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Basic Sourdough Recipe

Photograph from Food For Thought by Laura Edwards reproduced with Kind permission from Kyle Books.

Photograph of my Sourdough, from my most recent book Food For Thought, taken by Laura Edwards reproduced with Kind permission from Kyle Books.

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I am often asked for a basic sourdough recipe. I am in so many ways I am reluctant to give a sourdough recipe because a recipe in itself does not guarantee a good loaf. There are so many variables that affect a good sourdough bread, from the kind of flour, to the amount it is handled, to the weather on the day. These are things that I cannot account for in a recipe.

Baking a beautiful loaf is about more than just the practical external factors.  To make a really great sourdough you need the ability to judge the dough; to know it, understand it, feel it and instinctively correct or modify your technique on any given day. This takes practice, time, understanding and patience. The ability to judge these factors and allow for them is what I teach on my sourdough courses. But more than that I teach people to understand sourdough. Once you understand sourdough then you will always bake a great loaf.

That said, nothing gets you off to a better start at the weekend that a warm crusty sourdough loaf fresh from the oven and there are many bakers who read this site too far away to attend a course. So this is my basic sourdough recipe; it is based on the French country Pain de Levain that I grew up baking in the village bakery in the South of France, and is timed so as to be ready to take out of the oven on a Saturday morning to bake.

Sourdough bread.
A traditionally French shaped sourdough boule. Allow yourself about 3 –4 hours for the dough to be mixed, folded and shaped ready to place in the coldest part of the fridge to prove overnight.(If you are new to bread making, you can, instead of shaping the dough and putting it into a banneton, grease a 2lb bread tin liberally with butter, let the dough rise in it overnight in the fridge and then bake as per the recipe instructions below.)
Equipment:

A large mixing bowl
A round cane banneton
2 clean tea towels
A Dutch oven or La Cloche
A large heatproof pan, a sharp knife or ‘lame’ to slash the dough with

Ingredients:
300g water
100g sourdough leaven (made with your starter)
100g of stoneground organic wholemeal flour
400g organic strong white flour
10g fine sea salt mixed with 15g of cold water
25g rice flour mixed with 25g of stone ground white flour (for dusting your banneton)
Semolina to dust the bottom of the baking surface

Makes 1 loaf

Directions:

Late afternoon

Mix 

In a large bowl whisk your water and starter and mix well. Add all the flour and mix until all the ingredients come together into a large ball.

Cover with a clean damp cloth and let the dough rest on the side in the kitchen for between 30 minutes and 2 hours – this what bakers call Autolyse

Fold

Add the salt mixed with the water and dimple your fingers into the dough to allow the salty water and salt to distribute evenly throughout the dough.  Leave for 10 mutes.

Next lift and fold your dough over, do a quarter turn of your bowl and repeat three more times. Repeat 3 times at 30 minute intervals with a final 15 minute rest at the end.

Shape

Shape the dough lightly into a ball then place into a round banneton dusted with flour (If you don’t have a banneton then use a clean tea towel dusted with flour inside a colander). Dust the top with flour, then cover with a damp tea-towel

Prove

Leave your dough to one side until it is 50% bigger then transfer to the fridge , and leave to prove there for 8 – 12 hours.

Bake the following morning

The next morning preheat your oven to 220°C for at least 30 minutes before you are ready to bake. Place your cloche or baking stone in the oven and a large pan of boiling water underneath (or use a Dutch oven). The hydration helps form a beautiful crust.

Once the oven is up to full heat, carefully remove the baking stone from the oven, taking care not to burn yourself dust with a fine layer of semolina, which stops the bread sticking, then put your dough onto the baking stone and slash the top with your blade. This decides where the bread will tear as it rises. Bake for an hour.

Turn the heat down to 180°C (and remove the lid if you are using a Dutch oven) and bake for another 10 -15  minutes.  You need to choose just how dark you like your crust but I suggest that you bake until it is a dark brown – it tastes much better.

Storage

Sourdough is really best left to cool completely before slicing and is even better if left for a day to let the full flavour develop.

Once your sourdough has cooled, store in a linen or cotton bread bag, or wrapped in a clean tea towel.

Note: if you don’t like a crunchy crust on your sourdough bread, simply wrap your bread in a clean tea towel whilst it is still warm.

