Good Sourdough Bread (My Master Sourdough Recipe)

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Sourdough doesn’t have to be complicated. This recipe for good sourdough bread avoids the nonsense and unnecessary steps that make sourdough bread difficult for beginners (no autolyse, lamination, or high hydration required). After making hundreds of loaves of sourdough bread in the past four years, I’ve landed on this recipe as my go-to master sourdough bread recipe. Enjoy!

What People Are Saying

“This is a fantastic recipe. I baked my loaf this morning and it turned out just beautiful! So easy! I can actually say I love making sourdough bread now.”
From @Judith4985 on YouTube

“This was the best sourdough I have made, came out nice and crusty and the crumb is perfect, tastes wonderful, it also lasted in a bread bag for over 5 days! Thanks so much for sharing…”
From @LindaDauglash2946 on YouTube

Ingredients You’ll Need

Bread Flour: I like to use King Arthur Brand bread flour, but any brand of bread flour that has around 13% protein content will work. The higher protein content makes chewier bread than standard all-purpose flour.
Water: Filtered tap water or bottled spring water are best for this recipe.
Sourdough Starter: You’ll use a fed and active sourdough starter instead of baker’s yeast to make this bread rise. Any 100% hydration sourdough starter will work, no matter what type of flour you feed it. Get my Sourdough Starter Guide to learn how to make a sourdough starter from scratch in just six days.
Salt: I use kosher salt, but sea salt and plain table salt will work fine as well.

Substitutions and Additions

Using All-Purpose Flour instead of Bread Flour: Many people, including myself, have used all-purpose flour instead of bread flour to make this recipe with very good results. If all-purpose flour is all you have on hand, feel free to use it.
Adding Whole Grain Flour: If desired, you can replace a portion of the bread flour in this recipe with whole grain flour (whole wheat or whole grain rye). Simply replace 10-50 grams of bread flour with the whole grain flour of your choice and follow the same recipe instructions.

Special Tools You’ll Need to Make Good Sourdough Bread

Digital scale – see mine on Amazon
Bench scraper – see mine at Rackmaster.co.uk
Banneton basket – see mine on Amazon
Bread lame or razor blade – get mine for 10% off at WireMonkey.com
Dutch oven – see mine on Amazon

Note: The above links are affiliate links. After making a qualifying purchase, I may earn a small commission. I only recommend products that I use myself.

Suggested Timeline

I typically feed my starter in the evening, make my dough the next day, and then bake the bread the day after that. Here’s a rough timeline you can follow:

10:00 PM (Day 1)	Feeding the Sourdough Starter
6:50 AM (Day 2)	Mixing the Dough
7:00 AM	Bulk Fermentation (The First Rise)
1:00 PM	The Pre-shape
1:30 PM	The Final Shape
1:35 PM	Proofing (The Second Rise)
8:00 AM (Day 3)	Scoring
8:05 AM	Baking

If you want to adjust this schedule to bake the bread on the same day that you make the dough, I’ll explain how you can do that in the proofing section of this recipe below.

Ingredient Amounts

Sourdough Starter Feeding

Sourdough Starter, leftover – 25 grams
Bread Flour – 50 grams
Water – 50 grams

Main Dough

Bread Flour – 450 grams
Water – 300 grams
Sourdough Starter, active – 100 grams
Salt – 10 grams

How to Make Grant Bakes’ Good Sourdough Bread Recipe

Step-by-Step Instructions

Feeding the Starter

To feed your sourdough starter, remove 25 grams of leftover starter (about one tablespoon) from the fridge and place it on your digital scale.
Then, mix the leftover starter with 50 grams of bread flour and 50 grams of room temperature water. Stir until everything is well combined. (You can also use a whole grain starter for this recipe. Whole grain or white starters will both work perfectly fine.)

25g starter + 50g water + 50g bread flour

Once the starter is mixed, mark the top of it with a rubber band or a marker and wait 6-12 hours for it to double in size. I usually let feed my starter at night and let it rise overnight. Once your starter doubles in size it will be ready to use.

Mixing the Dough

The next morning your starter should be bubbly, active, and about doubled in size. Time to put this starter to work.

If you want to double check that you’re starter is ready, you can do the “float test” at this point – just drop a teaspoon of your starter in a cup of water, and if it floats, it’s ready to bake with!
Measure out all four of the dough ingredients (water, starter, flour, and salt) together in your mixing bowl. Once they’re all in the bowl, combine them thoroughly with your bowl scraper or wooden spoon until almost no dry bits of flour are left.

Now, cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. Since we’ve mixed the starter in with the other ingredients, the bulk fermentation has officially begun!

