This is my basic recipe for good sourdough bread. A bread with a crispy crust, an airy juicy crumb and a fantastic sour sourdough taste. Baked alone on sourdough without yeast.
I have tried to make a recipe that works, no matter what experience and what baking utensils you have. And a recipe that does not require you to spend several days in the kitchen before the bread can be put on the table. It is a basic recipe that can be varied endlessly, but regardless, it will be incredibly delicious bread.
Below the recipe, I have compiled a beginner’s guide to the various concepts and processes that are included when baking sourdough bread. Here you will also find tips for utensils, flour types and techniques, and it can be an advantage to read before you start baking.
If you do not yet have a sourdough, you can find my guide to starting sourdough right here. If you want to try baking with sourdough for the first time I would recommend you start with my recipe for sourdough buns.
In the video below, you can see the techniques for baking sourdough bread that you will need for the recipe, which can be a little difficult to describe in words.
YOUNG SOURDOUGH (SOURDOUGH READY IN 8-10 HOURS)
INGREDIENTS
80 grams ripe/old sourdough
60 grams wheat flour
20 grams wholemeal flour
80 grams lukewarm water
YOUNG SOUR DOUGH (SOUR DOUGH READY IN 8-10 HOURS)
20 grams ripe/old sourdough (eg sourdough that has been refrigerated)
80 grams wheat flour (the flour you want to use for the bread)
30 grams wholemeal flour (the flour you want to use for the bread)
110 grams lukewarm water (about 30 degrees)
SOUR DOUGH BREAD
200 grams using sourdough
375 grams lukewarm water (about 30 degrees)
450 grams wheat flour, (finely sifted rolled wheat flour), preferably with a protein content of more than 11%
50 grams wholemeal flour (eg rye flour or wholemeal wheat flour)
15 grams salt
ALSO
Possibly. 5 g of yeast if your sourdough is not active enough (ie does not rise up to 50% during the specified hours)
Olive oil to lubricate the bucket
Rice flour for leavening (can be replaced by wheat flour)
PREPARATION:
YOUNG SOURDOUGH
Follow the quantity specifications for young sourdough depending on when you want the sourdough to be ready.
Stir ripe sourdough, water, wheat flour and wholemeal flour together in a glass or clear container. Put an elastic band around that marks the edge of the sourdough so you can keep an eye on how much it rises. Once your young sourdough has risen to about double size, it is ready.
NOTE: If your sourdough does not rise or do so very slowly, make another 1-2 feedings before the sourdough starts. If you want to bake bread right away, you can add 5g of yeast to the dough so you are sure the bread will rise.
AUTOLYSE
Weigh 200 g of young sourdough. The remaining sourdough you save and feed on. So it will be your new sourdough.
Stir the 200 g young sourdough, water and flour together to a mushy mass. Use either a spoon or your fingers. Leave it for 30 minutes for autolysis so that gluten can begin to develop in the dough.
PROCEDURE WITH MIXER
Add salt to the dough. First, knead the dough at the lowest speed until the dough becomes more uniform. Turn up to medium speed, and run until the dough becomes slightly shiny on the surface. Turn all the way up to the highest speed and run the machine until the dough gathers around the dough hook and releases the edges of the bowl.
Grease a bucket with olive oil and put the dough in it. Now let the dough rise for about 3 hours until it has risen 20-40%.
STRETCH AND FOLD WITHOUT MIXER
Add salt to the dough and knead it into the dough. Knead the dough well together by squeezing it in your hands until you can feel it becoming more elastic.
Grease a bucket or clean bowl with olive oil, and put the dough in it. Let the dough stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Do the first stretch and fold with damp hands. Stretch and fold the dough over itself 4-8 times, until it becomes more elastic and gathers.
Now repeat the folds at 20-minute intervals until you have made 4 folds in total. Then let the dough rest in the bowl for 1.5 hours.
See two different folding techniques in this video – you can use both or switch between them:
PRESHAPE
Gently pull up the sides of the dough to release it from the bucket. Turn the bucket upside down and dump the dough on a lightly floured table (if you are more experienced and have a dough spatula, you can reshape the dough on a table without flour).