  • * To make 100g of leaven, use 1 tablespoons of sourdough starter, 40g of water and 40g of strong white flour, mix well and leave, covered on the side in the kitchen in the morning. It will be lively and bubbly and ready to bake with in the evening.
  • More advanced recipes and tips are available to members of the sourdough club, and a very in depth explanation is covered on our sourdough courses.

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Comments

  1. Seems like a very accessible recipe. One question, after proving overnight, how long do you need to leave the dough outside of the fridge before baking, assuming pre-heated oven? Or can it go in straight away?

    Reply

  3. Im gearing up to try my first Sourdough loaf using your recipe, tips etc. I would like to know if the final prove in the fridge 8-12 hours can be extended. I’m a shift worker and having a looser timing schedule would really help
    Thank You
    Annie

    Reply

    • Hi Annie,
      Many people prove their sourdough for much longer. Generally the longer the prove the more sour. In fact I visited a bakery just last week who prove for 17 hours in the fridge. Just check the temperature of your fridge is between 3-5 degrees as a warmer fridge temperature might result in over proving.
      Vanessa

      Reply

  4. Do you put the stone in when you turn on the oven, or do you put it in after the oven is heated, and put the dough to bake on the stone that will then heat up as the bread bakes?

    Reply

  5. Always love a new sourdough recipe, as they all are different and it can take a while to perfect making a loaf. A question I have is about the wetness of the starter, some recipes I have tried end up too wet, as I think they are intended for a dryer starter. I am now experimenting with less water to flour ratio in my starter but was wondering what you would suggest..

    Reply

  6. I have just made a loaf from you basic recipe and it has to be the best one I’ve ever made!
    It has the most delicious flavour and the crust is to die for. I found it hard to slice, so I’m wrapping it in a tea towel and will try again tomorrow.
    Thank you for for the recipe. I live in Australia so cannot get to any of your courses unfortunately.

    Reply

      • That’s great news that there’s a FB page. I too am in Australia and beginning my sourdough journey. My first 2 rounds didn’t work…one didn’t rise, the other stuck dreadfully to my floured tea towel in the colander, so I’m about to go for a third try. I’ve been told the mother gets better with age, so fingers crossed. Thankyou for sharing difficult insights across the globe.

        Reply

  7. Hi Vanessa! Many thanks for this recipe which I’ve used with good results. Just for clarification, do you mean to bake for an hour at 220 degrees and then a further 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees, 85-90 minutes in total?

    Reply

    • Sorry it is basically an hour in the cloche and then the last 10 – 15 minutes is really about getting the crust to the level of darkness you like.
      The initial high temperature is about getting the maximum oven spring. The lower 180 is time to cook the inside of the loaf and the last 10 – 15 is about the final crumb colour.

      Does that help?

      Vx

      Reply

      • Thanks for the clarification as I also thought the baking temperature was 220 and I ended up with a very thick crust and overbeaked loaf. I’m making one again, so I’m so glad that I went through these comments to find this one. Let’s hope this time it turns out beautiful!

        Reply

      • Hi
        I’m just doing my first one and I don’t find the clarification here clear. Is it 1hr 15 in total with 1 hr at 220 and 15mins at 180? That’s how I’m reading the instructions but the comments and your answer suggest that that might not be the case.
        Thanks for your help!
        P

        Reply

      • Hello! If i am baking in a tin, should I also bake at 220 for an hour? This will be my third go at this recipe, I’m loving it but finding the crust ends up very dense.

        Thanks,
        Sam

        Reply

  8. I am a sourdough newbie but managed to produce a very acceptable boule using your recipe. My 17-year-old daughter said it tasted like the artisan bread we enjoyed on Gozo earlier this year.
    I made my own starter from organic stone-milled flour and used 200g, but adjusted the dry flour and water to compensate. I was very dubious about proving the dough in the fridge but you obviously know what you are talking about! Many thanks for a simple and easy-to-follow recipe with a delicious result!

    Reply

  9. I live in a small NZ town with no decent bakery, so have been baking my own sourdough for the last eight odd years. Stumbled across this recipe and gave it a go.

    Remarkably easy to follow, and stupendously good results (baked in dutch oven). The following times I have paid less attention to the timings except for baking times, and the result is always what I’d call the perfect loaf; crusty, fragrant, great crumb and delicious.

    Thanks so much

    Reply

  10. Just got into making bread at home and have now discovered sourdough and was wondering if instead of baking in an oven if it can be made in a breadmaker?

