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Simple Sourdough Bread Recipe

Simple Sourdough Bread RecipeSimple Sourdough Bread RecipeSimple Sourdough Bread Recipe

This easy sourdough bread recipe is beginner-friendly and foolproof. With simple steps and plenty of hands-off time, you’ll bake a crusty, golden loaf with a soft, airy crumb. Perfect for everyday baking.

Prep time: PT360M

Cook time: PT45M

Total time: PT1845M

Rating

4.49 stars (241 reviews)

Keywords

Sourdough Bread, Sourdough Recipes

Ingredients

Categories

Cuisine

Steps

  1. Fermentolyse - Premixing The DoughWeigh out your sourdough starter and water into a large ceramic or glass bowl. Mix the water and starter together briefly. Then add your flour and salt and mix whole lot together to form a shaggy dough. You can use a dough scraper or long jar spatula to do this. I don't like using hands at this stage as it's way too messy!The dough will be fairly shaggy and only just brought together. You might wonder how this will turn into bread, but just wait, time is your friend and the dough will change in around an hour.
  2. Cover your bowl with a plastic bowl cover or damp dish towel and let it sit for around 1 hour.
  3. Forming Up The DoughAfter the dough has been through fermentolyse you need to bring it together into a ball. Work your way around the bowl, grabbing the dough from the outside, stretching it up and over itself, into the centre, until a smooth ball is formed (I usually do around 20 folds here). You're taking the dough from a rough shaggy dough into a smoother, more elastic dough.
  4. Once the dough has formed into a smoothish ball, pop the plastic bowl cover back on and allow it to rest for around 30 minutes.
  5. Stretch & Fold - Creating StructureOver the next few hours you need to create even more structure for your dough by "stretching and folding". Aim to do around 4-6 sets of stretches and folds. For each set, stretch the dough up and over itself 4 times. Leave around 15 minutes in between each set. Again you do not have to be exact with time, but you need to do at least 4 sets over 2 hours.
  6. Bulk FermentOnce you've finished your stretch and folds, place the plastic bowl cover or damp tea towel back over your dough and let it rest and ferment (a plastic cover is a better option for this stage).See notes below for more info on this step.
  7. Shaping The DoughOnce your dough has finished it's first ferment, it's time to shape it into either a boule or a batard. I don't like using flour for shaping, however if you feel you need it, give your counter a really light dusting of rice flour or semolina flour.Use a silicone dough scraper to gently ease the dough out of the bowl. You want it to land upside down on your counter so that the smooth top of the dough is on the countertop and the sticky underside is facing up. This will make it easier to shape and allow you to use the dough to create it's own surface tension.I like to make batards, but you can also create a boule. You can see a video of me shaping the dough at the top of this recipe card.
  8. Placing Into A BannetonOnce the dough is shaped into a boule or batard with plenty of surface tension, place it into your banneton smooth side down, so your seam is on the top. Stitch the top of the dough together if you need to.Lift your dough around the edges to pop a little more flour if you feel it needs it. Just try to handle the dough as little as possible and be really gentle as you really want to preserve all the gases and air bubbles that have formed during your bulk ferment.
  9. Cold FermentNow the dough is in its proofing basket, cover it loosely with a plastic bowl cover or damp dish towel and place into the refrigerator.Try to leave it in the fridge for a minimum 5 hours up to a maximum of around 36 hours. The longer you leave it the better your bread will be! A longer cold ferment creates beautiful blisters on your crust and a deeper sourdough flavour.
  10. Preparing To BakeOnce you're ready to bake your sourdough, you'll need to preheat your oven to 230C/450F. Place your Dutch Oven into the oven when you turn it on so it gets HOT. Try to preheat for around 1 hour to ensure your oven is super hot - but you know your oven so just adjust this time if you need to.Leave your dough in the fridge until the very last minute - placing a cold dough into a hot oven will give you a great oven spring.
  11. Let's Bake Your Sourdough BreadWhen your oven is at temperature, take your sourdough out of the fridge. Gently place it onto a piece of parchment paper.Make sure that you make the baking paper big enough to use the edges as a handle to lower to dough into your Dutch Oven.Gently score your bread with a bread lame or clean razor blade. At minimum a large cross is sufficient, but you can get as artistic as you like. Check out this guide to scoring sourdough bread.Carefully take your Dutch oven out of the oven. Place the sourdough into the pot using the parchment paper as a handle. Put the lid on and place into the hot oven. BAKE TIME:30 Minutes with the lid on at 230C/450F plus10-15 Minutes with the lid off at 210C/410F
  12. Finishing The BakeWhen you remove your dough from the oven, carefully remove it from the dutch oven as soon as possible and place on a wire rack to cool.

Nutitrion

  1. Serving Size: 100 g
  2. Calories: 1851 kcal
  3. Carbohydrates: 372 g
  4. Protein: 61 g
  5. Fat: 8 g
  6. Saturated Fat: 1 g
  7. Sodium: 3904 mg
  8. Sugar: 2 g
  9. Unsaturated Fat: 5 g

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