Making sourdough for the first time could be intimidating. But with a little practice and patience you too can make your very own artisanal loaves.

Sourdough is one of the oldest forms of bread making as well as the most rewarding. It does take a lot of time but the end result is absolutely delicious. Even if it doesn’t look like the best loaf it’s always unbelievably flavorful and better than anything you could buy in the store. You would not believe the stark difference between homemade sourdough and mass produced sourdough until you make it yourself. 

Before you start your sourdough endeavor, I will say you should have a couple pieces of equipment to make the process easier. I know that the next couple of paragraphs might seem like a lot information but it’s all helpful. Some of it I wish I knew before getting into sourdough or least realized that items are actually more important than they actually seem.

First I would recommend getting a Dutch oven with a lid, it makes the process of steaming the bread a lot easier. I’ve tried making loaves in the past by adding steam to my oven by heating up ice to create steam. It never really gave me the results I was looking for so I decided to switch to using a Dutch Oven and my loaves have been nearly flawless ever since. It’s just too hard to capture the steam properly in your typical oven.

The second thing I would recommend is getting a banneton. It’s not the most necessary piece of equipment but I do think they are nice to have and they hold the shape of the dough well. Also if you take off the linen lining your left with the exposed reeds which can add a lovely aesthetic to any loaf. I used to just use a bowl lined with a floured kitchen towel and it was fine to start with. However, I wanted my loaves to look a little neater so I started using bannetons and never looked back. In this recipe I use an oval shaped banneton to create a batard shape but you can easily use a round banneton to make a boule. There’s no wrong way whatever shape you are feeling that day. You will just need to adjust how you shape the dough.

Then the finally item I suggest is a kitchen scale. I feel like a kitchen scale might be the most important piece of equipment that an avid bread baker could own. It helps to accurately measure out your ingredients to keep your breads as consistent as possible. That way if something with the bread does go wrong you can determine where exactly it went wrong. There are just so many factors that go into successful bread making and if you can eliminate one possibility of where something might have went wrong it is definitely a blessing.

Now that we have the basics down. Let's grab our water, flour and starter, time to make some bread. 

Sourdough Bread

100g active starter

320g warm water

¼ tsp active dry yeast

11g malt powder

50g whole wheat flour

450g bread flour

11g fine sea salt

20g warm water

In a large bowl, weigh out your active starter, 320 grams of warm water and active dry yeast. Mix together with your hands breaking up the starter with your fingertips, mix until yeast and starter are fully incorporated in the water. 

Next add the flours and malt powder. With your hands mix in the dry ingredients until no more dry flour remains. The dough will be very shaggy. Cover with a tea towel and let the dough rest for 40 minutes. This resting period is called autolyse and it’s an important step in the sourdough process. It ensures that the flour in the dough is hydrated by the water molecules and will aid in gluten development. 

After the resting period is over, make a dimple in the middle of the dough with your index finger. Fill the dimple with your sea salt and pour 20 grams of warm water on top of the salt. With your fingertips, you’re going to pinch the salt into the dough until it is all incorporated. After your salt is added lightly knead the dough in the bowl to get the dough to absorb any water left in the bowl. Gently fold dough over on itself to create a rough ball. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes, take the dough and gently fold it over itself. I do this by picking up the dough on one end while letting the other end fall. You will do this one more time to shape the dough into a rough ball or oblong shape. This motion will gently strengthen the gluten without knocking out all the air bubbles that your yeast are creating. After the dough is folded it shouldn’t be flat but a little ball. It takes some practice to get this motion right. When I first started working with sourdough I was a bit rough with stretching the dough and would try to force it to stretch. You never want to really force the dough. You want the weight of the dough and gravity to do all the work. 

Cover and let rest for another 30 minutes before continuing to stretch and fold again. You will repeat this process of resting and stretching the dough three more times. You want to do this five times total. I will keep track of how many times I stretch and fold so I don’t forget. You can easily forget how many times you’ve worked the dough, especially when you’re doing other things. 

At the end of the stretching and folding you will notice that the dough will become more elastic as well as smooth. This is a sure sign that the gluten has been developed properly and you’re on your way to a beautiful loaf. 

