Bake your first sourdough loaf
Sourdough bread requires patience but little work. Most of the time is spent waiting. These instructions assume that you already have an active sourdough starter.
You will need
- Sourdough starter
- 500 g wheat flour
- 350 g water
- 10 g salt
- Cast-iron pot with a lid
- Kitchen scales
Steps
Wake up the starter
Feed the starter 8–12 hours before: 50 g starter, 50 g water and 50 g flour. The starter is ready when it is bubbly and has roughly doubled in size.
Mix the flour and water
Mix 500 g of flour and 330 g of water. Leave covered to rest for 30–60 minutes.
Add the starter and salt
Add 100 g of active starter, 10 g of salt and the remaining 20 g of water. Squeeze and fold until the mixture is even.
Stretch and fold
Four times at 30-minute intervals: lift the edge of the dough and fold it into the middle. Turn the bowl and repeat on all four sides.
Let it rise
Let it rise at room temperature until the dough has grown by about half and bubbles are visible on the surface, usually 3–5 hours.
Shape and cold-proof
Shape into a ball, place it seam side up in a floured bowl and leave it in the fridge for 10–16 hours.
Bake
Preheat the pot at 250 °C for 45 min. Score the loaf and bake for 20 min with the lid on and 20–25 min without the lid.
Cool
Let it cool on a rack for at least an hour before slicing.
Tips
- If your loaf spread out, it was probably proofed too long or the starter was too weak.
- Replace 100 g of the wheat flour with rye flour for a deeper flavour.
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