Name: No Knead, Rustic Sourdough
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 45 min
Ingredients: 50 grams ripe sourdough starter; 200 grams water, room temperature (about 3/4 cup (plus 2 Tablespoons)); 200 grams all purpose flour (about 1 1/3 cups); 230 grams leaven (about 1 cup); 400 grams water, room temperature (about 1 3/4 cups); 600 grams bread flour or all purpose (see recipe note) (about 4 1/2 cups); 12 grams salt (about 2 teaspoons)

I am the type of person who likes to do things really, really well the first time. I always want the best of the best and I like to “shoot for the stars.” This can be a good quality but it also has its downsides. Sometimes I won’t try if I don’t think I can do it well enough. Sometimes I bypass the “easy” and “beginner” recipes for the more complicated ones and miss out on some really great bread, like this no knead, rustic sourdough.

Jump to No Knead, Rustic Sourdough Recipe

Perfect Beginner Sourdough Bread

No knead, rustic sourdough is the perfect beginner recipe for a delicious loaf of crusty sourdough bread. It will produce an addictive, crunchy crust and a yummy middle. It doesn’t take much active time, just a lot of “hands off” time and you can have a delicious loaf of bread with no commercial yeast. This bread is no-knead and even the newest bakers can make it and treat their families and loved ones to some of the best bread right out of your home oven. Basically, it’s the perfect starter recipe. In some ways I wish I had learned to make this recipe when I first learned about sourdough because it would have been helpful to understand some basics before trying to wrap my mind around “more advanced” techniques. I also love how simple this bread is and that you can keep the dough in your fridge for up to two days before baking. Fresh-baked bread on demand?! Sign me up! If you are new to sourdough, this recipe is for you!

Sourdough Basics

If you are a sourdough beginner, it’s important to understand a couple basics. People will often use different terms when talking about the rising agent in sourdough. You will see recipes on the internet or in cookbooks that talk about starter and leaven (levain in French). The makeup of these is basically the same…flour, water and natural yeast/bacteria. The purpose of them is different.

Sourdough Leaven Explained

A sourdough starter can be thought of as the “mother” (maybe you have heard of the term “mother yeast?). You keep the “mother” at the same level, re-feeding it weekly by getting rid of the discard and adding flour and water to the “mother” starter. Anytime you want to make bread, you take a portion of the “mother” and create leaven with it (the offspring of the mother). The leaven is the yeast that is actually used in the bread. It is an offshoot of the “mother yeast.” The process of building the leaven looks the same as the starter. Take a small amount of the sourdough starter (“mother”), add flour and water as dictated by the recipe and allow it to rise and ferment over the course of a few hours or overnight. This is a new leaven. The leaven is what you will use when you make your loaf of bread.

Starter in my jar on the left, leaven ready to put into a recipe on the right

Said another way, your leaven is “built” using a small portion of your starter. In all my sourdough recipes, I keep my “mother” starter separate from my leaven. I always build a leaven (using the starter) for the recipe. Clear as mud?! You can also look at few of my other sourdough posts for more information on working with sourdough.

Making the Bread

I like to mix my leaven the night before I plan to make the bread. I let my leaven sit out, covered, on the counter overnight and then it is ready to use in the morning to mix the bread dough. After mixing the dough, you will spend the day doing a series of stretch and folds and letting the sourdough work in the dough to create air and gas bubbles. In the recipe notes I have an option to bake the bread the same day as you are developing the dough. This works but the flavor will be better if you can put it in the fridge overnight or up to 48 hours. To watch the recipe start to finish on IGTV click here.

Dutch Oven

One more important note about this recipe and about artisan sourdough bread is that you will need a dutch oven. A dutch oven helps trap the steam which gives your loaf of bread a beautiful “oven spring” and rise. If you don’t have a dutch oven or a bread and potato pot (my new favorite, affiliate link) and want to bake sourdough, you can try using a pizza stone (affiliate link). The pizza stone may not give quite the same results, but they should be good if you follow these steps: Throw in a few handfuls of ice cubes at the bottom of your oven right before you close the oven door to bake your loaf. This will generate some steam and give you some crust and rise. I do highly recommend investing in a dutch oven if you can and are planning to make this bread. It is worth it. The caramelized crust and delicious flavor with a hint of sourdough are perfect when paired with some soft butter or a dollop of jam.

