Sourdough No Knead Method
The process of making a sourdough leavened no-knead loaf (at least the way I do it) is almost identical to the instant yeast variety. I just substitute 1/4 cup of sourdough starter for the 1/4 tsp. instant yeast.
Of course, working with sourdough can alter things quite a bit depending on how wet you keep your starter and how healthy it is. Some starters are very liquidy and can be poured out of their containers. I keep mine pretty thick. It has to be spooned out of the jar. I go into quite a bit of detail on how I manage my starter in the various related videos.
That said, here’s the most basic recipe that I use quite frequently.
- 1 cup (5 oz.) whole wheat flour
- 2 1/2 cups (11 oz.) white bread flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 cups purified water
- 1/4 cup starter
The baking times and all that are the same as the basic no-knead method. So you can easily just watch that video but follow this recipe. I usually bake the bread at 500° for 30 minutes with the lid on and then remove the lid and continue baking for 15 more minutes at 450°.
You might have noticed that there’s a bit of difference between what I say in the video regarding recipe quantities and what’s written. The weights shown are probably more precise, but you should be fine either way as there is a fair amount of leeway in this recipe.
Generally speaking, the wetter your dough the bigger the holes will be, which many people really like. However, a drier dough will make it easier to get the bread to rise while baking, giving you greater “oven spring” and a more spherical loaf versus a pancake. With practice, you’ll get so you can come closer to predicting how your bread will turn out just based on the consistency of the dough when you’re mixing all the ingredients together. You can adjust the amount of water and flour to get the consistency that suits you best.
Many people want to know how to make their bread more sour. Breadtopia reader, Rhine Meyering, enjoys success with this by using just 1/8 cup of sourdough starter and extending the fermentation time by refrigerating the dough. Click this link to his October 7, 2007 post to read what he says. It makes a lot of sense based on my understanding of sourdough baking too.
Also, click the following link to Ariela’s post of November 25th, 2007 where she describes her success with the sourdough no knead method using spelt flour. She includes the actual recipe she uses too – very nice.
| No Knead Revisited – A Three Year Check Up
It’s been over 3 years since the original New York Times no knead bread recipe was published. That’s also about the same time Breadtopia was born. By far the most common difficulty people write or call in about is with the dough being too wet to handle at the end of the long first proofing period and also when it’s time to place the dough into a covered vessel to bake at the end of the second rise. When you run into this, there’s not a whole lot you can do about it other than attempt to follow through on the instructions and ultimately wrest the dough into your heated baker and into the oven. Your “mistake” may turn out better than you expected and if nothing else, you’ll learn from it. The next time around you can do one or a combination of a couple things differently.
The same principle holds true on the second rise. While 1-2 hours is the suggested range, I’m almost always at about 60 to 75 minutes. Another concern we hear a lot is about the dough not rising much during that second short proofing period. I don’t see mine rise much then either and it doesn’t matter so long as you see a good rise during the first several minutes that the dough is in the oven. That’s called oven spring and it’s a very good thing. By keeping your proofing periods on the shorter side, you’re more likely to get good oven spring from the still vigorous yeast or sourdough starter. Of course all of the above is assuming your yeast or sourdough starter is fresh and viable to start with. In summary, most problems can be helped or solved by stiffening the dough a little and/or shortening the rising times. If you’re new to bread baking, don’t think from reading this that it’s difficult or tricky to get great results. Most people find it a breeze and enjoy success right out of the blocks. Others may find it takes a few tries. It’s important to have fun with it and don’t worry about bombing. There’s no significant downside to bread baking but the upside can be fabulous. Enjoy! |
March 20th, 2010 update: Beadtopia reader, Beth Adams, emailed this:
I have been a follower and contributer (through the comments sections) to the site for a few years. I just tried something that I wanted to share. I added a tsp. of lavender to the regular sourdough recipe and had great results when using it for sandwiches. Hope you are able to enjoy it!
For more no-knead recipes using sourdough, check out No-Knead Recipe Variations.
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Hi Bart,
Not on this web site, but here’s a classic that’s been around a long time: http://www.joejaworski.com/bread/bread1.htm
Hi Eric! Do you also have a recipe for plain sourdough bread (kinda like the San Fransisco sourdough bread)?
