Sourdough Bread: The What, How, and Why
I’ve had this blog post in my mind and heart for months. Every time I post a picture of anything related to sourdough bread on Instagram people reach out and ask me questions. I am so excited to share my love of all things sourdough; the what, the how, and the why?
What is Sourdough Bread?
Sourdough bread is a type of leavened bread made from naturally occurring bacteria and yeast, otherwise known as a sourdough starter. It is a mixture of flour and water that is left to ferment and then used to make bread.
Sourdough bread is easier to digest, has a lower gluten content, retains more nutrients, and is easier on the gut. And last, but certainly not least, sourdough bread is delicious. A typical loaf has a beautiful crust with soft airy bread on the inside.
In our home, we love our sourdough several ways. We love it toasted with butter and jelly or smothered with avocado. My favorite lunch at the moment is sourdough toast topped with sliced avocado, sprinkled with Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend, and an egg.
Honestly, I don’t buy store-bought loaves of bread anymore. We use sourdough for grilled cheese, BLTs, patty melts, hot roast beef sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly and so much more. It even makes the most delicious croutons.
Our favorite way to eat it is alongside soup or chili, and of course, slathered with butter. Is your mouth watering because mine is? It is truly wonderful no matter how you eat it.
An Eager and Excited Learner
First of all, I am NOT an expert baker of all things sourdough. I am just an eager learner who worked hard to accomplish a goal and hone in on a skill. It wasn’t easy and I spent time and money trying to get all the answers to make the perfect loaf.
Please don’t get discouraged by my previous sentence that said it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy to learn and grasp all the steps BUT…once you figure it out and find a nice rhythm it becomes second nature and actually becomes fairly simple.
Learning the art of sourdough was frustrating for me. That being said, I persevered and now I make sourdough bread that is pretty darn good if I do say so myself 😘.
Our Sourdough Story
I have to begin with our story. I’ll keep it brief because, well, I know you all just want the “how-to” and I am okay with that. That being said, this post is so much more than how to make sourdough bread. My sourdough endeavors have been enlightening to me and have taught me some things about myself.
The Sourdough Bandwagon
This is our story of sourdough bread.
During the pandemic, we jumped on the sourdough bandwagon like everyone else in the country. When I say “we” I am referring to myself and my daughter. This was a group project when we first began. We also tried our hand at French bread and croissants.
While I hated the pandemic and everything about it, the blessing of it was the concentrated time together and time to explore the simple things of life. Sourdough was one of those things for us.
There were so many people experimenting with sourdough on Instagram and Youtube and all the places. It intrigued me. My husband and I visited San Francisco almost 20 years ago and had the most wonderful sourdough bread. This was something I wanted to try.
As we endeavored to start our sourdough journey it was honestly overwhelming. Maybe you are reading this because you feel overwhelmed too! Hang in there with me! All I wanted was one person to tell me EVERYTHING I needed to know…LOL. Don’t you feel like that sometimes!?
I was so frustrated. There were so many experts and methods and recipes. My head was spinning. I even bought an online digital course and a blog book all about sourdough. Both were somewhat helpful, but
I’m not convinced I would spend the money again. Their methods were way more complicated than I wanted to get and I regretted spending the money and time on it.
I love simplicity with great value when it comes to my cooking and baking endeavors. I want it to taste great for my family and friends, but I also need it to be uncomplicated and somewhat simple to fit into my life.
The Goal
What I share in this post comes from a lot of trial and error, frustration, overwhelm, mediocre loaves, quitting, restarting, and finally perseverance to finally bake that perfect loaf of sourdough-at least perfect to me.
The original goal was to make a good loaf of sourdough and bake it on the regular for our family. I was purchasing sourdough bread almost weekly at Whole Foods. It wasn’t terribly expensive and I certainly could have kept buying it. But I had such a strong desire within me to make my own.
One of the things I love about sourdough bread is that it consists of a minimal amount of ingredients. The sourdough recipe I use has four ingredients; flour, water, salt, and honey. I always have those items on hand and with a little planning ahead and a day where I stay close to home I can bake a beautiful loaf or two or three.
The Starter
I found a woman who shared her method for growing a sourdough starter. I followed it to the letter of the law and after two weeks had a very nice active, healthy, and bubbly starter with which to bake.
It was supposed to take a week to ten days. It was definitely not ready in ten days and I started to get frustrated.
I became discouraged and impatient and I bought a dried starter from San Francisco on Etsy. By the time it arrived, I had finally achieved a pretty robust sourdough starter all on my own. That freeze-dried starter still sits in my bread drawer to this day 🤪.
