Homemade Artisan Sourdough Bread Recipe (2024)

Learn how to make beautiful crusty artisan sourdough bread at home! This recipe is suitable for beginners and advanced sourdough bread bakers.

2022 Update: I’ve decided to make my sourdough e-courses open and accessible to all and have moved all of the course materials to blog posts. The following instructions and recipe for my artisan sourdough bread are from 2020. My recipe and method for baking sourdough bread have since evolved, for instance, I use a high percentage of fresh-milled whole grain flours now. I will share my current method and recipe in a future blog post. The following sourdough bread recipe is a great starting point for making crusty artisan sourdough bread at home.

Course Intro:

Over the years so many of you have reached out with questions about baking sourdough bread. I’m so happy to be able to offer this step-by-step e-course of how I make my sourdough loaves for you to follow. If you’ve been wanting to bake with a sourdough starter and make artisan bread at home, this course is for you. I’ll teach you how to create a sourdough starter and keep it alive, and show you how I make my weekly crusty airy sourdough loaves.

Through a series of videos with detailed instructions and guidance, I will walk you through the recipe and process I follow to bake sourdough bread at home.

What you’ll get from this course:

• How to create artisan sourdough loaves from start to finish through a series of detailed videos
• Printable recipe card
• Baker’s Scheduling Options
• Recommended equipment and resources linked
• FAQ section

Step 1: Build a Leaven

Video Transcript:

The first step to making sourdough bread is to build a “leaven” which is no different than feeding your starter but is done separately to be used in a recipe.

For this recipe, we will need 100g of leaven, which will make 2 loaves. The feeding ratio is 2 parts of 100% hydration starter to 1 part flour and 1 part water. 100% hydration starter comprises equal parts flour and water by weight.

Measure 50 grams of your starter into a clean jar. Then add 20 grams of bread flour and 5 grams of rye flour for a total of 25 grams of flour. Then add 25 grams of water and mix vigorously to incorporate air into the mixture. A small rubber spatula is handy for this task and you can scrape down the sides of the jar with it.

The addition of rye flour increases the activity level of the wild yeasts and helps sourdough starters become highly active and ferment quickly. To break it down into percentages we are adding 80% bread flour and 20% rye flour to the total amount of flour.

Place a lid over the jar loosely. Then mark the level of the starter with a rubber band. Place the jar in a warm spot to ferment and become active and bubbly. It should triple in volume in about 1-3 hours, depending on the environment and climate, so check on it every so often to monitor its progress.

In the following video, I’ll show you how to autolyze the flour and water while the leaven becomes active.

Step 2: Autolyze Flour and Water

Video Transcript:

Now we will mix the flours and most of the water of our dough recipe together to “autolyze” or rest while the leaven becomes active.

The flours used in this recipe are the same as what we used in the starter: bread flour and rye flour. But here we will use 90% bread flour and 10% rye flour of a total of 1000g flour.

This recipe makes 2 loaves. Measure 900g of bread flour and 100g of rye flour into a large mixing bowl.

This dough is 80% hydration, which means the amount of water we add will equal 80% of the total amount of flour. For this recipe, we will add 800g water to 1000g flour.

But at this stage, we are only adding 750g of water. The other 50g will be added later when we mix in the salt. 80% is considered a high-hydration level and is a wetter dough. You can play around with hydration levels to find what works best for you. Beginner sourdough bakers often start out with a lower hydration level like 50% and then go up from there. Higher hydration dough tends to produce a more open crumb structure with bigger air pockets in the final loaves.

Start mixing the flours and water together. I’m using an old butter paddle to start and then switch to mixing by hand. You can also use a dough whisk, spoon or fork.

Squish the dough together to incorporate the flour and water. Use a flexible bowl scraper to clean down the sides of the bowl and help bring the dough together. The dough is super soft and sticky at this stage and will stick to your hands. Use the bowl scraper to get most of the dough off your hands.

Here’s a helpful trick to get the wet sticky dough off your hands. Sprinkle flour over the sticky bits and rub your hands together firmly, like you’re washing them, and the dough will fall off in little chunks. This helps to keep your sink and drain free of excess dough bits, which can act like glue.

