artisan sourdough bread

The perfect no knead, rustic sourdough bread for beginners! This recipe will produce a crunchy crust, yummy middle and it does all the work itself in this relatively hands-off sourdough made with no commercial yeast. It&#039;s the perfect starter recipe if you are new to sourdough.

No-Knead Beginner Sourdough

ripe sourdough starter

water (warm

all purpose flour

levain (about 1 cup)

water, room temperature (about 1 3/4 cups)

bread flour

salt (about 2 teaspoons)

To a clear liquid measuring cup add 90 grams of starter, 90 grams of water and 90 grams of flour. Mix together. Cover and let sit at warm room temperature (78-80ºF) for about 3-4 hours until the mixture is bubbly, doubled in size and just about to fall. Once the levain has doubled in size and has reached it&#39;s peak height, it is ready to use.

Mix Levain (ready in 3-4 hours at 78-80ºF)

Mix Dough: Mix 230 grams of ripe levain, room temperature water, flour and salt in a bowl using a wooden spoon or dough whisk (affiliate link). The dough will look “shaggy” (rough, craggy and a little bit lumpy) at first but mix until it forms a ball. Cover the bowl and let rest for 1 hour at 78-80ºF.

Stretch &amp; Fold #1: After an hour, uncover the bowl and do a series of three &quot;stretch and folds&quot;. To do this, pick up the underside of the dough and fold it on top of itself, turning the bowl after each fold and picking up a different section of the dough to fold and turn. An example of this folding technique is found here (halfway through the video). Cover the bowl again and let it rest for another hour, keeping the dough at 78-80ºF.

Stretch &amp; Fold #2: After an hour, uncover the bowl and repeat the series of three stretch and folds. Notice how the dough is coming together. It doesn’t feel shaggy anymore and is becoming more stretchy and cohesive. Cover the bowl again and let rest at a warm temperature 78-80ºF for one hour.

Stretch &amp; Fold #3: Uncover the bowl and repeat the series of three stretch and folds. This is your final set of stretch and folds. Cover the dough and let rest for another hour, keeping the dough warm 78-80ºF.

At this point about 4 hours should have passed from the time you initially mixed the dough. The dough should have risen 30-40%, have some scattered bubbles over the top of the dough, pull away from the sides and start to dome toward the center and feel more elastic. If it doesn&#39;t look that way, let it keep fermenting for another 30 minutes and check again. Check your dough temperature and make sure your dough is in the 78-80ºF range.

Cold Bulk Fermentation: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and put it in the refrigerator to rest overnight. The dough can stay in the refrigerator for 12 to 48 hours. See recipe notes for instructions on baking the same day.

Pre-heat the Oven: The next morning (or whenever you are ready to bake your bread), put a dutch oven into your oven with the lid on and set the oven to 500ºF. Preheat the dutch oven by leaving it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Shaping: Immediately after setting the dutch oven to preheat, pull out a piece of parchment paper. Take your dough out of the fridge. Dump dough on the counter and use your hands to shape the dough into a round ball, gently dragging the dough on the counter as you shape it into a ball. The dough should be fairly easy to work with because it is cold. Use wet hands if the dough is sticky.

Scoring: When your dutch oven has preheated for 30 minutes, score the top of your bread with a bread lame (affiliate link), sharp knife or razor.

Bake the Bread: Take the dutch oven out of the oven. Warning: This is a VERY HOT dutch oven. Keep those oven mitts on and be very careful not to burn yourself. Take the top off the dutch oven and place the dough and parchment paper into the dutch oven. Place the top back on the dutch oven and close the oven door. Immediately decrease the baking temperature to 450 degrees and bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, take the top off the dutch oven and continue baking for 20 more minutes. The internal temperature should be 205ºF when finished baking.

Pull the bread out of the oven. Wait until cool to cut into it. Enjoy!

Thank you. This recipe was perfect for me as a beginner. One more question, would doubling the recipe work? Would I be able to go through the stretch and folds and bulk fermenting and then just split the dough at the end before baking?

