Best 7 Old Time Sourdough Bread Recipes

TOP 10 SOURDOUGH BREAD RECIPES, PLUS RYE SOURDOUGH

Steps:

• Before beginning, it will be helpful to watch these SHORT VIDEOS to see me make this bread so you see that the dough will be stickier than normal, but it will come together - you just have to trust!
• Add starter, water, and honey to a bowl. Whisk thoroughly until combined, with a fork. Add flours, and mix together first with the fork to start to incorporate, then with your hands until a shaggy dough is formed, and the bits of flour left just disappear. Sprinkle the salt on top and do not mix in, just leave it on top. Cover with a damp cloth.
• Autolyse: let dough sit for one hour, covered and undisturbed.
• Bulk ferment: Now you will knead the salt that is sitting on top, into the dough for about 1 min 15 seconds. There is no precise way to do this, just think of working the dough through your hands and up against the bowl, push and pull. You will start to feel the dough relax a bit around 1 minute. Continue for about 15 or 30 seconds more. Then leave the dough alone, covered, for 30 minutes. This counts as what would be your first set of stretch and folds.
• After those 30 minutes pass, perform a set of stretch and folds. Repeat 2 more times.
• Now you will let sit, undisturbed and covered with a damp cloth, for about 7ish hours at 70 degrees F. If the temperature in your home is above 70, this will take less time, vice versa. You will know it is finished with its bulk ferment when the dough has risen about double, is smooth and puffy on top, with a few bubbles. It will not be as jiggly as some sourdough you've made before.
• At this point, lightly dust your work surface with flour. Put dough onto the work surface, and pre-shape. This video will show you what that means. Let sit for 15 minutes on your work surface.
• Then shape your dough, using this method as a guide.
• Place dough into your flour dusted banneton, (or flour dusted linen lined banneton) seam side up. (Optional, you can wait 15 minutes after placing it in banneton, and pinch the perimeters of the dough into the center to hold the shape even more, called stitching.) The dough will now go through its final rise. You can do this on the counter, which will take about 2 hours at 70 degrees F for the dough to puff up and be jiggly. It will not quite double. OR you can do the final rise overnight in the refrigerator, with the banneton covered in a plastic bag or with a very damp cloth. You need this for holding moisture in.
• Time to bake. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F, with your dutch oven preheating inside the oven. When the oven is preheated, flip your dough out gently onto parchment paper and score your dough. If you did the final rise in the refrigerator, take it straight from fridge to scoring. You should score it cold, and DO NOT need to let it come to room temp.
• Then put dough into the dutch oven on the parchment, and put cover on. Turn oven down to 450 degrees F and slide dutch oven in. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove cover.
• Turn heat down to 430 degrees F, and bake for 25 more minutes, until crust is golden brown and crackly. Remove from oven, and remove bread from dutch oven and place onto a cooling rack.
• Wait AT LEAST one hour to cool otherwise, the interior will be gummy.

COUNTRY SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• If your starter has been fed the day before, then skip this step and go right to the "Day Two" step.
• The night before mixing up the dough, remove 1 Tablespoon Starter from your jar of Sourdough Starter and place into a bowl.
• Add all purpose flour, whole wheat flour and warm water.
• Combine until flour is absorbed.
• Place plastic wrap or use a baggie and cover. Leave in a warm spot overnight.
• In a mixing vessel add Levain (or fed sourdough starter, water and flour and mix with fingers just until incorporated. Do not over mix.
• Cover and let Autolyse for 30-40 minutes. (leave the dough undisturbed)
• Add salt and water and integrate by pinching the dough with your finger (water will not immediately integrate, but will with each stretch and fold).
• Think of the bowl of dough as a square. You want to pull each side of the dough to about 3/4 to the other side. Turn the bowl after each "stretch and fold" until you have stretched and folded all four sides.
• Over the next three hours, do this stretch and fold every 30-45 minutes.
• The dough will change from a slipper and sticky dough to a billowy dough with air pockets. DO NOT PUNCH DOWN THE DOUGH at any time.
• At the end of three hours, The dough will be elastic and resilient and be able to pass the window pane test. If it is not not, do one more stretch and fold.
• Once the dough is billowy, cover the dough and bench rest in the bowl for at least an hour or until it has risen by at least 30 percent.
• Transfer dough to a work surface and dust top with flour.
• Cut dough into 2 equal pieces and flip over.
• Fold the cut side of each piece up onto itself so the flour remains on the outside.
• Using your bench knife in one hand, rotate the dough and work it into a very taut round. Set the first dough aside and do the same with the next dough.
• Cover the dough with a flour sack towel and bench rest 30 minutes.
• Dust rounds with whole-wheat flour or rice flour.
• Flip them over so floured sides are facing down.
• Take first round and fold it into itself like an envelope.
• Second shaping - Flip dough over and shape into smooth, taut ball by pulling the dough towards the body to tighten. Repeat with other round.
• Dust two Round Bannetons or Oval Bannetons with white/whole wheat or rice flour.
• Transfer rounds, seam-side up, to prepared baskets. Cover with a towel or plastic bag and place in refrigerator overnight, 10 to 12 hours.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and proof (allow to rise) at room temperature for 1-2 hours.
• Place baking stone, baking vessel or Dutch Oven into oven and preheat to 500 degrees at least 4- minutes prior to baking.
• Dust top of dough, still in the Banneton, with rice flour or wheat flour.
• Remove baking vessel from oven and turn dough into vessel. (Alternatively, turn dough onto parchment paper, score and then place on pizza stone or into baking vessel in oven.)
• With a bread lame, score (slice into dough about 1/2 inch) the dough. Score in a circle or make an X on the top of the dough.
• Cover the dough and bake for 20 minutes.
• Remove cover and bake an additional 15-20 minutes.

