A lot of people are intimidated by baking their own bread at home, let alone sourdough bread. It seems to be portrayed as this difficult task that only professional bakers can accomplish. This 'no knead sourdough bread' recipe is meant to change that.
I love baking at home, and usually bake at least once a week. Sometimes I'll make a loaf of my homemade sandwich bread, which is great for weekday lunches, breakfast toast etc. When I'm in the mood for something heartier though I reach for this recipe and make a rustic loaf of old fashioned sourdough.
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Before You Start...
There are a few things to keep in mind before starting this sourdough bread. As this is a 'no knead' recipe, (which also incorporates whole wheat flour), don't be surprised if the bread turns out denser then store bought sourdough.
Usually, kneading the dough develops the gluten strands which allows the dough to stretch while proofing, by not kneading this dough it will not become as stretchy.
To get around this, you can add ¾ teaspoon of instant yeast to flour. This helps create a stronger 'lift' in the dough especially when using whole wheat flours.
Before you begin, you will also need to have a mature sourdough starter which is active and ready for feeding.
The bread in this recipe has about 75% hydration. This means that 75% of the weight of the bread dough is water, making it quite soft and tacky.
In order to successfully bake this recipe, it is important to properly weigh out the ingredients. Wet your hands where indicated in the recipe to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands.
Prep Your Sourdough Starter
If you do not yet have a sourdough starter in the fridge or are planning on making one from scratch now, you'll need to plan ahead before making this recipe. Read how to make your own starter from scratch with the link below.
If you already have a starter, it's a good idea to take it out of the fridge in the morning, a day before you want to bake and feed it once with a little flour and water.
This will reactivate the wild yeasts and make them stronger for baking.
Equipment
In order to create the light texture and crackly crust of this rustic sourdough bread, a cast iron or enamelled dutch oven is used to bake the bread. We used a 6 quart dutch oven for this recipe.
Professional bakeries will use specialized ovens that have steam injection to create moist heat. The way around this is to use the dutch oven which locks in the moisture in the bread, preventing it from drying out as it bakes.
You'll also want a digital scale in order to accurately measure out all the ingredients. We've recently updated the recipe below to use weights instead of volume measurements as different brands/types of flour may measure differently.
Finally, we recommend using some parchment paper as well to prevent the dough from sticking to the dutch oven. I use PaperChef parchment paper (affiliate) which is designed to withstand high temperatures.
No Knead Sourdough Bread Ingredients
- 100 grams(½ cup) active and bubbly sourdough starter
- 300 grams (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose or bread flour
- 200 grams (1 ½ cups) whole wheat flour ( For all white sourdough, simply use all-purpose flour here)
- 375 grams (1 ½ cups) warm water
- 1 tsp. salt
- Extra flour for dusting
Measuring Out & Mixing Your No-Knead Sourdough Bread
The night before you plan on baking, measure out all the dry ingredients and check your re-activated sourdough starter. It should be nice and bubbly, and wanting to be fed. Feed the starter with at least ½ cup flour/ ½ cup water to ensure it is ready to go for the morning and that you'll have enough.
Note: The times listed below are meant to give you an idea of how long it takes to bake the bread. You can change these times to fit your schedule, for example by mixing and then fermenfing the dough overnight before shaping/baking in the morning..
Mixing - 8:00 am
Mix all the pre-measured dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, weigh out the 100 grams of bubbly sourdough starter. Add the 375 grams of warm water to the starter and mix it all together. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry, and mix with a wooden spoon until it forms a shaggy, sticky mass.
Cover the bowl with a clean linen cloth and let the sourdough sit on the counter for 20 minutes. This allows the flour to properly absorb all the water and become more workable.
Stretching - 8:20 am
After twenty minutes, wet your hands, and grabbing one end of the dough lift it up, and stretch/fold the dough over on itself. Repeat this 5-8 times turning the bowl a quarter turn each time until the dough starts to become smooth. You'll notice how much more structure and less shaggy the dough appears after doing this.
Fermentation - 8:30 am - 12:00 pm
Once you've stretched and folded the dough, it's time to let the dough have its first rise and ferment. This produces the distinct sour taste and helps leaven(rise) the dough. Cover the bowl with a clean linen cloth and set it in a location that is approximately 75F - 80F for roughly 3.5 hours.
(Note: If your home is cooler then this, the time frame may need to be pushed to 5 or 6 hours of fermentation. You can also let the dough ferment overnight for a more sour flavor.)
After the first 30 minutes of fermentation (at 9:00am), stretch and fold the dough 4 times with wet hands as you did in the last step. Do this a second time at the 1 hour mark (9:30 am). This helps provide structure and give shape to the final loaf as we are not kneading the dough.
Pre-shaping the dough - 12:00 pm
Wet your hands to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands, and scoop it out onto a clean countertop. Working quickly, shape it into a rough ball, and let it sit uncovered on the counter for 30 minutes to relax. It's ok if it sticks to the counter at this point.
Shaping a boule - 12:30 pm
Lightly flour a clean section of counter. Then flour your hands, and the top of the dough. Turn the dough over by using a bench scraper or a large chefs knife to scoop the dough up and turn it over. You'll have to do this quickly as the dough is fairly soft and will start to droop and stretch otherwise.
Once you've flipped the dough over, fold the bottom edge of the dough up to the middle. Take the sides and fold them inward, then fold the top edge down. Kind of like folding an envelope.
Roll the dough over so the 'seam' is down, then gently drag the dough across the counter to create tension across the top of the dough. Watch the video from The Perfect Loaf below to see how it's done!
