Sourdough Bread for Beginners _ NO KNEAD

Hey , everyone .

It's Lisa from the blog Farmhouse on boon dot com .

Today , I'm going to share with you my new favorite way to make sourdough bread .

If you've been following along , you've been through the whole journey of me first making a honey whole wheat loaf with basically the exact same process as making a regular loaf of bread .

But with just using sourdough as opposed to the yeast , then I started cooking it in my cast iron dutch oven to give it that crusty crust .

Well , now I have learned the art of creating really beautiful bread with these nice bit holes through a process of stretching and folding and rising in the refrigerator .

I'm going to be sharing with you all of the keys so that you can make this type of bread .

It might sound complicated at first , but it isn't .

And once you get familiar with this process , it'll be second nature to where if you just start it in the morning , you do this process throughout the day , very little hands on time and you'll have a beautiful result every time .

And so I really encourage you that if you built up a sourdough starter to try this , do it two or three times soon .

It won't even be hard for you .

And the greatest part about this is it is a no need recipe .

So you don't need a mixer .

It is really easy to manipulate the dough .

And I really wish I would have learned it all sooner .

Now , let's talk a bit about timing because that was the thing that first confused me when I first started making my own homemade sourdough bread .

When do I have to start it to get a loaf ready in the morning , morning or afternoon or whenever it is that you want , it's a long process .

So the timing is kind of tricky .

So I find that if I start this process around any time before noon , I can bake a loaf of bread first thing in the morning on the following day .

Now , the first rise can be anywhere from three hours to 10 , depending on how warm it is in your house , how sensitive you are to wheat .

So if you need to let it from it longer , you can , but let's dive into the process and I will explain more on the timing .

Ok .

So first of all , some of the things that you're going to need for this are a scale .

Now , I resisted for so long , the idea of using a digital scale for baking .

But I can't argue with the results that I've had trying it this way and So I recommend it .

I just have my postage scale that I already had in my house for mailing things .

So if you have something like that , you can use it .

It's very , I will leave a few links down below , but this isn't something that will really break the bank .

And if you're going to be baking bread on a regular basis , I would recommend going this route .

Now , I like to use freshly milled whole wheat flour for a component of this recipe .

But you could also just buy whole wheat flour that's already been grown .

So if you have a wheat mill do that , if not totally optional , start by putting a bowl on your scale and tearing it to where it's zero with the bowl sitting on it and add 500 g of unbleached all purpose flour .

I like to use an organic unbleached all purpose for this to that add 200 g of freshly ground whole wheat .

Again , you can just use whole wheat that hasn't been freshly ground to that .

Add 250 g of bread flour .

Now , if you don't have bread flour , you can omit that and just add more of the unbleached all purpose .

I like to tear my scale out in between each addition so that I don't have to do a bunch of adding to figure out where I should be on the flower .

You'll be a few grams over under each time .

That's totally fine .

I let that slide .

It's ok .

It's kind of a game with my daughter .

She likes to make us get it perfect , but it's ok if it's not , once your flowers are all added , measure out 650 g of room temperature or warm water on your scale and then add that to the flour .

Now , you could just add it straight in , but liquid is one of those things you can't take back out .

So if you do have a heavy hand and you over pour that really wouldn't be good .

Next , combine that all you can either use a wooden spoon or your hands .

I like to use my hands and then let it sit for about 30 minutes .

This is another step that I use to think how could this possibly matter .

But flour doesn't fully soak up water right away .

So this auto lease time really allows the flour to become fully hydrated before incorporating the extra added ingredients .

Then add your mature sourdough starter .

On top of that , I do 200 g of mature starter .

Next Sprinkle the salt on top .

I like to do 20 g of a fine sea salt .

So the key to this is feed your starter first thing in the morning and then you can start baking around .

Like I said , somewhere between nine and noon , you'll have a really bubbly active starter .

Now , I have done this process and pulled the starters straight out of the refrigerator .

I didn't have time .

I didn't get it started early in the morning and it was still fine .

So , don't let this step get you too worried .

But if you can feed your starter that morning and it's really bubbly and active , you will have a better result .

Once the starter is added on top , just dimple it in with your fingers .

If it gets too sticky , you can wet your hands with a bit of water and that will help things to not stick as much .

Mix the dough thoroughly for about five minutes or so .

You're not trying to develop gluten or need it .

You're just trying to incorporate all of the ingredients .

Next , allow the dough to rest in a warm spot for about 30 minutes before starting the stretching and folding process .

I like to put my dough right now .

It's currently February on a chair close to the wood stove .

Not too close .

