No-Fuss Everyday Sourdough Loaf. No rigid schedule. No babysitting. Just really good bread.
Can I be honest with you for a second?
I was a little overwhelmed when I first started reading about everyday sourdough. No metal spoons. Use this amount of rye and this amount of bread flour. Stretch & fold each hour on the hour. There was a tried and true method for each, and it felt more like a lifestyle choice than a recipe.
And the wild part? I am a culinary trained person. I had experience in skilled kitchens. I ran a pizzeria operation out of a horse trailer. Even then I could not understand whose sourdough rules to use or how all the rules were against one another.
I stopped trying to keep up with what everyone else was doing. I learned what’s really important, and what’s not. And the answer is the loaf!
It bends when your day doesn’t cooperate. And you still get that crackly crust and open crumb everyone’s chasing.
Before You Start
Don’t have a starter yet? This can’t be replaced! A Starter Culture is the fastest and easiest method to get started if you don’t know someone who can provide you with some.
Quick Tip about Water: Tap water may contain chlorine which can kill the bacteria in your starter. This may seem finicky, but it’s actually a good idea to avoid it. The simplest solution is to allow the tap water to sit out in an open container for one night. It’s also fine if the water was boiled and then allowed to cool. Or simply use filtered. Choose whichever seems to be the easiest.
And here’s my suggestion about flour: Use UNBLEACHED flour. Your starter’s bacteria can be killed by bleach. Use AP flour for feeding, and bread flour to make a loaf.
Starter Prep
What is a sourdough starter? It’s a jar of fermented flour and water that needs to be fed regularly to keep it alive. It’s the wild yeast and bacteria inside that make your bread rise, rather than the commercial yeast that you find at the store. It sounds more complex than it really is, I promise.
Feed your starter the night before you want to bake. That’s really it. You go to bed, it does its thing, you wake up to a starter that’s active, bubbly, and ready to go.
If you want to adjust the feeding schedule for same day dough:
- Stored more than a week in the fridge → feed it about 8 hours before you make the dough
- Stored a week or less → 4 hours before mixing is fine.
When your starter has these characteristics you’re ready to use it:
- Volume: It has grown (doubled or even tripled) in size.
- Texture: It has a light, airy and domed top. The sides will have lots of bubbles.
- Smell: It has a pleasant, sharp, and tangy aroma.
Here’s exactly what feeding looks like:
- Take the starter jar out of the fridge
- Remove and toss roughly half, or even more. Yes, literally throw it away (or use it in a discard recipe). Discarding will help keep the starter out of becoming too acidic and from building up a stockpile of too much starter for what you would need.
- Feed it 1:1 ratio flour:water. If you removed 100g of starter, then add 100g flour and 100g water. If you threw out 140g, then add in another 140g flour and 140g water. It is always the same ratio 1:1:1, starter:flour:water.
- Stir until fully combined with no dry flour at the bottom
- Loosely cover the jar, it needs to breathe. If planning on baking then leave the starter out on the counter. Place it back in the refrigerator if not baking.
Everyday Sourdough Tools
The natural leavening culture that helps your bread rise and develop flavor.
Danish Dough Whisk Or large Spoon
Used to mix the dough ingredients quickly and evenly.
Helps handle, shape, and divide sticky dough with ease.
Lame or Serrated Knife
Used to score the dough before baking for controlled expansion.
Starter Jars or other glass container
Provides a clear space to store, feed, and monitor your starter.
Kitchen Scale
Ensures accurate measurements for consistent baking results.
Silicone Mat or Parchment Paper
Prevents sticking and makes transferring dough easier.
Proofing Basket
Supports the dough during its final rise and helps it hold its shape.
Traps steam during baking to create a crisp crust and excellent oven spring.
Avoid Overproofing
The dough should rise about 50% in bulk fermentation, pull away from the sides of the bowl, and show bubbles on the sides and surface. It should feel airy but still tight and strong. Good dough tension is key for oven spring.
Troubleshooting
Loaf came out flat? Your starter probably needed more time — make sure it’s active and let the dough ferment until it’s risen about 50% with visible bubbles. Or you didn’t get it tight enough when shaping. A tight dough ball rises, a loose dough ball spreads.
Dense in the middle? Give bulk fermentation more time in a warm spot so the dough builds enough gas.
Bottom scorched? Slide an empty sheet pan onto the rack below to shield it from direct heat.
Everyday Sourdough
Ingredients
Everyday Sourdough – Ingredients
- 240 g active starter
- 425 g water
- 600 g flour
- 2 tsp salt
- Rice Flour for dusting the proofing basket optional, helps dough not stick to proofing basket
Instructions
Mix
- Pour the starter and water into your mixing bowl, and mix to dissolve the starter into the water. Add flour and mix until a shaggy and rough ball is formed. This is a very sticky dough, I start with a danish dough whisk then eventually use my hands.
Autolyse — 30 minutes
- Cover and let the bowl rest for 30 minutes.
- The flour will absorb all the water, the gluten will come together, and the dough will become more smooth and more manageable.
Salt + Knead
- Add your salt and begin to knead until your dough becomes cohesive and a bit springy. The dough will firm up from the salt but it should still be slightly tacky.
Bulk Fermentation — 6 to 12 hours
- Shape loosely into a ball, cover the bowl, and let it rise about 50%. You're looking for the dough to noticeably puff up and pull away slightly from the sides of the bowl, with bubbles showing on the surface and sides. It should feel airy and alive, not doubled — you still want some tension left in it for shaping.
- I know 6-12 hours is a big range. This is because your kitchen's temperature, your starter's strength, and the humidity in the air all play a part. Pay attention to the dough, not the clock; experiment and find out what works for your starter and kitchen. If it seems noticeably larger and appears airy, and alive, it's ready. In Hawaii, I have left it to ferment outside and it took only 4 hours.
Shape
- Turn dough onto a floured surface and allow to rest 10 minutes uncovered. This helps to soften the gluten to shape easily.
- Gently pull the dough to stretch it into a rough rectangle, but avoid tearing it! Fold in each side toward the center like closing an envelope, then roll the bread up like a burrito. Pinch the sides then cup your hands around the dough and drag it in small circles against the counter to build a tight, smooth surface. Tight dough rises in the oven, loose dough spreads out flat.
Final Proof — 1.5 to 4 hours
- Cover and allow to rise until puffy and close to double the original amount. Same rules as before: observe, become familiar with surroundings. Use a proofing basket, if you have one. Otherwise a greased bowl will do the job.
- Press it gently with a floured finger: the indent should spring back slowly, not instantly.
Preheat
- About 30 minutes before your dough is ready to bake, place your empty Dutch oven with the lid on into the oven and set it to 500°F. Let it heat up together with the oven. You want the Dutch oven to be screaming hot by the time the dough goes in. The hot dutch oven is what traps the steam and gives sourdough its crackly crust and big oven spring.
Bake
- Place the boule dough on parchment or silicone bread baking mat. Score the top of your loaf, one bold cut down the center, or feel free to get fancy with it.
- Remove the dutch oven using oven mitts
- Use the handles of the bread mat or sides of the parchment paper to lift and place boule dough in Dutch oven
- Cover; bake at 500° F for 25 minutes
- Turn the oven to 400°F, open the lid, turn the pot around and bake for 12-15 minutes more.
- You want deep gold brown rather than light or pale.
Cool
- Remove and place on a wire rack.
- Now let it cool. Ideally two hours. The loaf is still baking on the inside while cooling down and if you slice it too early, even if the outside looks good the inside will remain gummy.
