Super Easy Sourdough Bread

I am pretty new to making sourdough bread. I have made it a few different ways, with a few different recipes. This is the easiest way I have found to make sourdough. You can make delicious homemade sourdough bread with a little planning, simple ingredients, and minimal effort!

One of the most important steps to making sourdough bread is, you have to want to make sourdough bread! It isn’t hard, but it takes some additional time and attention. I was given a sourdough starter during Covid. I have wanted to make homemade bread for a loooong time! Tons of people developed and blossomed their sourdough bread adventures during COVID, I did not! I tried… I wanted to…but in my mind, I just couldn’t take care of one more thing!! And looking back, I overcomplicated the process and really didn’t understand sourdough. I have done A LOT of reading and research on the topic. A little more than necessary, but I really wanted to grow my own starter, so I felt that was an important step.

I attempted to grow my own starter 3 or 4 times, to no avail! And for some reason, I thought if I couldn’t grow a starter, how was I going to make bread!? Whether it was my pride or lack of knowledge, I just figured I couldn’t make bread if I couldn’t make a starter. Well, time marched on and I didn’t carve out the time to “attempt” to make a new starter. All I knew was I really wanted to make sourdough bread for my family!! So I reached out to a friend who had offered me some starter after she had seen all my failed attempts. Decided to accept her offer, and that was that! I haven’t looked back, it was one of the best decisions I have made! So long story long, if you want to try to create your own starter, GO FOR IT!! But the most simple way is to find yourself a sourdough person and ask for a starter. It is super simple and I know they would be happy to share!

Once you’ve decided you WANT to make sourdough bread, do a little research. I will be making a post soon on some sourdough information, until then, Google some recipes or hop on over to Instagram or Pinterest and find some information and read through, in its entirety, a few different recipes. That way you have a general idea of how sourdough works and the process. Do yourself the biggest favor, DO NOT OVERCOMPLICATE IT! Sourdough bread is pretty simple once you wrap your head around it. It is flour, water, salt, and starter. You incorporate them in a series of steps, (which takes a few minutes) once incorporated you let it proof overnight. Then the next day you do a series of stretch and folds (which takes maybe 30 seconds) about 3 times in a one-hour period of time. (depending on the recipe) You then shape it, let it rest for an hour, and then bake it. You just have to understand your starter a little. But that is what a little research and rubberbands are for. (You’ll understand why later on)

Okay, so you want to make sourdough bread, and you’ve read through some recipes in their entirety, and you have yourself an active starter. Let’s do this!!

You don’t need fancy tools, I am sure you have most things around your kitchen but for this recipe, you DO NEED a Dutch Oven and a kitchen scale! You can also search around for baking a loaf without a Dutch, there is a way, I just don’t know it.

Sourdough Bread Tools:

1. Kitchen Scale
2. Dutch Oven 6-7 quart – they sometimes have these cheaper at TJ MAXX
3. Large Mixing Bowl
4. medium mixing bowl or banneton-proofing basket
5. Quart Mason Jar – 2 (one for starter, one for activating starter to bake)
6. small mason jar or glass cup
7. Silicone spatula and/or wooden spoon (I use both)
8. Bench scraper
9. High-quality bread flour – l use King Arthurs
10. Sea salt – I use Himalayan Sea Salt or Celtic
11. Rice Flour – I use Bob’s Red Mill and a bag of this will last you a long time or you can use Semolina
12. Flour sack kitchen towel
13. Bowl covers (I use both plastic and cloth) you can also use plastic wrap
14. razor blade -double-sided
15. rubber bands
16. Non-stick parchment paper or silicone mat
17. Purified water

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A few notes: I refer to the starter I kept in the fridge as “Mother”. She is what you will remove a specific amount of starter from, put in a separate mason jar, feed it, wait for it to get “active”, then add your flour, water, and salt mixture to create the dough you will bake into a loaf. You then will feed your “Mother” and place her back in the fridge until you want to bake again. Microwave or oven: I use my oven (as my microwave doesn’t have a light I can just turn-on) to keep my “Mother”, starter, and dough warm. *Get a Post-it and write “Bread”, “Sourdough” or something on it, place it on the oven dials, so you, or anyone else, DOES NOT turn ON the oven while you are prepping your bread. Disastrous, believe me!! Also, having a large plate or an oven mat under your starter, in the event it overflows while becoming active, will save you a huge mess and large frustration! Also, disastrous!! And a piece of additional information on an “active” starter, a nice active starter is bubbly and will more than double sometimes triple in size. That is what you are looking for in your starter to know you’re ready to make bread. Marking the jar with a rubber band is super helpful, or you can also use a whiteboard marker to draw a line on the jar to mark the level you started.

Day 1: You are going to remove your “Mother” from the fridge, and let her warm up by putting her in the oven with the light on. Usually about an hour. (Don’t forget to put a note on your oven!) Get out your scale, large mixing bowl, quart-size mason jar, small jar/glass, spatula, flour, water, and salt. Once your “Mother” has warmed up, grab your quart-size mason jar, put it on the scale and (pouring from the Mother) add 150 grams of starter, 60 grams of hot water, (my water temp is about 130 degrees F), and 60 grams of flour. Mix until fully combined, using your spatula, scrape down the sides the best you can, and add a rubber band around the jar at the level of the starter. Place the lid on tightly and put it back in the oven to become nice and active. *Make a note of the time you started so you get a general idea of how long your starter takes to peak. The healthier your starter is (the more often is used/fed the healthier it will be. So this time can range. This is helpful as you continue to make bread.

