Last Updated on January 29, 2021
Lessons from a Sourdough Bread Novice.
These days, it seems, everyone is making sourdough bread. Want to join in the fun? It’s addictive, but you need time and patience if you are starting from scratch. That said, once you have got the hang of things, it’s a cheap and easy way to provide your daily bread and more. If you want to take a break, it’s easy…and if you want to make something a little bit different, your sourdough starter will work for a whole range of healthy bakes. So why not have a go at making your own sourdough bread from scratch? I’m based in the UK so the measurements for this recipe are metric, though you should find the option to convert to imperial measures on the recipe card itself if you prefer.
My first recommendation is that if, when you start making your sourdough bread from scratch you are not working with a sourdough starter that you’ve been given, but are planning on making your very own frothy beast, ignore all the stories about 5 days to make a starter. Maybe you’ll be luckier than me, but my own attempt at making a starter took 10 days to get to the stage where it made a decent loaf – although I did use the discard very successfully for sourdough pizza before I managed to produce one of those pretty boules. You also really don’t need anything into the mixture.
Secondly, don’t worry too much about the exact quantities you feed your starter. I agonised for a few days trying to use American cups to measure out the discard and then to top up the gloop with flour and water – and then trying weighing and removing half the discard by weight rather than volume which worked a lot better for me. You put your starter onto an electronic scale – remove at least 100g, then add back in 50g of flour and 50g of water. Stir well, and you are ready to go – leave the starter at room temperature and it should froth up and double in size after a couple of hours. As I got a little bit more confident, I simply removed two spoonfuls and added one of flour and one of water. It didn’t seem to matter too much. I’m sure more experienced sourdough bakers will tell me I am really not doing things properly. And I am sure at some point I’ll make a mess of things. But, right now I’m happy and relaxed spooning flour and tepid water into my starter, making sure it froths up nicely and then baking. Once I worked out what the starter should look like before I started trying to make the dough, things seemed to work out a lot better.
Thirdly, it’s important to feed your starter a couple of hours before you are ready to bake and wait till you have a lovely frothy mixture that is double the size it was when you added the feed. And, to add water to the starter before you add the flour and salt. Those two things really seem to help me.
Finally, you need to name your starter. I don’t know why, but everyone does – mine is FifiMcFrothFest. The sillier the name, the better the bread.
I suspect the reason you never find a perfect recipe for a starter is that the world of sourdough bakers falls into three camps.
- Those who have been doing it for ages and actually genuinely don’t remember how they made their starter
- Those who were given a starter
- Those who made their starter from scratch but had one or two false starts.
If I had occasion to start my starter again, I’d follow this variation of the classic methodology
- 100g flour to 100ml water in a nice tub, with a loose covering. Stir well, leave overnight.
- Remove 100g or 3 tablespoons of gloop and replace with 50 g or 2 large spoons of flour and 50g or 2 spoons of warm water. Stir well, and leave
- Repeat every 12 hours for at least 5 days.
- What you are looking for is something that REALLY does double in size a couple of hours after it has been fed and that is frothy with lots of little bubbles all the way through. Anything less isn’t there yet.
I’d also suggest using a tall plastic tub with a lid. I started using my measuring jug (which meant I had no measuring jug for a while), progressed to a fancy Kilner jar and eventually realised that a plastic tub was much the best thing to hold FifiMcFrothFest – I have a couple the same size so when I’ve baked and the starter is at its smallest, I transfer it to a clean tub and put the other in the dishwasher.
Most recipes for a sourdough starter from scratch say ‘5 days’. My experience was that after 5 days, there wasn’t a starter that worked for me. I had bubbles, but not froth. And my starter certainly didn’t double in size when I fed it. I didn’t think it ever would. But it did – after about 10 days. Who knows why it took so long. What is worth knowing though is that you can keep the discard gloop – put it in another plastic tub and keep it in the fridge. It’s fabulous for sourdough pizza or for focaccia – and I’ve even made a lemon drizzle cake with mine.
