Sourdough Bread

Moist, chewy, but airy delicious bread, with just a hint of sour! Hard to believe anything this good can come from just flour, water, salt (and bacteria!)

No-Knead Sourdough Bread

4 cups flour, plus more for dusting

1 3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 c. ripe sourdough starter
1 1/3 c. room-temp water

In a medium bowl, whisk flour and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk sourdough starter and water until no bits of starter remain. 

1. Add the flour mixture to the starter mixture and stir (a wooden spoon is helpful here) until it just comes together. You don’t want to see major dry spots, but don’t worry about getting everything perfectly combined; it’s okay for it to look shaggy and not smooth.
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a reusable bowl cover and let it sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
3. After 1 hour, uncover the bowl and fold the dough over onto itself a few times. The best way to do this is to grab the dough with your hand (or use a dough scraper), starting at the top of the bowl furthest from you, and pull it over onto itself toward the bottom of the bowl closest to you. Turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat, doing 4 folds in total.
4. Cover the bowl again and let it rest at room temperature overnight (aim for 8 to 10 hours).
5. After this rise, scoop the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Using your hand or a dough scraper, repeat the four-time folding motion, shaping the dough into a ball as you go, leaving it seam-side down. Cover the dough lightly with a flour-dusted tea towel and let it sit for 1½ hours, or until puffy and almost doubled in size. (It’s nice to let the shaped dough rise on a piece of parchment paper or another floured towel, as this will make it easier to move into the pot.)
6. Just before the end of the rising time, heat the oven to 450°F. Once risen, carefully transfer the dough to a Dutch oven or other heavy pot; arrange seam side up.
7. Using a very sharp knife or bread lame, slash the top of the loaf once, making a ½-inch cut down the center. (Feel free to get fancier if you like!)
8. Cover the pot with the lid and bake the bread for 20 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, until the crust is a deep golden brown all over. If you have a digital thermometer, the internal temperature of the loaf should register 210°F. Remove from the oven and flip out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

King Arthur Flour Sourdough Bread
1 c. “fed” sourdough starter
1 ½ c. lukewarm water
5 c. King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp sugar
2 ½ tsp salt

Combine the starter, water, and 3 cups of the flour.  Beat vigorously for 1 minute.  Cover and let rest at room temperature for 4 hours.  Refrigerate overnight for about 12 hours.  Add the remaining ingredients: 2 cups of flour, sugar, salt.  Knead to form a smooth dough.

Allow the dough to rise in a covered bowl until it’s relaxed, smoothed out, and risen.  Depending on the vigor of your starter, it may become really puffy, or may just rise a bit.  This can take anywhere from 2-5 hours.  Understand that sourdough bread is as much art as science.  Everyone’s timetable will be different.  Allow yourself to go with the flow, and not treat this as an exact process.

 

Gently divide the dough in half.  Gently shape the dough into two oval loaves, and place them on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Cover lightly with greased plastic and let rise until very puffy, about 2-4 hours.  Don’t worry if the loaves spread more than they rise;  they’ll pick up once they hit the heat.  Preheat oven to 425.

 

Spray loaves with lukewarm water.  Make two fairly deep diagonal slashes in each with a serrated knife.  Bake bread for 25-30 minutes until it’s deep golden brown.  Remove and cool on a rack.