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Tomato basil sourdough bread – where have you been all my life? This is such a great flavor combination – a purée of fresh garden tomatoes paired with fresh basil and herbs all baked into a tasty sourdough loaf. I love eating this bread throughout the summer. It’s perfect for sandwiches and guess what?! I even love topping this bread with fresh garden tomatoes – my mouth is watering just thinking about it!
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Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Tomato Basil Sourdough Bread
- Unique: This is a special take on a sourdough loaf. The tomato flavor gives it a unique and interesting flavor that is really one of a kind!
- Flavor: You’ll love the tomato herb flavor. It’s savory and perfect by itself or made into a sandwich. For all the classic pizza toppings baked right into the loaf, try my Sourdough Pizza Bread.
- Simple Steps: While there are quite a few steps to this recipe, it is easy to follow and I’ll walk you through each phase!
Sourdough Baker’s Timeline
A sample baking schedule helps me when baking with sourdough. Sourdough takes much longer to rise than commercial yeast bread. This schedule helps me plan my bake.
A few notes: This schedule assumes the dough temperature is 78°F throughout the process. If you’d like to make the bread all on the same day, skip the cold fermentation and let the dough rise for a few hours in a banneton or bowl before baking.
| Day 1 | Levain/Mixing/Bulk Fermentation/Shaping/Cold Fermentation |
| 8:00 AM –11:30 AM | Mix Levain. Let sit at 78°F for about 3-4 hours until doubled/bubbly and ripe Mix tomato purée and set aside |
| 11:30 AM | Begin Bulk Fermentation: Mix Dough |
| 12:00 PM 12:30 PM 1:00 PM 1:30 PM | Stretch and Fold #1 Stretch and Fold #2 Add chopped basil and oregano Stretch and Fold #3 Stretch and Fold #4 if desired |
| 1:30 – 3:30 PM | Finish Bulk Fermentation |
| 3:30 – 4:00 PM | Bench Rest |
| 4:00 PM | Shape Cold Fermentation |
| Day 2 | |
| 9:00 AM | Preheat Dutch oven |
| 9:30 AM | Score and bake |
Important Ingredients in Tomato Basil Sourdough
- Tomato Purée: Blend together a combination of fresh tomatoes, tomato paste, sun dried tomatoes, fresh and dried herbs, garlic powder and water to make the tomato purée. This is what gives the color and flavor to the loaf.
- Sourdough Starter: Use an active/ripe sourdough starter (doubled in size/bubbly/mild sour aroma) to mix the levain. Ripe, bubbly and active sourdough starter can also be substituted for levain in this recipe.
- Flour: I use mainly bread flour with a little whole wheat flour in this recipe for better fermentation and flavor.
- Salt: Salt enhances the flavor and helps temper the wild yeast.
- Herbs: A combination of fresh and dried herbs give this loaf great flavor.
How to Make Tomato Basil Sourdough Bread
Mix the Levain
1:1:1 Levain (ready in 3-4 hours/same day): This recipe calls for a levain mixed the same day you mix the dough. It should take 3-4 hours until it’s ready to be mixed with the dough, if you keep the levain temperature at 78ºF. Levain is ready when it has doubled in size, has lots of bubbles, a slightly sour aroma and is just about to start going down from its peak height. Mix together:
- 35 grams of ripe/mature starter
- 35 grams of warm water
- 35 grams of bread flour
If you prefer to mix the levain the night before, you can mix a 1:10:10 Levain that is ready in 10-12 hours or overnight. Read more about sourdough starter ratios here.
- 5 grams of ripe/mature sourdough starter
- 55 grams white bread flour
- 55 grams water
Sourdough Starter: If you have a ripe, bubbly active sourdough starter, you can substitute it for the levain in the recipe. 100 grams of levain is equal to 100 grams of sourdough starter.
Make the Tomato Purée
Chop tomatoes and place them on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast the tomatoes in an oven preheated to 400ºF for about 20 minutes.
