No Knead Sourdough Bread
There is nothing better than freshly baked bread! This No Knead Sourdough Bread recipe has everything you need to make the very best homemade bread. Crispy crust and soft interior, it's truly delicious and so much better than anything you can buy!
Ingredients
Firm Starter
- ¾ cup bread flour
- ¾ cup [sourdough starter]
- ⅛ cup water
Bread
- All of the Firm Starter
- 9 ounces water
- ½ teaspoon barley malt syrup or honey optional
- 2 ⅓ cups bread flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
Instructions
To Make the Firm Starter:
- Combine flour and starter in a glass mixing bowl.
- Mix until well combined.
- Add water, if needed, to get a soft, pliable dough.
- Place in a clean glass bowl or plastic container and cover.
- Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 4 hours.
- Place in refrigerator overnight.
To Make the Bread Dough:
- Remove the firm starter from the refrigerator about an hour before you are ready to start.
- In a large glass bowl, combine all of the Firm Starter and the water.
- Stir until smooth.
- Add malt syrup and stir in.
- Add bread flour and work in until it forms a rough dough.
- Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.
- Add salt.
- Work through dough until evenly distributed.
- Place the dough in a lidded plastic bucket (or clean glass bowl) and snap on the lid (or cover the bowl with plastic wrap).
- Turn the dough every 30 minutes for 3 hours, for a total of 6 times. (See step-by-step photos, above.)
- Leave it alone to finish rising. It's done when the dough has doubled in bulk. This should take another hour or so, depending on your kitchen temperature.
- Turn the dough out onto your work surface.
- Using a bench knife to pull the dough under, work it into a round with a taught top.
- Place a damp cloth over the dough. Let rest for 30 minutes.
- While dough is resting, heavily flour a lined 9-inch banneton. Set aside.
- Uncover the dough and turn using an envelope fold (fold the bottom up, fold each of the sides in, and then fold the top down and under the dough).
- Use a bench knife to once again tuck the dough into a round and pull it tight across the top.
- Lift dough using a bench knife and place dough in the prepared banneton, bottom side up.
- Cover with plastic wrap or a plastic shower cap, set aside to proof for 1 hour, and place in the refrigerator overnight.
- *The next day, place a Dutch oven (or similar style pan) in the oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and remove the plastic covering.
- Being extremely careful, turn the dough directly into the heated Dutch oven.
- Using a lame, razor blade, or sharp knife, slash the top of the bread.
- Immediately put the lid on and close the oven.
- Reduce heat to 450 degrees and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove lid and bake for another 10-20 minutes, until dark brown.
- Remove to a cooling rack.
*Alternate Instructions For Using A Baking Stone Instead Of A Dutch Oven:
- Instead of a Dutch oven. place a baking stone on the middle rack and a heavy pan (I use a cast iron skillet) on the bottom rack and preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- When you are ready to bake, turn your dough onto a piece of parchment paper or onto a peel or sheet pan that has been coated with semolina. Slash your dough.
- Transfer to baking stone and pour 2 cups water in cast iron pan.
- Close door and bake for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 450 degrees and continue to bake for another 20-25 minutes.
Notes
- The barley malt syrup is optional, but contributes to the browning when baking!
- Glass mixing bowls are gonna be your best friend when making this bread. Sourdough reacts better to glass.
- A wetter dough will have a better hole structure, but it is more difficult to work with. This recipe is that perfect in between! You may need a little water when shaping the dough to ensure it doesn't stick to the bench knife or your hand.
- One of the most common mistakes for new bakers is under-proofing. Follow along with the times and recipe, and your bread should turn out perfectly every time!
- If the dough splits, or something else goes wrong, set the dough aside, cover it back up, and let it rest again!
- If you already have a sourdough starter and it seems to be a little sluggish/doesn't have that healthy smell, I recommend giving it about a week or so of really working to revive it. You can find out how/more tips HERE!
- If you're new to this and don't have a mature stater, don't fret! The age of the starter doesn't effect the baking. Just the flavor. Like I stated above, the older the starter, the stronger sourdough flavor your bread will have.
- It takes a lot of time working with a bench knife to get used to using it to shape the bread! Don't be upset if it doesn't always come out perfectly. Just keep practicing!
- It may help to wet your bench knife or spray it with cooking spray to prevent it from sticking to the dough when shaping and moving the dough.
- When scoring your bread, don't cut too deep! You don't want to deflate the bread.
- Make sure you preheat your oven to 500 degrees.
- Rice flour works the best to flour banneton to prevent sticking.
- If you don't have a dutch oven or a combo cooker, you can use a pizza stone to bake the bread!
Nutrition
Serving: 1loafCalories: 1656kcalCarbohydrates: 339gProtein: 52gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gSodium: 3201mgFiber: 10gSugar: 34g
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.