Bulk Fermentation (The First Rise)

Bulk fermentation just refers to the first rise of the dough; some people call it the bulk rise or the bulk proof. The dough gains puffiness during this stage as it fills with CO2 gas, and it also gains a lot of flavor from the fermentation process. Call it what you will, but bulk fermentation is important.
I typically let the dough bulk ferment for about five hours depending on how warm my kitchen is. However, if it’s chilly in my kitchen, it might take six hours, and if it’s warmer, maybe four. This recipe will be written for a five hour bulk fermentation. Adjust it however you need.
After the 30 minute rest period, give your dough its first set of stretch and folds. You’ll do three sets total with rest periods in between. Watch the video at the end of this article to see how stretch and folds are done.

Then, after the 30 minute rest, do the second set of stretch and folds followed by another 30 minute rest.
Finally, do the third and final set of stretch and folds. The dough should be fairly smooth and elastic by now and you might start seeing bubbles forming in the dough as you stretch it. That’s exactly what you want to see.
After the third and final stretch and fold, flip the dough over, cover it up, and let it rest for the remainder of the bulk fermentation period – 3 1/2 more hours.
The dough should visibly increase in size and become light and puffy during this time as it fills up with CO2 gas.

The Pre-shape

After finishing the bulk fermentation, sprinkle your counter with a little bit of flour and pre-shape your dough into a ball.
Then, cover the dough and let it “bench rest” for 30 minutes. This short rest period will allow the gluten to relax and you’ll be able to shape the dough more easily.
While your dough is resting, sprinkle a banneton basket with rice flour (or more bread flour). The period in between preshape and final shape is the perfect time to do this.

The Final Shape

Now, my preferred shape is a “batard” (oval shape), so that’s what I’ll show you in the photos and in the video down below. First, sprinkle your dough ball with flour and flip it sticky-side-up on the counter so that you can give it its final shape.
Next, flip one side over the middle.
Flip the other side over to meet the first size.

Now, tuck and roll the dough starting from the furthest side and rolling in towards yourself. This is called the “tension roll.” Make sure to use both hands (I had one hand holding my phone.)

Smooth out the edges of the dough by pinching the seam closed, or by pulling and tucking the upper flap underneath the rest of the dough. Watch the video carefully to see how I do this.

Proofing

Once you’ve shaped the dough, transfer it seam-side-up into your banneton basket.
Then move the basket to your fridge and let the dough proof overnight (or for at least six hours). You can bake it the following morning.

Note on Same-Day Room Temperature Final Proof: If you’d like to bake this on the same day, let it proof at room temperature on your counter for about two hours, then move on to the next step.

Benefits of Proofing in the Fridge: The great thing about sourdough breads is that they can proof at cold temperatures for a very long period. While yeasted breads might over-ferment if left in the fridge until the next day, sourdough breads are usually just fine. This extra time in the fridge intensifies the delicious flavor of sourdough, and it allows you to put a “pause” on the bread making process and continue it the next day if you wish. This is just another reason to make naturally leavened sourdough bread.

Scoring

The next day, 30 minutes before you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 500°F (260°C) with your Dutch oven inside on one of the bottom racks.

Then, once the oven is hot and ready to go, transfer your dough from the banneton basket onto a sheet of parchment paper.
The dough should now be seam-side-down. (By the way, it’s fine to take the dough directly from the fridge and bake it. Some people believe in letting it come up to room temperature before baking, but I get great results baking cold, directly from the fridge).
Dust off any excess flour from the dough with your hand or a small brush. You’re now ready to score your dough!
Slash the top of the dough with a bread lame in one long, shallow-angled slash. This is one of the key ways to get a good “ear” on your loaf of bread, plus it will just look really impressive when you bake it!

Baking

Now, with your Dutch oven open, carefully transfer the dough inside.
I prefer to lift the dough by holding onto both sides of the parchment paper tightly. Gently place the dough, parchment paper and all, inside the Dutch oven. (Careful not to burn yourself on the sides, it’s hot!)
Once your dough is inside, pop the lid back on the Dutch oven and slide it into your 500°F oven to bake for 20 minutes.

After twenty minutes, remove the Dutch oven lid and admire your bread’s oven spring.

With the lid off, bake for a further 15-20 minutes, or until the bread has color that you want. I tend to go a little on the almost-burnt side, but make it how you want it!

Remove your dough from the oven when it’s done and let it cool on your counter for at least an hour before slicing. Patience is key here, since cooled bread will have a much better texture than if you slice in too early.

Serving Good Sourdough Bread

Once your bread has cooled, you can finally slice in! This bread has a soft, creamy, almost custardy interior and a crisp crust on the outside. The contrast between those two elements is what keeps me making this bread over and over and over again.

I really hope you enjoy this recipe for Good Sourdough Bread as much as I do. It makes recurring appearances in our home and I don’t plan to stop making it anytime soon.

Yield: 1 Loaf

Good Sourdough Bread

This is a simple, 70% hydration, sourdough bread recipe that I make almost every single week. It's the perfect recipe to follow if you're new to sourdough baking.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Additional Time 19 hours

Total Time 19 hours 45 minutes