    Reply

    • You can make sourdough in the bread maker. I used to use a bread maker about 8 years ago when I have three children under the age of 4!
      Pop all the ingredients in the maker and mix. Put the timer on and delay of 5 hours.. you should find your bread maker will do the rest.
      Hope that helps.

      Reply

  11. Hello, can I prove for 4 hours in a warm room instead of the fridge. Am I right in saying that you don’t really knead this bread very much? Thanks.

    Reply

  12. Hello! I tried this recipe a while ago and it turned out really good. I’ll do it again tomorrow — this time I’ll use my cloche (first time it was on a baking stone) — but the question I have is, do I still need a pan of boiling water if I use a cloche? Wouldn’t the cloche lid prevent the steam from entering in?

    I know that in this recipe it says I still need that, but on BakeryBits.co.uk I found another of your recipes (the Friday night sourdough) where there is no mention of using boiling water or ice cubes to create steam — hence my question.

    Reply

    • Hi Louise,

      Gosh no .. the steam is only if you use a baking stone. The cloche teams the steam from the bread as it bakes, so no need for a pan of water.
      Happy baking.
      Vanessa
      x

      Reply

  13. My way of getting a really good crust is to spray the loaf all over with water using a fine plant spray – after slashing. It never fails.

    Reply

  14. Hello again,
    Just received my starter and wondering if I use 100g of the actual starter (after the 3 feeds) or do I need to make a leaven with it for the basic recipe please? Thanks very much

    Reply

    • Leaven basically is a 100% hydration starter. Provided your starter has approximately the same proportions of flour as the leaven, it won’t make any difference.

      Reply

  15. After battling to get an open crumb this method was a god send ! Simple and easy but gives a wonderful light open crumb . Thank you !

    Reply

  16. Can’t wait to try this. Although I’m confused – with every other recipe I’ve read says during the autolyse stage you aren’t supposed to add the salt, as it dries all the moisture out of the dough and makes it stiff. Is this true or false?

    Reply

  17. Thanks! One more question. Is it okay to let the bread proof in the fridge longer than 12 hours? Maybe 15-16?

    Reply

  18. I have to say that this is one easy-to-follow and foolproof recipe. I have been trying to make proper sourdough for ages, and this (combined with La Cloche) have given me *exactly* what I was looking for in a loaf. I was worried that it was looking a little wet, but it turned out perfectly. Thank you so much!

    Reply

    • Hi Paul,

      That is great to hear. There is also a Facebook page called The Sourdough Club where lots of people swap photos and information .. so if you have got any pictures to share we’d love to see them.

      Best

      Vanessa

      Reply

  20. Bake for 1 hour at 220?C the an extra 15 mins at 180?C?

    Just checking: Most other recipes I’ve used have timings around 35/45mins. My attempts have always passed the ‘Tap’ test at these timings so your’s caught my eye. Does the crust just get thicker and thicker the longer the baking time?

    I’ll give it ago but just wanted some newbie reassurance.

    Reply

  21. Bake for 1 hour at 220?C then an extra 15 mins at 180?C?

    Just checking: most other recipes I’ve used have timings around 35/45mins. My attempts have always passed the ‘Tap’ test at these timings so your’s caught my eye. Does the crust just get thicker and thicker the longer the baking time?

    I’ll give it a go but just wanted some newbie reassurance.

    Reply

    • Hi Ian, yes the instructions are correct.. but please use a cloche or a Dutch oven. You can of course bake it for slightly less time, and this is fine, but I like my crusts and I was brought up on bread that came out of a wood fired oven, so I love dark thick crusts and a soft moist bouncy crumb… but it’s personal preference.
      Happy baking.
      Vanessa

      Reply

  24. I just made this with my three-week-old sourdough starter and it’s probably the best bread I’ve ever made. Previous problems — crust too light, crust too tough, crumb too cakey, crumb too wet — all gone away. The crust was perfect, crusty and crackly. I cooked it (and mixed it and proved it) in my Lekue silicone bread maker and after just 45 minutes @ 220°C it was deep brown so I didn’t bake any further. This is definitely one I will do again.