What I have since come to understand is that I was attempting to grow my starter in a cooler month which meant the fermentation process took just a tad bit longer. This is one of the things I didn’t know because I was such a novice.
The true sign of a potent and ready-to-use starter is when it is full of bubbles, doubles in size when fed, and floats in water. Oh, and did I mention I was so very proud of myself for finally achieving my own? To this day I am so glad I didn’t use the freeze-dried one I bought! She is still alive to this day and she has a name! Her name is “Lottie”.
Did you know that you are supposed to name your starter? Ironically, at the same time, one of my best friends had a new granddaughter and they named her Lottie. What are the chances🤷🏼♀️? But, my starter already had her name and so she remains Lottie to this day.
Sourdough Vocabulary
I have struggled since the beginning to get the terminology correct so I thought it might be helpful if I list out some simple sourdough vocabulary for you. There is much more but this will suffice for what you need to know. I don’t want to overwhelm you like I was overwhelmed 😊
- Starter-this is exactly what it says, the combination of flour and water and feeding that starts the whole process. The starter has its own life cycle. When fed it starts to ferment and rise and get bubbles. This is when it is ready to bake. After it sits for a while it will start to deflate and can develop a hooch (see below) which indicates it requires feeding.
- Activation-The goal of activation is to have a starter that peaks in activity and volume within 6-8 hours, indicating a high level of rise power for use as leavening.
- Leaven-The risen starter ready for baking
- Autolyse-the gentle mixing of the flour and water in a bread recipe, followed by a 20-minute rest period.
- Knead-the process of working the dough with your hands
- Hooch-fermented alcohol that’s released by the yeasts in your starter, and it’s also a sign that your starter needs to be fed.
- Feeding-In a new jar combine starter, flour, and water in a certain ratio to ensure the starter has the food it needs to stay healthy and active. A flattened starter or hooch on top indicates the need for feeding.
- Stretch and fold-the action of stretching and folding to the four corners of your dough to aerate and create air bubbles.
- Score-A cut or slash made in the dough just prior to placing it in the oven. This technique is both functional and decorative. It allows the steam to escape and not blow out the crust.
- Lame-a long thin stick made to hold a metal razor used to cut, or score, bread dough.
- Dutch Oven-a heavy cooking pot with a tightly fitting lid.
- Boule-The shape of the bread. It is the french word for ball. The boule is formed with a series of pulling and tucking the dough to give you a nice rounded, taught surface for the crust.
Our Sourdough Story (Cont.)
Back to our story. I had a live starter and now sought all the recipes and find the perfect one. It took me a while and some trial and error but I have found one that works for my family.
We spent a couple of months, off and on, working on it and we did accomplish a loaf and it was okay. However, we tired of the process and the mental capacity it required of my brain and halted our sourdough endeavors.
About a year later, I resurrected the starter and went back to work. Our daughter was back at school and I was determined to master a sourdough bread rhythm that worked for us.
I finally did it. It took me another year to figure out the perfect process. As I shared my process with friends who wanted to learn, it became clear to me that the concept of feeding and maintaining a starter and the timing of the process from start to finish was a difficult concept to explain and grasp.
This motivated me to work hard at nailing it down for myself and for others. So this is where I share the process. I pray this is helpful to you and that it eliminates you spending two years of your life trying to figure out how to make sourdough bread. I pray you can master this so much more quickly than I did!
Let the Baking Begin
The Starter
- Grow your own starter. You can use this Life by Kels Starter Guide. My actual recipe for sourdough bread is her recipe with a slight tweak. I definitely would direct you to her page for a deeper understanding of sourdough and many more recipes. If you know someone who bakes sourdough bread ask them for some starter. You can also buy a freeze-dried starter on Etsy.
- Find a recipe you like that suits your taste and schedule. You can access the recipe I use below.
- Start to bake!
The Rhythm
- Get yourself into a baking bread rhythm. This has been the biggest learning curve for me. My rhythm is simple. I like it that way. If it is too complicated then I likely won’t do it. Getting into a rhythm is key and might be the most important thing you read in this post.
- The day before baking bread day: Take your starter out of the fridge and feed it. I put 2 heaping Tbsp of starter in a new jar and add a 1/2 cup of bread flour (you don’t have to use bread flour) and 1/2 cup of water and stir. Cover it with a cloth napkin or dishtowel and leave it to sit for 6-8 hours. It should almost double in size. Put a lid on it and place it back in the fridge overnight. Take it out first thing in the morning. Let it sit on the counter for an hour or two and watch it rise again. Now you have an active leaven that is ready to use.