Put a little bit of flour on your fingers and gently push the dough in under itself so that you stretch the surface up and the dough is shaped like a ball. Then let the dough rest on the table for 30 minutes.
SHAPE
Sprinkle a little flour on the preshaped dough. Carefully loosen the edges of the dough and flip it over on a floured board.
Carefully pull out the dough into a rectangular shape. First, fold up the bottom 2/3 and fold the sides inwards. Lightly pull the top of the dough and fold it down towards the middle before the sides are alternately folded towards the middle and stapled/braided over each other. Finally, fold the bottom up towards the middle and roll the dough around so that the dough gathers into a ball.
Transfer the dough to a leavening basket sprinkled with rice flour and/or wheat flour with the bottom facing up. Carefully staple the sides and any holes by lightly pressing the dough together. Then refrigerate the dough for 12-24 hours.
BAKING IN POT / FRYING SO
Preheat the oven and your pan / frying pan for a minimum of 40 minutes at the highest heat on normal oven function.
Take the pan out of the oven and gently dump your bread into the pan. Cut the bread with a very sharp knife, a razor blade or a bread slicer into your desired pattern (see video for an example below). Put the lid on and put the bread in the oven.
Turn the oven temperature down to 200 degrees, and bake the bread for 25 minutes.
Then remove the lid and turn the oven temperature up to 250 degrees. Bake the bread for another 8-12 minutes, until the surface is nicely golden and crispy.
BAKING ON BAKING STEEL OR BAKING PLATE
Preheat the oven and your baking sheet / baking stone or baking tray for a minimum of 40 minutes at the highest heat on normal oven function.
Boil 0.5 litres of water and place a large refractory dish or frying pan in the bottom of the oven.
Baking steel: Carefully dump your bread on a piece of baking paper on a pizza shovel or similar so that you can easily move the bread onto the baking steel. Cut the bread with a very sharp knife, a razor blade or a bread slicer into your desired pattern. Quickly place your bread in the oven on the baking sheet.
Baking tray: Take the baking tray out of the oven and line it with parchment paper. Gently dump your bread down on this. Cut the bread with a very sharp knife, a razor blade or a bread slicer into your desired pattern. Quickly insert the baking tray into the oven.
Pour 0.5 litres of boiling water into the refractory dish at the bottom of the oven to form steam. Turn off the oven and let it stand for 20 minutes. Then turn on the oven on the highest heat, and bake the bread for another 15-20 minutes, until the surface is nicely golden and crispy.
BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SOURDOUGH BREAD WITHOUT YEAST
Sourdough bread is both simple and a whole science! The bread consists of flour, water and salt, but still are all sorts of techniques, tools and processes that are worth getting acquainted with if you want to bake good sourdough bread.
For this guide, I have gathered everything I know about sourdough baking. Knowledge, among other things, I have gathered from this guide from King Arthur Flour, the Danish sourdough king Claus Meyer and Queen Cathrine Brandt. From them, I have learned much from what I have tried to explain and simplify below.
PRESHAPE
Gently pull up the sides of the dough to release it from the bucket. Turn the bucket upside down and dump the dough on a lightly floured table (if you are more experienced and have a dough spatula, you can reshape the dough on a table without flour).
Put a little bit of flour on your fingers and gently push the dough in under itself so that you stretch the surface up and the dough is shaped like a ball. Then let the dough rest on the table for 30 minutes.
SHAPE
Sprinkle a little flour on the preshaped dough. Carefully loosen the edges of the dough and flip it over on a floured board.
Carefully pull out the dough into a rectangular shape. First, fold up the bottom 2/3 and fold the sides inwards. Lightly pull the top of the dough and fold it down towards the middle before the sides are alternately folded towards the middle and stapled/braided over each other. Finally, fold the bottom up towards the middle and roll the dough around so that the dough gathers into a ball.
Transfer the dough to a leavening basket sprinkled with rice flour and/or wheat flour with the bottom facing up. Carefully staple the sides and any holes by lightly pressing the dough together. Then refrigerate the dough for 12-24 hours.
BAKING IN POT / FRYING SO
Preheat the oven and your pan / frying pan for a minimum of 40 minutes at the highest heat on normal oven function.
