No-Knead Sourdough Bread

A simple EASY recipe for No-Knead Sourdough Bread made with your own homemade sourdough starter that rises overnight and is baked the next morning. Or mix it up in the morning and bake it at night. Up to you! Requires only 25 mins of hands-on time. 14 hours of total time.  (THREE VIDEOS BELOW) 

Are we free enough to open to the flow, no matter what it may contain? ~Dorothy Hunt

Last week, I shared my recipe for simple Sourdough Starter.  By now it may be happy and bubbly and ready to bake bread so I just wanted to share a simple, beginner’s recipe for No-Knead Sourdough Bread that my lovely friend Bee (from H is for Love) taught me how to make, now over 7 years ago. It hasn’t failed me yet and I am forever indebted to her, because this simple act of kindness has brought me so much joy over the years.

It’s flexible and fun to play with, but most importantly it works with my schedule. It doesn’t require a lot of hands-on time- although there is a tiny bit, to make it feel wonderfully gratifying.

Why I love this Sourdough Bread Recipe: The dough is made the night before and proofs overnight on the counter (10-12 hours). In the morning it’s stretched, folded and shaped, with 1 hour more of rising time before baking for 35 minutes.  Because my schedule allows me to be home in the mornings this bread really works well for me. It’s very flexible too, and can be placed in the fridge if plans change and something comes up and I can’t bake in the morning, slowing the process down.

Inversely, you could mix the dough early in the morning and bake it that night. Up to you.

TIP: When looking online for a Sourdough Bread Recipe (there are thousands!) I’ve found what is most important is to find a sourdough bread recipe works with your schedule. That way, you can easily fit bread-baking into your weekly schedule without having to bend your schedule around it. So always look at hands-on time and proofing times (usually there are 2 of these) to make sure it works with your life.

There are many ways to make Sourdough bread. Many of you are well beyond this recipe in terms of expertise, technique and knowledge and this may not the recipe for you- but I’m relying on you to help answer questions that will arise in the comments below and add your tips and guidance to the recipe notes below.

If you are very new to bread baking, you may be wondering…

What is Sourdough Bread? 

• In the simplest terms, it is bread made without the use of commercial yeast, but rather a “sourdough starter”  instead. The starter is what makes the bread rise. The sourdough starter is made first (takes  5-8 days) and then it is stored in your fridge and fed weekly. Like a pet. 🙂 Yes, you can even name it. Bread made with sourdough starter, has so much more flavor and complexity than yeasted bread.

What equipment do you need? 

After leaving all my bread “gear” at home, it was a fun challenge to see if I could make it with just the basics. Here is what you absolutely need:

• 4 to 6-quart Dutch oven with lid (or bread baker)
• Parchment
• a couple of mixing bowls
• measuring cup
• Kitchen towel
• sharp knife, razor blade or scissors
• kitchen scale

Here are some optional extras that make this more fun:

• Banneton
• Rice flour  (for dusting)
• plastic dough scraper
• Lame (scoring blade)

How to Make Sourdough Bread (in a nutshell):

1. Stir flours (520 grams– weigh first- without the bowl weight! ) and salt together.
2. Mix sourdough starter and water together. (90 grams starter with 385 grams water)
3. Combine all in a medium bowl, until flour is fully incorporated.
4. Let rest 15 minutes. Stretch the dough, right in the bowl.  Repeat 15 minutes later.
5. Cover and let rest on the kitchen counter for 9-12 hours. ( 65-70 F)
6. In the morning, stretch, fold and shape. Place in a parchment-lined bowl, let rise 1 hour in the refrigerator and preheat the oven.
7. Score.
8. Bake 35 minutes!

How to SCHEDULE No-Knead Sourdough Bread: 

