Learn how to make homemade sourdough bread with starter, water, bread flour, and salt. This guide walks you through mixing, stretch-and-folds, shaping, an overnight refrigerator rest, and baking in a Dutch oven.
I started baking sourdough with a friend at the end of 2023. This is the method I’ve shared with readers who want to bring homemade bread to their own table.
Ingredients for one loaf
150 g sourdough starter
350 g water
500 g bread flour
10 g salt
Plan your bake
This recipe includes a one-hour rest after mixing, stretch-and-fold rounds, several hours of fermentation, shaping, and an overnight refrigerator rest. Start when you have time to return to the dough throughout the day, then bake the next day.
The times below describe my usual routine. Your room temperature and starter can change how quickly the dough develops, so use the dough’s appearance alongside the clock.
Starter and equipment
You’ll need an established sourdough starter before beginning. You can obtain one from another baker or follow the instructions supplied with a dehydrated starter.
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Mixing bowls for mixing and resting the dough
Kitchen scale for measuring in grams
Sourdough bread kit with shaping baskets and baking tools
Dutch oven for baking
Parchment paper for transferring the loaf
A clean tea towel for covering the dough
1. Mix the dough and rest
Set your kitchen scale to grams. Combine 150 g starter and 350 g water in a bowl, whisking to loosen the starter.
Add 500 g bread flour and mix until there are no dry clumps. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and rest for one hour.
Sprinkle 10 g salt over the dough. Wet your fingers and gently dimple the salt into the dough.
2. Stretch and fold
Gently lift one side of the dough and fold it over itself without tearing it. Turn the bowl and repeat on the other sides. Working around the bowl completes one round of stretch-and-folds.
Cover and rest for 30 minutes between rounds. Complete four rounds in total.
3. Ferment and shape
After the final round, cover the bowl and allow the dough to ferment. In my routine this takes about 3–4 hours; look for bubbles and a visibly aerated dough rather than relying on the timer alone.
Turn the dough onto your work surface and gently stretch it into a rectangle.
Fold it in thirds to form a log, then roll the log into a round.
Cup your hands around the dough and gently rotate it to create surface tension.
Rest for 30 minutes, then repeat the shaping.
4. Refrigerate overnight and score
Place the shaped dough in a shaping basket, cover, and refrigerate overnight. My usual refrigerator rest is about eight hours.
The next day, preheat the oven to 450°F with the Dutch oven inside. Follow your cookware’s instructions for preheating and temperature limits.
Turn the cold dough onto parchment paper. Score a cut about ½ inch deep down the center so the loaf has room to expand during baking. Take care when handling the hot Dutch oven.
5. Bake and cool
Carefully transfer the dough into the hot Dutch oven and cover with the lid.
Bake covered at 450°F for 20 minutes.
Remove the lid, reduce the oven temperature to 400°F, and bake uncovered for about 35 minutes.
Remove the loaf and let it cool completely before slicing. I usually allow 3–4 hours.
Ovens vary, so keep an eye on your loaf during the uncovered bake.
Perfect Sourdough Loaf
Ingredients
- 150g Sourdough Starter
- 350g Water
- 500g Bread Flour (Preferably King Arthur Bread Flour)
- 10g Salt
Instructions
- Set your weight scale to GRAMS and place a medium sized mixing bowl on your scale. Make sure your bowl is glass or ceramic as sourdough will eat away at steel.
- Measure out 150g of sourdough starter
- Mix 350g of water into your 150g of starter. Use your dough whisk and mix until all the starter is dissolved into the water and it makes little bubbles in the water
- After your water and starter are thoroughly mixed, add 500g of bread flour.
- Set your dough aside and cover your bowl with a tea towel. Let the dough rest for 1 hour.
- After your dough has rested 1 hour weigh out 10g of sea salt (I like Himalayan sea salt) and sprinkle it all over dough
- Wet your fingers and dimple the salt down into the dough
- Perform 4 stretch and folds and let dough rest covered for 30min
- Repeat this process 3 more times every 30min
- Let dough rest covered for 3-4 hours until bubbles start appearing
- Shape your dough and set aside covered for 30min, then repeat shaping process
- Place in shaping basket and let bulk ferment in refrigerator overnight (8-10hrs)
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees and let Dutch oven heat in oven during preheat
- Score dough and place in Dutch oven
- Bake at 450 degrees for 20min with Dutch oven lid on
- Remove lid and bake at 400 degrees for 35min
- Remove from oven and place on cooking rack and let cool for 3-4hrs
- Slice and Enjoy!!!!
Put your sourdough discard to use
For another sourdough bake, try my sourdough discard butterscotch scones. For a breakfast you can prepare ahead, make overnight oats with Greek yogurt.
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