Take the pan out of the oven and gently dump your bread into the pan. Cut the bread with a very sharp knife, a razor blade or a bread slicer into your desired pattern (see video for an example below). Put the lid on and put the bread in the oven.
Turn the oven temperature down to 200 degrees, and bake the bread for 25 minutes.
Then remove the lid and turn the oven temperature up to 250 degrees. Bake the bread for another 8-12 minutes, until the surface is nicely golden and crispy.
BAKING ON BAKING STEEL OR BAKING PLATE
Preheat the oven and your baking sheet / baking stone or baking tray for a minimum of 40 minutes at the highest heat on normal oven function.
Boil 0.5 litres of water and place a large refractory dish or frying pan in the bottom of the oven.
Baking steel: Carefully dump your bread on a piece of baking paper on a pizza shovel or similar so that you can easily move the bread onto the baking steel. Cut the bread with a very sharp knife, a razor blade or a bread slicer into your desired pattern. Quickly place your bread in the oven on the baking sheet.
Baking tray: Take the baking tray out of the oven and line it with parchment paper. Gently dump your bread down on this. Cut the bread with a very sharp knife, a razor blade or a bread slicer into your desired pattern. Quickly insert the baking tray into the oven.
Pour 0.5 litres of boiling water into the refractory dish at the bottom of the oven to form steam. Turn off the oven and let it stand for 20 minutes. Then turn on the oven on the highest heat, and bake the bread for another 15-20 minutes, until the surface is nicely golden and crispy.
BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SOURDOUGH BREAD WITHOUT YEAST
Sourdough bread is both simple and a whole science! The bread consists of flour, water and salt, but still are all sorts of techniques, tools and processes that are worth getting acquainted with if you want to bake good sourdough bread.
For this guide, I have gathered everything I know about sourdough baking. Knowledge, among other things, I have gathered from this guide from King Arthur Flour, the Danish sourdough king Claus Meyer and Queen Cathrine Brandt. From them, I have learned much from what I have tried to explain and simplify below.
UTENSILS FOR SOURDOUGH BAKING
Let’s first take a look at what utensils one can use to bake sourdough bread. With the press on “can”, because you can easily just a fine sourdough bread with just a bowl, a tea towel and an oven.
However, if you just want a beautiful bread with the perfect curved and crispy crust, like the ones you see on Instagram, it’s a good idea to get yourself some different tools. It makes both the process easier and the success rate better.
If you are completely new to sourdough baking, I would recommend you to try my recipe for sourdough buns that can be made completely without utensils. Once you have gained a little more experience with bread baking, you can try different types of flour and flavours. For example, try my enormously delicious walnut bread with Øland wheat flour.
To knead, fold, shape and raise the dough, you can use the following:
Stirrer: With a mixer, you can knead the dough together so that the gluten network develops optimally, without you having to work with the dough during rising. If you do not have a mixer, fold the dough while it is fermenting and rising. It is described in one of the following sections.
Bowl: The dough is stirred and kneaded together in a bowl, and it can possibly. also, raise in a bowl if you do not have a bucket. I use an ordinary Margrethe bowl that can hold 3 litres.
Transparent plastic bucket: It is smart to let the dough rise in a so-called “Condi bucket”, which is a transparent plastic bucket with a lid. This makes it easy to fold the dough, and you can easily keep track of how much the dough has risen. If you do not have a condiment bucket, you can use another plastic bucket that can hold about 3 litres. And as I said, you can also always let the dough rise in a bowl if you do not have a bucket.
Rice flour: Rice flour is used to sprinkle in the leavening basket or on the tea towel so that the dough does not stick. Rice flour does not contain gluten, and therefore the dough can not stick so easily. You can use wheat flour instead, but it works best with rice flour, and you use very small amounts for each loaf so that a single bag goes a long way.
Olive oil: I use olive oil to lubricate my condiment bucket so that the dough does not stick to the sides under the folds. You can easily use other types of oil as an alternative.
To slice and bake the bread, you can use the following:
A scratching knife/dough slicer: Before baking, the dough is scratched so that you can control where it cracks and thus rises. For this you can buy a special tool, but you can also easily use an incredibly sharp knife or a razor blade.