Thanks
Bart
Hi John. I don’t.
If I use the Romertopf clay baker with this recipe, do I still soak it in water prior to putting it in the cold oven and preheating it?
thank you…
I’ve been dying to get a decent sourdough process down for months now. I read a few things online and got a starter going quite easily. Well, actually I kind of cheated. I often enjoy certain craft beers that are made with various micro-organisms in addition to yeast, particularly farmhouse ale or Saison – Jolly Pumpkin brewery in Michigan makes a really sour one called Bam Biere that I particularly like. These beers often use lactobacillus and bretannomyces (a bacteria that will convert sugar to alcohol like yeast). At the bottom of each bottle is a small amount of “bottle conditioning” that serves to mature the beer. I swirl a bit of spring water in there and add that to my rye and bread flour mixture. Within 2 days I have something that smells distinctly like sourdough and rises madly when fed.
Now to turn this into some “Bam Bread”. Reading this and watching the videos is giving me a little hope that I’ll get it yet. Thank you!
Lou
Just ate some of the bread I made using the no knead basic recipe and baked in my lg. glazed Romertopf clay pot (turkey sized). It turned out better than I could have hoped for. I accidentally baked it at 475 for 30m, then down to 450 for the last 15m, but the crust is nice and chewy, but not to the point that it cuts or jabs, and the bread is full of big pockets. My wife agrees that I need to buy more flour! Next is the sourdough from the pineapple starter I made last week. I plan to use your No Knead recipe for this but I want to make a larger loaf. Will this be a simple matter of doubling everything the follow the same baking times, or is there a formula I need to follow?
Any help would be grand. Thank you.
G’day,
Would you be able to write this recipe out for me in grams? I’m using metric measurements and I know it’s more accurate if I measure the water out in grams too rather than cups. I have an imperial scale, but I don’t have imperial cup sizes, so metric all the way would be SO helpful.
Dianne
Penny, you are absolutely right! The nasty smell did go away. I added the whey, and almost immediately it started to smell and act like sourdough starter, and not…um….vomit. It’s not quite there yet, but getting better. The last loaf I baked rose a bit more than the first, but still a little flat. I anticipate in a week or two more, I’ll have what I’m looking for. The taste is really wonderful already, and I keep reading that it will only improve. I feel lucky that it only took two tries. I know some folks have lots of failures before it “takes”.
I’ve also sent for some of Carl’s starter. That should be fun, as well.
Thanks for the advice!
Annette –
When you first begin a starter, you will be growing things you won’t want. I remember how disgusting my first few days of starter were. I would stir it and almost gag! It all depends on what takes hold and starts to grow. Eventually the bad stuff dies out and the good stuff stays. This is why I would never use a starter until it is at least a week or two weeks old — you just don’t know what you have yet!
Keep feeding it (I would discard half and feed what was left and kept doing that so I didn’t have a tub load of starter at the end) and within a week or so the nasty fumes should subside and you will start to have a good starter that smells like bread dough.
Good luck! I have had my starter now for 6 months and it is vigorous and going strong!
A question — when you decide to delay the proof by putting the dough into the fridge — how long do you let the dough warm up after you remove it from the fridge, before continuing on with the recipe? Also, is it better to make the dough and immediately put it in the fridge or is it ok to let it rise for 12 hours or so before putting it in the fridge?
On breadflour vs. all purpose: 2 notes here –
I started out with breadflour and had problems just as you describe, and followed advice to try all purpose (unbleached). This made a difference for me, I assume due to different absorption rates of the two. Now with more experience, I can work with breadflour.
Second note is, keep notes on your successful methods. If you change one thing and success collapses, then you know what went wrong.
hello, After I received your sour dough started I made a coulple of loaves and they were very good but for some reason I started using bread flour in place of all purpose. Everything started getting hard to handle,sticky before and after proofing. Also when I added to my starter after a couple of loaves I used the bread flour to make more. Would this be my problem. The loaves are fine tasting be very hard to work with. I don’t know if it was beginners luck or what the the first 2 loaves I made at the start were effortless to work with. Also my starter has changed from bubbly every time to separated. Any advice? I also think I will get one of those proofing baskets from you .thank you very much.
