top of page

Open 2nd - Basic Sourdough Recipe

Updated: Jan 19, 2024

Basic sourdough bread:


ingredients

1 cup "fed" sourdough starter 1 1/2 cups to 1 2/3 cups lukewarm water, enough to make a smooth dough 5 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1 tablespoon sugar 2 1/4 teaspoons salt

1) Combine the starter, water, and 3 cups of the flour. Beat vigorously for 1 minute.

2) Cover, and let rest at room temperature for 4 hours. Then refrigerate overnight, for about 12 hours.


3) Add the remaining ingredients: 2 cups of flour, sugar, salt/ Knead to form a smooth and shiney dough ball.

4) 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 it may just rise a bit. This can take anywhere from 2 to 5 hours. Understand this: sourdough bread (especially sourdough without added yeast) is as much art as science; everyone's timetable will be different. So please allow yourself to go with the flow, and not treat this as an exact, to-the-minute process.

5) Gently divide the dough in half.

6) Gently shape the dough into two oval loaves, and place them on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet (I prefer to use polenta instead of any grease). Cover and let rise until very puffy, about 2 to 4 hours. Don't worry if the loaves spread more than they rise; they'll pick up once they hit the oven's heat. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 425°F.

7) Spray the loaves with lukewarm water.

8) Make two fairly deep horizontal slashes in each; a serrated bread knife, wielded firmly, works well here.

9) Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it's a very deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack.


What makes the sour in sourdough bread? It's a combination of lactic and acetic acids, created as the dough rises and ferments. Refrigerating the dough encourages the production of more acetic than lactic acid; and acetic acid is much the tangier of the two. Thus, sourdough that's refrigerated before baking will have a more assertive sour flavor.

3 Comments


Unknown member
Feb 04

I wish this was in normal units instead of "cups" (whatever that is). Grams are the only way to measure ingredients for baking accurately

Like
Unknown member
Apr 26
Replying to

In Europe we try to be more precise in order to make adjustments, if necessary, or repeat when happy with the results, by using digital scales when measuring. This is particularly helpful for new newbies.


Like

Melody
Melody
Jan 23

I forgot to work with my dough that I had took 1 cup of starter out and added water and flour too. It has been in my refrigerator all day. What do I do?

Like
bottom of page