Sourdough Bread Recipe – Sugar Spun Run

My easy Sourdough Bread recipe is ideal for having fun with by itself or utilizing for sandwiches! I’ll be strolling you intimately by way of each step so you’ll be able to discover ways to make excellent sourdough like a professional. Recipe features a how-to video!

Sourdough bread loaf with a slice resting against it.

The Finest Sourdough Bread Recipe

This home made sourdough bread is the solely bread we eat in my family anymore. In reality, I make 2-3 loaves per week and maintain a stockpile in my freezer always! And when you attempt it… nicely, I believe you’ll, too.

That’s as a result of there’s loads to like about sourdough bread. At first, it has a excessive dietary worth and not one of the components (no added sugar, both) you’ll discover in most store-bought breads. It additionally tastes superb: traditional, hearty bread (that’s not overly bitter) with a thick, crusty exterior and a delicate, springy inside.

However what I believe you’ll love most about my recipe is how splendidly versatile it’s. It’s excellent each for dipping in soup, serving as a facet with a salad, or utilizing as a sandwich; it additionally makes an superior grilled cheese that pairs fantastically with my tomato soup!

Slices of homemade bread after being cut off a loaf.

Selfmade Bread is Simpler Than You Assume!

Making sourdough bread at house is shockingly simple, particularly when you use the sourdough starter I shared final week. It is time consuming and you could have endurance, however the work itself may be very approachable.

There’s no kneading concerned; as a substitute, we’ll use a straightforward course of often known as stretching and folding, which develops the gluten very like kneading would, however is healthier suited to increased hydration dough like sourdough. There’s additionally no mixer or fancy gear wanted with my recipe — you don’t even want a banneton or a Dutch oven, only a pair of bread pans!

I’m so excited to share this one with you (and I’ve been teasing it lengthy sufficient on Instagram, haven’t I?!), so let’s get began.

What You Want

Overhead view of ingredients including olive oil, bread flour, sourdough starter, and more.

My sourdough bread recipe has excellent taste, particularly contemplating there are so few substances. You will want:

  • Sourdough starter. This may be home made or store-bought. Clearly, I like to recommend making your personal by utilizing my sourdough starter recipe (this does take over per week to organize, but it surely’s price it!).
  • Bread flour. I actually advocate bread flour over all objective for this recipe. Bread flour has the next protein content material and produces a better-crumbed sourdough bread, for my part.
  • Olive oil. A little bit of olive oil helps make the bread completely chewy and delicate. I additionally discover it retains my sourdough softer longer. 
  • Salt. Salt is crucial for taste (unsurprisingly) but it surely additionally performs another necessary roles in sourdough bread. It helps steadiness the acidity from our starter, strengthens the gluten within the dough (necessary for form and texture), and it even helps prolong the shelf lifetime of the bread by appearing as a pure preservative.
  • Water. The water known as for in my recipe will yield a sourdough loaf that’s about 70% hydration. I really like this hydration degree; it produces a crumb that’s neither too dense nor too open, that’s not too bitter however remains to be flavorful, and that’s simple to form and very versatile — we use it for all the things from dipping in pot pie soup to consuming sandwiches. When you’re comfy baking a bread at this hydration degree, you’ll be able to experiment with rising the water when you’d like. Extra water normally yields a bread with a extra open crumb, a extra tangy taste, and a crumb that’s much less appropriate for sandwiches however good for dipping.

I wrote this sourdough bread recipe with weights as a result of I discover it’s the simplest option to make it (identical to with my macaron recipe); nonetheless, I’ve included cup measurements as nicely.

SAM’S TIP: Whereas some folks wish to bake their sourdough bread in a dutch oven, I like to make use of a pair of bread pans. It doesn’t look as rustic this manner, but it surely’s rather more sensible for my household to have a loaf of bread somewhat than a spherical of it. For those who’re workforce Dutch oven, don’t fear–I present directions for the best way to make sourdough bread in a Dutch oven beneath.

Bear in mind, that is simply an summary of the substances I used and why. For the total recipe please scroll all the way down to the underside of the put up!

Tips on how to Make Sourdough Bread

Make the Dough

Collage of four photos showing sourdough starter being combined with flour and water to create a dough.
  1. Mix sourdough starter, water, and oil in a big bowl. Ensure your starter is energetic and bubbly earlier than including it.
  2. Add the bread flour and salt.
  3. Stir till largely mixed (your dough will nonetheless look shaggy). Don’t over-mix!
  4. Cowl and let sit at room temperature for one hour.