Proofing - 12:45 pm
Gently transfer the shaped boule to a piece of parchment paper and then lift the parchment into a clean bowl with roughly the same diameter of your bread boule. This helps the bread keep its final shape as it proofs, and prevents it from spreading outwards. Cover the bowl and let it proof for about 1.5 -2 hours.
Baking - 2:15 pm
As the bread proofs, pre-heat your oven to 450F with the dutch oven and lid inside. Once you are ready to bake, very carefully remove the hot dutch oven from the oven.
At this point dust the shaped boule with flour or score it with a sharp knife. Gently lift the boule out of the proofing bowl using the parchment paper and transfer it to the hot dutch oven.
Return the hot Dutch oven to the oven with the lid in place and bake the bread for 30 minutes covered. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes to crisp up the outside.
Remove the baked loaf of sourdough bread and let it cool on a wire rack. The no knead sourdough bread is best served within the next day or two, but it can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days to extend its shelf life. Note that refrigerating the bread will make it denser and less fluffy.
Additional Notes
Here are a few additional notes, and tips many of which have been posed as questions about this recipe and will help you bake a successful loaf of bread:
- Can I Make This With 100% AP Flour? Yes you can. When first mixing the dough though, withhold about 30 grams of water. If after mixing the dough it seems very very dry, add a little more until it becomes tacky.
- Nothing Is Happening, My Bread Dough Hasnt Risen At All. In all likelihood, something has killed your starter or the starter was dead, to begin with. Make sure the starter has doubled in size from the night before, smells sour, and is visibly active. Using Unbleached flour will increase your chances of success.
- Can I Make The Bread More Sour? This sourdough bread is mildly sour due to the relatively short fermentation time. In order to increase the sourness, you can refrigerate the dough in the 'proofing' phase for 8-10 hours to slow and lengthen the time the bacteria has to make the dough more sour. Make sure to properly cover or bag the bowl to prevent the dough from drying out.
- My Dough Is Very Wet & Hard To Work With. With 75% hydration, this recipe is 'wetter' than a regular loaf of bread which has generally 60%-65% hydration. Make sure to let the dough rest for at least 20 minutes after mixing to properly hydrate the flour and then do the 'stretch and fold' to give it some structure. Make sure your hands are wet, and work quickly when doing so to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands. It does take some practice! If you still find the dough hard to work with, hold back 20-30 grams of water the next time you try the recipe.
- Switch It Up & Add Some Flavorings. Add 120 grams of chopped nuts, olives or dried fruit to the recipe. Or add ½ tablespoon chopped herbs and brush it with garlic and oil before baking! The options are endless!
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Recipe
No Knead Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
- 300 grams unbleached all purpose or bread flour
- 200 grams whole wheat flour
- 100 grams active and bubbly sourdough starter
- 375 grams warm water
- 1 tsp. salt
- Extra flour for dusting
Instructions
The Night Before
- The night before you plan on baking, measure out all the dry ingredients and check your re-activated sourdough starter. It should be nice and bubbly, and wanting to be fed. Feed the starter with at least ½ cup flour and ½ cup water to ensure it is ready to go for the morning and that you'll have enough.
Day Of Baking - Mixing
- Mix all the pre-measured dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, weigh out the 100 grams of bubbly sourdough starter. Add 375 grams of warm water to the starter and mix it all together. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry, and mix with a wooden spoon until it forms a shaggy, sticky mass. Cover the bowl with a clean linen cloth and let the sourdough sit on the counter for 20 minutes.
Stretching
- After twenty minutes, wet your hands, and grabbing one end of the dough lift it up, and stretch/fold the dough over on itself. Repeat this 5-8 times, turning the bowl a quarter turn each time until the dough starts to become smooth.
Fermentation
- Once you've stretched and folded the dough, cover the bowl with a clean linen cloth and set it in a location that is approximately 75F - 80F for roughly 3.5 hours.After the first 30 minutes of fermentation, stretch and fold the dough 4 times with wet hands as you did in the last step. Do this a second time after another 30 minutes. Cover the bowl and let the dough finish fermenting.(Note: If your home is cooler then this, the time frame may need to be pushed to 4 or 4.5 hours of fermentation.)
Pre-shaping the dough
- Wet your hands to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands, and scoop it out onto a clean countertop. Working quickly, shape it into a rough ball, and let it sit uncovered on the counter for 30 minutes to relax.
Shaping a boule
- Lightly flour a clean section of counter. Then flour your hands, and the top of the dough. Turn the dough over by using a bench scraper or a large chefs knife to scoop the dough up and turn it over. Once flipped, fold the bottom edge of the dough up to the middle. Take the sides and fold them inward, then fold the top edge down. Kind of like folding an envelope. Roll the dough over so the 'seam' is down, then gently drag the dough across the counter to create tension across the top of the dough.
Proofing
- Gently transfer the shaped boule to a piece of parchment paper and then lift the parchment into a clean bowl with roughly the same diameter of your bread boule. This helps the bread keep its final shape as it proofs, and prevents it from spreading outwards. Cover the bowl and let it proof for about 1.5 - 2 hours, or until double in size.
Baking
- As the bread proofs, pre-heat your oven to 450F with the dutch oven and lid inside. Once you are ready to bake, very carefully remove the hot dutch oven from the oven.Dust the shaped boule with flour or score it with a sharp knife. Gently lift the boule out of the proofing bowl using the parchment paper and transfer it to the hot dutch oven.Return the hot Dutch oven to the oven with the lid in place and bake the bread for 30 minutes covered. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes to crisp up the outside.
- Remove the baked loaf of sourdough bread and let it cool completly on a wire rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
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