Now, as you may have realised, I am an amateur in a world of sourdough experts. What I have found though, is a raft of conflicting advice. I suspect that’s partly because what you are doing when you make sourdough is very dependent on your own environment. The temperature and humidity of your kitchen will affect the way the yeast cultures develop and will also affect the way the dough rises. So, where that leaves any aspiring sourdough bread baker is trusting their instinct and building on their experience to make the perfect bread.
It’s also fair to say that the perfect bread isn’t necessarily the same for everyone. I like a softer crust and finer crumb that a true sourdough traditionalist will aim for. I’ve now tried adding a teaspoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of sugar to the dough, which produces something that isn’t quite sourdough. And, although I know what my own ‘pure’ sourdough looks like isn’t quite the perfect ‘crumb’ I’ve never quite worked out why you’d want big holes in your bread. The picture above is of the bread made with oil and sugar while the first two pictures are of a classic dough of just flour, water and salt. For those curious, these are loaves 2, 3 and 4 of my sourdough bread from scratch. Loaf one was ok to eat, but not a pretty sight! By the time I reached loaf four, the result was quite impressive I think.
I’ve ended up adapting the recipe I used over on London-Unattached, an easy, no-knead artisan bread that works really well though it doesn’t have the ‘tang’ of sourdough. Adding olive oil and sugar was something that I tried for the first time after making focaccia with the sourdough discard. It was utterly delicious though not something that I’d try making too often as the recipe asked for 3 tablespoons of olive oil! My own sourdough loaf variation used two teaspoons of olive oil and half a teaspoon of sugar. The result was a denser crumb and something in between focaccia and sourdough, with a much softer crust.
But, the basic sourdough – flour, water, salt and starter (which is just flour and water), is one of those things that just seems like a miracle. And, perhaps that’s what fascinates so many of us. It takes me back to my childhood when we made a dough from flour, salt and water to use for modelling. That weird miracle – something which starts as gloop and ends up as something quite different is back again in a totally functional and adult variation. No wonder everyone wants to play!
Here’s the recipe I’m currently using.
Easy Sourdough Loaf
Equipment
- Dutch Oven or heavy cast iron pan with lid
Ingredients
- 100 g Sourdough starter I use a starter based on 50% flour 50% water. If you use a heavier or lighter starter, you may need to modify the ingredients. Your starter needs to have been fed about 2-3 hours before you start to make the dough
- 200 ml water tepid
- 340 g strong white bread flour You can use plain flour if you cannot get bread flour, but the crumb may not be as good.
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Put the starter into a large mixing bowl and pour the tepid water over it.
- Add the flour and salt
- Use your hands or a large fork to pull the mixture together into a rough dough
- You should have a sticky mixture. Cover it with clingfilm or a tea towel and leave for 8-10 hours to prove
- Flour a board or worktop
- Scrape the mixture out onto the flour and knock back (see notes) adding more flour as necessary. You want to end up with something that you can shape into a ball.
- If you have a banneton, put the dough in there. If not, coat a tea towel or muslin with flour and put the dough ball into the cloth, then put the cloth into a rounded mixing bowl. Cover. One of the best ways to cover is with a (clean) shower cap - or clingfilm if not. If you want to bake within 3-4 hours, keep the dough at room temperature. If you need to wait for longer put the dough into the fridge where it will happily keep for a further 10-12 hours
- If your dough has been in the fridge, let it come to room temperature while you pre-heat the oven to 225C. Put a large dutch oven into the oven to preheat at the same time
- put a sheet of baking paper on a pizza slide and turn the dough out from the bowl onto the slide. Slash it a couple of times on the top to help to allow the bread to rise.
- take the dutch oven out of the oven and carefully slide the dough into it.
- Bake with the lid on for 25 minutes and then for a further 15 to 20 minutes with the lid removed.
- Turn the bread out onto a wire rack and allow it to cool for at least an hour
Notes
Nutrition
Oh…and, once you’ve got your ‘hungry starter’ it really will keep in the fridge. Just take it out the night before you want to bake, feed it, keep it out of the fridge and do the same in the morning and wait a couple of hours so that you have a frothing mass to bake with.
If you want to make one of those really pretty loaves with concentric circles, you’ll need a wicker banneton. I don’t have one – and right now while I find my feet I’m favouring the rustic look.