    Reply

  25. Afternoon Vanessa. I had a go at your basic recipe and produced a good looking loaf. I was trying your recipe before investing in a Cloche. The dough was proved over night in a colander as I don’t have a round banneton. Once baking was finished the crust was very brown and difficult to slice and more worrying the crumb was ‘rubbery’. As far as I know I followed your instructions to the letter. I should tell you I bake on a non-stick heated flat baking tray. Any idea what caused the crumb so rubbery?

    Regards

    Chris

    Reply

      • Thanks Vanessa for the advice. Purchased the lower protein flour you suggested and the next bake was certainly better.

        Reply

  26. Hello Vanessa

    I’m new to all this and have just begun making my first starter! I would like to find a fairly simple recipe, like the one above, as I hope to make sourdough bread a regular part of my life.

    In this recipe, the dough is mixed straight from the fridge, but on another site (cultures for health.com) it says that once starter has been put in the fridge it goes in to ‘hibernation’ and needs to be fed again and used about 4 hours after feeding when it’s at its most active. Does that not really matter?

    By the way, I am venturing in to sourdough as I have IBS and am told that the sourdough bread is much easier to digestion. So, would it be ok if I use spelt flour instead of wholemeal?

    Kind Regards
    Lucy

    Reply

    • Hi Lucy,
      Lovely that you have found the site and sourdough. If you read the recipe the dough is not mixed straight form the fridge. It does finish proving in the fridge, and it is fine to bake it straight from the fridge, once it is fully proved.
      You will also find that longer slower overnight fermentation will help make your sourdough more digestible. There are several articles on the website, including a recent one about spelt and another about sourdough digestibility in relation to IBS.
      Hope that helps.
      Happy baking.
      Vanessa

      Reply

  27. Made this with my month old starter, which I feed on stoneground rye and plain white flour, and it turned out fantastically! Previously I made the mistake of starting off trying to make really high hydration sourdough breads but decided to try something easier in the end. I let this rise in parchment paper in a tea towel lined colander and then baked it in a preheated Lodge cast iron combo cooker for just under 25 minutes wuth the lid on and then at a lower temp for around another half an hour. To avoid scorching the bottom I put a layer of dried chickpeas on the bottom of the Dutch oven for the bread to rest on. For the last 5 minutes of baking I took the bread out of the Dutch oven and let it go the rest of the way on the oven rack. The oven spring was perfect, and the crust turned out just how I like it – fairly tough, but not too thick and with a nice chewy texture biting into it. This is definitely a keeper! Thank you! 🙂

    Reply

  28. If I was out and about and wanted to use my breadmaker to knead the dough, can I add ALL the ingredients including the salt solution and then leave it to rise while out. Then I would shape it for the banneton when I get back and leave to rise over night?

    Reply

    • Hi Cathy,

      It’s been a long time since I baked sourdough in a bread maker .. but I used to work long hours in the city .. in another life .. so as I recall all I did was stir all the ingredients together and transferred to a bread maker. I then set the bread maker on an 8 hour delay. My bread maker has a 5 hour wholemeal setting. I seem to remember that it produced a great family sourdough loaf. I’d mix at 6pm and the bread would be ready at 7am the following morning filling her house with freshly baked sourdough bread smell – just in time for breakfast. You would, however have to check the size of your bread maker and adjust accordingly. Do let me know how you get on!
      Vanessa

      Reply

  29. Hi Vanessa,
    I’ve just started a total white flour “starter” as my son is not keen on rye and wholemeal flours. What a pity!
    For your basic sourdough recipe can I make the loaf with 500g white flour rather than 100g wholemeal and 400g white?
    Thank you.
    What a lovely site!

    Reply

    • yes you can .. but it might change the feel if the dough which is designed to allow beginner to have a dough that is relatively easy to handle. .. as the hydration is tempered by the wholemeal. which absorbs more of the water .. so if you find the dough hard to handle then just reduce the water by 15 grams.

      Reply

  30. Hi Venessa,

    I attempted the recipe and when I left it to autolyse for 2 hours, it turned into a slightly gooey batter slightly thicker than fish and chips batter. I’m trying to figure out what I did wrong.

    About the leaven… I keep my starter in the fridge. Do I feed it, leave it out for a few hours to bubble then scoop 2 tablespoons out, to be combined with the 50g of flour and 50g water for the leaven? or can I use 2 tablespoons of the starter straight from the fridge for the leaven?

    I live in Singapore and it’s pretty warm in the kitchen, could I have left the dough to autolyse too long?

