The Best Basic Sourdough Bread

Feed your sourdoughI usually keep mind in the fridge, so when I want to feed it I take it out, let it sit at room temp for a few hours, and then feed it. Let the dough double or triple in size (this typically takes 6ish hours) and then it’s ready to go.

Measure out the sourdough starterThe original recipe I evolved this one from recommended measuring the ingredients by gram but I have found I get a better consistency and bread when I measure things out and then adjust based on the consistency of the dough.

Add the waterIn a bowl, using your dough whisk, add in 1 ½ cups of water and mix well. I reserve the other ½ cup in case I need to add it after I mix in the flour.

Add the salt and bread flourI typically mix in all of the salt and then half of the bread flour, whisk, and then fold in the rest. If I need to, I’ll mix in a little bit more water to ensure the dough isn’t over-floured.

Now starts our 4 hours of stretching and resting

Once you’ve mixed, the dough, cover it with the lid that comes with your bowl, if you have one. If not, or you’re using your KitchenAid mixer, use a shower cap or saran wrap and a rubber band to cover the dough. Let it sit for 1 hour.

After that hour, you’ll grab a cup of water and start stretching the dough. You do this by dipping your fingers in water and grab a section of dough between your thumb and forefingers and gently pull upwards, stretching it over the dough to the opposite side of the bowl. Turn the bowl 45-90° and repeat until you’ve turned the bowl 360°.

If you’re short on time, you can go 30 minutes between stretches. I’ll be honest, I haven’t yet made dough where I’ve stretched in shorter intervals than 3 minutes between stretches. If you have, let me know how that’s gone!

Cover it up and let it rest of 8-12 hoursI know, I know, 8-12 hours is a broad range BUT I give it because the recipe I started from would cite 8 hours as the ideal rise-time. However, because of how all of this times out between feeding and stretching, I’m often well into the evening hours by the time I get to this step. So I typically try to time it out so I finish my stretches right before I got to bed around 10-10:30 and then I move onto step 7 when I get up in the morning. However you want to time it out, the goal is for it to essentially double in size again.

Dust your banneton basketI highly recommend rice flour, it does prevent sticking much better with much less flour, but if you don’t have rice flour or you’re thinking “sure sure, they just want me to buy another type of flour 🙄…” you can use bread flour. I usually try to spin it around (above the sink because we’re not savages) to coat the full surface.

Place the dough seam-side upWithout water this time, and much more gently, go through the motions of the stretching again; this time, the goal isn’t to stretch the dough, but to unstick it from the site of the bowl it’s been rising in. Try to maintain as many bubbles as you can (hence the “gently” instruction). Once you get all of the sides unstuck, take your hands and go under the dough so you can the entirety of it and place it in the benneton basket seam-side up.

Cover the benneton basket with a shower cap or saran wrap and a rubber band and refrigerate for 3-4 more hours

Again, I recommend a shower cap because it’s already synched at the bottom and will keep a pretty air-tight seal; but if you haven’t yet stocked up on shower caps, saran wrap and a rubber band will do in a pinch.

Place the dough in the fridge for another 3-4 hours for the final proof.

Preheat the oven to 450° and (optional) put your Dutch oven in the oven to preheat with the oven

I’ve seen this done two ways - one where you preheat with the Dutch oven inside or one where you preheat the oven empty and then add the Dutch oven.

I’ll be honest, I’ve done it only the first way (preheating the oven with the Dutch oven inside) because I thought that was the recommended way, but I also find that sometimes the under-crust is a little tougher than I’d like, so I plan on trying it the other way next time I bake - - I’ll keep you posted on the results!

Grab some parchment paper and relocate the dough to thatYou’ll want to cut a piece of parchment paper large enough to cover the top of the benneton basket with room to spare. Take the parchment paper and put it on top of the benneton basket; then, carefully and with both hands, flip the basket over and gently separate any clinging dough from the basket by lightly shaking the basket an inch or so above the countertop.

Gently move the dough in the parchment paper to the Dutch oven and scoreGrab all 4 corners of the parchment paper and relocate the dough into the Dutch oven. Use your razor blade or bread lame and score the bread as you like. Put the lid on the Dutch oven and place it in the oven.

Bake for 50 minutesCheck after 50 minutes, but it may need another 5-10 minutes in the oven with the lid off to brown the top, especially if you don’t preheat the oven with the Dutch oven inside. Taking the approach of preheating the oven with the Dutch oven inside has, so far, 100% of the time yielded a perfect consistency and finish at 50 minutes.

Move to a cooling rackI recommend letting it cool for an hour before slicing in and enjoying a piece of your beautiful new loaf. I promise, an hour later it will still be perfectly warm.

Enjoy!Eat it fresh, slice and store for another day or even freeze it! Though I do recommend slicing it before you freeze so you can take out just a piece or 2 at a time instead of having to thaw a whole loaf just to get a single slice.