Stretching & Folding

Collage of four photos showing dough being lifted and folded while rising.
  1. Kind your dough right into a ball utilizing your palms, the run your palms below cool water.
  2. Stretch the highest of the dough up and over the underside, then flip the dough 90 levels and repeat. I exhibit this within the video beneath when you want a greater visible.
  3. Repeat the stretch and fold course of a complete of 4 occasions, then cowl and place in a heat place to rise for half-hour.
  4. Let your dough rise till elevated in measurement by 80%, repeating the stretch and fold course of each half-hour.

Assembling

Collage of four photos showing dough being folded and formed into a loaf being being placed in a bread pan.
  1. Deflate and type your dough into an oblong form on a evenly floured floor.
  2. Raise the precise facet of the dough, fold it over to the middle, then repeat with the left facet (like folding a paper in thirds).
  3. Roll into a decent log beginning with the quick finish of the rectangle, then tuck the ends below.
  4. Place in a greased bread pan, cowl loosely, and place within the fridge to relaxation in a single day.

SAM’S TIP: I like to recommend proofing your dough within the fridge in a single day somewhat than baking instantly (I additionally present directions for baking instantly, although). Proofing in a single day will assist develop the flavour, assist the bread rise higher, and encourage extra fermentation. That being mentioned, I don’t wish to let my dough sit within the fridge for longer than 48 hours (absolute max) earlier than baking. Letting it sit too lengthy could cause over-proofing and might compromise the ultimate texture of your sourdough bread. I additionally don’t freeze my dough earlier than baking, so I can’t advise on that.

Baking

Collage of four photos showing bread dough being scored before covering and baking.
  1. Let the dough relaxation at room temperature whereas your oven preheats.
  2. Rating the bread about ¼″ deep down the middle.
  3. Cowl with one other bread pan or an aluminum foil tent.
  4. Bake at 450F for half-hour, then take away the quilt and bake for 20-23 minutes or till the bread reaches 206-208F.
Two photos showing a loaf of bread in its pan after baking before being removed to a cooling rack.
  1. Let the bread cool in its pan for quarter-hour.
  2. Take away the bread from the pan (rigorously, it’s nonetheless sizzling!) and place on a cooling rack. Let the bread cool utterly earlier than slicing.

SAM’S TIP: Don’t minimize into the bread whereas it’s nonetheless heat (I do know, so laborious, so tempting!). Doing this could make your loaf gummy and dense.

Overhead view of a loaf of homemade bread in a bread pan on a cooling rack.

Steadily Requested Questions

Is sourdough bread more healthy than regular bread?

Sourdough is certainly one of many extra nutritious forms of bread. It’s a prebiotic-rich meals made by fermenting dough with wild yeast and micro organism (sounds gross however in actuality is scrumptious) and is extra digestible than your normal white bread. It additionally has a decrease glycemic index and fewer gluten than regular bread.

Is sourdough bread gluten free?

Whereas a conventional sourdough bread recipe is clearly not gluten free, sourdough bread is usually tolerated by people who find themselves gluten delicate (however not folks with Celiac Illness). It is because a few of the gluten is consumed throughout the fermentation course of, which makes the bread extra simply digestible.

How do I make this recipe in a Dutch oven?

Comply with my recipe by way of the rolling and tucking step, then place in a evenly floured banneton (I take advantage of my Kitchenaid mixer bowl lined with a evenly floured kitchen towel, as a result of I don’t even have a banneton). Cowl and let rise in a single day within the fridge.

The subsequent day, rigorously end up your dough onto a big piece of parchment paper and punctiliously decrease this right into a 4.5qt Dutch oven (a bigger one would work, however your bread shall be flatter and can doubtless cook dinner quicker). Permit the dough to take a seat uncovered whereas the oven preheats, then rating, cowl with a lid, and comply with recipe directions for baking.

Slices of sourdough bread on a wood cutting board.

I do know that there are numerous sourdough bread recipes on the market and so many various methods to make it, however that is my private favourite model that I’ve rigorously developed over the previous 12 months. I can’t wait to listen to the way you prefer it, I hope you’ll all the time need to maintain a loaf in your own home, too! ❤️

Get pleasure from!

Let’s bake collectively! I’ll be strolling you thru all of the steps in my written recipe and video beneath! For those who do that recipe, make sure you tag me on Instagram, and you may also discover me on YouTube and Facebook

Sourdough bread loaf with a slice resting against it.

Sourdough Bread Recipe

This 5-ingredient sourdough bread recipe is ideal for sandwiches. My recipe explains each step so you’ll be able to discover ways to make sourdough like a professional!Recipe features a how-to video!

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Course: Bread

Delicacies: American

Prep Time: 2 hours

Prepare dinner Time: 50 minutes

Rising Time: 16 hours

Complete Time: 18 hours 50 minutes

Servings: 1 loaf

Energy: 1820kcal

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Directions

  • In a big mixing bowl, mix sourdough starter, water, and olive oil. Stir till mixed.