    Thanks in advance for your help.
    Looking forward to making some of your awesome looking breads!

    Reply

    • Hi – I am guessing it might be a number of factors. Yes temperature is one reason, flour type is another. Try and make sure your scales are accurate too. It think it is more likely to be your flour .. but it is hard to tell from here… I do have a few Students I can ask in Asia, so let me know and I will put you in touch to find out what they are using.

      Reply

  31. Hey, I’ve tried this recipe three times. The bread comes out very tasty but its always rather dense and the crust is very hard. Do you know where i might be going wrong?

    Thanks so much, you’re a great resource ?

    Reply

    • I suspect it might be the flour you are using. Are you in the UK?
      Try using a roller milled flour to begin with as your main flour. Mulino Marino ( see shop on my website) 00 is wonderful. Also Doves Farm flour – it the green bag of strong bread four .. all about 13% protein. I mis that with some local organic stoneground flour for best flavour and added nutritional benefit.

      Reply

  32. I understand your recipe but I have arthritic hands and cannot knead by hand but have a machine with a dough hook, can you give me any hints, tips please.

    Reply

    • Please don’t mix or knead .. at all. A long slow fermentation will take care of this. If you email me I will send you a no knead technique ..the gluten will develop anyway. I promise.

      Reply

  33. Foolproof recipe that I use as the base for all my sourdough baking. I made another loaf using your recipe ( subbed out some white for spelt flour and added pumpkin seeds) this morning and it’s sat on the side now cooling and cracking away. I’m impatiently waiting to be able to cut it. Thanks Vanessa!

    Reply

      • Well you made it so simple! I just wish I could post a photo. I have another I’ve just taken out of the oven, it’s a little lighter on the crust than I would like but sadly my bread knife just isn’t up to the task of the deep brown extra crunchy crusts. Do you have any knife recommendations?
        Thanks again
        X

        Reply

  34. Hi, I made my first sourdough today, the basic recipe, but I found it hard to shape as it was a little wet, as in, sticky. It cooked fine and looked really good when it was baked. Very rustic looking which is appealing but I was wondering if the dough is supposed to be so wet? My local shop is a coop and I just used their branded flour as I didn’t have another choice. I wondered if the flour was an issue.

    Reply

      • Yes, I made it to the recipe. Since posting I have made this a few times and I reduced the water by 20ml and that helped. Either way, it turned out beautiful and I haven’t bought bread since. My family really love it too. Thanks for the great resource. I want to start experimenting with other recipes but I have been a bit afraid, I know silly, but I’m starting to get a little bit more confident. Thanks again!

        Reply

  35. Hi Vanessa

    I’m so excited about giving this sourdough in the next few days, once my starter is ready to use. I’m just wondering what you would advise if I haven’t got a Dutch oven or La Cloche? Would I need to adjust the timing?

    Thank you.

    Reply

  36. Hi Vanessa – recipe looks delicious. What is the recipe for the sourdough starter?! Thanks, Victoria

    Reply

  37. Hi Vanessa, how important is the oven temperature for sourdough to rise? Or is it all about the dough? My oven is quite old and I suspect might be losing heat and my bread comes our flat which makes me wonder if the two are related.

    Reply

  38. Hi,

    This may be a really silly questions but, does this recipe need a 500g or 1kg banneton to prove in?

    Thanks!
    Dani

    Reply

  39. SOrry – not sure if my previous comments posted or not.

    I was wondering if the 500g or 1kg bannetons are better for this recipe?

    Thanks

    Reply

  40. Hello,

    Thank you for the lovely – easy to follow recipe. Only question I have is when you say “cover with a damp tea-towel” do you mean that the damp cloth is actually touching the dough or is only covering the proving basket/bowl? From my experience the towel sticks a little to the dough if in contact (even when dusted with the flour)… Thanks!

    Reply

    • Hi Mary – your bowl needs to be big enough so the towel does not touch the dough. It is there to stop a kin for forming, especially on a dry day or centrally heated house.

      Vanessa

      Reply

  41. Hi Vanessa, after stumbling upon your website a while back I have been wanting to try to make my own sourdough. I finally ordered a fresh starter from Bakery Bits which I revived and then this weekend I tried to make my first breads using your basic sourdough recipe. I used Gilchester flour (wholemeal wheat and organic white) and a La Cloche but although my starter was very active the bread ended up being quite flat each time (no oven spring it seems like). The taste and the crust were really great though! I would love to be able to get more of boule shape but have no idea what I’m doing wrong. Do you know what the issue could be?