1. 12 noon: Feed the sourdough starter. 4-8 hours before you plan to mix up the dough, feed your starter. (Or feel free to use unfed starter straight from the fridge at 8 pm)
2.  8 pm:  Mix. Mix flours and salt, and mix starter and water, and mix all into a ball. After 15 mins, stretch the dough, using the “stretch and fold” technique.  Cover for 15 more mins and repeat the stretch and fold.
3. 8:30 pm: Proof.  Cover with plastic or a wet towel, let proof (rise) overnight,9-12 hours at 65-70F on the kitchen counter.
4.  6-8 am:  Shape. Check your dough and when it has almost doubled in size, stretch, fold, and shape. Place in a lined-lined bowl, dusted with flour (or use a proofing basket) seam side up. (Or Alternately and easier, place in a parchment lined-bowl, seam side down.)
5. 8 am: Final Rise and Preheat Oven.  Place the shaped dough in the fridge for 1 hour while you preheat the oven (heating up your dutch oven or bread baker too, for 50-60  minutes at 500F) 
6.  9 am:  Place and score. Pull your heated dutch oven out of the oven. Lift your shaped dough, either flipping or lifting out by the parchment, carefully place into the hot dutch oven. Score the bread using a sharp knife  (lightly oiled) or razor blade or bread lame, cutting a single slash, a crescent-shaped slit into the dough at a 30-45 degree angle, one inch deep, or smaller tiny cuts.
7. 9:05 am  Bake with the lid on for 20 minutes. Remove lid, lower heat to 45oF and bake 15 more minutes, until very deeply golden, and internal temp reaches 208F. You will want it darker than you might think. Let it cool on a rack before cutting. If you like a softer crust bake covered 25 minutes, uncovered 10 minutes.
8. 9:45  Cool and enjoy!

SOURDOUGH BREAD TIPS:

1. SOURDOUGH STARTER:   Using your starter at its peak, or slightly after will ensure your bread rises sufficiently. Make sure your starter is healthy and strong, able to double in size 4-8 hours after feeding. If you like a more “sour” taste, use starter that has been stored in the fridge 3-6 days- and use without feeding it first.
2. FLOUR: For your very first loaf, I highly suggest just using mostly White Bread Flour and be sure to weigh! ***Please “zero out” the weight of the bowl. 🙂  Weight the flour without salt, seeds, or other additions! Try substituting a 1/2 cup of the flour for another kind. For example, 3 1/2 cups white bread flour, plus 1/2 cup rye or whole wheat. If you add more than that your loaf may be too heavy and dense. I really don’t want this for your first loaf. Neither do you! You want it to be amazing so you feel inspired to make it again and again. The second loaf, perhaps try 1/2 whole wheat & 1/2 white. After a few practice loaves- yes, fiddle with other flours as much as you like!
3. WATER: (Hydration)  385 grams A wet dough will produce a lot of beautiful air pockets but it is much harder to work with, in the beginning. A dryer dough will yield a slightly denser,  less airy loaf but will be easier to work with, in the beginning. This one falls towards the later – at 75% hydration- but you can easily adjust this down the road, as you practice, by adding a little more water or less flour in the initial mixing stage. To calculate the hydration level, you divide the water grams by the flour grams. In this case 385 divided by 520 = .75 or 75% hydration. As you get more comfortable, try for 80%-85% hydration, adding in a few extra folds at both stages.
4. BAKING:  500F. Always preheat! The hotter the better. Use a 4-6 quart dutch oven or Bread Baker: Make sure your dutch oven or bread baker can handle a 500F oven. If not, 475F or 450F will suffice, but you’ll need to bake it longer (25-30 minutes) before removing the lid and baking for 10-15 more minutes.  Always check bread with a  thermometer.  FYI My bread baker (clay) cracked at 500F, so just be careful. Always check the manufacturer’s guide.

 

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Sourdough Making Steps in order ( WITH VIDEOS!) 

STEP ONE:  Feed your sourdough starter 4-10 hours before making your bread dough -leaving it out on the counter-using it at its peak or slightly after. (Alternatively use it straight from the fridge, cold, without feeding within the 7-day window- which will give it a more sour taste.)

STEP TWO: Mix bread flour (weigh out 520 grams flour – do not include the weight of the bowl) and then add salt together in a medium bowl. Here I’m using roughly 3 1/2 cups white bread flour and a 1/2 cup rye flour. Weigh the flour for your first batch using a kitchen scale- to get a feel for the dough.

Add 2 teaspoons salt and seeds if you like- here I’ve added 1 tsp fennel, 1/2 teaspoon caraway and 1 tablespoon chia seeds. You can add other spices and seeds, nuts, dried fruit, herbs and roasted garlic. Get creative, but for the first loaf, go easy.

STEP THREE: Mix the 1/3 cup of “fed” starter (90 grams) with water (385 grams) using a fork.

It will look like cloudy water.

STEP FOUR: Combine both and stir, using a fork, into a thick dough. Mix the dough for one minute to incorporate all the bread flour, using the wood spoon. No need to knead. 🙂 It will look a little shaggy and be hard to mix. If using more whole wheat flour or rye, sometimes it can be “thirstier” than white flour so you may need a little more water, a tablespoon at a time.  It will loosen up as it rests and proofs.

