Sourdough Bread for Beginners

Prepare the dough at night, bake it in the morning.

The rise happens while you’re sleeping.

“The beauty of sourdough bread is that no two loaves are ever exactly the same.”

Light and airy with a dark, crispy crust, a crumb with a creamy texture and a superb mouthfeel – this simple, overnight sourdough bread recipe might be the only one you’ll ever need.

Whether you have an established sourdough starter – or a new, younger one – this is an easy and simple sourdough bread recipe, especially helpful if you’re a beginner.  We’re not using starter when it’s active and at its peak.  Instead, we’re going to use a very hungry starter – one that was last fed 12 hours earlier.

There are no days spent waiting and shaping.  All the shaping happens right in the bowl.  Two sets of stretch and folds in the evening, then while you sleep – the bulk fermentation (rise) happens.  In the morning, you’ll perform two sets of folds, again all inside the bowl.  The dough will rest in the refrigerator while the Dutch oven heats up to a scorching level, and then you’re ready to bake.  That’s it.

Sourdough Starter

First things first, you’ll need an established and strong sourdough starter.  Even if its’s a new one – so long as you’ve been feeding it and it’s been tripling – yes, tripling, at least – I’m in the camp that once you’ve reached that point, and it’s been consistent, go make yourself some bread.

As an aside, I was struggling for a long time to get my sourdough starter going – it took me a little over two months.  So don’t be discouraged if you’re reading this and still struggling with your starter.  You’ll come across a lot of resources that will say it should only take 7-14 days.  That’s probably true, most of the time – but, not always.  It can take months, even if that is the exception.  It will depend on so many factors: the environment, the temperature, the ratio.  So, don’t give up – and don’t start over (unless you see signs of mold), just keep discarding and feeding, you’ll get there.

I was feeding our starter an equal ratio of 1:1:1 (starter, organic flour, filtered water) like everything I read said to do.  It would volumize, there would be some bubbles, but it never doubled.  I bought a heat wrap (since I started this in autumn and our counters are cold) and made sure the jar had a small towel underneath to keep the bottom warm.  Still, nothing.  Then I read somewhere to double the flour and “almost double” the water – and that’s what worked for me.

With a 1:2:1.3 ratio our starter not only doubled, it’s been consistently quadrupling.  No idea why our starter responded to that and nothing else, but I’ve stuck with it.  In traditional form, we’ve named our starter.  She’s Sara Dough – because… it sounds like sourdough… :).  But we just call her Sara.

In any event, while I was waiting for something, anything, to happen with my starter, I began to research beginner sourdough recipes.  I wanted something I could easily incorporate into our busy school and sports schedule.  Sylvia, from at Feasting at Home, had a wonderful beginner’s recipe.  That’s where I started, but I’ve made some adjustments along the way.

I’m sharing the version that has worked best for me, with you.

The Rise

You’ll have to see what works best in your environment.  There are no rules here, rather a method based on judgment, technique, experience, and your personal environment.

As a collector of old, historical cookbooks, I began to thumb through the pages to see if there were any tips for heirloom breadmaking that could help me now.  Remember, the task of making wild yeast and homemade bread was the only way bread was made for thousands of years.  Here’s an excerpt to remind you that this journey, no matter the era, is unique and personal:

“It is more difficult to give rules for breadmaking than for anything else; it depends so much on judgment and experience.  In summer, bread should be mixed with cold water; during a chilly, damp spell, the water should be slightly warm; in severe cold weather, it should be mixed quite warm, and set in a warm place during the night.  If your yeast is new and lively, a small quantity will make the bread rise; if it is old and heavy, it will take more.  In these things I believe wisdom must be gained by a few mistakes.” The American Frugal Housewife, 1833

What works for me is to feed my starter in the morning, let it rise and fall, and about 12 hours later, when it is time for another feeding, I prepare the dough for our daily bread.  The bulk fermentation happens overnight in my turned-off oven with the ambient light on, as my kitchen and counters can be quite cold during the night.  Through trial and error, I’ve found that an 8-9 hour rise is when my dough is ready.

By the time 7:00 a.m. rolls around, I begin my morning folds.  I take my children to school, and come back to bake it.  We’ve had fresh homemade sourdough bread everyday now for months.  Even on busy sports days, when we need to leave the house by 9:00 a.m., our bread is done and cooling on the counter until we come home.  While there’s recipes for lamination, and days worth of shaping and waiting, you won’t find that with this easy and simple recipe.  My family looks forward to this loaf everyday.  My daughter’s friends ask me for it – telling me that it’s the best bread they’ve ever had in their life.  So it’s safe to say that my heart is full – and this recipe is easy – that’s enough for me to be quite content.

The Crumb

You’ll certainly get a gorgeous crumb, with different sized air bubbles, some big and interesting, some not so much.  You will not get the kind of open crumb that will make all the contents of your sandwich fall out.  I love an open crumb, too – I know it’s the holy grail for a lot of sourdough bread bakers, but there’s a time and place for everything.  A widely open crumb is perfect for serving alongside soup, or with charcuterie.  It’s not an everyday bread for most families with children and teens.  My children love butter and chocolate on their bread after school (a French thing), or cheese and chocolate (an Italian thing) depending on the day, and they want the contents of what’s on their bread to stay there.

Technique Videos

#1 – The Night Before you Bake:  Stretch & Fold

• After the dough comes together in a cohesive, shaggy mass, you will let it rest for 15 minutes covered with a damp towel.
• Then, with a bowl of water nearby and a clean, wet hand, you will perform a set of stretch and folds until the dough begins to resist.  Wetting your hand as needed.
• Cover the bowl again with a damp towel and rest for 15 minutes.
• You’ll perform one more set of stretch and folds the exact same way, flipping it over in the bowl once it begins to resist.
• Cover with a damp towel and keep somewhere warm.  If you have a warm kitchen, the counter will do.  Otherwise, place the bowl in a turned-off oven with the ambient light on.

Below is a video to demonstrate the night before you bake stretch and fold.

#2 – The Morning of the Bake: Fold-overs (a varied coil fold)

In the morning, after you’ve uncovered the dough and checked to see if it almost doubled in size, has bubbles on the surface, and perform a poke test (gently poke a slightly wet finger into the surface to see if the indent gently springs back) – you will perform two sets of loose folds, sort of like a coil fold, but keeping the dough loose and airy, trying not to make it tight.

• Keeping a bowl of water nearby to wet your clean hands, you will gently loosen the dough from the perimeter of the bowl.
• With wet hands, you will reach under the belly of the dough and pull it straight up, folding it over onto itself.  Do this about 2-3 more times before rotating the bowl to fold the other end under once.
• Quarter turn the bowl to gently fold twice in the other direction.  Cover the bowl with a damp towel for 15 minutes.
• Perform another set of folds the same way, except when you quarter turn the bowl you will fold and lift the dough out and into the prepared banneton or parchment-lined bowl.

NOTE:  Keep a bowl of water nearby to wet your hands as needed.  These folds are simply techniques to help strengthen the gluten network, which is important.  But, you do not have to be exact or precise – you also need to take into account your specific dough, does it feel quite loose and would benefit from an additional fold?  Is it tight and two sets are sufficient?  You need to use your judgment.

Below is a video to demonstrate the morning bake foldovers.

Join the Conversation!

If you’ve made this recipe, let me know!  Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you.  Don’t forget to tag a photo @chasingtheseasons on Instagram, I’d love to see.

“There’s no aroma in the world quite like the smell of a fresh sourdough loaf baking in the oven.”

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