I was given a proofing basket. Should I use it for during the cold bulk fermentation? Or is it not necessary? Thanks!

This is the the only recipe I use! My bread comes out perfect every time! Thank you for sharing this and all of your recipes!

Hi Amy! I've tried a few sourdough starter recipes, but I have found yours to be the most helpful! One quick question - my dough, when I turned it out onto the parchment this morning, stuck! I pulled it off, floured a new parchment sheet, and put the formed ball on there and it STILL stuck to the parchment in the oven! What am I doing wrong??

Classic sourdough artisan bread is everything you love about sourdough—crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and perfect for sandwiches. It stays fresh for days and toasts beautifully. Master the art of sourdough with this tried-and-true recipe!

Classic Sourdough Bread

sourdough starter (ripe

bread flour (scant 3/4 cup)

water (about 7 Tablespoons)

levain (ripe and active, about 3/4 cup)

water

bread flour (about 6.5 cups)

whole wheat flour (about 3/4 cup)

salt (about 1 Tablespoon)

Mix together ripe sourdough starter, bread flour and water. Set aside to ripen for 10-12 hours.Note: Ripe, bubbly, active sourdough starter can be substituted for levain in this recipe if desired.

Day 1: Evening, Mix Levain (1:10:10, overnight 10-12 hours at 78ºF)

Fermentolyse: Once the levain is peaked and active (bubbly, doubled in size, milky sweet smell), mix 200 grams levain with 700 grams of water in a large bowl. Warm the water if the ingredients are too cold and cool the water if ingredients are too warm. Add 900 grams bread flour and 100 grams whole wheat flour to the bowl and mix until incorporated and a shaggy dough forms. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.

Mixing: After 30 minutes, add the reserved salt and 50 grams of water. Combine using your hands by squeezing the dough between your fingers, pinching chunks of dough and reincorporating together. The dough will break apart and then reform in the bowl through this process. Pick up one side of the dough and fold it over on itself. The dough will be sticky. Wet your hands as needed and continue to work with the dough until all the salt and water has been incorporated. Take the dough and continue working with it by slapping it against the side of the bowl and quickly pulling it back. This vigorous mixing helps strengthen the gluten strands quickly in the dough and will result in a stronger loaf with more oven spring. After about 3-5 minutes of mixing, the dough will feel more cohesive and strong. Place the dough back in the bowl or transfer to a clear plastic container or a glass bowl if desired. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.

Bulk Fermentation: Perform 3-4 sets of &quot;stretch and folds.&quot;To “stretch and fold,” wet your hand (so it doesn’t stick to the dough). Reach down to the bottom of the bowl of dough and pull the dough up and over the top of the dough. Turn the bowl 1/4 turn and repeat the stretch and fold. Turn another quarter turn and repeat. Perform one more 1/4 turn with stretching and folding the dough. Cover and set aside.Repeat the series of stretch and folds every 30 minutes over the course of two hours. Watch the process here.

Finish Bulk Fermentation: Let the dough rest in a warm place, for the rest of bulk fermentation, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours at 78ºF. During this time the dough will puff up about 30-40%, become more aerated, start to pull away from the edges of the bowl, and have a few scattered bubbles around the edges/top of the dough. If your dough is not showing these signs, make sure it&#39;s warm enough and give it another half an hour or so until it is showing those signs that it&#39;s ready to shape.

Divide: Tip the bowl upside down, allowing the dough to fall onto a clean counter surface. Be gentle to avoid cutting and degassing the dough as much as possible. Use a bench knife to cut the dough into two equal portions.

Pre-Shape: Wet your hands and the bench knife. Push the bench knife under the dough while using your free hand to tuck the dough under itself. Repeat this process going around in a circle until you have a tight ball of dough. Repeat with the second loaf.

Bench Rest: Let the dough rest uncovered for about 30 minutes at room temperature. The dough will flatten a bit during this period of time.

Prepare the bowls: Prepare two bannetons or small bowls. Place a kitchen towel or hair net in each bowl bowl. Liberally flour each bowl.

