Artisan Sourdough Bread Loaf | No Scale
Skip the scale and just make a fantastic sourdough bread!
Equipment
- 1 dutch oven
- 1 Razor Blade for Scoring
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Active Sourdough Starter
- 3 Cups Water (room temp)
- 6 Cups Flour (I use 3 Cups of White and 3 Cups of Whole Wheat flour)
- 2 tsp. Sea Salt
- 1/4 tsp. Yeast (I sometimes will add just a little pinch in the winter time when the kitchen is colder) Not necessary if your kitchen is warmer.
Instructions
- Combine the starter and 2 cups of room temperature water in a large bowl and combine.
- Add yeast (optional) and 3 cups of flour and stir.
- Add in the last cup of water, 3 more cups of flour and salt and stir.
- Cover with plastic or clean towel and let the dough rise for 12-15 hours in a warm place. (I like to combine all of these ingredients before bed- so it can rise overnight).
- After the initial rising of the dough, remove plastic/ towel and sprinkle with a bit of flour and flour your hands to slowly fold the dough over itself. Flour your hands more as this can be kinda stick initially. Slide your hands along the edge of the bowl, grab an end, and gently fold it over the top to the other side of the dough. Do this around the whole bowl for about a minute.
- Cover the dough again, place dough in a greased bowl on a piece of parchment paper allowing to rest and have a final rise for another 2-4 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 425°. Place your cast iron pot into the oven to preheat with the stove. This cast iron will act like a small steam oven of sorts for the first part of baking this bread- so it's important that it's nice and hot before your bread goes into it.
- While you are waiting for your pot to heat up, you can use a clean razor blade to score a design right into the top of the dough ball if you wish. There are lots of cool designs out there that can add to the final shape!
- When your oven is ready, use some pot holders to carefully remove your hot dutch oven. Grab the dough by holding on to the parchment paper and lowering the entire paper with the dough on it into your dutch oven and cover with the lid.
- Bake at 425° with the lid on for 30 minutes.Remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes.
- Remove from the pot with the parchment paper and allow to cool a bit before slicing it and slathering it with butter!