How to make Sourdough Bread: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide
This super simple and healthy sourdough bread recipe is a labour of love the whole family can enjoy!
Crafting sourdough bread has become one of my beloved hobbies. A hobby that produces an exquisite, crusty loaf, and its unparalleled flavour is just simply irresistible! I find the process of kneading and shaping the dough can be quite therapeutic. The anticipation as it bakes and the satisfaction of pulling it out of the oven to see the final product gives me all the feels!
Sourdough bread, in my opinion, is a labour of love, and preparation is key! Ensuring your ingredients, equipment, and starter are of top quality, will save you the heartache and hassle of starting again.
Through my experimentation, loads of DIY videos, and some basic baking knowledge, I’ve come up with a simple sourdough bread recipe that works every time, even for beginners. This is a 3-day long affair – 3 DAYS, I hear you say?! Well technically it’s about 2.5 days BUT I need you to trust me on this, the result is worth it!
I have provided step-by-step instructions that will show you just how easy it is to whip up your first sourdough loaf or two. One thing to note about this recipe is that it can be doubled or tripled depending on how many loaves you’d like to make at one time.
Main Equipment
- Kitchen Scale
- Bowl
- Dough Whisk / Human Hands
- Bench Scraper
- Bannetons or other bowl
- Tea Towels / Beeswax wrap / Plastic Bag
- Dutch oven / Cast Iron Pot
Optional Equipment
- Infra-red Temperature Gun
- Instant Read Thermometer
Sourdough Bread Ingredients
- 100 g Whole Wheat Flour (I use Spelt Flour)
- 375 g All Purpose Flour (You can switch to Bread Flour)
- 325 g Water at room temperature (Luke-warm water is fine)
- 100 g Starter
- 10 g Salt
Day 1: Prepare Sourdough starter
I always make sure that my starter for my sourdough bread is super active and bubbly. The easiest way to do this is to leave it out on your work surface overnight. This will help give your starter the kick-along it needs. No feeding is required at this stage.
If you’re having trouble with your starter check out my Sourdough Starter Facts
Day 2: Prepare Sourdough
The next day, head into the kitchen and discard some of your starter. Be sure to leave about 3cm in the bottom of the jar. Feed 150 grams of flour and 150 grams of water. Ensure your jar can sustain this amount, if not adjust the flour-to-water ratio to suit. Be sure to combine the flour and water thoroughly. Now find a warm place so your starter doubles; this can be done on your stovetop, near your fireplace or I like to leave it outside on a warm summer’s day. You can use a rubber band to track its rise. You’ll see it becoming bubbly, active, and full of wild yeasts!
Now it’s time to combine the whole wheat flour (or spelt flour), all-purpose flour, and water in a large bowl. To ensure all the dry bits are incorporated, you can use a dough whisk. If you don’t have a dough whisk, that’s ok! Your hands will do just fine. It’ll look a bit shaggy. Leave it covered with plastic wrap/beeswax wrap for 30 minutes to autolyse.
The amount of starter you have is important so make sure it’s measured or weighed out first and then added with the salt to your dough. Press, and knead through. Leave it to sit covered for 30 minutes in a warm position.
Stretch and fold baby!
Start the stretch and fold process. You will do a total of 8 stretches and folds: 4 x folds every 15 mins and 4 x every 30 minutes. Stretching and folding is best done with wet hands. Now pick up one side of the sourdough, stretch it up, and fold it over to the opposite side. Continue with the other 3 sides, to ensure all 4 sides are folded.
Leave covered for the above fold times (4 x 15 minutes and 4 x 30 minutes).
After your last stretch and fold, leave your sourdough covered in a warm position until it has doubled in size, this is called bulk fermentation. Remember that the temperature of your kitchen will dictate how fast or slow this will happen. A good indicator of this is seeing bubbles the size of 20-cent pieces. This can take a few hours. I prefer leaving my dough near/on top of the stove or outside on my patio.
Place dough onto a floured surface using your bench scraper. (For the double loaf recipe: use some flour to make a line to divide in two and cut).
This next step is my favourite! You’ll need to create surface tension on the sides of the dough to roll it into a ball starting from the top and rolling towards the work surface. Let the dough rest, uncovered for 30 minutes to form a skin.
Prepare your banneton; place a little flour inside of your linen cover or if you’re using a bowl; place a damp tea towel in the bowl.
The last fold to rule them all!
Now we’re onto our last fold method; You will need to fold each side of the dough into the middle; top to bottom, left to right, and vice versa. Shape into a ball again by creating surface tension and rolling the top of the dough down and underneath towards your work surface.
Place the dough smooth side down into a proofing basket or bowl. Cover with a plastic bag, beeswax wrap, or damp towel, and leave your dough to ferment in the fridge for a minimum of 14 hours for its final rise. It marks a crucial stage in your sourdough bread-making process as it allows the bread to rise. I sometimes forget and end up leaving it there for 15-16 hours, and have had no issues with doing this.