Use a blender or food processor to combine roasted tomatoes, tomato paste, sun dried tomatoes, fresh basil, dried oregano, garlic powder and water. Blend until a smooth purée forms. Allow to cool to room temperature.
Mix Dough and Begin Bulk Fermentation
Combine 320 grams of tomato purée, ripe levain, and water in a mixing bowl. After fully incorporated, add the salt, whole wheat flour and bread flour. Mix together until a sticky dough forms. Wet your hands as needed and continue to work with the dough until all the ingredients have been incorporated. Transfer the dough to a plastic container or a glass bowl and cover.
Bulk Fermentation: Stretch and Folds & Adding Herbs
In making artisan style bread, we don’t use traditional kneading methods, instead we use a series of gentle folds to help strengthen the gluten strands in the dough. This dough usually gets about 3-4 sets of stretch and folds over a 2 hour period, if the dough is kept right around 78°F.
Stretch and Fold: To “stretch and fold,” wet your hand (so it doesn’t stick to the dough). Reach down to the bottom of the bowl of dough and pull the dough up and over the top of the dough. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the stretch and fold. Turn another quarter turn and repeat. Perform one more quarter turn with stretching and folding the dough. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes. Repeat every 30 minutes for a total of 3-4 times.
Before beginning the second stretch and fold, add the chopped basil and oregano on top of the dough. As you perform the second stretch and fold, the herbs will begin to become incorporated. It will continue being further incorporated during the third and fourth stretch and fold. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, you might need to perform another stretch and fold.
Bulk Fermentation: Rest and Pre-Shape the Dough
Rest: After the 2-hour period of stretch and folds, let the dough rest in a warm 78-80°F place until puffed up and jiggly with a few scattered bubbles around the top. This usually takes 2-3 hours. If the dough doesn’t look like this, give it another half hour and check again. The dough will not double in size, but will rise about 30-40%.
Pre-Shaping: Once the dough has rested and is showing signs of readiness to be shaped, dump it out on the counter. Wet your hands (and the bench knife if needed) and push the bench knife under the dough on one side and your free hand on the other side to tuck the dough under itself. Be gentle to avoid degassing the dough as much as possible. The goal is to introduce some tension into the dough. Repeat this process, going around in a circle until you have a ball of dough.
Bench Rest: Let the dough rest uncovered for about 30 minutes at room temperature. The dough will flatten (like a pancake) during this period of time. This allows the gluten in the dough to relax and prepares the dough to be shaped.
Shaping the Dough
Prepare a banneton or small bowl. Place a kitchen towel or hair net in the bowl and liberally flour. If you use the hair net, you should not need to use much if any flour if using a cold ferment. Using the bench knife, lift the dough up off the counter and place it on top of the countertop, floured side down. Pull the dough down toward you and then fold up to the middle of the dough. Take the right edge and pull out and then into the middle of the dough. Take the left side of the dough and stretch out and then back to the middle. Repeat with the top of the dough, forming a little “package” of dough. As you continue this process around the dough, increase the tension as you pull. Gather the bread into a circle and place into a lined bowl.
Cold Ferment the Tomato Basil Loaf
I almost always use a cold fermentation for my sourdough artisan bread, and the same goes for this tomato basil sourdough bread. Cover the dough and place in the refrigerator for 12-18 hours. If it goes a little longer than that, it may overproof but will still taste okay – up to as much as 72 hours depending on the temperature of your refrigerator.
If you want to bake the same day, you can let the dough rise for about 3-4 hours until puffed up and risen. Then bake according to recipe directions.
Bake the Tomato Sourdough Loaf
Pre-heat the Oven: Put a Dutch oven (top and all) into the oven and preheat to 500°F. Allow the Dutch oven to heat for about 30 minutes to an hour at 500°F. This builds up steam, which is necessary to achieve the beautiful oven spring and perfect crust that artisan bread is known for.