No Knead, Rustic Sourdough

The perfect no knead, rustic sourdough bread for beginners! This recipe will produce a crunchy crust, yummy middle and it does all the work itself in this relatively hands-off sourdough made with no commercial yeast. It's the perfect starter recipe if you are new to sourdough.

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Prep Time 25 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

Resting/Rising Time 23 hrs

Course Bread, Sourdough

Cuisine American

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

Leaven (8 hour rise)

50 grams ripe sourdough starter
200 grams water, room temperature about 3/4 cup (plus 2 Tablespoons)
200 grams all purpose flour about 1 1/3 cups

Dough (8-36 hour rise)

230 grams leaven about 1 cup
400 grams water, room temperature about 1 3/4 cups
600 grams bread flour or all purpose (see recipe note) about 4 1/2 cups
12 grams salt about 2 teaspoons

Instructions

Build the Leaven

To a bowl or large jar add 50 grams of starter, 200 grams of water and 200 grams of flour. Mix together. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 5-8 hours until the mixture has doubled in size (this will take longer in a cold kitchen and speed up in a warm environment).
Once the leaven has doubled in size it is ready to use. At this point you can do the float test to see if it is ready to use. Drop a small piece of the leaven in a glass of water. If it floats, it is ready. If not, leave it to sit a little longer. If you decided to mix your leaven the night before, let it sit out covered on the counter overnight. In this case you don't need to worry about the float test.

Sourdough Bread

Mix 230 grams of ripe leaven (you will have some leftover), room temperature water, flour and salt in a bowl using a wooden spoon or dough whisk (affiliate link). The dough will look “shaggy” but will come together.
Cover the bowl and let it sit for an hour. After an hour, uncover the bowl and do a series of three "fold-and-turns". To do this, pick up the underside of the dough and fold it on top of itself, turning the bowl after each fold and picking up a different section of the dough to fold and turn. An example of this folding technique is found here (halfway through the video).
Cover the bowl again and let it rest for another hour. Notice how the dough is coming together. It doesn’t feel shaggy anymore and is becoming more stretchy and cohesive. For the second time, do the series of three folds.
Cover the bowl again and let it rest for its third and final hour. Repeat the series of three folds.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and put it in the refrigerator to rest overnight. The dough can stay in the refrigerator for 8 to 48 hours. See recipe notes for instructions on baking the same day.
The next morning (or whenever you are ready to bake your bread), put a dutch oven (affiliate link and see recipe notes for more options) into your oven with the lid on and set the oven to 500 degrees. Preheat the dutch oven by leaving it in the oven for 50 minutes.
Immediately after setting the dutch oven to preheat, pull out a piece of parchment paper. Take your dough out of the fridge and shape into a round ball. Do not punch down the dough, just lightly form with the palms of your hands. It should be fairly easy to work with because it is cold.
When your dutch oven has preheated for 50 minutes, score the top of your bread with a bread lame (affiliate link), sharp knife or razor.
Take the dutch oven out of the oven. Warning: This is a VERY HOT dutch oven. Keep those oven mitts on and be very careful not to burn yourself. Take the top off the dutch oven and place the dough and parchment paper into the dutch oven. Place the top back on the dutch oven and close the oven door.
Immediately decrease the baking time to 450 degrees and bake for 25 minutes.
After 25 minutes, take the top off the dutch oven and continue baking for 20 more minutes. This will produce the crisp crust you are looking for.
Pull your bread out of the oven. Wait (if you can) to cut into it until your bread has cooled. Enjoy!

Notes

Bread Flour: If you don’t have bread flour on hand, you can substitute all purpose flour and vital wheat gluten. Use 600 grams of all purpose flour and add a Tablespoon vital wheat gluten.

Instructions for Baking without Refrigerating the Dough: The sourdough flavor comes through the most and is more complex the longer you refrigerate the dough. If you want to bake the bread immediately without refrigerating, once you finish your series of stretch and folds, let the dough rest in the container a couple of hours to rise. Once it is puffed up and doubled in size, preheat the oven and pot. Gently shape the dough into a round ball, doing your best not to deflate the dough. Cover and let sit for another hour while the oven preheats. Then score and bake according to the recipe.

Dutch Oven: This is the dutch oven I have used for many years. I recently purchased this bread and potato pot and love the bake I get with it. If you don’t have a dutch oven you can also heat a pizza stone to 500 degrees. Once the pizza stone is pre-heated, throw a handful of ice cubes into the hot oven and place the bread on the pizza stone. This will mimic a dutch-oven bake.

Keyword beginner sourdough, easy sourdough, sourdough

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Amy

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