Day 3 – Bake your sourdough bread
The next morning, preheat oven to 220°c (428°f) or maximum temperature. Place your cast iron pot or Dutch oven with the lid on in the oven to preheat. You can check your Dutch oven with a temperature gun or leave it in for a minimum of 30 minutes. Get your sourdough out of the fridge and place it onto some parchment paper. Dust lightly with flour and score the dough, I find a razor blade works best. This is where your creativity shines, go forth my friend 😁
Safely remove your hot Dutch oven and place your bread dough inside with the baking paper at the bottom. Cover with the lid and bake for 25 mins covered and 20 mins uncovered.
Carefully remove your sourdough bread from the Dutch oven/cast iron pot and place it on a wire rack to cool. This can take anywhere from one to 6 hours and I do this with my own bread to ensure maximum taste and results.
pin it for later 📌
Baking Notes / Best Tips
You can keep the temperature at 220°c (428°f) throughout the whole bake or turn the temperature down to 200°c (392°f) as you remove the lid. This is dependent on your oven. You’ll get a feel for temperatures as you bake more sourdough bread.
Your bread should have an internal temperature of 95°c (203°f). You can check this with your internal thermometer or cook to the above temperature.
Are you ready to make a loaf of bread? Let’s get baking!
Ps. This is my first-ever blog post, let me know in the comments below how I went, your feedback is always appreciated 🙂
Looking for more recipes? Subscribe to my email list and follow me on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook!
How to make Sourdough bread: for beginners
This super simple and healthy sourdough bread recipe is a labour of love the whole family can enjoy!
Ingredients
- 100g Spelt Flour
- 375g All Purpose Flour + 150g for feeding starter
- 325g Water + 150g for feeding starter
- 100g Sourdough Starter
- 10g Salt
Instructions
- Before bed, pull your sourdough starter out of the fridge and leave on the benchtop
- First thing in the morning, discard some of your sourdough starter and then feed 100g-150g of flour and 100g-150g of water. Combine and leave in a warm position to activate and rise. Make sure it doubles in size before using
- In a bowl, combine spelt and all-purpose flour with water. Leave covered for 30 minutes to autolyse.
- Add your sourdough starter and salt to the dough. Press and knead through. Leave covered for 15-30 minutes in a warm area (stovetop, woodfire, or outside).
- Start the stretch and fold process. You will do a total of 8 stretches and folds: 4 x folds every 15 mins and 4 x every 30 minutes. Stretching and folding is best done with wet hands. Now pick up one side of the sourdough, stretch it up, and fold it over to the opposite side. Continue with the other 3 sides, to ensure all 4 sides are folded. Leave covered in a warm area in between folds.
- After all stretches and folds are completed. Leave your dough covered in a warm area to double in size. Note: you will start to see bubbles the size of 20-cent pieces. This will take anywhere between 2-5 hours depending on heat conditions. Scrape your dough onto a floured surface. (For the double loaf recipe: use some flour to make a line to divide in two and cut).
- Create tension on the sides of the dough to roll into a ball; starting from the top and rolling towards the bench top. Let the sourdough sit, uncovered for 30 mins to form a skin. Prepare your banneton and cover or bowl (with a damp tea towel in the bottom).
- Complete the last fold by folding each side of the dough into the middle; top to bottom, left to right, and vice versa. Shape into a ball again by creating tension and roll the dough down and underneath towards the bench top. Place the dough folded side up into a banneton basket or bowl. Cover with a plastic bag or beeswax wrap and leave in the fridge for a minimum of 14 hours.
- Preheat oven to 220°c (428°f) or maximum temperature. Place your cast iron pot or Dutch oven with the lid on in the oven to preheat. You can check your pot with a temperature gun or leave it in for a minimum of 30 minutes.
- Get your sourdough out of the fridge and place it onto some baking paper. Dust lightly with flour and score the dough.
- Safely remove your pot from the oven and place your sourdough inside with the baking paper at the bottom. Cover with the lid and bake for 25 mins covered and 20 mins uncovered.
- Carefully remove your sourdough bread from the Dutch oven/cast iron pot and place it on a wire rack to cool. This can take anywhere from one to 6 hours.
Notes
- To make 2 loaves, double the ingredients
- You can keep the temperature at 220°c (428°f) throughout the whole bake or turn the temperature down to 200°c (392°f) as you remove the lid. This is dependent on your oven. You’ll get a feel for temperatures as you bake more sourdough bread.
- Your sourdough bread should have an inside temp of 95°c (203°f). You can check this with an internal thermometer or cook to the above temperature.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 89Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 325mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 2gSugar: 1gProtein: 3g
Nutrition information isn’t always accurate