Just wanted to share a picture. We love this recipe! Finally have the starter working well. Hope to try a loaf with teff flour next – if I can get the proportions right. Thanks so much for this website!
Update…my first loaf was somewhat disappointing. There was very little spring during baking; it was rather flat. The taste was excellent; a medium sour with really nice tones. The crust was a bit crunchy for my taste, but two of the three that tried it really liked it.
I think that in a week or two, I’ll really have something. I can’t wait!
On my second attempt, it appears that I have started a usable starter. It was touch and go for a few days, but after a last ditch effort to save the thing with the addition of about 1/2t of whey (from organic yogurt), I almost immediately had something that wasn’t….disgusting. It’s one week old today, and my first loaf rose overnight. I wasn’t sure that it was active enough to work, but so far so good. The dough appears to be a little stickier than yeasted, but overall, it appears as it should. I tasted a bit, and it was pleasantly sour, but has a metallic tang, probably because I proofed it in a stainless steel bowl. I will certainly use glass from now on. Interesting that yeasted NKB doesn’t pick up any metallic flavor from the same bowl.
Anyway, I expect to be eating my first homemade sourdough loaf later this afternoon. I will let you know.
A picture of my first successful loaf of NKB. Temp was decreased to 450 as suggested by SM below, and the results were beautiful. Love this website.
[img]nkb.jpg[/img]
Thanks, Santa Maria! I am attempting my second NKB this afternoon and will try decreasing the temperature. I looked at the loaf at 30 minutes yesterday and my intuition told me it was done… I should have listened to myself and taken it out without the last 15 minutes. I loved the ease of the recipe and am determined to be successful!
Hi Penny,
I too had slightly burned bread bottoms in the beginning and moved the rack up once which is where I bake now. From watching videos on Jim Lahey’s bread, it looks a little charred on the bottom which is how my husband prefers it and I don’t notice a burned tasted. I baked at 500 degrees for my first couple of loaves and then bought an oven thermometer (hangs from rack) and realized my oven runs hot so have found 450 to be the ideal setting, for the recommended half hour and then 15 minutes without lid. Hope that helps.
S.M.
I just tried the no knead bread recipe for the first time. I had a few oops (for example I forgot to dust the la cloche base, but the bread didn’t stick anyway. I think I got lucky!) but it seems to have turned out fine. One question –
I have a new oven and I am adjusting to its baking. I have noticed that putting the la cloche on the lowest oven tray setting results in burned bottoms, so I have moved it up, then moved it up again. I am still getting burned bottoms. Should I decrease the baking time or lower the oven temp?
Thanks!
I just wanted to thank you all for your comments. I reduced the temp. of my starter and just left it on the countertop, it started doubling in size after a few hours. I let it do this three of times and then proofed for about 12-14 hours and then removed from bowl and may have let it sit a little too long (a little over 3 hours) as went out, but it turned out nice and high, after baking, with a softer crumb than my usual KN bread. Maybe this is because I used the recipe on Breadtopia and it called for a bit more flour than Jim Lahey’s. It also was nice and light but I really didn’t taste the sourdough. I’m wondering if it’s because I let it rise too long for second rise or used 1/4 of a cup instead of a greater quantity although I think I read about using 1/8 of a cup and then letting it rise longer for a more sour taste so guess will play around with it. Just to clarify. It sounds as if some use the starter right out of the fridge but it has to be strong while others take it out of the fridge and feed it a couple of times and then use it. I used the starter before it reached it completely doubled in size.
I did watch the video which helped. I also explored the website and saw some other sourdough recipes, one for a cranberry/pecan sourdough although video/recipe didn’t want to open for it. I also tried opening the products gallery but not luck there either. Oh well. My husband thought it one of my best loaves yet.
Hey, Santa Maria, I have been baking Erics NK for about a year with great results. I had problems at first with my starter. Eric said he thought I might be feeding my starter and keeping it too warm. I live in LA and it is very warm and humid. He said starter’s ideal temp is about 65 degrees. The warmer temps sometimes will kill your starter. I think 80 is just a bit too warm. Once I adjusted my temps my starter just got stronger and stronger, and I have had no problems since. v/
Hi Santa Maria,
First, welcome to the group, I’ve found this to be a great place to get ideas and help with my Sourdough NK bread making. And I know from experience how confusing it can be to get so many different answers. The bottom line is, there are many ways to accomplish the same thing. You’ll find your own groove soon so don’t worry.
I’ve found it VERY helpful to watch the videos on this sight and read the text that goes with them. In the beginning I watched them over and over to let the information really seep into my head!
Regarding the amount of water and flour to add. The rule of thumb is to add, at least, equal amounts (by weight) thus if you have 50 grams of starter, add 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water. If your recipes call for more, add more. For example 50 grams starter, 100 grams flour and 100 grams water.
You know it’s strong enough when it doubles in about 3-4 hours after adding the flour & water. You’ve probably noticed that once it’s doubled it soon starts to deflate again. That’s because it’s pretty much used up it food supply. I consider it “hardy enough” if it will double this way 2 or 3 times in a row. (Just remember to work with small amounts and use or discard the excess or you’ll be swimming in starter.) So then I feed it one last time and pop it in the fridge to use another day.
And “Yes” use only a portion of what you have stored in the fridge. More and one person has lost their starter because they hadn’t kept any in reserve. Feed or replace it as needed to keep it healthy. Consider drying some for longer storage, too.
I once read using the Doubled starter in my bread was using it at it’s weakest point. So now, once I’ve decided it’s strong, I feed it and wait a little while before using it. Or, I feed it and put it in the fridge and use it a day or two later, like in the videos.
Regarding the density. My biggest mistake used to be letting it rise TOO long. Now I do all my mixing and rising in a giant measuring cup so I can actually tell when the dough has doubled. (I’ve never been good at estimating this.) It’s better to go on to the next step before it’s doubled than to wait too long. If I get interrupted and I think I can’t get to it quickly enough, I just pop it into the fridge to slow it down.
I hope some of this helps. It’s actually pretty easy once you get into your own groove.
Carolyn F.
In response to Santa Maria:
I’ve been making NK sourdough for about a month now (probably a dozen loaves). I made my own wild starter, which took about 2 weeks. I usually dispose of all but 1/4 cup of my starter, then add 1/4 cup flour and slightly less water. I try to keep it pretty thick and it bubbles up nicely. If I know I won’t be baking for at least 4-5 days, I just pop it into the fridge after a feeding.
After it’s been in the fridge, I’ve had the most success if I feed it for 2 full days (twice daily) before baking. Mine does continue to strengthen even when I store it in the fridge. Not feeding enough once you pull it out of the fridge could be a possible culprit in your bread being too dense. Another thing to watch is how it’s rising. If it doesn’t proof long enough, it’ll be more dense. I let mine proof 12 – 18 hours, then after I’ve shaped and folded it it gets 15 minutes on the board, then 90 – 120 minutes in the proofing basket before going into the oven. Another thing to pay attention to is not letting it rise TOO much. If it over-proofs, you may not have enough oven spring while it bakes. In no way do I mean to say this is the best method — simply sharing what has worked for me personally. I’ve found the comments on this page to be extremely helpful to me, so I hope you find the same. Best on your sourdough efforts!
I started a sourdough starter 2 weeks ago and have been feeding it twice dailly or once a day. I realize now that I haven’t been emptying enough of the sourdough before I add flour/water. It didn’t seem to be doubling. I’m keeping it in the microwave at about 80 degrees and using unbleached white flour. I will now do 1:4:4 ratio. Having said that is that ratio 25 grams sourdough to 100 grams of water/flour. My first loaf was too sour and quite dense. My questions are: will it make my starter hardier if I continue to feed it up to a month as in leave it out or can I put it in the fridge at this point and feed weekly? Also when I take it out to make bread, is 24 hrs enough time in advance to give one or two feedingd before I use it (and do I add it when it’s peaked as in high and still bubbly). Would I just take a bit out of the fridge and feed it and leave remainder in fridge and then just add some back in jar in fridge after it’s been fed? Trying to get this right but there are so many websites offering advice and I’ve been reading too many of them with sometimes slightly conflicting advice or maybe just different stategies to get the same results. Thanks for anyone who has the time to respond.
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