    Many thanks! Floor

    Reply

    • Hi Floor – you sound like you are most definitely over proving your bread. Gilchesters is very active and flavoursome and full on as it is full of nutrition and enzymes .. please speed up fermentation times.
      Vanessa

      Reply

  42. Thank you for such a simple and yet fabulous recipe….cannot fault it. 1st time I have tried a sourdough and so pleased with the end result. Wish I could post a pic

    Reply

  43. Hi, thanks for this recipe, it’s my first sourdough and going well. I am confused by the baking timings however. I am using a thick metal ‘baking stone’ and I am sure the hour at 220 + 15 mins at 180 is far too long (fan oven on bread setting with max steam being used). I have tried 220 for about 25 min and then 15 – 20 mins at 180. The bread is pretty good, but with a very thick and chewy crust. Can you give your thoughts. How would I get the same loaf, but with thinner crust and slightly less chewy crust?

    Reply

  44. Made a sourdough starter and fed it over the last two weeks. Followed your recipe this weekend. It’s probably the best bread I’ve ever made. Thank you x

    Reply

  45. I’m going to try this recipe as my first attempt at sourdough. I’ve bought a 2lb capacity banneton so should I increase the measurements by 50% or will the 1lb dough be ok in the banneton?

    Thanks
    Brenda

    Reply

  46. Hi Vanessa, I make a loaf of bread every day using your recipe on the internet – it is foolproof and delicious. I now have your book and I can honestly say it is the best cookbook I have ever had – thank you. I have one query though. With reference to the excess starter that accumulates every day, should I keep this in the fridge or leave it on the counter with the starter? By the way, the digestive biscuits (recipe in your book) using the excess sourdough are delicious!

    Reply

    • Hi Diana, What a lovely comment. Thank you.
      Keep your starter in the fridge. When you refresh you just use a spoon, the rest is discard, so perhaps keep this in another opt unit you are ready to use it. Your refreshed pot sits on the side for 8 hours to really get going — then you use it to make a leaven .. then like cinderella the party is over and it’s back in the fridge.
      Happy baking.
      Vanessa x

      Reply

      • Thanks for your reply. I have been keeping my starter out of the fridge as I tend to bake every day. In the morning I use 40g of it to build the levain; refresh the starter with 40g starter, 40g white/rye flour and 40g water and any starter that is left I put in a separate “excess” pot. This excess I have started to use in your recipes where you refer to “unrefreshed 1 week old” starter. Is it OK to add to it every day and should I keep this excess pot in the fridge until needed? As a matter of interest to other readers, I also add about 5g of diastatic malt to your recipe above and tweaked the flour to 350g white, 100 wholewheat and 45g rye – all organic stoneground. The bread is perfect and has a wonderful flavour. By the way, your article on gut microbes is so interesting and informative – thank you. Diana x

        Reply

  47. I’m trying out ur recipe….am taking it out from the fridge & into the hot oven..
    So anxious of the outcome…

    Reply

  48. Have made sourdough quite a few times with very variable results, this recipe worked first time and gave truly excellent results. It was easy to follow, the crust was crispy but not like a tortoise shell (as I have made all too often!). The texture was wonderful and even. Having made “normal” bread many times I found it hard to believe there was no kneading required, but hey it works. In contrast to many recipes I have seen this one shows a clear understanding of the sourdough process, I learned a lot from it – thanks.

    Reply

  49. I have been trying, on and off, to make a good sourdough loaf for a long time and must have made enough artisan bricks to build a house. Your recipe seemed nice and clear, so I thought it was time to try again. I mixed up the leaven after your instructions and last week I made a loaf. I was delighted with the result, although I didn’t make the slashes deep enough and it burst (no problem it tasted fine). This weeks loaf was a success and I think I might be hooked on this now!
    The recipe is easy to follow and inspires confidence in hopeless cases like myself. It also makes gorgeous bread.
    Thank you so much Vanessa!

    Reply

  50. Vanessa, THANK YOU for sharing this wonderful receipe. I am a total beginner and was blown away by the texture, taste and crunchiness of the sourdough. Your easy to follow receipe made the whole process very easy. I look forward to more sour dough adventures and thank you once again for your web site and enthusiasm. You are a joy.

