Homemade Artisan Sourdough Loaf

Is there anything better than a slice of warm, fresh from the oven, bread smothered in grass-fed butter? My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Keeping a constant rotation of sourdough is surprisingly easy, and it’s a perfect side or base for any recipe, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I was in a pinch the other day, come dinner time, so I used some slices of sourdough to make mini pizzas. It was phenomenal! I used a garlic and herb gouda from a local dairy, Circle N Dairy, and that was just the perfect combination! Definitely a go-to, quick and easy meal for those extra busy days! 

Although it does take some planning ahead to get your delicious sourdough bread on the table, it really isn’t very time consuming if you look at the time spent working with the dough. Most of the “magic” happens in the fermentation process, and that is completely hands off!

It takes me about 15 minutes to mix together 6 loaves of dough. Maybe a total of 10 minutes to stretch and fold each dough two times, 15 minutes to shape the dough and get them in their Banneton basket and then it just sits in the fridge until I’m ready to bake! That’s 40 minutes of hands on time, but that gives me 6 loaves. Also, scoring is like a beautiful reward for all your “hard” work at the end. I absolutely adore creating those beautiful designs and seeing how they turn out once baked, it’s so fun!

Although baking sourdough bread is a process, it is 100% worth it in my opinion! Say your bread goes stale because nobody ate it, which I highly doubt will ever happen… a loaf is gone in a day or two in my household, but IF that happens, you can make breadcrumbs or crotons. Gotta make the most out of your delicious boules and your effort, no waste!

How to Bake Sourdough Breadhttps://youtu.be/thQfJ4fD2q4?si=9MblScYZOCoK3nhzStep by stepson how to bake a Sourdough Artisan Loaf.2023-08

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Homemade Artisan Sourdough Loaf

Yield: 1 Loaf

Author: Kaylin Flowers

Prep time: 1 HourCook time: 45 MinInactive time: 72 HourTotal time: 73 H & 45 M

A simple and delicious Artisan Sourdough Loaf.

Ingredients

• 200 grams Active Sourdough Starter
• 415 grams Water
• 20 grams Himalayan Pink Salt
• 635 grams Organic Unbleached All-purpose Flour

Equipment:

• Digital Scale
• Large Mixing Bowl
• Wooden Spoon
• Fed & Active Sourdough Starter
• Dutch Oven or Baking Stone
• Tea Towel or Plastic Wrap
• Plastic Bag
• Banneton Basket
• Parchment paper
• Bread Lame

Instructions

1. Add 200g active starter to a mixing bowl.
2. Next add 415g water, and 20g salt to the starter and stir with a wooden spoon or danish dough whisk.
3. Then, add 635g of unbleached all-purpose flour to the mixing bowl and combine.
4. Cover with plastic wrap or a wet tea towel and let the dough sit for 30 minutes.
5. After 30 minutes has passed, stretch and fold the dough at least 4 times, no more than 10. Then, cover the dough back up and wait 30 more minutes.
6. After the 2nd 30 minute wait, uncover the dough, and complete your second set of stretch and folds. For the best results, you must complete at least 2 sets of stretch and folds, and at most 4.
7. After the last stretch and fold, cover the dough with cling wrap and let it bulk ferment on the counter at room temperature for 8-10 hours before completing the next step.
8. After 8-10 hours have passed, flour your surface, place dough on the counter, and gently stretch the dough across the surface in a rectangle, being careful to not cause any holes to form by stretching the dough too thin.
9. Once you have a nice rectangle, it is time to fold the dough onto itself. First, fold the left side and right side in to meet I the middle. Next, fold the top and bottom to meet in the middle. At this point, you now have a folded up square. Roll the dough towards you, seam side down and begin to shape.
10. To shape your dough, cup your hands and gently guide the dough to form a taut ball of dough. When shaping, keep your pinky firmly on the counter top and you motion to push away and pull the dough towards you. This motion creates nice tension within your dough.
11. After shaping, place your dough into a banneton basket, then put that into a plastic bag, making an effort to remove excess air from the bag without squishing your dough. Once you have ties a knot in your plastic bag, it is time to store the dough in the fridge to cold ferment for at least 2 hours, but up to 3 days.
12. When you’re ready to bake, preheat your dutch oven (lid-on) to 475 degrees for 20-45 minutes. Next, place your bread on parchment paper, or a silicone bread sling, flour the top, and score your dough using a bread lame.
13. Then, take out your dutch oven, sprinkle corn meal, rice, or oatmeal on the bottom to ensure the bottom of your loaf does not burn, and then place your parchment paper that has the dough on it into the dutch oven. Cover and bake for 25 minutes at 475 degrees.
14. After 25 minutes, take the lid off of the dutch oven, and lower the heat of the oven to 450 degrees for (17-20) more minutes, or until your loaf has a nice golden brown exterior.
15. Once its golden on top, take it out, place it on a cooling rack for at least 1 hour to complete the internal baking process, and then slice, add butter, and enjoy!

Notes

• Organic Unbleached All-purpose flour is the only flour I use to feed my sourdough starter to keep a thriving starter. I have also only used this flour in this recipe, I do not have any experience using a Whole Wheat flour. I would imagine the ratios would need to be adjusted. I recommend using the unbleached all-purpose only.
• I have seen bakers do an open-bake for their sourdough loaves, however I have only baked using my dutch ovens. It comes out beautifully every time.
• Preheating the oven with the dutch oven inside for at least 20 minutes is crucial to ensure your dutch oven is warm enough to fully bake the sourdough boule.

Recommended Products

Lodge 6 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven with Lid

Sourdough Baking Gift Set

Danish Dough Whisk

Silicone Bread Sling

Bread Lame

3-Piece Wooden Spoon Set

Digital Kitchen Scale

4-Quart Glass Mixing Bowl

Weck Tulip Jar 1 Liter Jars