more sourdough! Good luck!
Homemade Sourdough Bread
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Kitchen Scale
- Banneton Baskets (2)
- Spray bottle
- Bread Lame or very sharp knife
- Kitchen Towel
- Dutch Oven
Ingredients
Levain
- 25 g Unfed starter
- 100 g Flour
- 100 g Water 100℉
Dough
- 650 g Water 100℉
- 200 g Ripe levain
- 900 g Bread flour
- 100 g Whole wheat flour
- 20 g Salt
- 25 g Additional water
Additional Ingredients
- Rice flour for dusting the banneton baskets
- Semolina flour for dusting the bottom of the dough before baking
Instructions
Day 1: Make the Levain
- At around 8 PM (or 12-14 hours before you want to start mixing your dough), start the levain. Mix together 25g of unfed sourdough starter, 100g of flour, and 100g of water at 100℉. This will yield the 200g of levain needed for the dough.25 g Unfed starter, 100 g Flour, 100 g Water
- Mix until there are no clumps of dry flour, cover, and let sit overnight (12-14 hours.)
Day 2: Mix the Dough
- The next morning, the levain should be very bubbly and have doubled in size.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer, add 650g of water (100℉), 200g of the ripe levain, 900 grams of bread flour, and 100 grams of whole wheat flour. Mix on low until a shaggy dough forms then cover and let sit for 30-40 minutes. This is called an "autolyze" and it gives the flour time to fully hydrate.650 g Water, 200 g Ripe levain, 900 g Bread flour, 100 g Whole wheat flour
- Next, add the 20g of salt and 25g of additional water. Mix on low for 2 minutes and then bump up the speed to medium to mix for an additional 2-4 minutes.20 g Salt, 25 g Additional water
- Transfer the dough to an oiled medium bowl (metal or plastic, not glass), cover, and let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- After 30 minutes, do the first strength building fold. To do this, take an edge of the dough, pull it until there is tension, and then fold it back into the center of the dough ball. Do this 4-5 times or until you’ve gotten all sides of the dough and then round off you dough ball with several tucks and folds (watch the tutorial here). Cover again and let sit for an additional 30 minutes.
- After fermenting for a total of 60 minutes, the dough should start to look gassy and have a nice shine to it. Do a second set of strength building folds and finish off with the tuck and folds. Cover and let sit for 2-3 hours.
- After 3 hours, the dough will have grown about 50% and be quite buoyant. Pour out onto a floured surface and then divide into two equal pieces.
- Take one piece of dough, grab a corner, stretch it out and then bring it back into the center, and do that around the entire piece. Flip the dough over, seam side down, and then rotate the dough ball on the counter in a circular motion, tucking the dough underneath itself as you go (watch the tutorial here).
- Repeat with the second piece, cover both with a towel and let sit for 20 minutes for the bench rest.
- After 20 minutes, flip both dough balls over and move one to the side.
- To shape this dough, stretch out the top edge, the two sides, and the bottom edge, bringing all back into the center of the dough. Do a quick bakers roll, and the roll the dough into a log, tucking it in tightly as you go. Seal off the seam with a bench scraper and drop it in a banneton basket floured with rice flour (watch the tutorial here).Rice flour
- Repeat with the second piece of dough, cover both with a towel and then let sit on the counter for 1.5 to 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, they should have again grown about 50%, and spring back when poked. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to ferment for at least 12 hours and up to 72.
Day 3: Bake the Bread
- The next morning, preheat your oven with a dutch oven inside to 500℉.
- Turn out your first loaf (still cold) onto a piece of parchment paper sprinkled with semolina flour. Slash the dough at least once with a bread lame and then transfer very carefully to the very hot dutch oven. Spray several times with water then cover with the lid.Semolina flour
- Lower the oven temperature to 485℉ and bake covered for 18 minutes.
- After 18 minutes, remove the lid, and then bake at 465℉ for 25-30 minutes or until a dark golden brown.
- Remove from the dutch oven and let cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing.
- Let the dutch oven and oven come back up to 500℉ before baking off the second loaf, using the same method described above.
Notes
- Stand mixing vs hand mixing: You can try to hand mix sourdough bread, but a stand mixer will help your loaves be more consistent, especially if you’re first starting out. I’ve never tried to hand mix my dough before but I’m sure you can find more guidance online if you need it!
- Fermenting the dough: I typically bake my sourdough bread the day after I make and shape the dough, only leaving it in the fridge to ferment overnight. The longer you leave it in the fridge, the richer and more sour your dough will become. Sourdough can be fermented for up to 72 hours but after that point you can risk over-proofing the dough. Feel free to experiment and see what works best for you!
- To parchment paper or not to parchment paper: I prefer placing my sourdough bread onto parchment paper first versus directly dropping it into the dutch oven. I’ve found this gives me more control when transferring it, and that the angle is better when slashing with the bread lame.
- Let your loaf get dark: Dark crust = lots of flavor. Do yourself a favor: if your dough is not dark enough after 25 minutes of baking with the lid off, pop it onto the oven rack to finish baking. One of the downsides of using parchment paper is sometimes the sides of the loaf don’t brown so this helps ensure an evenly colored crust.
- Don’t cut into it too early: Bread needs to cool before it is sliced so it can finish baking and set up properly. If you cut into a loaf of bread too early, the interior can become gummy and sticky instead of light and fluffy. So be patient!
