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A beginner’s guide to making sourdough bread! This simple, no-knead recipe is easy to make with your sourdough starter. Just let the dough rise overnight and bake in the morning!
My mother-in-law, Ellen, is most famous for her challah and chocolate chip cake, but during quarantine she taught herself how to make sourdough bread as well and she has totally mastered the perfect loaf!
She bakes sourdough bread a few times a week and always offers us a loaf! And yes, we realize how lucky we are to have on-demand fresh sourdough! Everyone loves it (including Olivia). Isaac and I eat toasted sourdough bread with avocado or peanut butter for breakfast on the daily. It’s amazing.
I’ve shared about her sourdough on Instagram and have been asked for the recipe numerous times. Luckily, Ellen was willing to share her recipe when I asked. She came over multiple times to show me the process and let me take photos so I could learn the ropes and put together a step-by-step guide for you! I also took video clips so I’ll be sharing that soon as well.
I should also note that there are a ton of different sourdough bread recipes out there, this is just the recipe that Ellen has perfected. It works with her schedule and results in a delicious loaf every time! It’s honestly some of the best sourdough bread I’ve ever tasted, even better than bakery sourdough bread!
If you’ve never made sourdough before, you’re in the right spot! Let’s walk through this together.
For starters (pun intended) let’s talk about what exactly sourdough bread is. At a basic level, sourdough is a naturally leavened bread that’s made with a fermented sourdough starter rather than commercial yeast. During the fermentation process, wild yeast and bacteria breakdown gluten and sugar and turn them into minerals, vitamins, and protein. Because of this, sourdough is also known as wild-yeasted or fermented bread.
Sourdough is one of the healthiest breads you can eat! First, it is good for gut-health because the fermentation process gives sourdough prebiotic and probiotic-like properties. It’s also easier to digest, especially if you’re sensitive to gluten, because much of the gluten is broken down during the process of making sourdough.
Sourdough also has a lower glycemic index than white bread or whole-wheat bread that isn’t fermented. Lastly, it’s packed with nutrients, healthy carbs, protein, fiber and vitamins like folate and iron! Read more about the nutrition facts and health benefits of sourdough.
To make sourdough bread, you need sourdough starter! This is a live, fermented flour and water mixture that contains wild yeast and good bacteria. The sourdough starter acts as a leavening agent and replaces the need for commercial yeast when making bread.
You can make your own starter, buy a starter or get one from a friend who is also making sourdough bread. Ellen actually made her own starter using the sourdough starter recipe from King Arthur.
Lots of people treat their sourdough starter like a pet and give it name and everything. I’ll have to ask Ellen if her starter has a name!
The cool thing about having a sourdough starter is that you can you make a ton of different recipes with it, not just bread! I’ve seen recipes for sourdough bagels, sourdough pancakes and sourdough cinnamon rolls!
One thing to know about sourdough starters is that you have to feed (aka refresh) them. This means that you’ll be measuring out a portion of the starter and adding more flour and water to it.
To keep it simple, Ellen uses a 1:1:1 ratio: she measures out 100-110 grams of starter and then adds 100-110 grams warm water (warmed to about 80 degrees) and 100-110 grams of all purpose flour.
You’ll want to feed your starter (and have it double in size) before you bake. Ellen feeds her starter 2-3 times a week because she is baking sourdough a few times a week, but your feeding schedule will vary based on how often you’re baking.
When you feed your starter, any amount of starter leftover after measuring the 100-110 grams is called sourdough discard. As the name suggests, you can discard it (compost or toss), but if you’d rather it not go to waste (I commend you) there are a ton of great sourdough discard recipes as well! I know Ellen has made sourdough discard crackers and sourdough English muffins.
Here’s what you’ll need to make this sourdough bread recipe!
Measure out the flours using a food scale. Using a food scale helps to ensure that you’re getting the proper measurements!
tip! Be sure to zero out the weight of the bowl!
Add water, sourdough starter, salt and flours together in Cambro or large mixing bowl. Ellen recommends using a food scale to measure the sourdough starter for a more exact measurement.
Use your hands to mix the ingredients together. The dough will look “shaggy” at this point. Just mix until all the flour is combined. Cover using the lid of the Cambro or a kitchen towel and leave for 15 minutes.
