Delicious Everyday Sourdough Bread Recipe | Heartbeet Kitchen (2024)

This straightforward sourdough bread recipe is a staple in our house. Made with sourdough starter, this naturally fermented bread has a fluffy, airy interior and crackly crisp crust. All the steps of making the bread are detailed out, as well as sourdough tips for beginners.

Sourdough Bread for Beginners

You know those recipes you know by heart and never have to look up? For me that’s this basic sourdough bread recipe with starter, the one I make every week, that’s completely achievable for beginners too. If you’ve been dreaming of fluffy, bouncy, true sourdough bread, you can make that happen in your own kitchen! I promise you.

Sourdough is all about learning by doing, and every time you get your hands in the dough, each step will make more sense.

I made my first sourdough loaf over 6 years ago, and I haven’t stopped baking. In this post, I’ll coach you through the basic steps and leave you with my favorite recipe. Then you can make your way to whole grain recipes, like my delicious rye sourdough and spelt sourdough recipes.

This basic sourdough recipe is made from mostly bread flour, with just a small amount of whole wheat or whole grain flour to give it some additional flavor and color. This amount is super versatile depending on what flours you have in your pantry. I like to use einkhorn, spelt, red fife, or khorasan.

First things first, you’re going to need an active sourdough starter. I suggest asking a friend who has lovingly fed and maintained their starter or purchasing mine so you can get baking right away instead of spending several weeks getting your started. You’ll be able to use to make sourdough english muffins, sourdough cinnamon rolls, and lots of sourdough discard recipes!

I ship my 13+ year old starter to anyone in the U.S! You can order it here.

While you’re getting started, this post with 5 Essential Sourdough Starter Tips for Beginners that I wrote may be helpful and this Sourdough Starter video. Both should answer many of your questions!

It’s essential for your starter to be healthy and active, so that is has the ability to make your dough rise. If your sourdough has been in the refrigerator, take it out 2 days before you plan to bake and begin feeding it again.

How do I know when my sourdough starter is ready to bake with?

The answer to this question comes from both experience and observing the starter behave, to understand how it reacts to feeding/not feeding, and temperature.

You can just look for these hints that the starter will give you!

a. It will have at least doubled in size. This will take place over 4-6 hours if the temperature in your house is around 70 degrees. If it’s cooler in your house, it will take a bit longer. I put a rubberband around the jar, to mark the spot it’s at right after feeding. Then, as time passes, you’ll be able to keep track of how much it’s rising.

b. You will see bubbles throughout the sides of the jar, and on top. The top will be a bit poofy and domed.

c. The float test is very helpful! When you think your starter is at it’s peak, take a jar and fill with water. Then take a teaspoon of starter – you don’t need a lot – and place it on top of the water. It it floats, you’re ready to bake! If not, you’ll need to wait or go through another feeding.

With the final rise, how do I know when my dough has risen properly and can be scored and into the oven for baking?

There’s an easy test for this stage too, using a fingerprint. Gently press a floured thumb into your risen dough. You don’t need to press down further than 3/4 inch.

If it indents and gradually releases, but still holds a finger shape, you’re ready. If your fingerprint jumps right back up to flat, it needs more time to rise. If your fingerprint indents and doesn’t bounce back at, it is overproofed. That’s okay, just get it in the oven! It will still taste delicious, it will just not rise as well while baking

Once your sourdough starter is ready to bake with, here are the essential steps for baking. You can watch this step-by step tutorial of me making this sourdough bread recipe to help you as well.

1. Mix the dough, until shaggy.
2. Let dough sit, covered with a cloth, for a half-hour to an hour. This is referred to as the autolyse, which allows the flour to absorb the water, and the gluten strands to develop.
3. You will now perform 4 sets of stretch and folds, 30 minutes apart, to strengthen the dough and help it holds it shape in the future. Think of this as sourdough kneading. THIS VIDEO will show you how to do a stretch and fold.
4. Now 2 hours have passed, and you will let your dough sit until it is doubled in size and puffy on the top. This is called the bulk ferment, and takes about 6ish hours if the temperature in your house is 72 degrees. It will take longer if your house is cooler.
5. After the bulk ferment, the next step is to shape your dough. In THIS VIDEO, I will show you how to know if your bread is ready for shaping, and how to shape it into a round boule.
6. Then the dough will sit in a banneton (fancy name for a bread basket) for another 2ish hours for it’s final rise.
7. Then you’ll flip the dough out of the basket, and score the bread – that means using a sharp razor or bread lame to make cuts into the bread so that the steam can escape. You can watch a video of me scoring the dough, HERE. If you don’t score the bread, it will not rise. So make sure you do this fun step.
8. Then, BAKE in a dutch oven, and await your golden loaf of sourdough!

This recipe is an adaptation from many recipes and techniques I’ve tried, starting first with Artisan Sourdough Made Simple, The Perfect Loaf, then Tartine, Bake With Jack, and the list goes on. You’ll find what works best for you over time, as well.

And the beauty of sourdough is that no bake with ever be exactly the same as the last, because you’re working with an amazing living culture!

Feel free to ask me any questions you might have, or reference some of my other sourdough resources:

• Sourdough Videos
• Top 10 Sourdough Starter Tips
• Honey Walnut Sourdough Bread
• Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
• Jalapeno Cheddar Sourdough Bread