EASY HOMEMADE SOURDOUGH BREAD RECIPE FROM 1869

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and salt, stirring until combined.
• Add sourdough starter, molasses (or sugar), and water, stirring until combined. Unlike other bread recipes, the dough for this bread will feel wet and sticky rather than dry.
• (Optional: If you do not want any sour flavor or tang in your finished loaf, add the 1/2 tsp. of baking soda and mix until well combined. Be aware, though, that the bread will not be true sourdough bread with the addition of the baking soda.)
• Knead the wet dough for a minute or two. This part will be messy. I usually just keep the dough in the bowl to knead it to avoid extra mess on the counter. This type of bread doesn't need to be kneaded as thoroughly as other bread recipes.
• Place dough into a greased 9x5 inch bread pan. Cover with a damp dish cloth or tea towel, with another dry towel over it and let rise for about 8-14 hours, or until fully risen. You want the dish towel touching the bread to stay damp because that will help to prevent the top of the dough from drying out and forming a crust, which could prevent the dough from rising as much. (I find it convenient to prepare my bread dough in the evening and then bake it the next morning.)
• Once it has risen, the dough should be light and fluffy and form an indentation when you press your finger into it. (If you have a glass bread pan, you can see little bubbles in the dough through the sides and bottom of the pan.)
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 45-50 minutes or until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when you tap on it.

CHEF JOHN'S SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• Measure out starter into a bowl. Add water, salt, and bread flour. Mix until ingredients are well blended into a very sticky dough. Cover with aluminum foil; let rest 4 hours at 70 to 75 degrees F (22 degrees C).
• With wet hands, fold dough over on itself 3 or 4 times. Cover with foil and allow dough to ferment for 2 more hours.
• Generously dust a bread form with rice flour (see Chef's Note for banneton substitution).
• Scrape dough out onto a lightly floured work surface (you can use bread flour or all-purpose flour). Shape into a ball with a smooth, unbroken surface, using just enough flour on the surface to keep it from sticking. Transfer smooth-side down to banneton. Pinch together the rougher edges of the surface toward the center to smooth them and maintain the round ball shape.
• Cover and refrigerate 12 hours to slow the fermentation process.
• Remove loaf from the refrigerator and let it rise in a warm spot until the dough springs slowly back and retains a slight indentation when poked gently with a finger, about 3 to 5 hours.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Dust surface of dough with flour. Gently invert banneton over the baking sheet and transfer dough onto parchment paper. Gently brush off excess rice flour. Score the top of the dough about 1/8-inch deep with a sharp knife to create a shallow slit running across the center. Mist entire surface lightly with water.
• Bake in the center of preheated oven until beautifully browned, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Transfer to a rack to cool completely (do not slice loaf while it is still warm).

GRANDMA'S SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• Soften yeast in warm beer. Blend in 2 cups of the flour, Grandma's starter, sugar, butter and salt. Combine 1 cup of the flour and the baking soda; stir into flour-yeast mixture.
• Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can with a wooden spoon. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (5 to 8 minutes total).
• Place in greased non metallic bowl; turn once. Cover; let rise till double in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Punch down; divide dough in half. Cover; let rest 10 minutes.
• Shape into two oblong or round loaves.
• Place on greased baking sheet which has been sprinkled with yellow corn meal. Cover; let rise till almost double in size, about 1 hour. brush with a little water. Make diagonal slashes across tops of the loaves.
• Twenty minutes before rising is complete pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.

