Easy No-Knead Sourdough Bread

In my previous blog, I wrote about how to make an easy no-knead bread. This time I’d like to show you how to make an easy sourdough bread. Traditional recipes call for kneading the dough until it becomes elastic and comes off your hands easily. That can take 10 min or more. And then waiting until the dough ferments enough to bake. I was thinking, what if I combine the slow no-knead method with slow sourdough fermentation? I can just mix the ingredients in the evening and forget about the dough till the morning.

For the sourdough bread, you would need the sourdough starter. It can be made from scratch, but the easiest is to ask someone who has it to share it with you. There are plenty of recipes to try should you decide to make the starter yourself.

Our Library offers many recipes in print format:

• Living Bread: Tradition and Innovation in Artisan Bread Making by Daniel Leader and Lauren Chattman
• Sourdough on the Rise: How to Confidently Make Whole Grain Sourdough Breads at Home by Cynthia Lair
• The Sourdough School: the Groundbreaking Guide to Making Gut-Friendly Bread by Vanessa Kimbell
• Sourdough by Robin Sloan

These are ebooks available from Hoopla:

• Modern Sourdough by Michelle Eshkeri
• Baking Sourdough Bread by Göran Söderin and George Strachal
• Baking with Sourdough by Sara Pitzer
• From No-knead to Sourdough by Victoria Redhed Miller

To make this easy sourdough bread, you will need:

2/3 cup of sourdough starter

1 1/3 cups of lukewarm water

4 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons of salt

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients and stir until the dough looks wet and sticky.

2. Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel.

3. Let the dough proof for 12-15 hours in the fridge.

4. Take the dough out of the fridge, add a little flour, and shape the dough into a ball.

5. Transfer it to a baking tray or a Dutch oven lined with parchment paper.

6. Let the dough proof for 3 more hours.

7. Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees F, put the dough into the oven, and bake for 45-50 minutes.

If you use Dutch oven with lid, cover and bake the first 20 min with the lid, then uncover and bake another 20-30 min without the lid.

Everybody’s oven temperature is different. You might need to adjust the temperature or baking time based on your own experience.

You will want to create steam in the oven by putting a baking tray with water underneath or next to the dough. This will help to make the bread crust softer. If you are using a Dutch oven with a lid, you will not need to use any steam. The Dutch oven will make its own steam.

After you bake the bread, let it rest for a couple of hours until completely cooled off.

Enjoy!