    Reply

  51. Hi,
    I’m new to sourdough, after previously giving up on a white flour starter after very little activity after 10 days, I’ve now got a rye flour starter on day 4, yesterday it fre by 50% in 24 hours, so I think I’m getting somewhere! Can I make the recipe listed above with my rye starter and use white strong flour for the rest of the recipe? I’d rather not make a full rye flour sourdough ideally. If so do I need to adjust anything to work with a rye starter? Thanks.

    Reply

  52. Thank you for this lovely write-up! My wife and I are enjoy my sourdough practice rounds. Each one is getting better 🙂 .

    Reply

  53. I made a starter a few weeks ago and decided to try this recipe after having a disastrous experience with another recipe I found online. It was AMAZING! I was a bit skeptical about leaving the dough in the fridge overnight rather than letting it rise somewhere warm (which is what the other recipe told me to do) but the loaf turned out absolutely perfectly first time! Great trick to wrap it in a tea towel after taking it out of the oven too – it meant the crust was still crunchy but not so solid it would break out teeth! Such an easy recipe to follow and the loaf was gone within a day. This has now become my go-to recipe for an easy loaf

    Reply

  54. Hi Vanessa,

    I live in Hong Kong and only have a tiny oven! Do you think it would be possible to make this bread and halve the mixture before the overnight prove? Then bake it as two loaves?
    Thank you.

    Reply

  56. Hi Vanessa, thank you for creating a fantastic website, I have been inspired! and am in the process of making my very first sourdough using your recipe for both the starter and bread, my fingers and toes are crossed for the end result! I live in New Zealand and wonder is there a way to become a member without attending your courses as I would love to learn much more.

    Reply

  57. Hi there,

    Sorry if this is a stupid question – i assume when you say mix the bread that you don’t mean kneading it, just bringing it together. Is that right?
    Many thanks.

    Reply

  58. Vanessa, I’ve been baking Sourdough since last Summer and your two recipes, this one and the Friday Night one on the Bakery Bits website are the only two recipes which I’ve had favourable results with! So thank you for that 🙂 Just a couple of questions please: I’m trying the Marino Soffiata Type 00 flour next as I’d like a lighter, less dense loaf for sandwich type bread but worried about lack of flavour. Is it ok to go half/half with this and FWP Mathews Strong White stoneground flour so that I get the best of both worlds or do you recommend going all Soffiata? Also, with your Friday night recipe, is the salt correct? Its 10g but should it not be at least 20g, I find the loaf lacking in flavour because of it? I am tempted to add more however just want to check if its that little for a reason! Thank you!

    Reply

  59. Hi, Last week I received my sourdough starter and cloche from Bakery Bits, made my first loaf using your recipe which was included. Have to say the loaf looked wonderful and tasted pretty good, however, I would prefer a more irregular open crumb. Can you tell me please how I could achieve this.

    Reply

  60. Love this recipe, have baked about a dozen loaves using it and always delicious. Question: even with making large slashes before baking, the loaf expands so much that it “bursts” beyond the slashes. Any tips on what could be the cause?

    Reply

  61. Vanessa, I will be coming on one of your courses very soon. I have been using Mr H’s overnight sourdough recipe. I am going to have a go with this one. I have a cloche but my problem is oven temperatures. I have an Everhot range oven (storage heat) so it is not possible to turn down the temperature easily. Do you have any suggestions. I am baking at a far higher temperature than you recommend. Results are reasonable but I think there is definitely room for improvement.

    Reply

  62. I love, and am inspired by, your Instagram posts. I’ve been sourdough bread baking for a couple of years, and have had some good successes. I’m exited to try your basic sourdough recipe this weekend. I have one concern: the bake times. All my experience to date has had bake times of 20 minutes covered, then 20–25 minutes uncovered. Your formula calls for 70 to 75 minutes. Your oven temperatures are a little lower, but not by that much. Can you reassure me that I won’t end up with burnt or dried-out bread? I converted your celsius temperatures to fahrenheit, and arrived at 430 degrees covered for one hour, then uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes at 355 degrees. Did I miscalculate anything? Thanks!

