Sourdough Bread

Note: I save 100g of starter after feeding it. I feed it 100g of all purpose flour,100g of water, and let it sit for three or four hours. I then add 150g of flour and water, let it sit for three or four hours, save 100g of the mixture for future use, and then use what's left (the discard) for a recipe or just throw it away.

While I do like making breads, I am not a bread nerd. I don't care about kneading techniques, the temperature and humidity of my kitchen, or even really the hydration of my dough. At the moment, I just want tasty bread that's not a huge pain to make. Learn the nitty-gritty stuff from Serious Eats, King Arther, or the book I learned a lot from.

While everything is really easy to do, making good tasting bread is a process spread over three days.

Day 1: Feed starter (I usually to this in the evening)

Day 2: Make Dough (Basically takes a whole day, but with a lot of down time)

Day 3: Bake Bread (Done in the morning)

Recipe edit June 5, 2025

Ingredients:

600g White Flour

200g Whole Wheat Flour

360g Sourdough Starter

21g Fine-Grain Sea Salt

600g Water

Directions:

Autolyse - Combine flours and room temp water in a medium mixing bowl, cover bowl with a towel, and then let sit for 20-30 minutes.

Add starter and salt, stir/knead in.

Bulk Fermentation - let set for up to 24 hours in a greased bowl in the fridge.

Let sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes. Divide in two with a bench scrapper and shape each into rounds. Place each in a proofing basket or greased bowl and proof at room temperature for one hour.

Proof - let sit in the fridge for up to 48 hours.

Bake in a dutch oven with a lid at 450°F (230°C) for 25 minutes covered and then 15 minutes uncovered.

Final Notes:

I tried baking one loaf and then letting the other sit in the fridge for another two days and it turned out great! It'll be really nice to not have to bake loaves at once and have one going stale before it's finished.

Though I'll have to either keep the second loaf either in the proofing basket with the fabric lining or in an oiled mixing bowl. I used the basket with lots of flour and some oil on top with plastic wrap, and the dough stuck to the basket. It was difficult to get out and squished the loaf quite a bit. But it still puffed up, other than one side, so it should be even better next time!

 Loaf of the left baked on a Friday, loaf on right baked on the following Monday.

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Old recipe

Ingredients:

700g White Flour

100g Whole Wheat Flour 360g Sourdough Starter 21g Fine-Grain Sea Salt 4g Active Dry Yeast (½ packet)

Water

Directions:

Heat 520g of water to 90-95°F (32-35°C)

Autolyse - Combine flours and warm water in a medium mixing bowl, sprinkle yeast over the top, cover bowl with a towel, and then let sit for 20-30 minutes

Add starter and salt, stir/knead in

Over the next hour, fold/knead three or four more times

Bulk Fermentation - let set for four more hours in a greased bowl

Divide in two with a bench scrapper

Shape each into rounds

Place in a proofing basket or greased bowl

Proof - let sit in the fridge for 12 hours

Bake in a dutch oven with a lid at 450°F (230°C) for 25 minutes covered and then 15 minutes uncovered.

Again, because I don't try that hard I still get mixed results. Breads made 3 weeks apart. Top row: a typical, decent boule for me with pâté

Bottom: probably over proved (still tastes good, just short)