Now we will cover the bowl with a wrap of some kind that will keep the dough moist. I like to use reusable beeswax wraps for this. Plastic wrap or a damp towel will also work. Leave the dough to rest while leaven becomes active, which, again, is going to be about 1-3 hours.

This resting period allows the flour to become hydrated and the dough to develop strong protein bonds and improved gluten structure, which ultimately improves the stability of the dough, increases oven-spring, and delivers a better-flavored loaf of bread.

Step 3: Add Leaven to Dough

Video Transcript:

It’s now been about 3 hours and our leaven is super active and bubbly and has tripled in volume. We are going to incorporate it into the dough by hand.

Use a rubber spatula to get it all out of the jar. Just start working it into the dough using your hand. You can do kneading motions where you pull the sides up and over or squish the dough and leaven together between your fingers.

Keep mixing this until the leaven is completely and evenly dispersed into the dough. The dough will still be super sticky at this stage.

Use a bowl scraper to scrape down the sides of the bowl and gather the dough together in a ball.

Now we’re going to let it rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour so the wild yeast can start working before we add the salt since salt inhibits yeast activity.

In the next video, we will add the salt and then cover the dough to bulk ferment.

Step 4: Add Salt to Dough

Video Transcript:

Now we are going to dissolve the salt in hot water, then left it cool to be added to the dough later on.

Measure 22 grams of kosher salt into a small bowl. If you use fine grain salt then reduce the amount to 18 grams.

Pour 50 grams of hot water over the salt

The hot water will help the salt dissolve faster. A tiny frothing whisk is handy for this task but a fork or spoon will work fine. Keep whisking until most of the salt dissolves. It’s ok if some salt grains don’t dissolve.

We do this step now so the water will be cool by the time we add it to the dough. Dissolving the salt in the water makes it easier to incorporate into the dough.

Ok, the dough’s been resting for about 1 hour and now we will add the salt water we prepped earlier.

Before we do this go ahead and stretch the dough out to the sides of the bowl to make a well in the center. Then swirl the salt water around to get the salt on the bottom moving and pour it into the well.

Use your hand to pull the dough up and over the water to create a little parcel, if you will. You can see how stretchy and elastic the dough has become already. That means the gluten strands are forming nicely.

Now start squishing the dough between your hands to mix the salt water into it. You can see that even with adding more water at this stage the dough is still not as sticky as wet we started. Use your bowl scraper to clean the side of the bowl and bring the dough together.

Now we will cover it back up and let it rest for 15 minutes before we do the first round of coil folds.

Step 5: Stretch-and-Folds

Video Transcript:

It’s been 15 minutes so now we will do the first set of coil folds, which are a type of stretch-and-folding. We do this to give strength and structure to the dough.

We are going to do 4 rounds of coil folds over the next hour at 15-minute intervals. Have a small bowl of water nearby to keep your hands wet, which will make it easier to handle the dough. First, loosen the dough from the sides of the bowl then tuck both hands under the dough and pull up to stretch the dough and then tuck in under itself in a coil motion. Do this about 3 times then turn the bowl 180 degrees and repeat the same stretching and tucking motions to the other side. Pull up stretch and tuck under.

Now turn the bowl 90 degrees and repeat the process. It may help to think of it in geographical terms: we just did north and south and now we’ll do east and west. You can see that with each pass the dough becomes easier to work with. This is because the gluten strands and protein bonds are becoming stronger with each fold.

Ok, the first round is done, so we will cover and rest the dough for 15 minutes.

Onto round 2 of coil folding. Remember to wet your hands. You can see the dough has relaxed a little during the resting time. Again we pull up and stretch the dough then tuck or coil it under itself.

The goal of coil folding or stretch and folding is to strengthen the dough so the final loaves will have an open airy crumb structure. During baking, the yeast will die and give off carbon dioxide gas, which will cause the dough to expand and form air pockets. The stronger the gluten strands are the larger those air pockets will expand, before breaking. It is the same idea as filling a balloon with air. A strong dough will create little balloons of air when it’s baked.

Again cover and rest the dough for 15 minutes between rounds.

