We have made this sourdough bread recipe easy because there are no stretch and folds. Simply mix together the sourdough starter with water, flour, salt, and honey, and bake the next morning.
300gramsactive sourdough starterfed within the last 8-10 hours
600gramslukewarm water
1000grams flour
2tsp.salt
80-160gramshoney, depending on how sweet you want it(totally optional and not necessary)
Instructions
The night before, make the dough. Measure out all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then use a wooden spoon to incorporate the ingredients.
Once the dough becomes slightly stiff, stop and empty the bowl onto a clean work surface.
Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes. The dough will be quite sticky, so have a bowl of flour nearby to sprinkle flour onto the dough. The goal is to knead together a dough that is not sticky at all.
Once the dough has come together nicely, place the dough back into the bowl and cover the bowl. I like using 2 layers of clip wrap.
Set the bowl aside for the night. If your house is cold, you can place an oven mitt under the bowl and lay a dish towel over the top.
The next morning, using a bench scraper, scrap the dough out onto a well floured surface. Depending upon the heat in your home, the dough might be a bit stick again, that's okay.
Divide the dough in half. Use a kitchen scale to measure out the dough into equal halves, or just eyeball it.
It's time to do your PRE-SHAPING.
Starting from the North side, grab the dough and fold it into the center. Now take from the South side and fold that end of dough into the center. Now the sides, then the corners, always working from opposite sides.
Make sure the underside is floured, but do not flour the top side, or the pieces of dough will not stick to each other.
The goal now is to create tension on the under side. To do this you pick up the dough and place it on its side and tuck the dough under. Continue this process of tucking the dough all the way around. Now place the dough tucked side down, with the nice smooth side facing up.
Use your hands to turn the dough ball in a circle cupping the dough with your hands and tucking any loose ends under.
Repeat the process with the second half of the dough.
Place a piece of cling wrap and a dish towel over the 2 dough balls and let them rest for 20 minutes.
Once the timer goes off, it's time for the FINAL SHAPING. Take a dough bowl, flip it upside down, and place of a well floured surface.
On the North side of the dough, fold down the top piece with your hands about 1/3 of the way down. We are going to now fishtail braid our bread. Take a piece from the left side and fold it into the center. Then, take a piece from the right side and overlap the first piece. Continue this process until you are down and the bottom.
Lightly flour your hands at anytime if it gets sticky.
Now it's time to take the bottom piece and fold it up about 1/4 of the way, and roll the dough like a cinnamon roll.
We use this bread for sandwiches, so I prefer zero big holes. So I roll the bread tightly.
Now place your bread in your desired loaf pans. I use silicone loaf pans, but if using metal pans, I recommend lining them with parchment paper.
Place that same piece of cling wrap on top of the loaves with a towel, and let rest for 1 hour. This gives the dough time to rise a bit.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and place a metal baking dish filled 3/4 of the way with water on the bottom rack of your oven.
Cook sourdough bread in the 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 375 degrees and bake an additional 30 minutes.
Let the bread cool for 10 minutes before removing from the loaf pans.
Let bread completely cool before slicing it. I use an electric knife to get thin sandwich style slices.
Store bread in a bread bag on the counter for 3-4 days, or longer in the refrigerator. Sourdough bread freezes well too and will keep in the freezer for 2 months.
Notes
Want to make this in a stand mixer? Here's how:
Increase your flour weight to 1150g total.
Mix all ingredients together in a stand mixer for 3-4 minutes.
Place dough in a separate bowl, or use your stand mixing bowl. No need to knead the dough any further. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel.