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–+ servings

Basic Sourdough Country Loaf Recipe

Making basic sourdough bread is shockingly simple. This is such an easy recipe that anyone can make delicious and fluffy homemade sourdough bread.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Resting Time 9 hours
Total Time 10 hours 10 minutes
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Servings

1 loaf

Equipment

  • Large Bowl
  • Towel
  • Dutch Oven
  • Wire Rack

Ingredients

  • 100 grams Active Sourdough Starter bubbly sourdough starter
  • 450 grams White Wheat Bread Flour
  • 50 grams Whole Wheat Flour
  • 375 grams Water (room temp or lukewarm if the ambient temp is cold.)
  • 10 grams Salt

Instructions

Preparing the dough

  • In a large bowl, combine the active sourdough starter and water, leaving behind 25g of water for later use.
  • Add the whole wheat flour and white wheat bread flour to the bowl.
  • Mix the ingredients well until a rough dough forms. It's okay if the dough is sticky at this point.

Autolyse

  • Cover the bowl and leave to rest for 30-60 minutes.
  • After 30-60 min of rest add 25 g of water and 10g salt, and knead until salt and water is combined into dough.

Bulk Rise (a.k.a. ‘bulk ferment’)

  • Cover and set the bowl in a warm area (75-80 degrees) for 3 to 4 hours or for 6-8 hours in a cooler place.
  • During this time, perform a stretch and fold every 30-40 minutes*.

Bench Rest

  • Scoop the dough onto the countertop.
  • Lightly flour the top of the dough. Very gently turn over the dough so the floured side is face down, and fold the dough on all 4 ends, gently shape into a round boule.
  • Leave the dough to rest for 20 minutes. The edges should be round and thick (it's ok if it flattens a little) but they should not taper off. If they taper or flatten off, reshape and let sit for another 20 minutes (this is like doing another set of folds during the bulk rise).

Shaping

  • Sprinkle a lined bowl or banneton with flour.
  • Fold bottom third up, right side third over, left side third over, top third over and then roll the entire loaf over and gently pull toward you, letting tension form the loaf. Place in a prepared bowl.
  • Once the dough is shaped you can let it rise for 3 to 4 hours at room temp or place in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours (known as ‘retard’).

Baking

  • Place your Dutch oven in the oven and preheat the oven to 500°F
  • Place a sheet of parchment paper over the work surface or kitchen counter. Gently invert bread from the bowl onto parchment paper.
  • When fermenting your sourdough in the fridge, you can score and bake it right out of the fridge - no need to bring it to room temperature before scoring.
  • Score the top of the bread.
  • Bake at 500°F, covered, for 20 minutes.
  • Remove lid, lower temperature to 450° and continue to bake for an additional 20 - 30 minutes until crust is a rich dark amber color.
  • Let it cool on a wire rack.

Notes

*If you cannot attend to the dough during the bulk ferment to do the stretch and fold, simply knead the dough for an extra 5-7 minutes when adding the salt and skip the stretch and fold.