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The Simplest Sourdough Loaf

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  • Author: Kara Taylor- Home Cooks Guide
  • 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

Scale

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.

Sliced sourdough



Notes

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.