This sourdough bread recipe is the ultimate guide to making your own sourdough bread! You’ll be amazed by the tangy flavor, beautiful chewy crust, and perfect texture.
Ready to get your hands dirty? Making homemade sourdough bread is one of the most satisfying, transformative things you can do. It’s tastier, cheaper, and more nutritious than any bread you’ll buy at the supermarket. My sourdough bread recipe is the perfect everyday bread for snacking, sandwiches, and serving with soup.
Making sourdough bread is a process that spans across 3 days. Here’s an outline of the tasks for how to make sourdough bread:
- Day 1 Evening: Feed the sourdough starter
- Day 2 Mix ingredients for bread and proof overnight
- Day 3 Knead again, let rise for another 4 hours, and bake
Even though the process spans across three days, it really is a simplified process that maintains the integrity of the sourdough bread process.
You can make sourdough bread with many different types of flour. For my whole wheat sourdough bread recipe, I use a mixture of all-purpose flour (for texture and strength) and whole wheat flour (for flavor). I find that this mix makes a moderately open crumb—those beautiful holes in sourdough, a chewy crust, and tangy flavor.
Once you’ve baked your homemade bread, it is best eaten within 48 hours. We store ours wrapped in cloth at room temperature. You can use a clean dish towel; or, made a special bread bag for storage out of a large napkin. If you don’t think you’ll eat the entire loaf in 48 hours, you can freeze whatever you don’t think you’ll eat! Let the sourdough bread cool fully to room temperature, then cut it into slices and place it into a sealed bag or container.
Sourdough Bread
Yield: 2 loaves
Ingredients
- flour, 2 options:
- whole wheat blend: 4.25 cups whole wheat flour + 2 cups all purpose flour
- all purpose blend: 7 cups all purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons salt
- 2.5 cups water
- 2 cups sourdough starter*
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients into a bowl, and knead for 10 minutes on low if using a machine; if kneading by hand, knead for 20 minutes until dough is stretchy yet doesn’t stick to your hands.
- Place kneaded dough into a large floured bowl with a towel over the top, then sprinkle flour and let it rise for 12 hours.
- Place risen dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Place it into a floured proofing basket or a medium bowl, sprinkle flour and let it rise for another 4 hours.
- Preheat oven to 480 degrees F (250 degrees C).
- Flip the dough onto a piece of parchment paper, and transfer the dough and paper into a large cast-iron skillet.
- Score the top of the bread.
- Place the lid on top and bake for 30 minutes for the all purpose blend, 45 minutes for whole wheat blend.
- Take the lid off and bake for another 15 minutes for all purpose blend, 5-10 minutes for whole wheat blend or until the crust is golden brown.
- Transfer onto a cooling rack and let it rest for an hour. Knock the bottom of the bread to listen for a hollow sound.
- Once cool, slice and enjoy!
*Make sure you fed your started the day of or before you start this recipe!