And, if you want to produce pretty loaves with decorative ‘slashes’ you need a dough knife or lamé – essentially a razor blade set in a handle of some sort. Again I don’t have one – it’s something to add to the Christmas list for next year I think. For now, I’ll just make my rustic style loaf – it looks pretty good to me and tastes even better.
It seems to be working well for me – three loaves down – the last two really great
Thank you for this recipe and honesty! I’m in day 7 of starter growth and no its not ready yet! I don’t feel like such a failure!
Your approach and style are lovely ?
I have a flexitarian daughter, its a brilliant middle ground way to live! I’ll be back for more recipes!
We have a youtube channel its not huge but we’ve just started! I’ll give you a shout out and pop this link in the description
Toria xx
https://youtube.com/channel/UCirJhY7vJUQkv2X2xBrKnwA
This is a great thing to bake in lock down especially as there seems to be a lack of yeast
I’m actually super thankful I’ve come across this recipe! I’ve been wanting to make sourdough bread for a while, I think I may try this in the week or two! so thank you very much! 🙂
I hate to say it, but it is quite addictive! Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Looks delicious. Never tried making bread but think I need to try this.
It looks great and I bet it tastes great too.
a fantastic way of making sour bread I’m going to give this a try
Many thanks for the recipe and the advice. It has been quite a few years since I made bread from scratch and a little longer since I made sourdough. If I remember correctly, the dog ate the lot so I gave up. Ready to try again, though.
LOL is it a bad thing that the dog ate the lot?
I love sourdough so this sounds great!
Great recipe and advice about making a starter, thank you.
looks so delicious, must try! x
looks delicious, can’t wait to try it out one day!
Love sourdough bread but have never made my own. Will certainly give your recipe a go!
Fantastic, I am going to give this a go this weekend! How do I salvage the remainder of the starter? Just top it up with 50g of flour and 50ml of tepid water each day?
twice daily if it’s out of the fridge – if you keep it in the fridge, you don’t need to keep feeding it more than once a week – take it out, feed it and leave it for 12 hours, then feed again a couple of hours before you start to bake. You have to throw away some of the starter (or save to make pizza base) before you top up, or you’ll end up with an overflowing pot!
Your sourdough loaf looks gorgeous, a positive triumph!
I would love to learn how to make this but I’m not sure that my bread making skills are up to scratch yet
Honestly, it’s not that tricky. Just have a go!
I am genuinely grateful for this post. I started my starter and was on the verge of giving up until I read this. It’s been longer than 10 days and I have no doubling as yet but I d9 have bubbles. I will keep at it! Thanks
I’ve checked with mine and the best test is what is sometimes called the ‘float’ test. Feed your starter and wait two hours. Take a teaspoon of starter and scrape it into a bowl of cold water. Good, ready to bake starter will float! Bizarre but true. Good luck with yours!
Hi Caroline,
I was the same but persisted (mine took 3 weeks) and just yesterday I made my first two boules with a mix of spelt, whole grain and all purpose flour and they are delicious.
Patience is the name of the game with sourdough and all I can say is- it pays off so please stay the course. Good luck!
Isn’t it funny. I have no idea who thought up the ‘7 day’ idea. The best trick I’ve learnt recently is the float test, where you put a blob of your starter in a jar of cold water. If it floats it’s ready to use, if it sinks it isn’t ripe enough
I have not tried to make this before but yours looks fantastic!
how delicious!
I will try this soon it looks so yummy
That bread looks amazing! And so simple to make 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
Delicious. Thanks for the easy to follow recipe and guidelines. Perfect bread.
Will give it a try
Been wanting to try this for ages and now I have a brand new oven I can. The last one was useless! I love sourdough bread and hope I can successfully make my own. Thanks for the recipe!
Some great tips for a beginner like me. Thank you
I’m used to making bread but relatively new to sourdough too. I’ll update with some tips in a week or so, when I’ve double checked how things work!
I too am delighted to have discovered your recipe as I’ve only just set off on the sourdough road; one of the first twists I encountered was a crust more suitable for armour plating tanks than anything else – the crumb was lovely though. I’m going to tackle this by one or both of these methods – add olive oil to the dough and /or wrap the freshly cooked loaf in a damp towel to cool.