Scoring the Dough: Once the oven is preheated for 30 minutes, pull the loaf out of the refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrap (this is easy to do straight out of the refrigerator if the dough is chilled – not easy if the dough warms up) and place a piece of parchment paper on top of the bread dough. Flip the dough over so that it is now sitting on the parchment paper. Take off the bowl/banneton and kitchen towel. Smooth the flour over the top of the dough and use a bread lame or very sharp knife to score the dough. I find a simple score is best when working with this dough.
Baking the Bread: Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the 500°F oven with hot pads. Take the top off and place your bread into the Dutch oven (including parchment paper – this helps with the transfer). Be very careful not to touch the sides of the hot Dutch oven. Put your hot pads back on before you pick up the lid of the Dutch oven and place it on top of the bread. Put the whole Dutch oven back into your oven. Lower the temperature to 450°F and bake for 25 minutes. Once 25 minutes are up, take the top off the Dutch oven and continue baking for 20 minutes until the bread is fully baked. Let cool completely and enjoy.
Amy’s Recipe Tip
I have made this recipe many times. Sun dried tomatoes bring deep tomato flavor to this loaf and I think they are worth tracking down for this bread. However, you can substitute tomato paste for the same weight of sun dried tomatoes if desired.
Substitutions
- Flour: Replace the whole wheat flour with bread flour. All-purpose flour also works in this recipe.
- Herbs: If you are making this bread in the summer, fresh herbs are easier to come by and taste delicious in this loaf. Substitute dried herbs in place of the fresh if desired.
- Fresh Tomatoes: I love the flavor that fresh roasted tomatoes brings to this loaf, however, you can substitute an equal weight of diced, canned tomatoes if desired.
- Sun dried Tomatoes: Sun dried tomatoes can be substituted for the same weight of tomato paste.
How to Store Leftovers
Let your loaf cool completely. Then slice, stick in an airtight bag and freeze. You can also freeze the whole loaf and then let it thaw or warm back up in the oven for a few minutes before enjoying.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. You can open-bake the bread with steam in your home oven. Read more about that method here.
The way this recipe is written, it is not recommended to leave the dough on the counter overnight because it could easily over-proof. If you want to make an overnight loaf, reduce the levain or starter in the recipe to 50 grams instead of 100 grams. Let the dough bulk ferment overnight in a cooler spot before shaping, chilling for a few hours and baking.
If your dough was too wet, decrease some of the water in the dough next time or add a little more flour to your loaf so it’s easier to handle.
Gummy dough is usually an issue of moisture and I tend to see it most in under-proofed dough. Make sure your dough rises and you are letting the dough rise in a warm place before shaping. If your dough is colder you’ll need to let it ferment longer.
Tomato Basil Sourdough Bread
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Ingredients
Levain (1:1:1, 3-4 hours at 78ºF)
- 35 grams sourdough starter, ripe, bubbly, active, about 2 Tablespoons
- 35 grams flour, all-purpose or bread flour, about 1/4 cup
- 35 grams water, about 2 Tablespoons
Tomato Purée
- 350 grams chopped tomatoes, about 2-3 medium-sized tomatoes
- drizzle of olive oil
- 3 grams salt, about 1/2 teaspoon
- 30 grams tomato paste, about 2 Tablespoons
- 50 grams sundried tomatoes, about 1/4 cup, without the oil
- 10 grams fresh basil, about 1/4 cup
- 3 grams dried oregano, about 1 Tablespoon
- 1 gram garlic powder, about 1/2 teaspoon
- 70 grams water, scant 1/3 cup
Tomato Basil Sourdough Bread
- 100 grams levain, scant 1/2 cup
- 320 grams of the tomato purée mixture, about 1 1/3 cup
- 80 grams water, about 1/3 cup
- 10 grams salt, about 1.5 teaspoons
- 50 grams whole wheat flour, about 1/3 cup
- 450 grams bread flour, about 3 1/4 cup
- 5 grams oregano, freshly chopped, substitute 2 teaspoons dried oregano about 2 grams
- 5 grams basil, freshly chopped, substitute 2 teaspoons dried basil, about 2 grams
Instructions
Levain (1:1:1, 3-4 hours at 78ºF)
- Mix Levain: Mix together ripe/active sourdough starter with all-purpose or bread flour and water. Cover loosely and let sit 3-4 hours at 78°F until doubled, bubbly & peaked.Note: If you have a ripe, bubbly, active sourdough starter that is fed equal parts flour and water – it can be substituted for the levain in this recipe.
