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In the simplest form, bread consists of 4 ingredients: flour, water, salt, and wild yeast. After my summertime hiatus from baking and the birth of my second child, it’s been hard to get back into the swing of bread making. With the new baby, I keep the house warmer overnight and I never know how tired I’m going to be in the morning to tend to the dough. The result has been a lot of batches that have gone too far in the bulk fermentation stage while I was busy pressing the snooze button.
I usually add whole grains, nuts, and seeds to my loaves like in my Rustic Honey Hemp Whole Wheat Sourdough Recipe, or Multigrain Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe. But given my recent track record, I decided to back off these more expensive ingredients and get back to the basics with this super simple loaf while I adapt to the new rhythms of my life. I simplified my regular process and the ingredients. The result is a light and airy sourdough loaf with an open crumb and a flexible and forgiving fermentation schedule.
If you are new to Sourdough Bread Making, this is a great loaf to start with. I encourage new bakers to check out my post How to Make Sourdough Bread.
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The Simplest Sourdough Loaf
- Prep Time: 12 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 13 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Sourdough Recipe is bread in its most elemental form. This deeply satisfying loaf is easy, flexible, and forgiving. A perfect recipe for beginner bakers.
Ingredients
380 g room temperature water*
100 g sourdough starter
10 grams salt
500 g bread flour (I use Giusto’s High Protein Performer)
Instructions
Combine water, and starter.
Add flour and salt.
Mix to form a dough. Let sit for about 20 minutes covered.
Turn the dough every 30 minutes for the next couple of hours. To “turn the dough”, reach underneath the dough, pull up on the dough, and then back down. Turn the bowl a quarter and repeat 4 times. Cover the bowl after each turn.
Let the dough sit at room temperature (68-70 degrees) for another 7-8 hours.
Flip the dough out onto a floured work surface and let it sit untouched for about 20 minutes. Then shape the dough. Sprinkle generously with flour (I use a combo of semolina and All Purpose). Place dough ball seam side up in a snug round bowl lined with a tea towel or linen napkin.
Place the dough in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 425 F with a dutch oven in it.
When the oven is preheated, turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper sprinkled with semolina or cornmeal. Score the top of the dough.
Transfer parchment and dough to the dutch oven. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove lid, bake for 10 minutes. Remove bread from dutch oven and transfer to the oven rack and bake for another 10 minutes.
Let cool for an hour before slicing.
Equipment
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| Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Double Dutch Oven With Loop Handles, 5 qt |
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For timing: I mix the ingredients around dinner time and turn the dough during the hours between dinner and bedtime. I wake up early and move the dough to the fridge around 5am and bake it around 6 or 7am.
If your house is colder than 68-70 F you can extend the bulk fermentation time or the shaping time by an hour or two so you don’t have to wake up so early.
If you want to speed up the fermentation time, use warm water.
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