Zoë’s Sourdough Bread

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Sourdough loaf of bread on a cutting board next to a sourdough starter

Zoë’s Sourdough Bread

Please watch my Sourdough Bread Video on YouTube to see how I make this loaf. Before you begin, be sure to read the recipe through all the way, including the notes!
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Author: Zoë François

Ingredients

  • 50 g active sourdough starter* see notes
  • 450 g King Arthur Bread Flour** see notes
  • 375 g filtered water see notes
  • 1 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

Mixing

  • In a large bowl, using a dough whisk or your hand, mix together all of the ingredients until just uniformly mixed. The dough will be scraggly and not smooth, no need to knead.
    Cover the bowl with a wet towel and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Folding

  • Using a plastic dough scraper, fold the dough by running the scraper down the side of the bowl, lifting the side of the dough and folding it into the center. Repeat this several times rotating the bowl until you end up where you began. Cover the bowl with the wet towel and allow to rest at room temperature for another 30 minutes. Repeat this process of folding the dough and resting one more time.
  • After the second fold, cover the bowl with the wet towel and allow the dough to rest and rise for 8 to 12 hours or until the dough is quite puffy and nearly doubled in size.
    (Pro tip) Check the towel frequently to make sure it is still damp. Covering the bowl and towel with a plastic cutting board will help keep the towel from drying out.

Shaping into a ball

  • Lightly flour your work surface. Use the plastic bowl scraper to ease the dough out of the bowl onto the prepared surface. Dust your hands with flour to prevent them from sticking to the dough. Gently stretch the dough into a 8x10-inch-rectangle, then fold the corners of the dough into the center, keep folding the dough in, until you have a loose ball shape. Pinch the ends together to form a tighter ball.
    Brush any excess flour away from the surface and use the side of your hand to pull the ball of dough across the counter to create a tight skin on the dough to tighten the ball shape.
    (Pro tip) The dough should stick to the counter just enough to pull gently at the surface of the dough but not so much that it can’t move. Use enough flour on your hands to prevent it from sticking.

Shaping with Basket

  • Once the dough is in a smooth ball let it sit while you prepare the proofing basket.
    (Pro tip) giving the dough several minutes to dry out while you prepare the basket will help it develop a skin and prevent it from sticking to the basket. It can sit for up to 15 minutes.
  • Use a tea ball or fine mesh sieve filled with flour to generously dust an 8-inch proofing basket (aka, banneton or brotform).
    (Pro tip) the basket needs to be well covered with no bald spots or the wet dough will stick to the basket and distort the shape of your loaf.
  • Lift the dough from the surface and turn it upside down in the basket. Place the basket inside a clean 3 gallon-sized plastic bag (I use an unused compost bag or small kitchen garbage bag). Blow some air into the bag so it won’t touch the surface of the dough while it is rising. Clip it shut and allow the loaf to sit on the counter at room temperature for about an hour (2 hours if the room is cool).
  • Preheat oven to 475°F: with a Dutch Oven or Bread Cloche set in the middle of the oven.

Scoring

  • Remove the dough from the bag. Place a sheet of parchment paper (it needs to be large enough to fit the loaf and have extra space to act as a sling getting it into the baking vessel) onto the surface of the dough and invert the basket. Place the parchment onto the counter and ease the basket away from the dough. If the dough is sticking in places very gently reach under the basket and ease the dough away with your fingers. Once the dough is released, use a lame or serrated knife to score (or slash) the dough. You can do a simple side to side cut or create an art piece. The cuts should be about ½-inch deep.
    (Pro tip) if you don’t cut the dough at all or not deep enough it will crack open in any way it can. The scoring is pretty but also helps the dough rise by giving the dough somewhere to go.

Baking

  • Immediately place the scored loaf in the vessel* you are baking in, put on the lid and bake for 25 minutes. (Pro tip) baking with the lid on traps the steam coming from the moisture in the dough. This steam helps the loaf to rise and gives the bread a shiny crust.
    After the 25 minutes remove the lid and allow the bread to continue baking for another 10 to 15 minutes to get a dark caramel, brown color. The crust may even have some deep brown, almost black tips to it.

Cooling

  • Remove the loaf from the vessel, peel away the parchment paper and place on a cooling rack. Allow the bread to cool to room temperature, about an hour. (Pro tip) it is hard to wait for the loaf to cool completely but this is part of the baking process, and your bread will be gummy and seem under baked if you cut it while it is still warm.

Slicing

  • Use a very sharp serrated bread knife to cut the loaf.

Storing

  • After you cut into the loaf, store it cut side down on the cutting board. You want to prevent the end from drying out. Cover the loaf with a clean, dry kitchen towel. (Pro tip) DO NOT COVER A CRUSTY LOAF IN PLASTIC! Plastic will trap steam and make the crust soggy. The only time to use plastic is if you are freezing the loaf.

Refreshing Stale Bread

  • This is a trick I learned on Instagram and love it. Quickly run the loaf under water (temperature doesn’t seem to matter) and then bake the loaf at 400°F for about 10 minutes. (Pro tip) this works really well after a couple of days, but it has limits, so don’t expect a miracle with a week old loaf.

