Sourdough Bread

This Sourdough bread recipe by The Clever carrot is the simplest way to make this style of bread, it’s soft and crisp on the outside, which makes it the best bread blend there is. BEWARE, this type of bread takes lots of time and patience in making it (estimated total time of 14 hours), but so worth the time and effort. It makes 1 loaf. To get the complete full recipe with more details, click here, otherwise keep reading and get the general basics of the recipe below!

• 150g active sourdough starter
• 250g warm water
• 25g olive oil
• 500g bread flour
• 10g fine sea salt
• Non-stick parchment paper

Dough:

1. In a large bowl, mix together sourdough starter, water and olive oil until combined.
2. Add and mix flour and salt together until the dough becomes more stiff.
3. Then, with your hands, take the dough and incorporate all the flour that didn’t integrate in the dough when mixing before in the bowl just until it becomes a shaggy dough.
4. Set the dough back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap to rest for 30 minutes.
5. Once rested, work the dough into a ball for about 15 seconds.

Bulk Rise:

1. From the previous step, cover the dough ball in the bowl with a lightly doused oiled plastic wrap, and let the dough sit in a warm place to rise until its doubled (if you don’t have a warm spot, put it in the oven with the light on). This could take anywhere between 3-12 hours based on the temperature, so keep an eye out for it to have doubled in size.
2. OPTIONAL STEP: Roughly every hour during this resting period, take the dough and do stretch and folds to have an end product with more height and volume to your bread.

Shaping the dough:

1. Once double in size, take the dough and put on a lightly floured surface.
2. Take the top (with your hands) and fold the dough towards the center. Rotate the dough 1/4 of the way and repeat this step until you’ve done a full 360.
3. Then, form a circular shape with the dough until you’re content with its appearance.

Second Rise:

1. Take the dough and set inside a lined (with parchment paper) dutch oven to rise for 30 minutes to an hour once depending on when it puffs up. Once it’s puffy, (not doubled in size like before), preheat the oven to 450° f.
2. Before putting the dough in the oven, make a slash (around 2-3 inches long, 1/4 inch deep) in the center of it. You can use a razor blade, bread lame or serrated steak knife for this step.

Bake the Dough:

1. Finally, place the covered dutch oven with dough inside of it, in the oven and reduce the heat to 400° F.
2. Bake for 20 minutes, then take the lid off and continue baking uncovered for an additional 40 minutes until cooked (or has a golden top).
3. Once cooked, remove it from the oven and let the bread cool on a wire rack for an hour or more before cutting into it for a slice.
4. Now you’re done and it’s time to enjoy!