Sourdough bread recipe for beginners | it is very easy | Foodgeek (2024)

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You need an active sourdough starter

To bake a sourdough bread you need an active sourdough starter

You need an active sourdough starter to bake this bread. A sourdough starter is a homemade form of yeast that is made by attracting wild yeast that is everywhere around us.

Sourdough starter is a living organism and needs to be kept alive, but it is pretty simple. I have made a recipe and guide to how you make your own sourdough starter. If you don’t already have a starter, you should go there and make one before you proceed with this recipe.

Tools to make sourdough bread

Before you start following this sourdough bread recipe, you need to know what tools are essential

I have assembled a list of tools that you need when you bake sourdough bread.

Most of these links will give me a bit of commission if you buy it. If you are not interested in doing that, find the tools using your favorite search engine.

Important tools – need to have’s

As a minimum you will need:

• A good bowl– This bowl is incredibly beautiful, but whatever you have in your kitchen that is big enough to hold the dough
• A bench scraper – This is used to move the sticky dough around and also to help shape it
• A dutch oven – You need a dutch oven (basically a pot that can go into the oven), because then you won’t have to have to make steam the oven because the bread will essentially be steaming itself
  
• A lame – You need a super sharp knife to score the dough. This one uses a razor blade that can be replaced
• A good oven – Preferably one that can get super hot. I have one that can go to 300°C/572°F that can also steam, which is quite basic in features, because I want to do everything manually

Not so important tools – nice to have’s

Other things that are really nice to have, but you can get thing done without them:

• A baking steel – Helps keep the temperature in the oven, even when you open the door. It’s also a great help in transferring heat to the bottom of the bread when you don’t use a dutch oven. If you are serious about your bread baking, this is one of the first things you should consider investing in
• Round proofing baskets– They can absolutely be replaced by bowls covered in a dishtowel
• Flour shaker – Helps you put flour on the table or the dough easily.
• Jars for your starter – Love these Weck jars for my starter. Straight sides and good visibility.
• A spray bottle – Or buy a cheap plastic one at your local supermarket. This is just really sturdy and mists the water really good
• A peel – It makes it a lot easier to get a sticky piece of dough into the oven in one piece
• Silicone gloves – These gloves from Oxo are great. Great grip and can withstand a 260°C/500°F warm dutch oven for literally minutes
• Brød and Taylor Folding Proofer –Awesome way to proof your dough, even when your kitchen is a bit cold in the winter

Flour and types of flour

You can use the cheap flour from the supermarket, but to get spectacular results you should invest in quality flour

What wheat flour you are using to bake with determines how good of a result you will get. The most important factor is the protein content. You need to use bread flour with at least 12% protein in this recipe.

The protein in wheat flour is gluten, and it helps build the structure in the bread. The less protein the flower has, the harder it is for the bread to stay together, and it might spread into a puddle instead of rising up. Especially as you use higher hydrations. Also, less gluten gives a more uniform crumb with smaller holes.

What flours do you use?

For bread flour, I like Canadian Manitoba flour, which has a high protein content and a delicious taste.

In this bread, I’ve used whole-wheat flour from Egeskov mølle, which I bought on my summer vacation to Funen. We visitedEgeskov Slot. I’ve been looking forward to trying this flour.

I haven’t baked with these flours myself, but they come recommended on forums and in Facebook groups by people who post their delicious bread:

People in the US can use King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour and King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour for great results. If you are in the UK, you can use Marriage’s 100% Very Strong Canadian White Flourand Marriage’s Organic Strong Stoneground Wholemeal Bread Flour for great results.Let me know of excellent flours in other countries, write me and I will add them to this article.

The recipe for this sourdough bread

Good bread comes from having ingredients in the right proportions. I have created a recipe with high hydration but not so high that it would be very hard to handle for a beginner.

The first part of the recipe is a levain, which is essentially a young sourdough. We will use a levain, so we can better use the yeast in the starter at the most opportune moment in its growth cycle.