    ⅔ cup energetic starter, 1 ⅓ cups heat, 1 ½ Tablesoons olive oil

  • Add bread flour and sprinkle salt overtop. Use your (clear) palms or a wood spoon to stir collectively till dough is usually mixed. It’s going to nonetheless be a bit shaggy and shouldn’t be cohesive (don’t over-mix) however no dry patches of flour ought to stay.

    3 ⅔ cups bread flour, 2 teaspoons desk salt

  • Cowl bowl with plastic wrap and let sit undisturbed for one hour (that is the “autolyse” interval).

Stretch & Fold

  • Kind dough right into a ball together with your palms.

  • Run your palms below cool water (prevents sticking!) and grasp the highest of the dough and stretch it over the underside. Flip the dough 90 levels and repeat. Flip 90 levels and repeat once more, then as soon as extra (4 complete stretch & folds).

  • Permit dough to relaxation, coated, in a heat place for half-hour.

  • Repeat step 2 above each half-hour as dough rises.

  • Permit dough to rise (stretching and folding each half-hour as indicated) till dough has elevated in measurement about 80% (how lengthy this takes depends upon the temperature of your kitchen, usually mine is prepared inside 4-6 hours).

Forming the Dough

  • Flippantly grease a 9×5 loaf pan (with olive oil or butter) .

    Oil for greasing pan

  • When dough has risen sufficiently, flip it out onto a clear, evenly floured floor.

    Further flour for dusting work-surface

  • Use your palms to softly deflate the dough and pat it into an oblong form. Raise the precise facet of the dough and fold it into the middle (virtually as when you have been closing a guide). Then, carry the left facet of the dough and fold it over the primary fold (use a bench scraper if the dough is sticking to your counter).

  • Beginning with a thin finish, tightly roll the dough, as when you have been rolling up a cinnamon roll. Tuck the ends below and punctiliously switch to ready bread pan. Don’t fear if the bread doesn’t fill the pan proper now.

  • Cowl pan tightly with plastic wrap and switch to the fridge to relaxation in a single day/for 12-24 hours.

Baking

  • Take away sourdough from the fridge and preheat oven to 450F. Let oven preheat and dough relaxation (coated or uncovered) for not less than 30-35 minutes earlier than continuing.

  • As soon as oven has preheated, uncover bread, make a clear slice (about ¼” deep) down the middle with a pointy knife or bread lame (to attain it) then cowl with one other 9×5 pan (when you don’t have a second pan, you could as a substitute make a makeshift oven utilizing aluminum foil; tent it as excessive because the bread pan is deep).

  • Switch to middle rack of preheated oven. Bake, coated, for half-hour then take away the lid and proceed to bake one other 20-23 minutes/till golden brown and the middle of bread reaches 206-208F (97C).

  • Permit bread to chill in pan for quarter-hour earlier than gently turning it out onto a cooling rack (cautious, the pan will nonetheless be sizzling!) to chill for not less than 1-2 hours (till it not feels heat) earlier than chopping into it.

Notes

To bake the identical day:

Comply with recipe by way of step 4 below the “Forming the Dough” part. Instantly after transferring dough to pan, preheat oven to 450F (230C). Permit dough to relaxation uncovered whereas oven preheats, not less than half-hour. As soon as oven is preheated, comply with instructions in recipe beginning with step 2 below the “Baking” part. Observe that bread won’t be as flavorful or nutritious & texture won’t be as nice if it isn’t allowed to take a seat within the fridge in a single day.

Storing & Freezing

Retailer in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as per week.
You may additionally freeze this bread. Freeze the entire loaf by wrapping tightly in plastic wrap after which wrapping in foil. When able to thaw, maintain coated utterly and defrost at room temperature earlier than unwrapping. 
We favor to freeze pre-sliced: Reduce bread into slices and storing in a plastic Ziploc bag (take away as a lot air as you’ll be able to earlier than freezing). For those who battle with freezer burn or plan to freeze the bread longer than a number of weeks, you’ll be able to individually wrap every slice in plastic wrap earlier than closing within the plastic bag.

Vitamin

Serving: 1loaf | Energy: 1820kcal | Carbohydrates: 364g | Protein: 59g | Fats: 10g | Saturated Fats: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 3g | Monounsaturated Fats: 2g | Sodium: 4678mg | Potassium: 459mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 9IU | Calcium: 81mg | Iron: 4mg

Dietary info is predicated on third-party calculations and ought to be thought of an estimate solely. Precise dietary content material will differ primarily based upon manufacturers used, measuring strategies, cooking methodology, portion sizes, and extra.