Making this easy sourdough bread recipe is a little like raising a spoiled Victorian child—needy, dramatic, and weirdly rewarding. But once you slice into that crackly crust and see those chewy holes? You’ll forget the drama and start naming your starter like it’s your third kid.
🎧 Too busy to scroll? listen instead
Need a kitchen buddy? Hit play and let me talk you through the process of making sourdough bread with tips, faqs, and variations while you mix, fold, and create. Then we'll take a quick trip to Picklefork where Tawny Boudreaux is taking up yet another new hobby in Dough, Lies, and Alibis.
Table of Contents
- 🎧 Too busy to scroll? listen instead
- 🗝️ Why you’ll abandon every other sourdough loaf for this one
- 🎥 Don’t just wing it—watch me make this easy recipe
- 🧾 Ingredients for homemade sourdough bread
- 📖 Recipe
- 🔪 How to make this easy sourdough bread recipe
- 🥖 How to store sourdough bread
- 📚 Related bread recipes you'll love
- 💬 Comments
🗝️ Why you’ll abandon every other sourdough loaf for this one
Once you taste this tangy, chewy, golden-crusted masterpiece, it’s game over for store-bought bread and that one sad baguette you keep forgetting in the freezer. This is the loaf you'll brag about like it got into Yale.
- You get bragging rights for making real-deal sourdough like a kitchen wizard with zero spells or magical wands required.
- That chewy texture and tangy flavor? It’s the carb equivalent of a mic drop.
- It only takes a few ingredients, some patience, and the ability to pretend you’re calm while it proofs.
- Cheaper than therapy, prettier than your ex’s new girlfriend’s focaccia.
- Makes your house smell like you’ve got your life together—even if you’re still in yesterday’s pajamas.
🎥 Don’t just wing it—watch me make this easy recipe
Watch the whole sourdough sorcery unfold so you know exactly when to stretch, fold, and panic (just kidding—kind of). This step-by-step video walks you through the process like we’re in my kitchen, minus the clutter and dog hair.
🧾 Ingredients for homemade sourdough bread
This isn’t some 27-ingredient drama loaf. Just the essentials, because good bread doesn’t need to be complicated. It just needs to taste like victory.
- Active sourdough starter – the diva of the dough world. Feed it, love it, name it something ridiculous. Mine's named Everson. Feed yours about 6-8 hours before you begin. Buy a starter or make sourdough starter from scratch.
- Bottled spring water – because your tap water has trust issues and too much chlorine.
- Bread flour – high-protein, high-drama, and exactly what your crust dreams are made of.
- Kosher salt – adds flavor, keeps the bread from tasting like sadness.
Download the free sourdough bread kitchen cheat sheet for tips, faqs, storage information, and more.
📖 Recipe
Easy Sourdough Bread Recipe
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 100 grams active sourdough starter, feed about 6-8 hours before using
- 350 grams warm, 80F room temperature water
- 500 grams bread flour
- 10 grams kosher salt
Instructions
- Mix the ingredients until there is no more dry flour in the bowl and you have a shaggy dough.
- Cover and let sit in a warm place for 1 hour.
- Stretch and fold the dough, making 4 quarter turns in total.
- Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Repeat 3 more times, waiting 30 minutes between each. You will have stretched and folded the dough a total of 4 times.
- After the last stretch and fold place the dough in a large bowl lined with a floured cloth or a banneton. Cover and refrigerate overnight - 6 -8 hours.
- Next morning pop the bowl in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes.
- Place the dough in your cloche or dutch oven, removing the towel and plastic wrap.
- Score with a bread lame, a sharp razor blade, or the sharpest knife you have.
- Preheat the oven to 475F.
- Cover the dough with the cover and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the cover, reduce the temperature to 425F, and bake 15 minutes more, or until the interior registers 200-205F on an instant read thermometer.
- Remove from the oven and let cool before slicing.
Notes
- Temperature matters. Too cold and your dough naps like a teenager. Too hot and it throws a tantrum like a toddler. Warm room temp is the sweet spot. Keep everything over 70 degrees and under 105 degrees.
- Use a kitchen scale. I know, it feels extra. But sourdough is dramatic and likes precision.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
🔪 How to make this easy sourdough bread recipe
If you can follow a drama series, you can follow this recipe. It’s less betrayal, more fermentation. Still not sure? Be sure to watch the video above.
- Mix it up until your dough looks like something your toddler would make out of Play-Doh—rough, shaggy, and not cute. Cover it and let it sit there for an hour while it pulls itself together.
- Stretch and fold every 30 minutes for 2 hours. Think of it like dough yoga. Be gentle, but firm—like you're coaxing secrets out of a Southern aunt.
- Pop it in the fridge overnight and let it rise while you get your beauty sleep. It'll be twice the size and ready for drama by morning.
- Score the top with a design that says, “I absolutely do have my life together,” then bake until golden, crusty, and the neighbors start “just dropping by.”
🥖 How to store sourdough bread
Wrap your loaf in a clean tea towel or slide it into a fabric bread bag to keep that crust crisp and glorious for up to 3 days at room temp. Or, toss it into a bread box. Want it to last longer? Freeze it (sliced!) and toast as needed—like the kitchen genius you are.
📚 Related bread recipes you'll love
If this loaf has you feeling some kind of way, just wait ‘til you meet its delicious cousins. Your bread obsession starts here.
- Artisan Rustic Bread has a crackly crust, chewy center, and just the right amount of “I made this with my bare hands” energy. It’s the kind of bread that makes soup jealous.
- Quick Baguette with all the French flair, none of the emotional commitment. Fast, fabulous, and ready to impress without making you wait three days. Takes just 30 minutes!
- Cheese and Bacon Fougasse is basically a savory bread sculpture stuffed with smoky bacon and melty cheese. Looks fancy. Tastes like snack heaven. Disappears faster than your willpower at a bake sale.
🍞 What to Serve With This Bread
Not that it needs help, but this loaf turns into a full meal with these favorites:
- Smear with whipped strawberry butter and eat standing over the sink like a proper adult.
- Dip into homemade tomato gravy like a Southern grandma in a Hallmark movie.
- Pair with a cheese board and a bottle of wine and call it “dinner.” No notes.
You didn’t just bake bread—you birthed a beautiful, golden-crusted miracle. Go ahead and name it, photograph it, and tell everyone who’ll listen. You’re now officially That Person with a sourdough starter... and honestly? We love that for you.
✨ Tried it? Leave a comment below and let me know what you named your starter. (Mine's still judging you—her name is Everson.)
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