After mixing the dough, the yeast in your sourdough starter starts eating all the food you’ve put in. When it has grown to double size, it’s ready to be used in the dough.

The formula of the levain

The hydration in the levain is 100%. There’s a total of 80 grams of flour and 80 grams of water. Since the sourdough starter is 100% hydration as well, it does not change the hydration of the levain.

The proportions are as such:

I’ve made the levain larger than what you need for the dough; that way, you don’t have to scrape the sides of your container to get enough.

The formula of the bread

The formula of the dough can be seen here. There’s a bit below 20% whole wheat flour, bringing taste and texture to the loaf. There is enough bread flour in the dough to have lots of gluten. That will help the dough to stay together.

There’s a good amount of salt in the dough. That helps bring out more taste. If you want to change it, I wouldn’t recommend you go below 1%.

If you want to change the dough’s hydration, you can use my Bread Calculator™️ here.

The secret behind fantastic sourdough bread

It is not difficult to make fantastic sourdough bread, but there are a few things you need to know

The most important things to making beautiful, tasteful sourdough bread can be summarized into these five rules:

• To develop a fantastic taste, you need to proof and rest the bread for a long period of time. You do that by using autolyse (where only water and flour are mixed and rest for a while) and by letting the bread retard overnight in the refrigerator
• You need to develop the gluten in the dough to get a crunchy crust and soft crumb. That is (also) done by using autolyse and by stretching, folding, and fermenting the dough.
• To get a great oven spring where the bread opens up and out, you need to build a membrane of gluten on the outside of your shaped dough
• You need to bake the bread very hot and with steam for the first 15-20 minutes so that the dough can expand greatly before the crust gets hard
• Last but not least, you need to have the courage not to take the bread out of the oven too early. You don’t want it to get burned, but let it stay long enough to be nice and dark, super crispy and crunchy

Development of gluten in the dough

A strong gluten network is one of the key elements to getting a fantastic oven spring

After you’ve mixed the dough, you need to stretch and fold the dough. This aids the development of gluten but also helps incorporate air into the dough, which gives you those sought-after holes in the crumb. Normally three times is enough, but it is important you check if the gluten is properly developed.

When you’ve done the last three stretch and folds, you need to check the gluten development. If it is not strong enough, you need to perform additional stretch and folds.

To test the gluten development in the dough, you should perform the windowpane test. The goal is to have a dough that is strong enough so you can pull a very thin membrane without the dough breaking:

Shaping of the dough

Another key element in the oven spring is the shaping of the dough. You need to move the dough around on your table using a special technique

When you have good gluten development in the dough, you need to stretch the top of the dough so it forms a tight ball.

To shape the dough, you use your bench scraper, as it helps with the dough not sticking to your hards. With the 70% hydration dough, as we are working with here, it’s not overly difficult, but as you go into the 80s, it gets harder and harder, so I really think you should learn to do this the right way.

As it can be difficult to figure out from a description, I’ve made a video so you can see how it is done:

The scoring of the dough

The scoring of the bread is important because then you get to be the one who decides where the bread expands during baking

When you score your bread, you need a super sharp knife. I use a lame that fits a razor blade, which I replace quite often.

It’s a good idea to know how you want to score the bread before you start doing it. You need to score relatively fast and with conviction to get the best score.

I’ve made two different patterns in my two loaves:

• A diamond-shaped pattern. You get this by scoring three parallel lines and then three other parallel lines that are turned about 30° from the first cuts
• A long cut in the edge of the bread helps the bread open when it’s being baked. This cut is one that creates an ear. Although I find it looks more like an eye

You can see how I perform the long cut here:

Baking of the sourdough bread in this recipe

Here are a couple of tips to bake the perfect sourdough bread in your home oven

To bake beautiful sourdough bread, you will need steam. Professional ovens can inject steam into the oven chamber, but that is still pretty new for domestic ovens. You do not need a steam oven to follow this sourdough bread recipe.