Onto round 3. You can see the dough becomes stronger and easier to work with after each round. Follow the motions as before and remember to keep your hand wet so the dough does not stick to them.

Now we will do the 4th and final round of coil folds. The dough has become so much stronger than when we started. After the 4th round of folds, we will transfer it to a clean large mixing bowl to bulk ferment.

Use a bowl that is large enough to let the dough double in volume. Cover the dough and place it at room temperature.

Bulk fermentation will take about 8-12 hours depending on your climate. It may rise even faster if it’s in a very warm environment, so check on its progress every so often.

Step 6: Preshaping

Video Transcript:

The dough has been bulk fermenting for 8 hours at room temperature and you can see how soft and jiggly it’s come, and some nice big bubbles have started to form. This is what you are looking for.

The next step is to preshape your loaves. Dump out the dough onto a clean work surface. Use a bowl scraper to scrape out as much as you can.

Wet your hands again at this stage to make it easier to handle the dough. Use a bench scraper to divide the dough in half by eye.

Working with one half at a time coax the dough into a round shape using your hands and the bench scraper. Now lift the dough up with wet hands to help form it into a ball. This is similar to the coil fold motion we did earlier. Coax the dough into a round and let it sit.

Now do the other half. It’s going to be a little sticky because the dough has been resting for so long so wetting your hands will really help to handle the dough here.

Now we will leave these to bench rest uncovered for 30 minutes. During this time the dough will start to form a thin skin which will create surface tension for the final shaping.

Step 7: Shaping and Cold Retard

Video Transcript:

It’s been 30 minutes and you can see the dough has relaxed. Gather your materials for the final shaping. You’ll need 2 kitchen towels, 2 round bannetons or similar-sized bowls, flour for dusting, and a small strainer for sifting the flour.

First, let’s prep the bannetons or bowls. Lay a kitchen towel over the banneton and sift a thin layer of flour over the towel. I like to use a small strainer for this to get an even layer of flour. We do this to keep the dough from sticking to the towel. Repeat this process for the second vessel. Set them aside but nearby.

Now we will do the final shaping of the loaves. Again sift a light and even layer of flour over the top of the dough. Lightly flour the surface and your hands as well. Now use a bench scraper to help lift the dough up and flip it over so the floured side is facing down now.

Pull the dough with your hands to stretch it. Now with your hands on opposite sides stretch the dough out and tuck it into the center with a little pinch to seal it. Do this a few times until the dough forms into a round.

Now use your bench scraper to flip the dough back over with the seam side now facing down. With floured hands coax the dough into a tight round. Nudge and gently tuck it as you turn it with your hands.

Place a banneton next to the dough and use the bench scraper to lift it up and flip it over once more. Place it seam side up into the banneton. Now dust a very light layer of flour over the seam just so the dough does not stick to the towel. Fold the ends of the towel inward to cover the dough.

Now let’s shape the next loaf. Sift a little flour on top. Use the bench scraper to lift and flip the dough over. Stretch the dough out at opposite ends and tuck it into the center. Turn and repeat stretching and tucking until the dough forms a round shape. Then use the bench scraper again to flip the dough seam side down. With floured hands coax the dough into a tight round, gently nudging and tucking the dough into a tight round as you turn it with your hands.

Place the other banneton nearby and use the bench scraper to lift and flip the dough, placing it seam side up into the banneton. Dust the top with a very light layer of flour and cover it with the ends of the kitchen towel.

These will go into the refrigerator for a long slow second fermentation, a process called retarding, meaning to slow the fermentation. We will let this loaves retard for anywhere from 8-24 hours, depending on what works best with your schedule. A long slow cold fermentation will improve the flavor of the final loaves.

Step 8: Scoring

Video Transcript:

Let’s go over the tools and equipment we’ll need to score and bake our loaves.

2 sheets of parchment paper.

A bread lame and razor to score the dough. Here are several options. These long ones have handles and a slightly curved tip that you can slide a razor blade onto. Bend the blade between your thumb and finger and slip the lame through the holes in the center of the blade. This wheel-shaped bread lame is another option. All of these items are linked in the course notes on the shop page

If you want to make decorative cuts you will need flour and a small strainer to sift it through as we did before.