Tomato Purée
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF (use convection if you have it). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Chop tomatoes and place them on the foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil sprinkle with salt. Roast for about 20 minutes.
- Add roasted tomatoes to a blender or food processor along with tomato paste, sundried tomatoes, fresh basil, dried oregano, garlic powder and water. Blend until a smooth purée forms. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Tomato Basil Sourdough Bread (keep dough at 78-80ºF if follow baking schedule timing)
- Mix the Dough: To a large bowl, add 320 grams of tomato purée – you may have a little extra purée left over. Add ripe levain and water to the bowl and mix together. Then add the salt, whole wheat flour and bread flour. Mix together until a sticky dough forms. Wet your hands as needed and continue to work with the dough until all the ingredients have been incorporated. Transfer the dough to a plastic container or a glass bowl and cover.
- Stretch and Fold: Perform a series of “stretch and folds” throughout the next 2 hours. The goal is to strengthen the dough. To “stretch and fold,” wet your hand (so it doesn’t stick to the dough). Reach around the dough down to the bottom of the bowl, pull the dough up and over and place it on top of the dough. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the stretch and fold. Turn another quarter turn and repeat. Perform one more quarter turn, stretching and folding the dough. Cover and set aside. Take note of how the dough feels through this process. It will go from feeling a little shaggy to smooth and elastic. Cover the bowl and wait about 30 minutes in between stretch and folds.
- Stretch and fold #1: 30 minutes into the bulk fermentation perfom the first set of stretch and folds. Cover the dough and let it rest.Stretch and fold #2: 30 minutes later – during this stretch and fold, add the chopped basil and oregano on top of the dough. Perform stretch and fold #2, incorporating the fresh herbs as you fold.Stretch and fold #3: 30 minutes later, the dough will spread out. Stretch and fold again, further incorporating the fresh herbs into the dough.Stretch and fold #4: Optional, if you feel your dough needs it, stretch and fold again.
- Rest: Cover the dough and let rise for 2-3 more hours. You’ll know the dough is ready to shape when the dough is puffed up, jiggles when you shake the bowl, has scattered bubbles visible on the sides and top. The dough will not double in size, but will rise about 30-40%. If it is not showing these signs, let the dough continue rising and check back in 30 minutes.
- Pre-shape: Tip the bowl upside down, allowing the dough to fall onto a clean counter surface. Be gentle to avoid degassing the dough as much as possible. Wet your hands and the bench knife if needed and push the bench knife under the dough on one side and your free hand on the other side to tuck the dough under itself. The goal is to introduce some tension into the dough. Repeat this process, going around in a circle until you have a ball of dough.
- Bench Rest: Let the dough rest uncovered for about 30 minutes at room temperature. The dough will flatten (like a pancake) during this period of time. This allows the gluten in the dough to relax and prepares the dough to be shaped.
- Shape: Prepare a bowl or banneton. Place a kitchen towel or hair net in the bowl and liberally flour as needed. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough. Using a bench knife, lift the dough up off the counter and place it on top of the countertop – floured side down. This ensures that the flour is staying mainly on the outside of the dough. Going around in a circle, pull the dough sideways towards you and then fold up to the top of the round. Move 90 degrees and repeat the same process pulling the dough sideways and then folding up to the top. As you continue this process around the dough, increase the tension as you pull. Gather the bread into a circle and place into a lined bowl. Note: It is possible to shape the dough without any extra flour. The dough can stick to the kitchen towel but doesn't stick to the hair nets if cold proofed.
