Made Simple Sourdough for Beginners

This beginner artisan loaf is an easy, no-knead dough that’s perfect for the home baker just entering the world of sourdough. The end result is a crusty rustic loaf that is a wonderful complement to an everyday meal.

So you finally have a mature starter, and you’re ready to make your first basic loaf. This recipe is the perfect place to start to get your feet wet in the world of sourdough. And chances are that after tasting this crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, slightly tangy, gut healthy bread, you’ll never go back to store-bought ever again.

What are the benefits of sourdough?

The “sourness” is not referring to a bitter flavor akin to lemon, but more along the lines of the depth of flavor that comes with fermented foods. Because this is fermented, the healthy bacteria is not only good for the gut, it also breaks down the gluten during the proofing process. So while this is not a gluten free item, this bread is accessible to those who are usually gluten sensitive. (source)

What is so special about sourdough?

Not only is it delicious in its complexity of flavor, but it’s virtually the healthiest bread one can eat. In its simplest form, this bread consists of 3 ingredients – flour, water, and salt. These come together to form something both chewy and crunchy. The magic of combining such few components to reveal a substantial and wholesome addition to any meal makes sourdough baking not only a special skill to have but a useful one as well!

Why you’ll love this recipe:

Easy: The instructions are extremely straight forward. You can start by feeding your starter on Saturday morning and have freshly baked bread by Sunday morning with very little hands on time.

Healthy: The health benefits of fermented foods are numerous. The beneficial bacteria in this are helpful for the gut microbiome. They make the environment less hospitable to bad bacteria allowing only the good kind to grow. Fermented foods are also a great way to get probiotics into your diet without supplements. And with only a few ingredients, this beginner artisan sourdough loaf is a healthy alternative to store-bought bread that’s made with preservatives, sugars, oils, dough conditioners, and who knows what else.

Delicious: After only minimal effort, you have this final product that is complex in flavor that can be enjoyed all on its own, with some butter and salt, or served alongside a bowl of soup. It can and should be eaten at any point in the day with any meal!

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Tools you may need:

Food scale

A starter kit with bannetons, a bench scraper, bowl scraper, lame, and extra razor blades

Disposable shower caps

White rice flour for dusting

Dutch Oven

Wire rack

Bread knife

Tips for starting your beginner artisan sourdough loaf:

Autolyse

When measuring the water, use a separate container instead of pouring the water straight into the flour. This ensures that if you accidentally over pour, you can easily adjust.

Use your hands or a fork to incorporate the water into the flour to form a shaggy dough.

If you were using a fork at first, switch to your hands and form into a rough ball. Use a bowl scraper to help you get every bit of flour off the sides of the bowl.

Mix Dough

After your autolyse, you’ll pour the starter and the salt in the bowl. Begin to incorporate all the ingredients by folding the dough over onto itself and then pinching until everything comes together into a wet, homogenous mixture.

Stretch and Folds

On three different occasions during this process, you will perform what is called stretch and folds at 30 minute intervals to help gently develop the gluten. This is done by stretching the dough and folding it back onto itself. You are done when you have stretched and folded the dough four times on all sides. The pictures below are from the second stretch and fold.

When finished, flip over the dough to loosely form a ball, and let it rest.

The Window Pane Test

After three sets of stretch and folds, the gluten will be developed enough to give the dough adequate elasticity. This can be determined using the window pane test. Grab a small amount of dough and stretch it thin enough so you can see light coming through the dough without it ripping. Now your dough is ready to rest and rise!

Bulk Fermentation

Now is the time to let your dough rest in a warm, undisturbed spot like on top of the fridge. After it has risen, it should be about doubled in size and have a few small bubbles forming on the top of the dough.

Before:

After:

Preshape

Slowly coax the dough out of the bowl onto a clean work surface. Use a bowl scraper if needed. Handling the dough by forcing it out could deflate it more than you want. Be as gentle as possible all throughout this process.

When preshaping it should go from this:

to this:

Shape

After resting for another 30 minutes, It’s time to do one last final shape before going into the refrigerator overnight. Start by using a bench scraper to flip the dough upside down.

Lightly stretch the bottom portion of the dough down and up over itself.

Then fold each side over.

Lastly, fold the top down and roll over into a taut ball.

Use a bench scraper to lift the dough off the counter and place into a FLOURED banneton.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap, a shower cap, or tie a clean plastic bag around it. Place into the fridge overnight.

Time to Bake

Flour the dough before removing it from the banneton.

Flip the dough out onto some parchment paper, score deeply with a lame, razor blade, or sharp kitchen knife, and, using the parchment, carefully lower the dough into your preheated dutch oven.

After 20 minutes with the lid on, it should look something like this:

And after another 25 minutes without the lid, it should look something like this:

How to store:

If you can keep yourself from eating this entire loaf in one sitting, the best way to make it last is to freeze it. Just slice it up, and put it inside of a freezer safe container or bag. When you want to enjoy it again, simply take out as many slices as you would like to eat and warm them back up in a toaster oven or under the broiler in your oven. Make sure to flip to get both sides of the bread. Top it with butter and salt, and you’ve got yourself a quick delicious treat!