I've had the sides of my bread bake being too close to the woods stove .

So just gauge it , you want it to be about 78 to 80 degrees .

If it's not that warm , it's ok .

I do find that in the summer it's a little bit easier to do all of these types of things .

But having the wood stove really helps to , if you don't have a spot like that , you might just need to let it rise a little bit longer because temperature definitely affects things Now , if you have an oven that has a light , you could put it in there .

I personally , my oven does not have that .

It is just either light it or you don't .

And so that is not something I can do but find a warm spot .

Another option is you could get a fermentation station device that keeps the bread at a constant temperature .

Again , you don't have to get fancy .

You don't need a whole lot of tools .

Just let it rise longer .

I used to not even have a wood stove and I was always able to do this .

Ok .

Now we're gonna start the fun part , the stretching and folding .

I saw people doing this all the time bakers that I watched on Instagram .

I didn't really know much about this process and I was really missing out because this is what creates those big beautiful holes .

Whenever you see someone slicing into a crusty loaf of bread and on the inside , it just looks light and fluffy .

This is why this helps to strengthen the dough .

It's actually really fun .

I love this process .

I only my recipe call for stretching and folding it six times .

But I'm tempted to go over there a whole lot more because it's actually just really fun to get your hands in the dough and stretch it now to perform a stretch and fold .

Take one side of the dough and pull it up as high as you can and then gently let it down , rotate the bowl , do the same thing slightly to the left or right of where you just stretched and folded and then continue to rotate until you've done about four stretch and folds on each side of the ball of dough and then just let it rest again until you perform the next one .

So I recommend starting about 30 minutes into the rest time and performing a stretch and fold every 15 minutes for the first three and then every 30 minutes for the second three .

This is not precise .

I never set a timer and I just go over when I already think it's been about 15 minutes .

You could do as few as three stretching folds and then let it rest for the remainder .

So I have let my bread rest until just doubled .

So for around three hours when it sits close to the woods stove and I've let it sit for the rest of the day , six hours , eight hours .

Same result , pretty much a more sour result on the second option , but no less beautiful and fluffy than the other in between the stretch and folds .

And during the entire duration of the bulk ferment , keep the dough covered with a damp tea towel , plastic wrap or a bees wax wrap to keep it from drying out .

So this is that bulk ferment time .

This is when you're going to allow the work of the sourdough to take the whole thing over and really ferment it .

So if you're a little bit more sensitive to grains , you could allow this time to be a little bit longer .

If you're on a time crunch and you started your bread , say at two in the afternoon , you need to get it in the refrigerator at five because you have a busy evening and you're not gonna be able to touch it and bake it until the morning .

That's fine too .

And so it really just depends and it might vary from each time that you do it .

The key is to do those six stretch and folds in the beginning part of this .

Now , the next active thing you have to do because for a while you just let it sit and allow it to rise , you'll get huge bubbles on the surface .

I love this part and I love watching it .

But the next active part is to take the dough to a work surface , gently lift it out of the bowl .

You might have to scrape it a bit with a bowl scraper or a dough scraper .

Try not to deflate it too much .

You have all of those beautiful bubbles from rising and stretching and folding .

You don't really want to damage them and put it out onto a lightly flowered work surface .

Next , take a dough knife and cut it down the center , then just roll the dough slightly toward you using the tension of the work surface , rotating it until it forms a nice ball repeat with the other ball of dough and then allow them just to sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes .

Now , this helps to create a bit of a skin on the dough which will keep it from sticking to the Banton basket whenever it is doing its final rise in the refrigerator overnight .

Now the ban to basket that's actually optional .

I discovered that with this recipe , it makes two loafs and I only have one round Banna basket and lining a bowl with a tea towel or an apron or something lightweight like that actually works just as well .

So you really , that's an optional thing .

The next part is my favorite part .

I don't know if I said to chicken and folding was my favorite , but this part is also good .

I guess I just like working with dough , something really fun about it .

So flip the dough over so that the spot that you were creating the film is on the top and pull the top of the ball of dough towards the center , then the bottom , then the two sides , flip it over and rotate it again to you using the tension to create a nice , beautiful ball .

Next , turn it seams side up into a flowered linen lined Banton basket or bowl , place it into a plastic bag or something that will keep it from getting hard in the refrigerator and put it in the refrigerator overnight for about 12 to 14 hours is good for this second rice .

This is the part where you can really just forget about it .

So if you want to break your bread at 8 a.m. you need to have it in the refrigerator by 6 p.m. There's the timing that you really need to pay attention to is getting it in the refrigerator for that second rice for that 14 hour I duration .