- Cold Fermentation: Cover the dough with the tea towel/shower cap/plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 12-20 hours. If you want to bake the same day, you can let the dough rise for about 3-4 hours until puffed up and risen. Then bake according to recipe directions.
- Preheat: Put a Dutch oven (top and all) into the oven and preheat to 500°F for 30 minutes. You are working with very high temperatures, so make sure you have some good hot pads. Once preheated for 30 minutes, pull the loaf out of the refrigerator. Remove the covering. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the dough. Flip the dough over so it is now sitting on the parchment paper. Take off the bowl/banneton and the kitchen towel.
- Score: Use a very sharp knife or bread lame to score the dough. Take the bread lame and score on one side of the dough, at a shallow angle, about 1 inch deep. Score straight from the refrigerator for best results.
- Bake: Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the 500°F oven. Take the lid off and place your bread into the Dutch oven (including parchment paper – this helps with the transfer). Put the lid on and put back in the oven. Lower the temperature to 450°F and bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, take the lid off the Dutch oven and continue baking for 20 minutes. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and cool. Slice and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My daughter calls this the best savory bread I’ve made ever and asks for it often to create the Panera bread knock off sandwich. (I bake sourdough “something” weekly). I can eat the puree, just out of the food processor, its so flavorful, make extra for a bruschetta treatment with your bread. WORD of caution, if you use the ability to double/triple the recipe. Make sure to mark up the text embedded in the instructions. I just made two loaves that under performed, I take the blame for that.. bread is precise. Just a cautionary tale from another baker.
Thanks for the feedback and word of caution!
Could I use canned tomato sauce? For out of season. I got a bunch of canned garden maters haha.
If that is what you have on hand, then use it! Happy baking!
Sorry interjecting here, but I make it with San Marzano whole tomatoes (packed in puree, that’s important) and pretty much treat it the same as fresh. Its my preferred method unless tomatoes are in season, make extra the puree is worth the time alone to create in this recipe.
Thanks for the feedback!
Can this be baked in a loaf pan instead of a Dutch oven?
Yes! I would follow the instructions in this guide for How to Bake Sourdough in a Loaf Pan.
I’m going to be making this, but thought about adding Parmesan cheese, could I add it at the same time I add the basil?
Yes! That sounds like a delicious addition! Let me know how you like it.
Once again, Amy’s recipe does not disappoint! I had garden tomatoes and fresh basil I needed to use, and this was the perfect opportunity. WOW! The time it took was well worth it! Thank you for such helpful instructions and tips. I didn’t have sundried tomatoes on hand, and lo and behold, the tomato paste did work just fine. Can’t wait to make this one again!
I’m so glad you loved this recipe! Thank you for sharing your review.
I made this bread today. I was worried because the dough was really stiff and didn’t seem to have risen much if any during the bulk fermentation. I put it in the fridge before I went to bed. I decided to take it out, score it and let it sit for about 40-45 minutes. Needless to say it turned out pretty good. I have learned and today’s bake confirmed for me that I cannot preheat the Dutch oven at 500° for 30 minutes. Every time I do I get a really hard bottom. It’s all science right! Everything I have made from your page has been amazing! We all must remember that we have to adjust based on our climate and ovens! Thank you for excellent recipes!
Thanks for sharing Susan! And yes, all climates and ovens work a little bit differently, so you will have to make some small adjustments. Maybe try 25-50 degrees lower if your oven bakes hot. And glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Amazing
Amazing
My neighbor called it margherita pizza bread!
My neighbor called it margherita pizza bread!
Love this! So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
This looks amazing! Would this work in a loaf pan?
Yes, you can make this in a loaf pan! I use these methods: https://amybakesbread.com/how-to-bake-sourdough-in-a-loaf-pan/