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Loaf of sourdough bread with spiral design and ovenspring and brown parchment paper in white Dutch oven.

Easy Sourdough Bread Recipe

By: Jessica Ashcroft
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Discover the easiest sourdough recipe perfect for beginners! Learn how to make soft, tangy bread with simple steps and timed schedule so you can bake delicious sourdough today!
$2.58 per recipe/$1.29 a loaf
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Prep Time 20 hours
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 22 hours
Course Bread
Cuisine American
Servings 32 slices
Calories 144 kcal

Ingredients
  

To Feed the Starter

  • 150 grams sourdough starter
  • 150 grams hot water
  • 150 grams flour

To Make the Sourdough

  • 300 grams active starter
  • 700 grams hot water
  • 1000 grams flour
  • 25 grams salt, I like Redmond's Real Salt

Instructions
 

Feeding the Starter

  • Take out your sourdough starter from the fridge sometime in the afternoon. NOTE: This assumes you keep your starter in the fridge in between baking. If your starter lives on the counter, you can skip to the next step.
  • At 9:15 PM, feed 150 grams of starter with 150 grams hot (but not steaming) water and 150 grams flour (I use a large Mason jar for this part). Stir with a wooden spoon until combined and loosely cover with the lid. Leave the mixture on the counter overnight.

Making the Dough

  • At 9:15 AM the next day, add 300 grams of the bubbly starter and 700 grams of hot (but not steaming) water in a non-metal bowl using a wooden spoon. Make sure you don't use all of your starter at this point or you will not have any to make loaves the next time!
  • Once the water is murky, add 1000 grams of flour and 25 grams of salt. Mix until combined. NOTE: The dough will look very shaggy or "rough" at this stage. That's OK!
  • Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
  • At 10:00 AM do one set of stretch and folds. This is where you pull one side of the dough up fold it across, spin the bowl a quarter turn and repeat until you've done the entire bowl of dough.
  • Cover the bowl with the towel again and do up to 3 more stretch and folds every 30 minutes.
  • Once you're done with the stretch and folds, let the dough rest.

Shaping the Dough

  • At 4:15 PM, turn the dough out on a floured surface and divide into two parts.
  • Shape the dough into boules by folding it over and then using a non-floured surface to create tension.
  • Place the shaped boules into the bannetons and cover. Place in the fridge while your oven preheats OR overnight (I've been leaving them in overnight because I usually run out of time to bake them at night).

Baking the Dough

  • When you're ready to bake your loaves, place your dutch oven in the oven and preheat it to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a baking sheet on the lower rack of the oven to keep the bottom of the loaves from burning.
  • Let the Dutch oven preheat at 500 degrees for 30 minutes.
  • After 20 minutes, turn the oven down to 450 degrees. Take one loaf out off the fridge and turn it onto a sheet of parchment paper. Score the bread and place it in the heated Dutch oven. Place the lid on and bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.
  • After 25 minutes, remove the lid and bake for another 20-25 minutes until the loaf has developed a nice golden brown color.
  • Remove the loaf from the dutch oven and repeat the baking process with the other loaf.
  • Let your sourdough rest for at least an hour before cutting into it (this is why I prefer to proof the bread overnight so we can eat it with dinner the next day!).

EQUIPMENT

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 144kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 0.4g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Sodium: 304mg | Potassium: 39mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.1g | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 2mg
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