Finally, a Basic Sourdough Bread Recipe that's easy to follow and absolutely delicious! After nearly a year of experimenting, I've finally perfected my sourdough bread recipe. With a few essential tools, you too can! Be sure to save a few slices to make a delicious Reuben Sandwich.
About This Recipe
I love that you don't need yeast to make sourdough bread, just a good starter that you can make with flour, water, and wild yeast that's all around us.
For the past year (2017), I've been trying to perfect sourdough bread baking. In January, I started my own sourdough starter, using a recipe I found online. Since then, I have baked many a loaf, trying to get it right.
My son had been my willing guinea pig/taste tester. Scotty gave me his honest feedback on every loaf that I baked. I would take a slice smothered in butter, hand it to him, and wait with anticipation for his review.
I could always count on his honest opinion. Then he had to go to boot camp and leave me stranded to figure things out on my own. This Basic Sourdough Bread Recipe is a result of a lot of trial and error.
How to Make This Recipe
Make sure you begin with a good sourdough starter. Look for plenty of active bubbles, which will help your bread to rise.
Mix the sourdough starter, warm water, and salt in a medium-sized bowl using a spatula. Add the bread flour and mix with the spatula until no lumps remain. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, turn out the dough onto a floured surface and sprinkle with additional flour. Your dough will be very sticky, get used to it! Using the slap and fold method, knead the dough for five minutes. Using a pastry scraper can make this process easier.
Proof, covered, for 4 hours in a warm spot. A good place to leave it is in the oven with the oven light on. After four hours, remove from the oven.
Knead the dough again for five minutes using that stretch and fold method, sprinkling with flour as needed. Cover and allow to rest for 30 more minutes.
For the last time, fold the dough, as if making an envelope, onto itself, until the dough forms a nice tight ball.
Flour the Banneton basket generously using a mixture of rice flour and the regular white flour. You don't want the dough to get stuck in the basket, so don't skimp on the flour. Sprinkle some rice flour and regular flour on top of the dough as well. Carefully transfer the dough into the basket, seam-side-up. Cover and proof in a refrigerator overnight.
Remove the basket from the fridge two hours before baking.
Sprinkle cornmeal on a cutting board or pizza peel. Place a 3.5 quart Dutch Oven in a 450-degree oven for 15 min to heat. Gently remove the dough from the basket and place seam-side-down onto the cornmeal surface.
Carefully remove the heated pot from the oven and lower the dough into the pot. Make a few slashes on top using a sharp knife or a bread lame, if you have one. Using a spray bottle, spray water around the bread a few times. This will help create steam as the bread bakes and will give you an amazing crust. Cover with the lid and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove the Dutch Oven's lid and bake an additional 20 minutes, uncovered.
Carefully remove the pot from the oven and allow to cool before removing the bread.
Cool before slicing with a bread knife. Give it a taste and then stop back to let me know how it went!
Pro Tips
Start with a good starter
Sourdough starters take a while to develop. At first, my sourdough tasted more like plain, white bread. Also, I could not achieve those big, airy holes, sourdough is known for.
Little by little, as the sourdough starter aged, that classic flavor began to develop. If you are not a patient person, I would highly recommend buying a sourdough starter on Amazon.
Before using the starter, test it to make sure it's active. To do this, simply take a spoonful of the starter and drop it in a cup of cold water. If it floats to the top, it's ready. If not, keep feeding it at 12-hour intervals, then repeat the test.
You need sticky/stretchy dough to make sourdough bread. Although it's hard to work with, it makes all the difference.
Banneton Proofing Baskets
Another reoccurring issue I had with this Basic Sourdough Bread Recipe was the bread not rising enough.
Although the bread would rise very nicely at first, it tended to spread during the last proofing. I quickly learned that I needed a Banneton basket.
Benneton Baskets help the dough keep its shape and structure during the last proofing. When I first tried using one of these baskets, I didn't sprinkle it with enough flour, as a result, the dough got stuck in the basket.
If this happens, the dough will most likely deflate as you try to work it out of the basket. To avoid this problem, be generous with the flour.
If too much flour sticks to the dough after removing it, you can always gently brush the excess flour off.
Longer Proofing Period
Another thing I've learned over the last year is you can't rush sourdough bread. Taking two days to make the bread is better than rushing it in one day.
I know, you're probably not happy reading these words; believe me, I didn't even want to write them down.
The fact of the matter is, doing an overnight proofing in the fridge helps in achieving your end goal.
You know what they say; "you can't rush a good thing"... "good things come to those who wait"...and all that jazz!
Baking Stone or Dutch Oven?
When I initially worked on this basic sourdough bread recipe, I was using a baking stone. My bread turned out mediocre at best.
Once I did some research, I found out that the bread masters used a Dutch Oven. I purchased one on Amazon, and it just happens to be the perfect size for this particular recipe.