HOW TO MAKE SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• First, make your starter. In a large bowl, mix together 100g of the flour with 125ml slightly warm water. Whisk together until smooth and lump-free.
• Transfer the starter to a large jar (a 1-litre Kilner jar is good) or a plastic container. Leave the jar or container lid ajar for 1 hr or so in a warm place (around 25C is ideal), then seal and set aside for 24 hrs.
• For the next 6 days, you will need to 'feed' the starter. Each day, tip away half of the original starter, add an extra 100g of flour and 125ml slightly warm water, and stir well. Try to do this at the same time every day.
• After 3-4 days you should start to see bubbles appearing on the surface, and it will smell yeasty and a little acidic. This is a good indicator that the starter is working.
• On day 7, the starter should be quite bubbly and smell much sweeter. It is now ready to be used in baking.
• Tip the flour, 225ml warm water, the salt, honey and the starter into a bowl, or a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir with a wooden spoon, or on a slow setting in the machine, until combined - add extra flour if it's too sticky or a little extra warm water if it's too dry.
• Tip onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 mins until soft and elastic - you should be able to stretch it without it tearing. If you're using a mixer, turn up the speed a little and mix for 5 mins.
• Place the dough in a large, well-oiled bowl and cover. Leave in a warm place to rise for 3 hrs. You may not see much movement, but don't be disheartened, as sourdough takes much longer to rise than a conventional yeasted bread.
• Line a medium-sized bowl with a clean tea towel and flour it really well or, if you have a proving basket, you can use this (see tips below). Tip the dough back onto your work surface and knead briefly to knock out any air bubbles. Shape the dough into a smooth ball and dust it with flour.
• Place the dough, seam-side up, in the bowl or proving basket, cover loosely and leave at room temperature until roughly doubled in size. The time it takes for your bread to rise will vary depending on the strength of your starter and the temperature in the room, anywhere from 4-8 hrs. The best indicators are your eyes, so don't worry too much about timings here. You can also prove your bread overnight in the fridge. Remove it in the morning and let it continue rising for another hour or 2 at room temperature. The slower the rise, the deeper the flavour you will achieve.
• Place a large baking tray in the oven, and heat to 230C/210C fan/gas 8. Fill a small roasting tin with a little water and place this in the bottom of the oven to create steam. Remove the baking tray from the oven, sprinkle with flour, then carefully tip the risen dough onto the tray.
• Slash the top a few times with a sharp knife, if you like, then bake for 35-40 mins until golden brown. It will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Leave to cool on a wire rack for 20 mins before serving.

SLOW, LAZY SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• Combine starter into water, stirring until starter is fully dispersed.
• Combine salt with flour in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, turn on low speed, and slowly add water / starter mixture (see video "Lazy Mixing and Kneading").
• After fully combined, set mixer to medium speed and allow it to knead dough for 3 - 5 minutes until dough is forming a relatively smooth ball around the hook.
• Transfer dough into a mixing bowl or rising bucket and let sit until dough just starts to visibly rise (~ 6 - 8 hours). At this point you may optionally want to perform one or two rounds of stretching and folding (separated by half an hour) to build some strength / tension in the dough. I usually do this, but it's not a hard requirement.
• Keep an eye on the rising dough, checking in with it at least once an hour.
• When it has risen to twice its initial volume (or whenever you feel the bulk proofing has come to a good ending point), prepare a lined proofing basket by flouring the inside and set it aside.
• Moisten a work surface with a small amount of water, moisten your hands, and turn the dough out onto the moist work surface.
• Build tension and shape the dough into your preferred shape (boule, batard, oblong) and then transfer into the proofing basket, cover and place in the refrigerator for 12 - 16 hours. The length of this cold second proof can be stretched to suit your schedule. Shoot for a minimum of 12 hours, but the maximum can be pretty long; 24, 36, maybe even 48 hours would probably be fine.
• When ready to bake, pre-heat oven and baking vessel to 450f.
• Transfer cold dough into pre-heated baking vessel* and score as you like.
• Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 450f.
• Reduce oven temperature to 375f, uncover and bake for an additional 25 minutes.