Reconstituting Frozen Bread

  • Preheat oven to 350°F and place unwrapped frozen loaf in oven right on the rack, so heat and air can get to the entire loaf and bake for about 30 minutes. If you defrosted the loaf (make sure to do so IN the plastic so the condensation is on the outside of the plastic), then remove plastic and bake the loaf for about 10-15 minutes.

Notes

*Sourdough starter

You will need an active starter. If your starter doesn't float when you drop a spoonful in water (see my sourdough YouTube videos) then you will need to feed it and get it activated before you start to mix your bread. 
If you don't have a starter at all, that's where you need to begin, and can follow my sourdough starter recipe. 

**Flour Substitutions

Other Bread Flour Brands: If you don’t have King Arthur Bread flour, you can use any brand of bread flour that has a similar protein count of 12.7-13%. You can often go to the website of the brand and find out the % of protein. The reason this matters is that the amount of protein in the flour will determine how much water it absorbs. If you use a flour that is lower in protein, it will take less water than the recipe suggests. More water for a higher protein count. If you are new to baking sourdough, then I suggest you stick with an equivalent bread flour. Lots of experimenting will follow as you get more and more comfortable with this process.
All-purpose flour: You can also use 450g all-purpose flour + 1 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten powder (VWG), which is powdered wheat protein that creates gluten when added to water. You need to whisk it well into your all-purpose flour so that it creates a strong dough but doesn’t turn into dumplings. This is a common product used in professional bakeries and is readily available in many co-ops and online. People baking at high altitude who need extra strength in the dough can add a teaspoon to their dough, just be sure to also add another Tbsp. or 2 of water.
Warning about other flours: For this starter loaf I suggest you stick with the bread flour or the white all-purpose + VWG and not venture into whole wheat loaves. Whole wheat will produce a denser loaf. The same is true for adding rye or other whole grain flours. Those are flours to be experimented with once you have the basic techniques down.
Gluten-Free Flours: I have never baked a sourdough loaf with gluten-free flour but know that it can be done. I trust Cannelle et Vanilla BAKES SIMPLE for a sourdough recipe. 

UPDATE 6/5  - Water Amounts:

The amount of water will vary depending on the flour you use (including the brand). If your dough feels exceedingly wet and sticky so that you are struggling to form it into a ball, then reduce the water by 25 to 50g in your next loaf. The wet dough produces a wonderful loaf of bread but if it is too frustrating to work with, reduce the water until you're more comfortable working with a slack dough. This should be fun and not frustrating. 
I use filtered water because some tap water has chemicals added to it and they can prohibit yeast growth.

BAKING VESSELS

Closed vessels: There are two types of closed vessels that I use for baking bread, the traditional bread baking cloche or a Dutch oven style pot. Both types are lidded vessels that trap the steam when baking, which aids in both oven spring (the initial rise when the loaf goes into the hot oven) and a thin, crispy, shiny crust). A cloche has a flat bottom with a domed lid. Its shape makes getting the loaf in and out easy. There are many bread baking cloches on the market and they are typically made of glazed or unglazed ceramics (I typically use the glazed but also have an unglazed and it works well too). The heavy-duty cast-iron cloche is a mighty heat conductor and produces a beautifully browned crust. I’ve had great success with both. (Pro tip) If you have a gas oven, these closed vessels are the way to go. Gas ovens leak steam and so you will end up with a dull crust if you try to bake bread on an open baking stone.
  • Ceramic cloche – lighter weight, easier to lift in and out of the oven. Only used for bread.
  • Cast iron cloche – Heavy duty, will never break. Produces a gorgeous dark crust. Only used for bread.
  • Dutch oven – This does double duty as a stew pot, so its multi-purpose. It is harder to get the loaf in and out but using parchment paper as a sling will help.
Open Baking surfaces: There are many baking stones to choose from, some are glazed, some porous, some thick, and others that are thinner. The materials vary as well. I have ceramic, stone, cast iron, and steel. The function of the baking surface is to retain and conduct heat to your loaf of bread, which helps with the rise and the crust. Because this is an open environment you will also need to add steam to the oven when using one of these surfaces. I generally use an old metal roasting pan and add a cup of water to the roasting pan as I put the loaf of bread in the oven. The water becomes steam and aids in the rising and crust development. You do not need to add more water once it evaporates since the steam is only needed in the first 10 minutes of baking. (Pro tip) DO NOT USE A GLASS BAKING DISH FOR THE WATER OR IT MAY SHATTER. I put this in all caps because I have seen it happen and it’s a mess.
  • Baking Stone – these vary in thickness and material. The thicker the stone, the longer it takes to preheat. The stone must be fully preheated to conduct heat, so give it 30+ minutes depending on how thick it is. A ¾-inch-thick stone can take a full hour to preheat.
  • Baking Steel – these are thinner and preheat faster. The dark color produces a darker crust as well.
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