Man, what a difference that made! Misting the dough before baking in the Dutch Oven finally helped me achieve that crispy crust I was looking for!
If you follow all these steps, I believe you will be baking perfect sourdough in no time. I can't wait until Scotty comes home from boot camp in a few days.
Not only do I get to give him a great big hug, but I also get to surprise him with a perfect slice of sourdough bread!
Until then, excuse me while I go enjoy a slice of sourdough smeared with cream cheese and topped with strawberry fig preserves.
What to do with discard Sourdough?
If you're like me, you probably hate to get rid of your sourdough discard because it seems like such a waste. Luckily, there are so many recipes online for sourdough discard. If you're not sure where to start, try these yummy sourdough discard biscuits from Sarita at An Off Grid Life!
Related Recipes
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
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📖 Recipe
Basic Sourdough Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup sourdough starter
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 ¼ cups bread flour
- ½ tsp. sea salt
- ½ cup flour for kneading and sprinkling on the Banneton
- 1 T. rice flour optional
- 1 T. cornmeal
Instructions
- Make sure you begin with a good sourdough starter. Look for plenty of active bubbles, which will help your bread to rise.
- Mix the sourdough starter, warm water, and salt in a medium-sized bowl using a spatula. Add the bread flour and mix with the spatula until no lumps remain. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, turn out the dough onto a floured surface and sprinkle with additional flour. Your dough will be very sticky, get used to it! Using the slap & fold method, knead the dough for five minutes. Using a pastry scraper can make this process easier.
- Proof, covered, for 4 hours in a warm spot. A good place to leave it is in the oven with the oven light on. After four hours, remove from the oven.
- Knead the dough again for five minutes using that stretch and fold method, sprinkling with flour as needed. Cover and allow to rest for 30 more minutes.
- For the last time, fold the dough, as if making an envelope, onto itself, until the dough forms a nice tight ball.
- Flour the Banneton basket generously using a mixture of rice flour and the regular white flour. You don't want the dough to get stuck in the basket, so don't skimp on the flour. Sprinkle some rice flour and regular flour on top of the dough as well. Carefully transfer the dough into the basket, seam-side-up. Cover and proof in a refrigerator overnight.
- Remove the basket from the fridge two hours before baking.
- Sprinkle cornmeal on a cutting board or pizza peel. Place a 3.5 quart Dutch Oven in a 450-degree oven for 15 min to heat. Gently remove the dough from the basket and place seam-side-down onto the cornmeal surface.
- Carefully remove the heated pot from the oven and lower the dough into the pot. Make a few slashes on top using a sharp knife or a bread lame, if you have one. Using a spray bottle, spray water around the bread a few times. This will help create steam as the bread bakes and will give you an amazing crust. Cover with the lid and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the Dutch Oven's lid and bake an additional 20 minutes, uncovered.
- Carefully remove the pot from the oven and allow to cool before removing the bread.
- Cool before slicing with a bread knife. Give it a taste and then stop back to let me know how it went!
Diane Neff says
Made this today and it looks great! Wish I could post a photo. Can't wait to cut into it later.
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Diane! I hope you love it as much as I do!
Dot says
I can’t wait to try your recipe. I have started my starter. I’m on day 6 and it smells amazing.
I’ll post a comment when I bake my first loaf.
Hilda Sterner says
Looking forward to hearing how it goes!
Devon Stokes says
This was my very first attempt at making sourdough and it turned out perfectly!! thank you so much for such a great recipe! 🙂
HildaSterner says
That's great to hear! Thanks for coming back and leaving a review! ❤️
Lydia says
Hi!
I give 4 stars, but that is probably not due to your recipe, that’s more for my baking skills, haha! I used all purpose flour for my first bread, because I didn’t have bread flour (and now, Coronavirus and such, wasn’t so easy to get). It turned out I baked it a bit too hot as well. The taste was like sourdough bread, but I’m not completely satisfied with it. Now that I have bread flour, I am trying a second time. The bread already rose much better than the first one. It’s a long process to make, but it’s just so delicious.
HildaSterner says
Hi Lydia, Thank you so much for the review. It sounds like you're already ahead of most people with your baking skills. It took me forever to bake a loaf that I was satisfied with. The longer the starter ages the better it will be. Keep up the good work and stay safe!
Micha says
Tried the bread with half rye and half wheat. Is is fabulous. I had three slices as soon as it was cool enough to cut. Already have two more in the fridge to bake tomorrow .
HildaSterner says
Thank you so much for the review and the comment. I'm so glad you liked it. I went through months of making bread a few times a week... then all my clothes started to shrink. Coincidence?
Marjorie says
The link for the Dutch oven doesn't seem to work. Do you have another suggestion?
HildaSterner says
Hi Marjorie,
Thank you so much for letting me know that the link was expired. I went ahead and updated it with a very similar Dutch oven to the one I originally had up there.