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–+ servings

Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread

Artisan sourdough bread is really one of the easiest things you can make with your sourdough starter. I can teach you to make delicious homemade sourdough bread with only 4 ingredients. This recipe really couldn't be any simpler. It comes together quickly with very little hands on time required.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Cuisine American
Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients
  

  • 150 grams sourdough starter (ripe or doubled in size)
  • 300 grams water
  • 10 grams salt
  • 500 grams bread flour (you can also use all purpose if you do not have bread flour)

Instructions
 

Make the Dough

  • Mix the starter and water together in a large bowl until well incorporated.
  • Add flour and salt and mix until flour is evenly moistened. The dough will look shaggy at this stage.
  • Cover and let rest 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Bulk Rise

  • After the dough has rested an hour you will want to stretch and fold the dough. Grab a portion of the dough along the edge of the bowl and pull it upwards. Then fold it over on itself towards the opposite side of the bowl. Rotate the bowl and repeat until you have went all the way around. Cover the bowl.
  • Repeat this step 3 more times one hour apart. So for the first 4 hours of bulk rise you will perform 4 stretch and folds. You can be flexible in the timing of these.
  • Cover your bowl and let the dough double in size. This will take approximately 8-12 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

Shape

  • Turn the dough out onto your countertop or large cutting board. Stretch the dough out until it resists you then fold into a round ball. Drag and pull the ball of dough towards you on the countertop. Turn the dough and repeat until you get a tight round loaf. Let the loaf rest for 30 minutes. After it rests you'll want to check to see if the dough has kept its shape. If it hasn't you'll want to shape it once again in the same way. Be careful not to overstretch the dough and "break" the outer layer.

Second Rise

  • Carefully place your ball of dough into a floured banneton or a bowl lined with a floured towel. Make sure you put it in top side down into the bowl. Cover dough with plastic wrap.
  • Place into the refrigerator at least 8 hours and up to 48. The dough will become more sour the longer it is left in the refrigerator.

Bake

  • Place dutch oven on the lower rack of your oven and preheat to 450 degrees.
  • Remove plastic wrap and place a square of parchment paper over the dough. Flip the dough over and out of the banneton or bowl. Score with a sharp knife or lame. One long, deep slash is sufficient but there are endless options for scoring depending on how fancy you want to get.
  • Lift the dough and place into your dutch oven. It's easy to do this by holding the sides of the parchment paper and dropping the loaf down into the hot dutch oven. Bake in dutch oven 20 minutes then remove lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
  • Let the bread cool at least 1 hour before slicing.
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