Open Cambro and “stretch and fold” the dough, cover and wait another 15 minutes. Repeat until you have done four total “stretch and folds.” The dough should then be smooth and should have lots of stretch by the last stretch.
Cover tightly and leave the dough a room temperature until it has doubled in size (the easiest way to measure is put a rubber band around Cambro where dough starts). This can take 6-8 hours in the summer and 10-12 hours in the winter here in Virginia.
After it has doubled, you’ll remove the dough from Cambro and place it onto a lightly floured surface. A granite or quartz countertop will work great or you can use a large silicone mat. Divide the dough in half, and shape into two rounds. They should be a little over 900 grams each.
Take each round and pull edges to center all the way around, then flip over and cover with a tea towel for 10 minutes.
Do the same thing again, pulling edges out a little. Tuck into the center and flip the round over.
Then take round and gently pull a few inches toward you. You can do this 3 or 4 times and feel the form “tighten” a little. Lift, flip over and place into a banneton basket.
Cover basket(s) and put into the fridge overnight.
Put a cast-iron Dutch oven (two if you have them) in the oven and heat at 500 degrees for 30 minutes.
Take one loaf out of the fridge, flip it over onto parchment, sprinkle on a little rice flour (optional), score and put into the preheated dutch oven. If you have two Dutch ovens, repeat with the second loaf otherwise wait to score the second loaf until the first one is done baking.
Reduce heat to 450°F degrees and bake 20-23 minutes covered, then uncover and bake another 20 minutes. When done, it will have a hollow sound if you tap it and a nice crunch if you push on it gently. If you have a thermometer you can check for internal temperature of 220°F.
When baking bread, you typically knead it to activate the gluten. With sourdough, you actually want to stretch and fold the dough rather than knead it to create that airy texture we all know and love about sourdough.
To stretch and fold the dough, take a portion of the dough and stretch it upward. Fold the stretched portion of the dough over toward the middle of the bowl or Cambro. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. Continue this until you have stretched and folded all four “sides”. The dough should then look smooth instead of shaggy and should have lots of stretch by the last stretch.
Through lots of trial and error, Ellen found that King Arthur Flour is best for making sourdough! It’s a high-quality brand with a high protein content (which helps the gluten form well!). She found that off-brands and store brands sometimes effect the hydration so you may need to adjust with more or less flour.
Ellen recommends using a Dutch oven because it creates a mini steam oven. It basically traps in heat and moisture which is necessary for sourdough baking.
Yes, most recipes are just plain flour, water and salt, all of which are vegan. Of course, you’ll want to check the ingredients or ask about the ingredients when purchasing a loaf.
No, most sourdough bread recipes use regular flour, which isn’t gluten-free. Here’s a gluten-free sourdough recipe!
Sourdough bread is delicious on its own. It has a soft inside with a hard outer crust. It can be sliced or torn apart and served with butter or oil, but I definitely think it tastes best when toasted! Here are a few ways I love to enjoy it:
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Hi Brittany, Happy New Year! I’m super excited to try this recipe! I have a question about step 7 on day one. It states to cover the bannetons and put them in the fridge. What do you suggest we cover them with? Is it loose cover or do they need to be sealed in something? Thanks for your help and sharing this recipe 🙂
Hi Raquel. Great question. I asked Ellen and here’s what she said. Most people use a grocery store plastic bag to cover them. I like to put a small tea towel over them so they’re not touching the grocery store bag and then cover it with the plastic bag. You want it covered but not an air-tight cover. If you don’t cover it at all it will dry out. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for the help. I baked the loaves today and they are delicious! My family can’t stop eating it. My husband sneaks a slice every time he walks by the kitchen. I’m not sure how long they will last 🙂 Thanks again!
Ah yay! This makes me so happy to hear, Raquel. So pumped the bread was a hit. Thanks for the review!
Oh my goodness! It took some success and some fails but I think I have it figured out. I started with this Brittney and then went to You Tube and came back to this. Learning curve accomplished and I feel great about it. Thanks for the inspiration!
Yay! Happy to hear it was a success, Sharalee!
For Ellen sourdough recipe, can I use a sourdough starter right out of the fridge or do I have to feed it and let it rise before I use it?
Thank you
Hi Deborah! You should feed your starter and let it rise before using it for the recipe.