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Sourdough Recipe

Below is my recipe, but if you’re new to sourdough, it’s probably not enough. I recommend this post which goes into much more detail and has great photos and videos (it’s where I started 😀).

Ingredients

  • 500g bread flour
  • 325g water
  • 150g fed sourdough starter
  • 15g olive oil
  • 10g fine sea salt (or any salt, but this is my preference)
  • 2T rice flour (for dusting the proofing basket)

Equipment

I recommend getting a kit with banneton, lame and plastic dough scraper if you don’t have them. Something like this.

A kitchen scale for measuring ingredients.

Not required but it helps to have a clear square container to mix the dough in so you can more easily see how much it has risen.

Instructions

  1. Whisk water and starter together.
  2. Add flour and mix until you can’t see any dry flour anymore.
  3. Wait 60 minutes before adding salt and oil - this is called autolyse. Mark the side of the container (e.g. with a piece of tape) at the top of the dough level. This will help you know when it has doubled (not as relevant)
  4. Add salt and oil, then knead until evenly distributed. Wetting your hand helps keep the dough from sticking to your hand too much. I keep a container with water on the counter to dip my hand into.
  5. Every 30-60 minutes, perform a series of folds to the dough (a video helps here to see the action). Perform this 1-3 times (more is better if you can do it).
  6. Wait for the dough to rise by ~50% (this is where a rectangular container makes this easier than if you have mixed in a bowl.)
  7. Drop the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pre-shape (video helpful here).
  8. Let rest for 15-20 minutes.
  9. While resting, prepare a banneton (proofing basket) or bowl lined with clean cloth. Dust with rice flour.
  10. Shape the dough and place seam side up in banneton. Cover and refrigerate for 12 to 48 hours.
  11. Preheat oven with dutch oven to 450 degrees.
  12. Place parchment paper over the banneton, then invert to remove the dough from the banneton. Score the dough with a lame or other blade. Carefully transfer to dutch oven. Cover.
  13. Reduce oven heat to 425 and bake for 20 minutes, covered.
  14. Remove the lid, and bake for 20-25 min, until deeply golden brown.
  15. Remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack. Let cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Notes

For the starter, I just keep mine in the fridge and then feed it the night before I’m going to make the dough. So my schedule is:

Day 1 - Night, feed starter (I feed 50g of starter with 75g of bread flour and 75g water)
Day 2 - Make and shape the dough, then refrigerate in the bannetons, covered with a plastic bag
Day 3 - Bake