Making homemade sourdough bread: the ultimate guide

Baking bread at home is an immensely rewarding experience as you transmute simple ingredients into a warm, delicious staple. Among home bakes, sourdough holds a special place. Its tangy flavor, chewy crust, and airy crumb are the products of a natural fermentation process going back thousands of years. More than just a method for making bread, baking sourdough is a pilgrimage that takes you deep into your food. When you finish reading this guide, not only will you have made fresh sourdough bread from scratch, but also learned how to make an urban life for your leaven. It will cover everything from developing your starter (the life of all leaven) to kneading and shaping, then baking to perfection. You will have learned the tricks of an age-old trade, and so doing, reached a point where doing this is second nature. Get ready to fill your home with the wonderful scent of fresh bread baking.

Table of Contents

• What Makes Sourdough Special?
• Part 1: Preparing Your Sourdough Starter
• Part 2: Making Your Own Sourdough Bread
• Troubleshooting Common Sourdough Issues
• Variations and Add-ins
• Your Bread Baking Guide Awaits You

What Makes Sourdough Special?

In contrast to most modern breads, which rely on commercial yeast, sourdough bread is made with a "starter". This living culture is a conglomerate of wild yeast and friendly microorganisms (Lactobacilli) that give the bread its unique tangy taste. This natural fermentation offers more than just taste benefits, though:

• Digestibility: The long fermentation process breaks down some of the gluten and phytic acid present in flour, making it easier for many people to digest their bread.
• Nutritional Absorption: By lowering phytic acid, the process makes minerals like magnesium, iron, and zinc more available for your body to uptake.
• Taste Complexity: Wild yeast and bacteria confer a depth of flavor that you just can't get from commercial yeast.

Part 1: Preparing Your Sourdough Starter

The foundation of any great loaf of sourdough bread is a healthy, strong starter. Think of it as a pet, it needs to be fed every so often. It will take about a week to create one from scratch, but the process itself is straightforward.

What You Need:

• A clean glass jar (Mason jar size Quizzes)
• Whole wheat or whole rye flour
• Unbleached, all-purpose white flour
• Filtered water (Chlorine can inhibit yeast growth.)
• A kitchen scale, for accuracy

Day 1: The Beginning

In a jar, mix 60 grams (1/2 cup) of whole wheat flour plus 60 grams (1/4 cup) of lukewarm water. Stir until there is no dry flour. It should be the consistency of thick pancake batter. Loosely cover the jar (lid on top is fine or use a coffee filter secured by a rubber band) and place it in a warm spot (around 75-80°F / 24-27°C) for 24 hours.

Day 2: Patience

You probably won't see much activity today, and that' s perfectly natural. A few tiny bubbles might form simply let it stand for another 24 hours.

Day 3: The First Feeding

You may notice a few bubbles and the aroma will be a little bit sour by now. At this point, you should feed your starter. Discard about half of the mix. Add to what remains 60 grams (1/2 cup) of unbleached, all-purpose flour and 60 grams (1/4 cup) of lukewarm water. Mix well, cover loosely and set in a warm spot for another 24 hours.

Day 4, 5 and 6: Regular Feedings

Repeat the process from Day 3. Discard about half of the starter and feed the remaining starter by volume with equal parts flour and water each day. The activity will increase as you do this. The starter will become more and more bubbling with larger bubbles and begin to rise and fall consistently on a regular basis at the end of each rise-cycle. You may also notice its odor starting to develop more complexity, ranging from sour to fruity.

Day 7 and Beyond: Is It Ready?

When it is strong and predictable then your sourdough starter is ready for baking. A healthy starter will double in size within 4-8 hours after being fed. It will appear active and bubbly, smelling good and yeasty to boot.

The Float Test is a common way to check if your starter is ready. Drop a small spoonful of your active, bubbling starter into a glass of water. If it floats, it's full of gas and ready to leaven your bread. If it sinks, then a few more feedings might be in order. Since the starter has already gained strength and substance, this need not be a long process—how many times are up to you!(20)

Once well established, your starter can live in the refrigerator. To keep it healthy, only have to feed it once a week. When you want to bake, the day before take it out and give a couple of feedings at room temperature, till it's active again.

Part 2: Making Your Own Sourdough Bread

With your active and bubbling starter, you're ready to bake. This recipe for your "classic sourdough loaf" either yields two small loaves or one large. For the most part, sourdough baking involves plenty of waiting. Much of the time is hands-free while the dough ferments.

Ingredients:

• 100 grams (1/2 cup) active sourdough starter
• 375 grams (1 1/2 cups + 1 tbsp) lukewarm water
• about 500 grams bread flour (4c)
• 10 grams (1 1/2 tsp) fine sea salt

Step by Step Baking

I: Autolyse (30-60 minutes)

Mix the bread flour and water in a large bowl. No dry bits. Knead it, but make sure everything is fully combined. Cover the bowl and let it rest for at the very least 30 minutes. This stage, called autolyse, permits the flour to adequately take up the water. It makes the dough easier to work with and so promotes gluten development.

