I love a good sourdough. I’ve always loved sourdough. My first job was in a bakery café and we sold fresh handmade sourdough every day, it was GORGEOUS. I simply had to learn to make my own, and in my mind the quintessential sourdough is the basic sourdough boule loaf. So here’s the recipe I’ve come to rely on for a delicious result.
If you don’t have a sourdough starter you can make your own (it takes a few days) or you can buy one to kick you off. I typically feed my starter the night before, then it’s bubbly and active to start this recipe by the next day.
Ingredients
- 100g active sourdough starter
- 375g warm water
- 500g high grade flour
- 10g salt
How to Make Sourdough
1. Mix 100g active starter with 375g warm water, then add 500g high grade flour and 10g salt.
2. Hand mix to a rough ball of dough and then cover with a damp tea towel and leave for half an hour.
3. Wet your hands, reach down the side of dough ball and grab to stretch out the dough and pull it across the top of itself (the “stretch and fold”). Repeat 4-5 times rotating each time, to do this all the way around the ball then leave for another half hour.
4. Repeat the stretch and fold sequence 4 times over 2 hours (or longer) then leave for 1 hour before moving into the fridge overnight (12-15 hrs).
5. Wake up and make yourself a coffee
6. Take dough out and place onto floured surface. Again wet hands help to scoop it out gently without losing all the precious air bubbles. Stretch and fold and then rest another 30 min.
7. Prep a mixing bowl with a flour dusted tea towel lining it, then stretch and fold one more time and place ball into bowl for 30 min, before moving to fridge for 2 hours.
8. Preheat dutch oven (heavy lidded pot) at 290’C
9. Tip bread from bowl onto baking paper, so the bottom becomes the top. Score with a knife and then lift into dutch oven, place lid on, in oven. Reduce temp to 230′
10. Bake for 30min, remove lid and drop temp to 200′ for another 15min until looks delicious.
11. Lift out of pot and cool on wire rack for 1 hour to set the bread and make it easy to slice.
12. Enjoy!
If you like this, than why not also try our Sourdough Pita or Sourdough Foccacia recipes!