Shaping: After the dough has rested for about 30 minutes it is time to shape the bread into a round. Sprinkle flour on top of the dough. Using the bench knife, lift the dough up off the counter and place it on top of the countertop–floured side down. This ensures that the flour is staying mainly on the outside of the dough. Going around in a circle, pull the dough sideways towards you and then fold up to the top of the round. Move 90 degrees and repeat the same process pulling the dough sideways and then folding up to the top. As you continue this process around the dough, increase the tension as you pull. Gather the bread into a circle and use a bench knife to lift the bread and place into your lined bowl. Watch the process here.

Stitch the Dough: Let the dough rest and the gluten relax for about 5 minutes before stitching up the dough if desired. This adds a last little bit of tension, but is completely optional.

Cold Fermentation: Cover the dough with a shower cap, plastic wrap or a reusable cover and store the dough in the refrigerator overnight or for up to 12-24 hours. Alternatively you can let your dough rise outside the fridge for another 2-3 hours, keeping the dough at that 78º F temperature, and then bake your loaves the same day.

Day 2: Mix Dough/Bulk Fermentation/Shape/Cold Bulk Fermentation (78ºF)

Pre-heat the Oven: Put a dutch oven (top and all) into the oven and preheat to 500ºF for 30 minutes.

Prepare Dough: Once preheated, pull your first loaf out of the refrigerator. Remove the cover (this is easy to do straight out of the refrigerator if the dough is chilled–not easy if the dough warms up) and place a piece of parchment paper on top of the bread dough. Flip the dough over so that the dough is now sitting on the parchment paper. Take off the bowl/banneton and kitchen towel.

Scoring: Smooth the flour over the top of the dough (add a little extra for more contrast if desired). Use a very sharp knife or bread lame to score the dough. I use my bread lame to make any small decorative scores first that are just 1/4-inch deep. Then make one or two larger/longer slashes that go across the dough about 1-inch deep. Watch the process here.

Bake: Carefully remove the dutch oven from the 500ºF oven with hot pads. Take the top off and place your bread into the dutch oven (including parchment paper–this helps with the transfer). Be very careful not to touch the sides of the dutch oven. Put your hot pads back on before you pick up the lid of the dutch oven and place it on top of the bread. Put the whole dutch oven back into your oven. Lower the temperature to 450ºF and bake for 25 minutes. Once 25 minutes are up, take the top off the dutch oven and continue baking for 20 minutes until the bread is a crackly deep brown. The loaf should register between 205-210℉ when it&#39;s finished baking.

Remove the baked loaf from the Dutch oven and pre-heat the dutch oven again for 15-20 minutes. Score the second loaf and bake according to the same directions. Let cool and enjoy!

Day 3: Score and Bake

I love your explanations and how beautiful my loaf turned out

I was ambitious and tried this recipe for my first ever sourdough bread. The clear instructions, with all the photos and the other resources for timing the levain has been perfect. I was able to work around my schedule and make 2 gorgeous (and delicious) loaves of bread.  I can't thank you enough!

Absolutely loved this recipe and that it made two loaves. It's perfect texture and crisp crust is my all time favorite.  I am having successfull recipes since watching your online videos. No matter what issues I have, you're always there to answer my questions in the community. That's what I call a 5 🌟 Baker.  Thank you!

This was my first try using a levain. The techniques are well described and easy to follow. I’ve baked this twice now, and both resulted in perfect, delicious loaves. This is my go to sourdough recipe now.

This is Tartine Bakery’s exact recipe for their “Country Bread”.

Thus far this has been the best looking dough I have created might be jinxing myself by posting this. Curious at what stage you add in the additional flavors?

I started sourdough in 2015 with my mother in law…when she passed in 2018, I stopped. I recently started again and sadly lost her recipe…but finding yours has made my year. It’s even better than hers, and I’m loving it, as are my customers. Thank you for sharing 🫶🏻

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No-Knead Beginner Sourdough

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Top 2 artisan sourdough bread recipes from across the web

The most viewed artisan sourdough bread recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

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No-Knead Beginner Sourdough

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The most viewed artisan sourdough bread recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine