In my years of baking, I have made all sorts of different goodies. I have made different types of bread before, but none that require a yeast or starter. When I made my first loaf of sourdough bread, it was such an incredible process. Plus, the house has never smelled so wonderful! Sourdough truly is so delicious! So many different goodies can be made with the sourdough starter and the sourdough discard.
Today, I want to share with you my experience making my very first loaf of sourdough bread. Before I do that though, I want to give you an update on the seeds I started indoors a few weeks ago.
Seeds Sprouting!
Since I started this journey of seed starting indoors, we have definitely been seeing sprouts popping up. It is so fun to see the changes every day! When almost half of the seeds were sprouting, I went ahead and took the greenhouse lid off and removed the seed starters from the heat mat. Then I rose them up about 3 inches below the grow tape lighting we have under our cabinets. As the plants continue to get taller, I will continue to lower them. Also, now that they are no longer in a greenhouse environment, they need misted with water at least 3 times per day.
Heat Mat for Sourdough
Something I have discovered, is that your heat mat can be very useful for your sourdough starter and your sourdough bread dough. If you live in a colder part of the world like I do this time of year, your kitchen probably isn’t very warm at all. The first loaf of bread I made, I put my dough in the oven to proof, so it could have a semi warm place to be. For the last few loaves though, I have been setting my bowls of dough on a rag on my heat mat. It makes the proofing part of making sourdough bread go so much quicker. Also, when I set my sourdough starter on a rag on the heat mat, it doubles in size in 4 hours versus 12 hours or more.
Anyways, I just thought that little trick would be something fun for you once you are done using your heat mat for your veggies. One more point I would like to make is that I do not use the heat mat through the night. If I need to proof over night, I set my dough in the oven to keep it slightly warmer than my kitchen. The heat mat should not be on when you are not there to watch it.
Let’s Make Sourdough Bread!
Let me start by saying that, sourdough can be stressful, but don’t make it be that way. I was nervous that I would do something wrong with this first loaf of sourdough bread. From what I can tell, you learn something new almost every time you bake a new loaf. Have fun with making your sourdough, and don’t give up. Always bake your dough, even if you don’t think it will turn out perfect. It doesn’t matter how it looks. All that matters is that it tastes good, which more times than not, it will.
Did you know that sourdough bread only requires 4 ingredients? I had no idea. How simple is that! All you need for this recipe is an active sourdough starter, room temperature water, all-purpose flour (unbleached), and salt. That is it! It tastes so amazing!
If you missed my post about creating your own sourdough starter, you can find it at https://homelovedmama.com/lets-make-a-simple-sourdough-starter-together/.
For this first loaf of sourdough bread, I joined a Facebook group called Sourdough for Beginners. In that group under the Files tab, she has posted a recipe and video tutorial on how to make a simple sourdough loaf. She gives you the option to do an open bake, pan bake, or dutch oven bake. I highly recommend joining the group, because questions are answered 24/7 on that page. It is so helpful. If you don’t join the group, the video tutorial is below.
I won’t be saying too much in detail, since she explains everything so thoroughly in the video and recipe. However, I will share my thoughts and pictures throughout this recipe.
Mix the Ingredients Together
First, you need to mix your active sourdough starter and warm water together. Use a scale for this, just like you have been doing for your starter. Make sure you whisk it together until the starter dissolves in the water.
Then you will add the rest of the ingredients on top of the liquid using your scale again to weigh them. I really liked her note on stirring the dry ingredients together on top of the liquid before mixing it all together to form the dough. The dough gets thick pretty quickly, so it is important to make sure the dry ingredients are dispersed equally throughout. Then the shag dough is formed.
Once you think it is all fully combined, you can then cover your bowl with a clean dish towel to let your dough rest for 30 minutes. I have been using these flour sack kitchen towels from Walmart. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-5-Piece-Flour-Sack-Kitchen-Towel-Set-White/44432717?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=2222222222744432717_14069003552_202077872&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=42423897272&wl4=aud-430887228898:pla-295289030566&wl5=1013962&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=44432717&veh=sem&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiArrCvBhCNARIsAOkAGcXYYF36-Z1dvrH3uqkYtjY7IYcsouSLnVjKYxXZXh6JnAagBJu9l_oaAjMHEALw_wcB
Stretch and Folds
After your 30 minutes, you begin 4 sets of stretch and folds with 30 minutes of rest between each one. Stretch and folds are very simple. Just watch the video tutorial. She shows you how to do it. You just pull up a section from the side of the bowl and then fold it into the middle of the dough. Then you continue to do that all the way around the dough. Then you cover the bowl and let it rest.
Here is the dough after the first stretch and fold. The dough is still very sticky during this one. Her tip of wetting your fingers with cold water to handle the dough, is very helpful here.
The dough after my second set of stretch and folds is starting to come together a little more. It is slightly less sticky.
After my third stretch and fold, the dough is becoming stronger and smoother. It is becoming easier to work with at this point.
During the last stretch and fold, she has you do the window pane test. This test helps you determine if your dough is strong enough to move on to the next step. The video will explain how to do it, but it is basically pulling the dough until you can see through it. If it doesn’t rip easily, then you are ready for the next step.
This dough is enough for two loaves of sourdough bread, so she has you split it into two equal section of dough and place them into straight sided plastic containers. I do not have straight sided plastic containers, so I just put them in clear glass bowls.
Bulk Proofing
Now it is time for bulk proofing, which is when you cover your containers of dough, and let them sit at room temperature until your dough rises to about 75%. It doesn’t need to fully double in size. She takes a marker and marks on the side of her plastic container where her dough starts at. With the straight sides it is easier to determine when your dough is risen enough. Using the bowls, I marked my dough line with tape, and kind of just winged it when it came to when I thought the dough had risen enough. Since the sides are not straight, it is harder to tell when the dough has risen enough. It worked out well for me though. Especially for my first sourdough bread!
When the dough had risen enough, I took the lids off, and noticed a few bubbles on top of the dough. That is a good sign! Also, if the dough in the bowl still has a dome shape on top of it, that is a good sign as well. It means that your dough is still rising, and that it hasn’t started to fall. I haven’t learned too much about it yet, but if you don’t let it rise enough, the dough will be under-proofed. If you let it rise too long, it will be over-proofed. It basically just determines how your bread will look after it has been baked.
Pre-Shaping Your Dough
This next part was kind of tricky for me. I couldn’t quite get the balls of dough to look like hers in the video. For the pre shaping, you need a bench scraper to help create a ball out of your dough. She used a knife for her bench scraper. I ended up using my cake scraper, which seemed to work pretty well. It at least helped keep the dough from sticking to the countertop. Then you let the dough rest for 30 minutes. I covered mine with a towel for this rest.
Final Shaping
After that rest, I followed her video tutorial for the final shaping of the sourdough bread. Watching the video made this part very simple, and she explains why she is doing each thing throughout the process. I love this part, because it is actually looking like a loaf at this point! It gets kind of exciting the closer you get to putting it in the oven.
This recipe allows you to bake it right after final shaping, or you can cold ferment in the refrigerator over night. It was late, so I ended up putting it in the refrigerator over night. From what I have read, putting it in the refrigerator can help your sourdough bread taste more sour. I haven’t tried it without the refrigerator fermentation yet, so I don’t know the difference in tastes. Anyways, my shaped dough went on to floured parchment paper and into covered containers for the night.
Scoring
The next part is the fun and creative part of sourdough bread. I don’t have a razor blade for scoring dough yet, so I just used a sharp knife. The purpose of scoring the dough, is so your dough has room to rise. You will notice in the final picture of my sourdough bread, how much the score pulls apart. When scoring the dough, you need to cut deeper than you think. Play around with it. Each time you score, it will have different outcomes. Now, you do not want to score until you are ready to put the dough into the oven, so wait until your oven is preheated.
Bake Your Sourdough Bread!
I do not have a dutch oven, so I ended up baking my sourdough bread the exact same way she does it in the video. First, I put the pan of water on the bottom rack, and preheated the oven. Make sure your top rack is closer to the center of the oven. I forgot to do that, and my bread got a little dark on top.
When it is preheated, your dough goes into the oven. In her video, she tells you when to turn your dough in the oven, so it gets baked evenly. She also has you spray water every once in a while to add more moisture. Then she has you remove the pan of water and take the loaves out of the loaf pans for the final browning. This video was so helpful, and definitely made it easy for success on my first loaf of sourdough bread.
If you are worried whether or not your bread is done, I have read that you should stick a thermometer into your bread to make sure that it reads 205 to 210 degrees.
The Moment of Truth
Once your sourdough bread is out of the oven, you need to wait for at least an hour before cutting into it. This is very hard to do. I did it though! That first slice will tell you if you made a perfect loaf of sourdough bread. It will also tell you if it is over-proofed or under-proofed by looking at the crumb. You can see in the picture below, what I am talking about.
Here is the inside of my first loaf of sourdough bread. I think I did pretty well based on the pictures above! Even if I didn’t, it tasted amazing! Again, taste is all that matters when you are making it for yourself.
I hope you find this recipe as easy and helpful as I did. Once you try this, you can go on to create other breads, like sourdough sandwich bread. My first sourdough sandwich bread didn’t rise, and was a little gummy inside, but it still tasted amazing. Today, I baked up another sandwich bread from a different recipe, and it didn’t rise too much either. Not sure what I am doing wrong, but I will keep working on it. Don’t give up! Sourdough is complicated, but so worth it!
I did bake up another loaf of sourdough bread today as well. Instead of putting it in a bread pan, I shaped it as a round loaf, and put it on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. I used the same recipe, cut the ingredients in half for one loaf, and baked the same exact way as in the video tutorial minus the bread pans. It was another success! I will definitely continue to keep using this recipe!
The Bread of Life
I am sure that you probably know who the bread of life is. Jesus is the bread of life. He feeds us his word, and never lets us go hungry or thirsty as long as we believe in Him. I do not mean this as going hungry or thirsty for food and water. This is hungry or thirsty for Jesus Christ. He is our spiritual food and water. We will hunger and thirst for Him, and He will make us full. Our faith may rise and fall over time, but His love for us will never waiver.
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35
What a wonderful feeling to have. You will always be full spiritually as long as you believe in Jesus. Pray to Him about everything, and read His word for answers. He will answer your prayers. It will be in His time though. One of my prayers for the last year has been answered in such an unexpected and somewhat silly way. I am so blessed though, because of it. It is such a special feeling to put your hope and faith in Jesus, knowing that He will never leave you empty.
I hope you create some beautiful bread soon, and that you continue to hunger for the bread of life!