Once you have a beautifully developed dough it’s time to shape it. Dump the dough out of the bowl onto a very lightly floured counter and gently pat the dough flat to knock out some of the air bubbles. Next pull the top sides of the dough to roughly shape a T. Starting at one side of the dough, take the dough and pull the side into the middle. Continue until you have worked your way around the entire thing, all sides should be in the middle. Take the short side of your dough and fold it inward by rolling it up tightly to form a log. Tuck the ends of the log underneath. Then cup both hands on the long side and slide the dough on your work surface until the dough becomes taut and the surface is smooth. This seals the seam of the loaf. 

Prepare a basket or a banneton by lining the inside of the basket with a clean kitchen towel or if you have a banneton it should come with a linen liner. Thoroughly flour the towel so it won’t end up sticking to the dough. Now with some confidence and a bench scraper, if you have one, you are going to scoop up your loaf and place it in your floured basket with the seam side up on top. This can be very intimidating if you haven’t done this a lot, just take a deep breath and with one confident scoop pick up the dough and plop it in the basket. Deep breath, scoop and plop! 

Once you place the dough in the basket, breathe, pat yourself on the back, and maybe even do a little dance because you did it and it looks beautiful. Now cover the dough with a towel and leave to proof on the counter for 2 hours, yes 2 hours! I know, sourdough takes awhile but I promise your patience will be rewarded. 

After the 2 hours have past, place your loaf in the fridge to finish proofing. Leave it to chill for 8-10 hours or simply overnight. This cold proof is necessary to develop the flavor in the sourdough without over proofing the loaf.

In the morning, preheat your oven to 500°F and place a clean baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven. When your oven is fully heated, place your Dutch oven in the oven and let it preheat for 10 minutes. When you have about 5 minutes left you can take your loaf out of the fridge. 

After the 10 minutes have past, turn down your oven to 450°F . Place a piece of parchment on the counter approximately the same size of the loaf but with a little bit extra to allow for overhang. With a quick and swift motion, dump the dough onto the middle of the parchment, just like if you were building a sandcastle with a bucket. Score your dough with a sharp razor blade or a very sharp knife. Scoring is a very important step in the sourdough baking process. It allows for the dough to expand properly by having a spot for the steam to escape from the bread. Plus it adds an opportunity for artistic expression. The score mark is very much the bread baker’s signature and you can have it as simple or as ornate as you want. 

After you have scored your loaf, lift up the parchment and carefully place it all into your preheated Dutch oven. Firmly put the lid on the Dutch oven and bake your bread for 20 minutes. Putting the lid on the Dutch oven at this stage is to ensure that the bread gets steamed and bakes properly.

When 20 minutes have passed, carefully remove the lid from the Dutch oven. There will be lots of steam trapped in the Dutch oven so please be very careful when removing the lid. Your loaf should be doubled in size and beautifully baked. However, you will need to bake your loaf for an additional 10-15 minutes to develop the crust. You want your loaf to be a lovely golden brown. 

Once your bread looks beautiful you're still not quite done. You’re going to shut off the oven and leave the door to the oven cracked open for 30 minutes. This step can be optional but I found it to be essential for a very crusty, crispy crust. 

After your bread has sat in the cooling oven for half an hour, you can remove the loaf from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool completely. Congrats! You’ve made your very first loaf of sourdough! Now slice that pretty loaf and enjoy with your favorite butter, you’ve deserved it!

*Notes:

All this information is based on my own trials, errors and other accumulated ideas that I picked up over the span of five years. Everything that is explained or described are just things that worked for me and my bakes specifically. You may find that not everything that I do may work for you and that’s completely okay. You have to do whatever seems to work for you. I just hope that my information and steps either make the process easier or perhaps even gives you a fresh perspective on the subject. Of course if anyone has any input I more than welcome it. It’s always nice to hear other’s experiences with sourdough since it’s such an expansive subject.

Here are some resources that I found useful over the years to help me improve on my technique as well as developing my current recipe:

“Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza” by Ken Forkish

Sourdough bread: Shaping and Baking by King Arthur Flour

Scoring Bread by Busby’s Bakery