STEP FIVE: At this point, you could cover this with a damp towel and let it proof overnight on your kitchen counter 9-12 hours, BUT I prefer to let it rest 15 minutes and do 2 sets of  “stretch and folds” to help build the gluten.  I do this twice, 15 minutes apart. 

So rest, 15 minutes covered, then stretch and fold. Cover, rest 15 minutes, then stretch and fold, 2 times.  Then put the dough “to bed”, overnight.

1st VIDEO| STRETCH and FOLD technique (before proofing) 

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STEP 6: PROOF Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and let it rise on the kitchen counter overnight 8-12 hours. This is the tricky part that gets easier as you practice. Warmer homes proof faster, colder homes, slower. You can’t always look at the clock, you MUST look at the dough. It should be slightly domed, springy, bouncy, almost doubled. Carefully poke it 1/2 inch deep with a floured finger, if the indention remains slightly, this is a good sign it has risen enough. If it looks flat, lifeless, and feels liquidy or loose- it may be over-proofed. You can still bake it but will not rise as much in the oven and will be harder to handle.

FYI You can always slow this process down and extend the rising time by putting it in the fridge which will give also give a more sour taste.

If you accidentally overproof your dough, it will look flat and watery. Don’t toss it. Put it in the fridge to firm it up a bit before doing the stretch and fold. You may still get an OK loaf. Hard to tell.

PREPARE the SHAPING BOWl: Check the dough in the morning. When it has almost doubled in size (under proofing is better than over proofing) you will do more 2 more stretch and folds and then place it in a floured, parchment-lined bowl for final rising. So get your parchment-lined bowl ready now. I like using a high-sided medium-sized bowl versus a flat or shallow bowl.

 

You can also use a floured Banneton (bread proofing basket) if you have one. If using a Banneton, you will place the seam side up. Flour well (rice flour works best here) and place any seeds on the bottom.

I will say- if starting out, it can be a bit tricky to flip the Banneton into the hot dutch oven, centered. With the parchment, there is no flipping, just lifting by the parchment and placing it in the dutch oven. MUCH EASIER FOR BEGINNERS.

 

STEP 7: STRETCH and SHAPE: Loosen the dough from the edges of a bowl with a wet spatula or wet plastic dough scraper, sliding it down the sides of the bowl. With wet hands, carefully grab the dough on each side, lift it straight up about a foot and place it back down, folding it on top of itself, gently. Wet your hands again and give the bowl a quarter turn and do this again. (You could repeat this 20 minutes later)  Then the 3rd time you lift and stretch, you will either lift it all the way up into your parchment-lined bowl seam side down. (EASIEST)  or into the floured proofing basket,  seam side up (pinching it closed). 

2nd VIDEO | STRETCH AND SHAPE (after proofing) 

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Sprinkle with seeds if you like.

Sprinkle with a little flour, especially if using the basket, get those sides sprinkled well- so it flips out without catching!

STEP 8: FINAL RISE and PREHEAT OVEN: Place the dough in the fridge for one hour (or up to 3) while you heat up the oven to 500F with your dutch oven inside (PLEASE SEE NOTES ) for 50-60 minutes. Chilling the dough a little will make it easier to score. It doesn’t need to rise a huge amount here.

STEP 9:  SCORE & BAKE.  Carefully take out the hot dutch oven, close the oven door and sprinkle the bottom of it with cornmeal or flour. Gently lift your dough holding onto the parchment into the dutch oven (or carefully flip if inverted).  Score. YOU will bake it in the parchment. Grease your blade or lame,  and score the dough swiftly and deeply, at a 45-degree angle, 3/4 inch deep.

You can do one simple slash, a crescent, crisscross, or feel free to add other designs. (Just google sourdough scoring designs and be mesmerized for hours!)  Oiling the knife or blade helps. Quickly cover and place in the middle of the oven for 20 mins. Remove lid and it should be nicely puffed and just lightly golden. Continue baking 15 minutes until deeply golden and internal temp reaches 208F.

 

It will smell heavenly.

Let it cool before slicing so you don’t smash it- be patient. 🙂

Ok! Enjoy and Happy Baking!

xoxo

3rd video: SOURDOUGH BREAD! | (Start to finish!) 16-Min Video

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