The steam helps the crust stay moist so that the bread can expand more than it would otherwise be able to. That means the bread will rise more before the crust sets, and all those beautiful holes can expand properly.

The dutch oven helps the bread steam itself

The bread in this recipe will be baked in a dutch oven (basically a pot that can go in the oven). When the bread is warmed up, the water in the dough evaporates and becomes steam. Because the dutch oven is a confined space, the steam stays directly around the bread and helps the bread rise during the beginning of the baking.

After about 15-20 minutes, the effect is over, and the wild yeast in your starter cannot help the bread expand further. Then you take off the lid of the dutch oven so the steam can dissipate, and the heat in the oven can dry out the crust and make it super crispy.

Cooling the bread is essential to the shelf life of the loaf

I think we’ve all tried cutting into a warm loaf of bread and eating it with copious amounts of melting butter. There are good reasons to wait until the bread has cooled completely, though

When you take your piping hot bread out of the oven and put it on the wire rack, it isn’t done yet.

While the temperature is declining in the bread, the texture is still developing because the starch molecules are releasing some of the water that they’ve absorbed during fermentation.

Furthermore, the water that is still in the steam form in the bread will disappear from the bread if you cut a large hole in it while it is still cooling. The bread will then become dry faster, as there is less moisture in it.

What happens when I cut it too early?

If you cut the bread while it is still warm, you risk turning the crumb rubbery. The bread can also be hard to cut without it falling apart.

When the bread has finished baking, it is important to store it correctly. It needs to cool at room temperature and not be covered by anything. If you trap steam from the bread, you risk making the crust soft.

What is the best way to store bread?

When you’ve baked the perfect sourdough bread, it will suck if the bread turns stale quickly because you haven’t stored it right.

• Don’t put the bread in the refrigerator. It becomes stale more quickly that way because refrigerators are a pretty dry environment.
• Don’t put your bread in a plastic bag, either. The crispy crust disappears because of the evaporation of water in the bread. It’s the exact same principle that you use in the dutch oven during baking but in reverse.

I have some bread bags that are made for storing bread, but you can just also wrap the bread in a clean dish towel for the same effect. Last year for my birthday, I got a retro bread box, which also has the same effect and looks a lot cooler.

Can you freeze the bread?

Sourdough bread is very well suited for freezing. They stay good for at least three months, but I’ve had some that were frozen for 6 months with no ill effect.

I usually cut it into pieces and put some parchment paper in between. Then you can grab the number of slices you need without having to completely thaw the entire bread.

I have this KitchenAid toaster which does a great job at both defrosting and toasting. Absolutely the best I’ve owned. Using this method also makes it possible to put the toaster on the defrost function, and you get delicious bread in a manner of minutes.

To sum up, this sourdough bread recipe

This sourdough bread recipe is what is called high hydration (anything above 65% relative water content) but absolutely at the low end of what is possible to make. The more water relative to flour, the larger holes and the softer the texture.

When you put more water in the dough, it gets harder to work with (think pancake dough), so this recipe is an excellent place to start. After mastering all the techniques, you can start changing to even higher hydration doughs.

Here is a picture of the crumb in this bread:

The conclusion

The taste is fantastic. The overnight retarding helped develop a great taste. A bit of a sour note from the starter, but not overwhelming. The whole-wheat flour brings a nutty aroma, and this bread can be eaten just by itself, and it is a pleasure.

The crumb is nice and soft, with medium-sized holes. The crust crunches ideally and is super crispy. It is delicious bread.

Start making fantastic bread at home.

You should try this sourdough bread recipe even if you are a beginner baker. You now have all the knowledge that you need after you’ve read this article.

If you bake this bread and post it on Instagram, please tag me with @foodgeek.dk.So I can see what you’ve made. It would make me very happy.