No-Knead Sourdough Bread

Wow, what a process, and quite a rewarding one. As mentioned in the post for Martin's Bagels, our neighbors up the street kindly gave me my very own starter which led to this post: my first sourdough loaves.

First and foremost - a big heads up - this recipe requires good timing; make sure to start the preparation the night before you want the fresh loaf to come out of the oven. Other than that, there is a schedule to follow according to the recipe that I used, but no worries if you aren't perfect. The nice thing about this recipe is that the specific times are laid out if you want, but you can make the hours work to your own schedule, for example starting in the morning and finishing at night. I was off by a number of hours on some steps and mine still came out okay. Definitely room for improvement, but for my first ones, I am calling it a success.

Next big thing - good starter. I am still getting the hang of taking care of my starter and timing using it. On my second try with this recipe, I remembered to feed the starter that morning, but my first time around, I didn't realize that I would have to feed the starter the morning before, so I just skipped ahead to the next step. Luckily, I keep it in the fridge, so it was okay to use it not having fed it recently, but I didn't know if it had peaked yet or not... My guess is that my insufficient knowledge of sourdough starter is one of the reasons that the fullness of the sourdough taste did not come through as well.

After doing some research, I now know that one of the ways to test to see if your sourdough is ready is to see if a spoonful of it floats in water. Your starter is hungry when you can can tell that it peaked, and then deflated again, which you can see from "slide" marks on your jar. Making sourdough bread is not a quick afternoon activity, it takes planning to make sure your starter is ready, and to account for rising time. The more work that goes into it though, the more satisfying the result is! Smelling the bread as it came out of the oven was my favorite part, and waiting for it to cool was probably my least favorite!

The first time I made sourdough bread using this recipe, I went plain and simple with the scoring, and it came out great, but I wanted to try something new with the second one. I found a cool leaf pattern on the internet, and tried it out, but unfortunately my cuts were not deep enough and it I could barely tell there was anything there when I took the loaf out of the oven for the first time to take the lid off. So, I made two big slashes mid bake so that at least something would show up. It is always good to have areas to improve on!

Make sure to check out the full recipe with links to video tutorials here.

Loaf #1: Loaf #2:

As you can see, the lighting is quite different in the first picture compared to the second. This is because the first one was taken at night so I had to turn on the kitchen lights instead of being able to use natural light. I much prefer the natural light, and I am working on creating a setup with artificial natural light so that I can take good pictures at night.

Ingredients ~

4 cups organic white bread flour, spooned and leveled (520 grams total flour) -please don’t include the weight of the bowl! I Highly Recommend weighing for the first few loaves. (See notes for adding other types of flour.)

2 teaspoons fine sea salt (12 grams)

1 7/8 cups filtered water (385 grams)

1/3 cup sourdough starter (90 grams) fed 8-10 hours earlier, using it slightly after peaking (or use an unfed starter, 3–6 days after feeding if refrigerated- for a more “sour” taste- see notes.)

Instructions ~

1. 8 am. Twelve hours before mixing your dough, feed your sourdough starter, leaving it out on the counter making sure it doubles in size within 6-8 hours. OR, if you keep your starter in the fridge and fed it in the last 7 days- it is OK to use it straight from jar, cold, without feeding. Best to use starter after it peaks, when it is “hungry”.

2. 8:00 pm PLEASE use a kitchen scale if this is your first loaf. Weigh the flour in a medium bowl (***zeroing out the weight of the bowl). Then add salt, spices, seeds. Mix starter and water in a small bowl until cloudy and well mixed. Pour the starter-water into flour incorporating all the flour using a fork or wood spoon. It should be a thick, shaggy, heavy, sticky dough. See video. Mix for about 1-2 minutes using the wood spoon– it will be hard to mix. Don’t worry about tidy dough here, just get the flour all mixed in and cover with a wet kitchen towel and let rest 15 minutes. It will loosen up as it rests. (Alternatively, mix starter and water in the bowl first, then add the salt and flour-like in my 3rd video- either way works.)

3. 8:20 pm: Do the first set of stretch and folds. (See the 1st video in post) With one wet hand (put a bowl of water next to you) pull the dough from one side and stretch it upward, then fold it up and over to the center of the dough. Quarter turn the bowl and repeat, stretching up and folding up over the middle, repeat for about 30 seconds or until the dough gets firm and resists. This helps strengthen the gluten. Cover, rest, and repeat the process 15 minutes later. With wet fingers, stretch up and fold over, turning, repeating, for 30 seconds until the dough gets firm and resists. Then turn the dough over in the bowl. Yes, you could do this a couple more times if you would like to build the gluten, but not imperative.

4. 8:35 pm Proof overnight, at room temp. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, wax wrap or a damp kitchen towel (to keep the moisture in) and place it on your kitchen counter for 8-12 hours. (see notes on temperature) 68-70F is the ideal temp. (If it is warmer, check at 6-8 hours. If it is very cold, it may take up to 18 hours in winter.)

