Classic Crusty Sourdough

Lydia Cochran

This foolproof artisan sourdough boule recipe requires no fancy equipment!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course bread

Ingredients

475 Grams All-purpose flour (3 & 1/2 cups)
100 Grams Active sourdough starter (1/2 cup)
325 Grams warm (not hot) water (1 & 1/3 cup)
10 Grams Salt (2 teaspoons)

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl with a wooden spoon until combined & dough-like (resist adding more water if it seems dry).
Cover the bowl and allow it to sit for approximately 30 minutes to allow the flour to properly absorb the water.
After about 30 minutes, it is time to start stretch and folds. You will do this 4 times, allowing the dough to rest at least 30 minutes between each stretch and fold.
To stretch and fold the dough, dip your fingers in warm water then grab an end of the dough pulling up to stretch it, then fold it over the rest of the dough. Do this 4 times (one for each “side” of the dough) before covering the bowl and allowing the dough to rest at least 30 minutes before the next stretch and fold.
This process activates the gluten, creates those lovely sourdough bubbles in the slice, and replaces the typical kneading of the dough. You may need to bounce the dough as you attempt to stretch it up and out.
The dough needs to be left out until it has doubled in size which can take anywhere from 6 to 12 hours, depending on the temperature of your house.
I have a cooler draftier home so like to start this recipe in the morning, and leave the dough out on my counter during the day until I have finished cleaning up the kitchen for the evening and I am about to head to bed.
After the dough has adequately risen, it’s time to shape the dough!
To shape the dough, dust the clean counter with flour and plop the dough on there.
Take the sides of the dough and tuck it underneath itself, this makes it more round, springy, and pillow-like.
Grab a kitchen tea towel, dust the center of it with flour, and place the shaped dough on the dusted portion of it.
Transfer the dough using the towel ends and place it in a bowl, cover the bowl, and put it in the fridge. Allow the shaped dough to rise in the fridge for 12-15 hours.
About an hour before you are ready to bake your bread, place a pizza stone on the middle rack of your oven and a cast iron pan on the lowest rack and preheat the oven to 500 °F.
After the oven has been preheating for about an hour, boil some water and then carefully fill the hot cast iron pan on the bottom rack about halfway.
At this time remove the dough from the fridge, dust it with flour (optional), and score it in some pretty way with something sharp.
Place the scored dough on a piece of parchment paper.
Slide the parchment paper and dough onto the preheated pizza stone (I like to use an edgeless cookie sheet for this step) and bake with the steaming cast iron pan for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, remove the steaming cast iron pan, change the oven temperature to 475º, and bake for another 4 minutes.
After those 4 minutes, you can check the internal temperature by sticking a meat thermometer in the bottom of the loaf towards the center. If it reads around 190º your loaf is done.
This second portion of the bake can really vary from oven to oven, from as little as 4 minutes to as many as 20! Use the internal temperature of your loaf as your guide!
Remove your beautiful sourdough loaf from the oven and let it sit for an hour before cutting into it and enjoying the fruits of your relatively effortless labor.

Notes

In my home, we like to butter a slice of this sourdough bread and pair it with creamy chicken noodle soup, use it as breakfast sandwich bread, or slather some peanut butter and eat it with some freshly made hot cocoa.