Panfold
Saved
Panfold

Sourdough Bread

This easy sourdough bread recipe is made for beginners, with a crackly golden crust, a chewy, open crumb, and that classic tangy flavor. You only need four ingredients: active sourdough starter, bread flour, water, and salt. The dough rises slowly with simple stretch and folds, proofs overnight in the fridge, and bakes in a Dutch oven for a bakery-quality homemade sourdough loaf.

By Sefa Tedik Published

Jump to the recipe
Sourdough Bread
Prep
Cook
Rest
Total
Servings
Difficulty

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, stir 100 grams active sourdough starter into 325 grams of the warm water until mostly dissolved. Add 500 grams bread flour and mix with your hand until no dry flour remains. Cover and let rest for 45 minutes.

  2. Sprinkle 10 grams fine sea salt and the remaining 25 grams water over the dough. Squeeze and fold the dough with a wet hand for 2 to 3 minutes, until the salt and water are fully absorbed.

  3. Over the next 2 hours, do 4 sets of stretch and folds, 30 minutes apart: with a wet hand, grab one side of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over the center, then turn the bowl and repeat on all 4 sides. Cover the bowl between sets.

  4. Cover and let the dough rise at warm room temperature (about 75°F) for 2 to 3 hours more, until it has grown by 50 to 75 percent, looks domed and bubbly, and jiggles when you shake the bowl.

  5. Turn the dough onto an unfloured counter. Fold the edges into the center to form a round, flip it seam side down, and drag it toward you a few times to build surface tension. Dust a banneton or towel-lined bowl with 2 tablespoons rice flour and place the dough inside, seam side up.

  6. Cover and refrigerate the sourdough for 12 to 16 hours. This overnight cold proof builds flavor and makes the dough easier to score.

  7. Place a Dutch oven with its lid in the oven and preheat to 475°F for 45 minutes. Turn the cold dough onto a sheet of parchment, score the top with a razor or sharp knife, and lower it into the hot pot. Cover and bake for 20 minutes, then remove the lid, reduce the heat to 450°F, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes more, until deep golden brown and the inside reaches 205°F to 210°F.

  8. Transfer the sourdough bread to a wire rack and let it cool for at least 1 hour before slicing, so the crumb finishes setting.

Tips

Your starter is ready when it has doubled after feeding and a spoonful floats in water. Watch the dough, not the clock: bulk fermentation is faster in a warm kitchen and slower in a cool one. Rice flour keeps the dough from sticking to the banneton far better than wheat flour.

Storage

Store sourdough bread cut side down on a cutting board or in a bread bag at room temperature for up to 3 days. Slice and freeze for up to 3 months, and toast slices straight from frozen.

Serving suggestions

Serve sourdough bread with salted butter or olive oil, use it for avocado toast, grilled cheese, and sandwiches, or tear it up to dunk into soups like vegetable soup and lasagna soup.

  • Baked

Source: https://panfold.com/recipe/sourdough-bread

Pumpkin Bread

Breads & Baking

Sourdough Bread