Feed your Mother: Add 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of hot water, mix til fully combined, scrape down sides, put the lid on tightly, and place back in the fridge until next time.

While you are waiting for your starter to become nice and active. (Which is when she more than doubles) You are going to prep your dough. Take your large bowl, place it on your scale, and weigh 420 grams of flour and 300 grams of hot water. Mix until fully combined, I use my hands. This is made with love, remember that. And love can be messy, also remember that! It will look a bit shaggy and not smooth. Once mixed, cover it with your cloth bowl cover, towel, or plastic wrap and place it in the oven next to your starter to keep warm.

Now take your small jar or glass, put it on the scale, and weigh 20 grams of hot water and 10 grams of salt. Combine them, stir, and let set for about 10-20 minutes, mixing occasionally to help break down the salt. After about 20 minutes, add salt water (scraping out all of the salt) to your bowl of shaggy dough. Using your hands, squish, and mix until all the water is fully incorporated. Place the cover back on and place it back in the oven until your starter has reached “peak”. (More than doubled) This will take a few hours. Mine takes about 3-4 hours when I use her weekly, a bit longer if I don’t use her weekly.

Once the starter has more than doubled, and is nice and bubbly, remove the starter and bowl from the oven. Pour the entire starter into your bowl of dough. Get in there and mix until fully combined. Scraping the sides down and getting all the dough together the best you can. Takes a few minutes. After it’s all combined, wash your hands, seal the bowl up tightly with plastic wrap (you don’t want odors from your fridge to get inside the bowl), and place it in the fridge overnight.

Day 2: Take the bowl out of the fridge and place it in the oven with the light on. (Don’t forget to put a note on the oven) I usually give this about an hour. Now you can do this two ways: 1) Keep dough in the bowl while doing your stretch and folds, or 2) pour it onto a floured work surface while doing your stretch and folds. I change this up, I don’t have a preference. Either way, you need additional flour. We are going to move forward taking it out of the bowl. Lightly flour your work surface, and dampen your hands slightly to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. Even though this might happen anyway. Pouring dough out onto the floured surface, sprinkle the top of the dough with flour, and do a few stretch and folds. Stretch and Fold: (1: In the bowl) Grab one side of the dough, pulling it up as high as it will go without breaking, then fold it back down on itself, while pressing the flour into the dough a little bit. Repeating this all around the dough. (2: On the counter) Using your bench scraper, scrape up some flour as you scoop up under half of the dough and fold it on top of itself. Pressing down a little to incorporate flour. Using your bench scraper repeat the process around the dough, sprinkling a little flour as needed so the dough isn’t super sticky. Once finished with either method, sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and cover it with your kitchen towel. Let rest for 20 minutes. Repeat this step at least 2 times. Might need a third if you stretched in the bowl. The bread becomes less sticky as you do your stretch and folds while sprinkling with flour. On your last “stretch and fold” you are going to create your Boule: the French word for ball, a traditional shape of sourdough. Traditionally you do this by putting your dough on an un-floured surface doing a circular motion with your hands around the dough as you push the dough away from you, then and a tuck and pulling motion towards you, to create a ball. I am still perfecting this, so don’t stress about it. I didn’t even come close the first dozen times I made bread. So let’s do my floured surface method! Before you do this last step, make sure your proofing basket (banneton) is dusted with rice flour or if you are using a medium size bowl, line it with a flour sack towel, and dust it with rice flour. On your floured surface, take your bench scraper by putting the bench scraper under the dough and kind of spin it while doing a tucking motion with your other hand, do this until you get a nice round shape. Then use the bench scraper to lift the bread from underneath, and then pick it up and flip it upside down into your proofing basket or medium bowl. (so the bottom of your dough is now on top) I then grab opposite sides of the dough and pinch it together, repeating this along the entire surface to “close” the dough up. This helps create tension in the dough. Then cover with a towel, stick in the fridge, and let proof for one hour.

You can also choose to let this proof overnight, which helps develop a nice crust. Cover it tightly with plastic wrap if you’re leaving it in the fridge overnight.

Place your Dutch in the cold oven and preheat your oven to 500 degrees F. You need your Dutch nice and hot so don’t forget this step. Let it sit at 500 degrees for 10 minutes.

Cut a large square of non-stick parchment paper and place on the counter. Remove your dough from the fridge, uncover your dough, and sprinkle a nice thin layer with rice flour. Now quickly turn your dough out onto the parchment paper and remove the bowl by lifting it straight up. Using your double-sided razor, at a 45-degree angle, score your dough, basically from one end to another about a 1/4 inch deep.

Once your Dutch is ready and you’ve scored your bread. Carefully, place your dough in your EXTREMELY HOT Dutch, put the lid on, and back in the oven to bake for 20 minutes. Then turn down your oven to 470 degrees, remove the lid, and finish cooking for an additional 20 minutes.

Remove from oven, remove bread from Dutch, and place on a wire rack. Let cool for a minimum of an hour before you cut into it. It finishes cooking while it rests.

As delicious as the bread is anytime, I find that the longer it rests the easier it is to cut. Now get in there, slice her up, and enjoy!! And CONGRATULATIONS!! I hope you keep baking sourdough. It gets easier to do and understand the more you do it, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be hooked!!

I bake weekly and love the process. I’ll be adding sandwich bread recipes, waffles, and more soon. So come back!

Let me know if you have any questions and how you did!! Don’t forget to follow along for more inspiration!

“Be mindful of the season you’re in, intentional in the moments you create, and passionate for the life you have!” ~ Jeanne <3