A pastry brush is also handy to brush away excess flour.

We’re going to bake the loaves in cast iron Dutch ovens. Seasoned cast iron or enameled cast iron finishes will work. Make sure the handles and lids are heat-proof at high temperatures. The lidded dutch ovens will hold in steam to create the best baking environment for crusty artisan bread baked in a home oven.

Here are our loaves after about 12 hours of retarding in the refrigerator. You can see how they’ve puffed up nicely and are soft.

Place a sheet of parchment paper over the banneton and hold it down against the sides. Then lift the banneton up and flip it over. Lift off the banneton and then gently peel off the kitchen towel. You want to do this straight from the fridge while the loaves are still cold. If you let them sit at room temperature for a time they might start to stick to the towel.

Brush away any excess flour. We’re going to make a simple deep cross-cut in the center of the loaf. The purpose of slashing the bread like this is to control the direction in which the bread expands during baking. This expansion is called “oven spring”.

Now we’ll lift the loaf up by grabbing the ends of the parchment paper and pop it into the dutch oven. You do not need to preheat the dutch oven. Some people do, but I’ve found that it doesn’t make enough of a difference to risk severely burning your hand or forearm on extremely hot cast iron. Place the lid on the dutch oven and move on to the next loaf.

Now we’ll try a decorative pattern. Dusting the top of the loaf with flour first will give more contrast to the cuts and make them more visually appealing. Brush away any excess flour. Make light shallow slashes for any decorative cuts. Take your time and breathe. You got this. Always do shallow cuts first and deep slashes last. Pop it into the dutch oven and place the lid on.

In the next video, we’ll cover the process of baking our loaves.

Step 9: Bake Loaves

Video Transcript:

Turn your oven on and set the temperature to 500˚F or 260˚C and let it preheat for about 30 minutes before you take the loaves out of the fridge to score them.

Bake them in the Dutch ovens for 35 minutes with the lids on. Then carefully remove the lids. You should see a burst of steam when you remove the lids.

To achieve an even bake all around, carefully transfer the loaves to a sheet pan at this point to finish baking. This will ensure the bottom crust does not burn. You can also leave them in the dutch ovens to continue baking but may end up with a very dark or burnt bottom crust.

Lower the temperature to 450˚F or 230˚C to finish baking for another 15 minutes. The crust will darken and develop flavor during this time.

You may have to play around with the oven temperature as every oven is a bit different.

Here are our finished loaves. Transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool for at least 1 hour before you cut into them. I know it’s hard, but if you cut them while they are still hot the crumb will become gummy.

The loaves have cooled to room temperature and now we can cut into them to see the crumb structure. Through the techniques and methods detailed in this course, we’ve achieved beautiful artisan sourdough loaves baked in a home kitchen. The crumb is open, light, and airy. The crust is dark, blistered, and crackly. The flavor is deep and nuanced and has just the right amount of sourness thanks to long slow fermentation. The aroma of freshly baked bread with malted caramel notes that will your kitchen as the crust darkens in the oven is pure heaven.

Thank you for joining me on this sourdough bread adventure. Explore the rest of the course materials for a printable recipe, schedule guides, a glossary and FAQ section, and links to suggested resources and equipment to make your best loaves at home.

Baking Schedule Guides

Option 1: 2 Days

Day 1:

• Early morning: Make leaven and autolyze
• Mid-morning: Mix leaven into dough
• Late morning: Mix salt into the dough
• Midday: Do stretch-and-folds
• Midday into the evening: Bulk ferment
• Evening: Preshape, bench rest, and shape loaves
• Overnight: Cold retard in the refrigerator

Day 2:

• Morning: Score and bake loaves

Option 2: 3 Days

Day 1:

• Afternoon: Make leaven and autolyze
• Early evening: Mix leaven into dough
• Evening: Mix salt into the dough
• Evening: Do stretch-and-folds
• Overnight: Bulk ferment

Day 2:

• Morning: Preshape, bench rest, and shape loaves
• Morning: Cold retard in the refrigerator for 24 hours

Day 3:

• Morning: Score and bake loaves

Recipe FAQs