Cast iron pan or frying pan: I clearly think it gives the best result to bake the bread in a cast iron pan or similar. Here, steam and constant heat are developed, which means that the bread develops best and does not “flatten out” when baking.
Baking steel: If you do not have a pan or frying pan, you can bake the bread on a baking sheet / baking stone. It ensures a more constant heat in the oven, and when the bread enters the hot surface, it can rise better. If you also do not have a baking sheet, you can bake excellent bread on a regular baking tray. Remember to preheat the baking tray and follow the instructions in the recipe on how to create steam in the oven.
HYDRATION: THE AMOUNT OF WATER IN SOURDOUGH BREAD
Another important ingredient in your sourdough bread is water, and here two things are important: temperature and quantity.
The warmer the temperature, the faster the sourdough will develop. However, if the water gets too hot, it can have the opposite effect. Therefore, strive for lukewarm water that is just below 30 degrees.
The amount of liquid in sourdough bread is calculated in percentages, called hydration. For example, if you bake a loaf of 1000 grams of flour and use 500 grams of water, the hydration is 50%.
The higher the hydration, the more juicy and airy a crumb will be – but at the same time, the dough will be more difficult to handle because the dough is more liquid and sticky.
Anything over 70% will provide a sourdough bread with good hydration. But if you also use whole grains and a good amount of salt in the recipe, most people will be able to handle the dough with a little higher hydration. Both salt and whole grains allow the dough to absorb more liquid.
SOURDOUGH BREAD WITH 75% HYDRATION
In this recipe, I use 500 grams of flour and 375 grams of water. It gives hydration of 75% and is thus relatively high hydration, but since we add both whole grains and a good amount of salt, the dough becomes manageable, even if it is kneaded without a mixer.
If you find that the dough is too difficult to handle, you can lower the amount of water to 325-350 grams of water, so you get hydration of 65% -70%. It will almost certainly also give a nice bread, and then you can always practice increasing the hydration, as you gain more experience in handling the bread dough.
SALT
Salt gives a good taste to your baked goods, and then it also helps to keep the liquid in the bread. If you use a few grams less or more, it can affect the consistency of your dough and the final bread. It is therefore important that you not only add salt at random but weigh the amount.
You can use all types of salt. Personally, I use Maldon flake salt.
PREPARE YOUR SOURDOUGH FOR BAKING
When you need to make your sourdough ready for baking, it needs to be fed. In this way, you turn a so-called “ripe sourdough” into a “young sourdough”. It is also called making a “pre-dough”.
When a sourdough is fed with flour and water, it will begin to rise. Typically, it will rise by a minimum of 50% – often more if you have a good, active sourdough.
Sourdough is best suited for baking, just around the time it “peaks”. That is the time when the sourdough after feeding is raised to its max before it begins to collapse again.
I keep an eye on how much my young sourdough / pre-dough has risen, by putting an elastic band around the glass. Around the time when the sourdough has risen by 50% (to double size), I use it in my bread dough. At this point, it will be active and ready for baking.
SOURDOUGH TEST
If you want to make sure your young sourdough is ready for baking, you can do a sourdough test:
Take warm water (about 30 degrees) in a glass, and carefully add a tablespoon. sourdough into the water. If the sourdough floats on the surface of the water, it is active. If it does not flow, the sourdough typically needs to stand for an hour more before using it in the bread.
TIMING OF SOURDOUGH
How quickly your sourdough rises depends on how much flour and water you feed on. The more sourdough for water and flour, the faster it will rise. You can use this knowledge to plan your sourdough baking. You can feed your sourdough so that it is almost ready when you want to bake.
In this recipe, I specify two different feedings:
Young sourdough ready in 2-4 hours
Young sourdough ready in 8-10 hours
If you want to stir dough together as quickly as possible, you can feed your sourdough with the specified amounts so that it is ready for baking after 2-4 hours.
If, on the other hand, you want to stir the dough together in the morning, you can feed the sourdough with the specified amount of flour and water so that it is ready 8-10 hours later. You can also use this if you stir the dough together in the morning and want the sourdough to be ready for baking when you get home from work.