Sourdough Bread-The Recipe
Ingredients:
I 3/4 cup sourdough starter
1 1/4 cups filtered water
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
3 Tbsp honey
3-3 1/2 cups bread flour
(I use King Arthur bread flour)
- Combine your ingredients in a bowl and mix with a dough hook. I have a Kitchen Aid with a dough hook attachment or you can buy a Danish Dough Whisk and do it by hand.
- This is where the process of autolyzing comes in. After you gently mix the ingredients, let the dough rest for 20 minutes. This allows the flour to fully hydrate before moving on to the next step.
- Add the remaining flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl while mixing and forms a ball. Once the ball is formed, place it on the counter and knead for 5 minutes. I use flour to sprinkle on top to keep the dough from sticking. You may need to add tiny bits of flour as you go to make the dough workable. This will help it to form better and not stick to your hands.
The Stretch & Fold Phase
- Put the dough in a lightly floured bowl, and loosely cover it with a dish towel. For the first hour stretch and fold every 15 minutes. For the next 4-6 hours stretch and fold once every hour. I am very loose with this time frame depending on what my day entails. When I am home for the day I will set an alarm and do it every hour. If I have to run out or have an appointment there have been times I have walked away from my dough for 2-3 hours and have then returned to continue the stretch and fold process.
- Once your dough seems light and airy (I usually take the full six hours) do the final stretch and put it on the counter, folds down, and cover it for 10 minutes.
The Boule
- You will then shape the boule. This is the process of pulling and tucking your boule to make a taught surface.
- Now turn the bread upside down into a floured bowl and let rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour. You can also purchase a proofing bowl or Banneton on Amazon. Proofing Bowl Set with Lame and Scraper. During this time turn the oven to 450 degrees and place the Dutch Oven with the lid in the oven while the oven heats up.
The Scoring
- After that time, flip the boule out onto a piece of parchment paper. Take a razor blade or lame and score the bread. This allows the bread to have space to expand. Youtube has plenty of design ideas. I keep it simple and use a pretty consistent design, but you can be creative and artistic and have fun with this!
The Bake
- Lift the parchment paper with the boule and place into dutch oven and cover. Reduce heat to 430 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes covered.
- Uncover and bake for 15 minutes more. Your sourdough will have a nice medium-brown crust on top. The bottom will be very dark brown and have a hollow sound when tapped. The crust will seem hard when it first comes out of the oven but don’t panic. As it cools it will soften.
Slice & Store
- When baking is complete, place your loaf on a cooling rack. Cool completely prior to slicing as sourdough is still cooking while it cools.
- Slice your sourdough bread. I slice all of my loaves and then place them in a gallon Ziplock bag. You can freeze or keep out for up to a week.
Keeping Your Starter Alive
This is a little tricky. I bake once a week so my rhythm works well. If you only bake every once in a while then I suggest feeding your starter once every week or two. This will keep it active and alive. When you start to see a hooch develop in the refrigerator time to feed. It should remain in the refrigerator after you’ve fed it and let it rise to activation.
In Conclusion
There you have it. My complete sourdough methodology. I have so much more to share about my sourdough experience and life lessons learned but I’m going to leave that for another post.
However, I will say this. I never imagined that when I started my sourdough journey that it would bring so many blessings and life lessons into my life.
I am kinda proud of myself because I accomplished a goal and that just feels good. It is absolutely amazing to me how you can take four simple ingredients and make a beautiful, yummy, satisfying, somewhat healthy loaf of bread. God’s great design and creation is not lost on me in the sourdough bread process.
I am fascinated with the way baking sourdough bread makes me feel inside. I feel fulfilled and honestly, I’m not even sure why but it is a deep feeling.
Lastly, and I think most importantly, I love the feeling of blessing others with my sourdough bread. I love these bread bags for when I give my loaves as a gift. You can find them here- BAGS. So many people in my life love receiving a loaf of my sourdough bread and this brings me joy.
My neighbors can’t get enough of it and I often just walk over a loaf after I’ve baked. It’s a simple gesture really but it has been a way to bless others and share the love of Jesus with them.
I sincerely pray this answers many of your questions about sourdough bread. Don’t hesitate to reach out and ask questions if you have any. You can contact me or message me on Instagram or Facebook. The link icons for these are at the top and bottom of my home page as well.
For the love of sourdough!
Kim💗