    Reply

  63. Hi,

    I have been baking for years but only have done sourdough for a few months. I was getting good results with a recipe I kind of made up and suddenly everything would go wrong. I decided to start from scratch and found this recipe. Made it last night and just took the lid off of my bread in the DO but it’s still baking but I can tell it’s turned out great! I wasn’t sure whether the fridge proving needed to be covered so I went with covered. I got good oven spring. Obviously haven’t seen the crumb yet but I’m not fussed about it. I just want nice tasty bread for my family as I can’t get anything decent where I live. The bread rose beautifully and even if I didn’t get holes, I know the bread will taste awesome. The whole house smells like a bread shop. Thank you. Oh, I found I needed to add a bit more water to make the dough workable but as you said that comes down to feel and flour and temperature. Thanks again!!!

    Reply

  65. Thanks to your recipe I am now making very nice sourdough bread, which both looks and tastes good. However, I do find that it goes stale very quickly. I quarter the loaf and store three of the quarters in the freezer as it goes stale overnight. I store the fresh bread in a polythene bag in the bread bin. Also find that it is absolutely at it’s best on the day of baking or removal from the freezer by the next day it is dry. I always understood that sourdough was a better keeper than yeast breads. Am I doing something wrong.

    Reply

  66. Made this today and it is a great ‘go to’, no fuss reliable recipe. I put dough into fridge overnight then shaped and into banneton in morning for proving. Thanks! pic IG @simply_sourdough

    Reply

  67. Hi Vanessa,

    what is the difference between this basic recipe and the chart for The classic white sourdough boule in your book ?

    Many thanks …

    Reply

  68. Hi Vanessa

    Great website!

    I am about to bake my first loaf after having bought a starter on the internet. It’s been going now for 3 days with the flour and water that I have added after discarding some and is bubbling away nicely and smells good!

    I’m confused… is this what you call the leaven or is this still called a starter?

    Apologies if this is a really stupid question.

    Jane

    Reply

  69. Thanks , I have just been looking for information approximately
    this subject for ages and yours is the greatest I have came upon till now.
    But, what about the conclusion? Are you certain concerning the supply?

    Reply

  72. Yes, I refresh it every day. And I mixed a table spoon of it with 50g flour and 50g water. After mixing with flour I leave it for about 2.5 hours before I add salt mixture. After folding this 3 times I prove in the fridge over night or about 12 hours at about 4degrees.

    Reply

  73. Yes the leaven was refreshed as per the instructions three times, and was quite lively. I dusted the bannaton very well with the Soffiat 00 flour and the dough dropped out quite easily. I put the dough in the fridge at 9.30 the previous night and removed it at 8am and put it into the hot oven at 9am when it had reached temperature. I would say that I did find the dough quite heavy to work and wonder whether it needed more liquid in the mix although I followed the recipe to the letter. Many thanks for you very prompt reply. Wendy.

    Reply

  74. It really is dependent on your flour .. it like saying I’m driving a car how fast does it go? Just make minor adjustments to the hydration to find what suits your flour …

    Reply

  75. Hi Vanessa,
    I tried a number of different recipes but this one was the first that truly worked for me. I am using a terra cotta Roemertopf and it seems to help to keep the dough in shape and I get nice oven spring but can only make smaller loaves due to size of the Roemertopf. However, when I used today a MasonCash terracotta base with a dome to create a bigger loaf, the dough seems to loose it’s shape when transfering out of the proofing basket. The crust is till very crunchy and the bread still edible with sourdough type holes in it but it just is on the flat side. Is this due to overproofing or what could be the reason? I try to create enough tension when I shape the dough or do you think this is the problem?

    Reply

  77. Hi Vanessa,
    Love French, Italian and Greek breads. Your recipe sounds very simple and comments/tips are very helpful indeed. As I am trying to learn the soughdough technique, was wondering whether I could leave the dough at room temperature (atound 17-18C) for 8 hours instead of keeping it in a fridge? Furthermore, for a month now, I have been feeding my starter with rye and whole meal flour every 12 hours (50gr water + 50gr flour+ 50gr remaining starter) . Hence I want to know whether instead of making leaven I could add 100gr of my starter? I. e. 8hours after last fed? Many thanks. P. S. Btw it would be amazing idea to publish a book with recipes and techniques for soughdough bread in bread makers.

    Reply

  78. Hi Greg that book is out next week.
    Hard to tell about your questions as I am nit in your kitchen and have no idea of your ambient temperature of flour .. but have a go!
    Best Vanessa

    Reply

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