Once you’ve tried baking with your sourdough a few times, you know approximately how long it will take to rise. The hours I indicate are indicative only because it depends on your sourdough and the conditions (especially the temperature) in your kitchen.
AUTOLYSIS
Already when flour and water are mixed together – before you start kneading – the gluten network begins to develop in your dough. This is called autolysis.
When you use autolysis, you do not need to knead the dough for nearly as long to get a dough with a good gluten net that can make the dough rise well.
Completely impractical, this is done by stirring flour, water and sourdough (some only add the sourdough later) together, and leaving it for 30 minutes to several hours. When you then start working with your dough, you will find that the flour has already absorbed the liquid and the dough quickly becomes pliable.
NOTE: Remember not to add salt during autolysis, as this will prevent the gluten network from developing optimally.
KNEADING OR FOLDING
To develop a good gluten net and incorporate the water into your dough, the dough must either be kneaded on a mixer or folded.
KNEADING ON A MIXER
On a mixer, you can easily knead the dough so that the gluten streaks become long and elastic. However, it is important that you do not knead your dough too much or too little. If the dough is kneaded too little and the gluten network is not well developed, the dough will be difficult to work with and will not be able to rise optimally. However, if you knead the dough too much, the gluten net “bursts” so that the dough can no longer hold on to liquid. The consistency will here be almost like sticky wallpaper paste.
Your dough is kneaded perfectly when it has a smooth, shiny surface and releases the edges of the bowl. If you take something from the dough and stretch it between your fingers, you can pull the dough out into a very thin and transparent “window”. This is called a gluten test and is a sign that the gluten network is well developed.
STRETCH AND FOLD
If you do not have a mixer, you can develop the gluten in your dough by stretching and folding the dough while it rises. This is done by stretching the dough and folding it over itself. That way you work with gluten in the dough and the dough will become more strong and elastic.
There are several different ways to stretch and fold. In the recipe, you can see two different techniques that I alternate between. You can use any of the techniques you prefer.
FERMENTATION
After you have kneaded the dough on a mixer, it must stand and ferment/rise so that the sourdough can do its job. The dough should rise about 20-40%, and this typically happens in 2-4 hours. Therefore, I give 3 hours as an indicative leavening time in my recipe.
If you make stretches and folds on your dough, it takes place while the dough ferments and rises. Here you spend the first 1.5 hours of the rising time on stretches and folds, and then the dough stands and takes care of itself for 1.5 hours. Even as you work with the dough, you will find that it becomes more and more fluffy with each stretch and fold.
PRESHAPE & SHAPE
Once the dough has risen by 20-40%, it is time for it to form. This is called “shape”.To shape, I typically use a dough spatula that makes it easier to push to the dough without it breaking. However, you can also easily use your fingers, as I show in the video in the recipe.
Preshape: First you make a “preshape”, where the dough is turned out on the table and lightly stretched up into a ball. Then the dough must rest for half an hour before making a “shape”. During this rest period, the dough will have a slightly dry surface, so you can work with it more easily. And then it also makes the dough “relax” before we work on it again.
Shape: When you “shape” your bread, you easily pull it out into a rectangle before it folds over itself – almost like folding a t-shirt. We do this so that the dough will rise better with a more even distribution of air holes.
If you do not have a cast-iron pan, you can easily bake your bread without (preferably on a baking sheet). Here, however, you need to add extra steam to the oven, and this is done by pouring boiling water into a frying pan at the bottom of the oven when the bread is inserted. Here you also have to switch off the oven and let it stand for the first 20 minutes. That way, the temperature will not be so high that the crust settles too quickly. After the first 20 minutes, turn on the oven at the full screw, so you get a nice, golden and crispy crust.
STORAGE
Once your sourdough bread is baked, it is best to wait to cut into it until the bread has cooled. I know this well: the wait is long! And I must admit that I also often make a hole in the bread before then. But if you have the time and patience, it will give the bread a better crumb and the bread will stay juicier for longer.
I store my bread baked on sourdough in a paper bag on the kitchen table. Here it stays juicy and delicious for at least 3 days, and if we do not have time to eat it before then, I get leftovers in the freezer.