5. 6-8 AM Check the dough in the morning. The dough should have expanded, with a slight springy dome to the top. It won’t necessarily double in size ( maybe 1.5 -1.75 times bigger) but will have expanded. Do the POKE TEST: With a floured finger, poke into the dough. If it indents easily, and mostly springs back to original shape, it has probably risen enough. If it feels firm or very hard to indent, let it rise longer. If it feels loose, runny, or indents too easily or doesn’t spring back, it is most likely over-proofed (bake it anyways).

6. Line a high-sided bowl with parchment. This brand of parchment does not stick to the bread- but if you are unsure about yours, spray oil your parchment lightly before putting the dough in it. (If you are a seasoned bread baker, you do not actually need parchment -this is only for easier transport only, bread will not stick to the inside of a dutch oven.) I like using a high-sided medium-sized bowl versus a flat or shallow bowl to help shore up the sides. You can also use a rice-floured Banneton (bread proofing basket) if you have one.

7. 2nd Set of STRETCH and SHAPE : (Watch 2nd video -Stretch and Shape video). Loosen the dough from the all edges of a bowl with using your wet fingers, a wet spatula or wet plastic dough scraper, sliding down the sides of the bowl. With both wet hands, carefully pull the dough straight up, in the middle and lift it, stretching straight up in the air- about 1-2 feet (see photo) and place it back down, gently folding it on top of itself. This first stretch, the dough may feel quite loose and runny. This is OK. It should firm up as it stretches and folds. (Note: If your dough breaks here, it is probably over-proofed, bake it anyways. If your dough won’t stretch like the photo and feels too tight or firm, it needs to proof longer). After the first stretch, give the bowl a quarter turn, wait 30-60 seconds, wet your hands again and stretch it up high again, folding over itself in the bowl. Wait 30-60 seconds. (You could repeat this one more time, 15 minutes later). Then, the third time you lift and stretch, you will lift it all the way into your parchment-lined bowl, folding over itself like you’ve been doing. (Alternatively, lift it into your floured proofing basket seam side up. ( If seam up, pinch the seam closed). Sprinkle top with seeds and flour (get the sides too) gently rubbing it to even coat –and add seeds if you like. If using a banneton, sprinkle the seeds in the banneton before adding the dough.

8. FINAL RISE and PREHEAT OVEN: Place the bowl in the refrigerator for one hour uncovered which will firm up the bread, and make scoring easier and help boost “oven spring”. It won’t rise in the fridge. (You could also keep it in the fridge for 3-4 hours if you want to bake later.) Preheat the oven (for 1 FULL hour) to 500F with your dutch oven inside and lid on (see notes). If you have convection- use it. You can also bake the bread at 45oF or 475F. You want your oven as hot so don’t skimp on the preheat. I usually preheat for 1 full hour.

9. SCORE & BAKE When ready to bake, place dough by the stove. Pull out the dutch oven, close the oven, remove lid. Score the bread in the bowl, using a very sharp knife, lame, or razor blade, score the dough swiftly and deeply, at a 45-degree angle, 3/4- 1-inch deep. One deep slash is just fine. Or criss-cross, or crescent shape. (Or feel free to add other designs, for ideas -google “scoring bread”). Oiling the knife helps as well as using a lame. You want to score where you want the dough to puff out from. You can also cut with kitchen scissors. Carefully lift the parchment by the corners and place both bread and parchment directly into the dutch oven. Cover quickly. It is OK if parchment peaks out. You want to score and transfer as quickly as possible. (Alternately, if using a proofing basket, cover the basket with parchment, carefully flip the dough into the parchment in the palm of your hand and then center the parchment and dough into your dutch oven, then score).

10. BAKE. Place in the middle of the oven for 20 mins with convection on, 25 minutes w/no convection (or 28 minutes at 450F). Remove lid and it should be puffed and just lightly golden. Lower heat to 450 F, Continue baking 10-15 minutes until deeply golden and internal temp reaches 202- 208F. No pale loaves please, let them get golden! (For a less “crusty” loaf, increase covered baking time, lower uncovered baking time. You can play with this for desired results.)

11. COOL: It will smell heavenly. Remove from the dutch oven, let it cool 1 hour on a rack or tilted up on its side, before slicing so you don’t let the steam out and don’t smash it- be patient. This is the hardest part. Take a picture! Feel proud. You did it!

12. SERVE: This type of bread is always BEST, served toasted! Then lather it with butter, ghee or olive oil. Add mashed avocado and salted tomatoes, almond butter, honey or jam. A piece of toast can turn into great meal. See this Mushroom Toast!

13. STORE: Store the bread wrapped in a kitchen towel for the first day or two to keep the crust nice and crispy, then move it to a zip lock bag to keep it moist for longer. Bread can also be sliced and frozen. Make sourdough croutons with leftover bread- great in salads and soups!

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Recipe From: Feasting At Home