What I really wanted to ask about concerns gluten development. In this recipe there is no stretching and folding which I thought was essential for developing structure. I think this technique was to be experimented – how did it turn out in compensation with the non-kneaded version?
I started making sourdough with a background of having made a no-knead loaf (with commercial yeast) for years. So, my sourdough was done in the same way. A year or so on, I do stretch and fold – I’m not sure it makes a difference, but I find it cathartic(!). I do 4 or so stretch and folds – every half hour before I go to bed. Then I do the first proving overnight in the fridge. Re: the crust – are you using a dutch oven (or any big covered metal casserole) to cook the loaf? That is what works for me…
Hi Fiona,
Yes, I do use a Dutch oven at 230°C – 20 minutes covered then 20 minutes uncovered at 210°C.
I think my first (and only) effort might have needed a higher water content.
What is abundantly clear is that there’s much trial and error involved as there are so many variables and an equal number of different recipes!
I’m going to try adding sun-dried tomatoes and olives in a future bake and sourdough doughnuts when I eventually get round to it!
Thanks for your interesting and informative website.
Not least that different flours have completely different results. I’ve been working my way through a pack of 6 different types from Matthews Cotswold Flours. They all behave slightly differently!
Some great tip here, definitely worth having a go at some time.
My 8 year old loves baking so we’ve been trying to make lots of different things during lockdown. We still need to try Sourdough so I’ll add your recipe and tips to our list for the next thing to try! Thank you.
Looks delicious. I am not the world’s best baker but will give it a try.
I made sourdough bread many years ago and I think I shall start again now. I even used the starter to make some delicious cakes too.
Yes, I’ve made a lovely lemon drizzle with sourdough discard…it’s a good hobby
I grew up eating sourdough bread. My dad grew up in Montreal, Canada and developed his love for it there.
This looks delicious and I would love to give the recipe a try. I love making cakes and your sourdough recipe would be great to vary my baking a bit!
do let me know how you get on
Just love the easy, straightforward way this is written – ideal for my teenage son, who has now successfully baked his firsst sourdough loaf and very lovely it was too.
Thank you for the recipe – I have always wanted to try sour dough
This looks amazing!! I am definately gong to give it a try!!
I am going to have to try this
I have tried and it came out really well.. delicious
Looks great, def going to try an follow your steps.
We’ve been doing lots of baking during lockdown so will definitely be giving this recipe a go
Looks like some great advice, I’ve never tried making sourdough – might try now as I’m off work for my (cancelled) holiday!
Oh no, poor you re: the holiday! If you can find a friend who is already making sourdough ask for a starter because that will save you 7 to 10 days!
I’ve never made any before it looks yummy . I’ve been doing a fair bit of baking during lockdown so I think I’ll have to give this a try
I love sourdough, this recipe looks great! The photos are making my mouth water!
Thank you,looks delicious I will definitely be giving this a go
I have tried making soda bread and regular white/wholemeal bread over the last few weeks. Sourdough looks delicious, must give it a go! That pic is making me hungry!
im definitly going to try this it looks and sounds delicious
This looks super tasty! I’ve never tried baking my own bread but I am tempted.
That looks amazing! I always wanted to try the sourdough recipe. cant wait to make this x
Thanks for the recipe it looks delicious, I’ve never made sourdough bread before but I’m definitely going to try it
I love making bread, but I have never tried sour dough, I may give this recipe a try
Great recipe and wonderful in lockdown as you do not need yeast
Must try this. Sounds delicious.
I’ve been wanting to make a sourdough for ages so will have to give this a go, thanks for some great advice and tips on the starter
Going to give this a go for sure!
Thanks for the helpful advice regarding sourdough starter. We will have to try giving it more days to develop before baking the first loaf.
What a breath of fresh air, my first attempt was a hard loaf before I tried this recipe. Looks much more sensible and now I’ll wait for my starter to look froythier before I use it!!