II: Add Starter and Salt

Add the 100 grams of active sourdough starter to your dough. Use a damp hand to pinch and squeeze the starter right into the dough until it's well integrated. Leave it to rest for 20 minutes. Then sprinkle the 10 grams of salt over the dough. Do the same to integrate it, pinching and squeezing until it's all gone and well distributed.

III: Bulk Fermentation (3-5 hours)

This is where your dough undergoes its first rise, developing flavor and strength. Cover the bowl and place in a warm spot. During this period, every half hour or 45 minutes you will make four 'stretch and folds'.

Stretch and Fold How to: With a wet hand, reach under one side of the dough, gently stretching it skyward, then fold it over top of the dough. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat three more times. Without any traditional kneading at all, this process strengthens gluten network. After 3-5 hours, the dough should have risen by about 30-50% and feel full of air bubbles.

IV: Shaping the Loaf

Flour your work surface lightly and carefully scrape the dough out of the bowl, trying not to deflate it too much. Gently press down on the dough until it resembles a rough rectangle.

Turn the third of the dough at the bottom upside down, and then the top third down, like folding a letter. Starting from one side, roll the dough tightly packed from a log or boule where all sides of it are taut and smooth to touch. It begins to build tension in from its surface. Surface tension is an important cause of good "oven spring" in the final rise in the oven.

Step 5: Final Proof (12-18 hours)

Place your shaped loaf seam side up into a proofing basket (banneton) which has been dusted with rice flour or all purpose flour. If you don't have a banneton, a bowl lined with flour a tea towel works just fine.

Cover the basket in plastic or a shower cap and place it in the refrigerator for a long, cold proof. This can last anywhere from 12 to 18 hours. The cold will slow down fermentation, which creates yet another level of complexity to your bread's flavor along with some tanginess.

Step 6: Baking Sourdough

When you're ready to bake, put a Dutch oven with its lid on into your oven and preheat to 450 °F (232 °C). The Dutch oven should heat for an additional 45 minutes after preheating time in order to create a lingering heat.

Once preheated, carefully remove the hot Dutch oven from the oven. Gently turn your cold dough out of the proofing basket and onto a piece of parchment paper. Place it seam side down in the hot Dutch oven.

Before you put on the lid, score the top of the loaf with sharp blade or razor (a bread lame). A simple slash or a cross pattern will work. This lets some steam out and guides where the bread shape will expand.

Cover the Dutch oven, place it back in the oven, and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the lid. The steam trapped inside has created a perfect environment for the initial rise. Continue baking, uncovered, for another 20-25 minutes, or until the crust is a deep golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 205-210°F (96-99°C).

Step 7: Cool and Enjoy

Carefully remove the bread from the Dutch oven and place it on a wire rack to cool completely. This is the hardest part! You must wait at least two hours before slicing. The bread is still cooking internally as it cools, and slicing it too early can result in a gummy texture.

Troubleshooting Common Sourdough Issues

• My bread is too dense: This is often due to an under-active starter or under-proofing the dough. Make sure your starter is doubling in size before you use it, and let the bulk fermentation go a bit longer next time.
• My bread is too sour: A very sour taste usually comes from a long fermentation time, especially if your starter was "hungry" (hadn't been fed recently). Try feeding your starter more regularly or shortening the cold proof time.
• My loaf spread out flat (pancaked): This can be caused by over-proofing the dough or not building enough tension during shaping. Be gentle during bulk fermentation and focus on creating a tight skin when you shape the loaf.

Variations and Add-ins

Once you master the basic loaf, the possibilities are endless. Try adding these during the final mix-in step:

• Cheese and Jalapeño: Add 1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar and 1-2 diced jalapeños.
• Rosemary and Olive: Mix in 1/2 cup of chopped olives and 1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary.
• Cranberry and Walnut: A Friendly and Fruitful Compromise. Some loaf ideas are a lot like fruitcakes and the freezer will never miss them. But after making this one you may want to find a spot in your freezer for it. Or not. It is entirely up to you.
• Whole Grains: For increased heartiness and a more robust flavor, exchange 30% of the bread flour with whole wheat, spelt, or rye.

Your Bread Baking Guide Awaits You

Sourdough bread is definitely art. The success of making homemade sourdough bread depends largely on patience and practice. Don't be discouraged if your first loaf is a failure--every bake is another lesson that helps you understand more about the feel of the dough and the rhythm of fermentation. Accept the process, believe in yourself, and just a short while later you'll be pulling beautiful, crackling loaves from your oven. You can cut into nothing quite so delicious as a loaf of bread baked from scratch and made only with flour, water, salt (and an ingredient magic extra).