Now , it can stay in longer than that , but it needs to be about the 14 hours .

I've left mine in longer and that's fine too .

The next day .

Get a cast iron Dutch oven into a 500 degree oven and allow it to preheat for at least a half hour .

It needs to be really hot .

This is what creates that crusty outside and that fluffy inside .

It is really crucial .

And I learned that whenever I started making my needed sourdough loaves in the cast iron Dutch oven , I learned how beautiful the crust was whenever you did that .

But this makes an even fluffier result .

Once the cast iron Dutch oven is fully preheated .

Take one of your band tim basket or bowls out of the refrigerator , gently flip the bowl over so that you let the dough out with the nice shapely side the top .

And this is the part where you can do that beautiful scoring , just dust it gently with some all purpose flour and get to work with your razor .

Another tool I highly recommend is a razor for slashing your bread to create those really beautiful designs .

Again , something I didn't really see is necessary for a long time .

But now this is my favorite part of baking bread .

I love cutting in the designs .

Seeing what I can come up with .

Sometimes they're not as pretty .

Sometimes they really pretty .

It doesn't matter because the bread always tastes the same , but it is something to reward you at the end of this process .

One of my favorite patterns is the wheat pattern .

So essentially , you just create almost like a stalk of leaf coming out of a stem and it'll open up beautifully in the oven .

You'll get familiar with this part .

Don't expect your first loaf to be beautiful .

I've been practicing this like crazy .

So the first time it probably won't be all that beautiful , but it'll taste just as great .

Place it into the cast iron dutch oven .

Gently being careful not to deflate it on a piece of parchment paper .

Add the lid and bake at 500 degrees for about 20 minutes , remove the lid and reduce the temperature to 475 and bake for an additional 25 .

This will give it the golden color on top .

So when you first remove the lid , it won't have a golden color .

But that second bake time with the lid off is what will make it beautiful .

Now , a few tips , the refrigerator rise is something that I resisted for a really long time .

Even though I was told by people that that is how you get that beautiful scoring pattern .

It is so true .

You need to have the dough cold to really get that beautiful scoring pattern .

And so this part isn't optional and it's tempting because it just takes so much longer .

You have to get your bread into the refrigerator 14 hours before you want to bake it in order to have that result .

But it is what really does make this beautiful scoring pattern that I've never seen .

Otherwise , another tip is to make sure to use the cast iron dodge oven or any kind of if you have a cast iron combo cooker , anything that is cast iron with a lid is crucial for this .

And you know , it's not a unit tasker in your kitchen .

You can use it for so many other things .

I use my cast iron Dutch oven and I now actually have two of them constantly daily .

And so if you don't have one yet in your home , you won't regret purchasing one .

Let's do a quick recap of that process just to get it really fresh in your brain .

But start by adding 500 g of unbleached all purpose flour , 200 g of freshly grown whole wheat and 250 g of bread , flour to a bowl mix quickly with your hands and add 650 g of water stir until it's all combined with your hands or a spoon cover with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel and allow it to rest for 30 minutes .

Next , add 200 g of mature starter and 20 g of salt .

Dimple it in with your hands .

Use a wet hand if you need to until it is all combined thoroughly .

Allow it to rest covered for about 30 minutes .

Perform the first three stretch and full spaced by 15 minutes .

And the last three stretch unfolds spaced by 30 minutes in a warm place covered in between , allow it to rest .

The remainder of the bulk ferment time , which can be anywhere from 3 to 8 hours depending on the warmth , the hydration and strength of your starter or based on how much fermenting you want to do on health benefits .

Divide the dough in half shape into a ball and allow to rest for 30 minutes uncovered , flip the dough over and shape it , then add it to a Banton basket cover with a plastic bag and allow it to rise in the refrigerator for 14 hours .

Preheat your cast iron dutch oven at 500 degrees .

Flip the dough out score .

Add to the cast iron Dutch oven with a lid for 20 minutes , remove the lid and bake it at 4 75 for 25 .

And that's the whole process if you want a printable version of this recipe .

It'll be over on my blog farmhouse on boon dot com .

You can search in the search bar need sourdough bread or I will also have a link down in the description box .

You can print that off and keep it in your kitchen till you get really familiar with these steps and it becomes second nature and you have it memorized and you can make your daily bread very easily .

But for a while , you'll have to reference it and really get familiar with the process .

All right .

Well , I hope that you enjoyed this video and that I've inspired you to make some beautiful fluffy , delicious light and airy sourdough bread for you and your family .

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I make two new videos every week on food from scratch , natural living and a handmade home .

Thank you so much for stopping by the farmhouse .