The float test is really useful – if your starter looks a bit frothy and you are not sure, try half a teaspoon in a glass of cold water – if it floats, it’s good to use, if it sinks, leave it a bit longer
Sorry, didn’t leave my stars! Also – is it right that you can keep starter in fridge between bakes?
Yes, you can (I do all the time) – you need to take it out the night before the day you want to use it and feed it (so it gets an extra feed before you bake). And, if it’s more than a week or so, you might find it needs 2 feeds before it froths up again. Apparently, you can even dry your starter!
is there no kneading required? when I followed a recipe today I had to knead for nearly 20 minutes when I put the ingredients together, then prove for 3 Hours then knock back and leave for another 3 hours?
definitely, no kneading required. The extended proving times (for first and second rise) mean that the most you need to do (if you want a pretty, holey texture) is stretch and fold.
I dont have a dutch oven, can I bake it on a tray? if so will be trying this one
Hi Rita,
I use a dutch oven – I know some people use a roasting pan with a lid – the idea is to help keep the moisture in the loaf. I haven’t tried, but I’ve been told that you can also just put a pan of water in the bottom of the oven and bake on the shelf above.
I followed your advice and named my starter floozibooziSuzie. She has performed like a true professional, happy and doubled in size. The fruits of her labour have paid off. The bread is ready to eat. So as a treat floozibooziSuzie will get fed some more flour to get her ready for the next loaf
Glad that FloozieBoozieSuzie is going well! She should mature with a nice tang;)
So frothyfroofroo is out of the fridge and fed.. I’m going to attempt my first loaf tomorrow ! Wish me luck.!!
Good luck! Do let us know how it goes!!!
I love making bread but I have to say it never looks as fantastic and perfect as yours! I am definitely going to try this recipe
Hello, I’m here in October 21 with a baaad sourdough addiction. Very grateful to find your helpful site and unfussy recipe. Made very successful discard pizza bases and have high hopes for the dough I have currently got proving. Any thoughts on oven temperature?? My previous two attempts have been rock hard crusts and doughy centres so I’m inclined to think my oven runs too hot – or should I not use the fan oven maybe?? Would welcome any tips. I’m a complete novice 🙂 Thank you x
are you using a dutch oven to cook your sourdough? I find mine works pretty well at anything from 220-240C, but inside a solid castiron dutch oven. If you don’t have one, I’ve read that a roasting pan of water on the bottom of the oven will help stop the crust drying out while your dough cooks. But, I haven’t tried…
I’m a beginner so i’m a bit confused is the oven temp for conventional or fan?
Do i need a dutch oven? or can i use something else?
You don’t need a dutch oven, but it seems to keep the centre nice and soft while helping get that crust. I’ve heard other people suggest simply putting a baking tray of water in the bottom of the oven for the same result (and baking your bread on a baking sheet). I’ve never tried that myself – if you do please let me know how you get on!
Recipe is for a fan oven – I will update and add conventional temps. I think my fan oven UNDER heats though
I should have said, some people also use those enamel roasting dishes with a lid. I can see that would have the same result as a cast iron dutch oven and be a lot easier to handle!
I know this recipe has been here for some time, but I had to say thank you!
I found this after a Google search, following my 4th failed attempt at a few other recipes that did not go well and ended up with some tasty spaceships rather than loaves.
This is the first one that worked and it REALLLY worked! My Dad gave me a bannaton and I kept getting the dough stuck because it was so loose but this dough was just the right consistency and came out with a great shape!
Anyway, I have the most amazing sourdough with a crown on the top from the crispy slashes and swirls of flour from the basket. I wish I could send you a picture, it’s beautiful!
Thanks for a great recipe! 🙂
I’m new to sourdough but not knew to breadmaking so when I received a book that I bought through Amazon, I knew quite quickly that the author didn’t know too much about sourdough making nor the science behind it. Yours is the first thing that popped up on Google and it makes way more sense. Thank you for such clear, easy to follow instructions.
Hopefully, my 2nd loaf won’t be as bad as my first.
Oh, and I’m in the 4th category; my starter started by day 3 and has been going strong since 🙂
Thank you for this recipe it has given me the boot up the bum I needed to get started.
After the dough is ready for bread making, how often do you then feed the starter please?