Source: King Arthur Flour
Ingredients (Day 1)
- 200 grams sourdough starter
- 320 grams all-purpose or bread flour
- 300 grams water, lukewarm
Ingredients (Day 2)
- 190 grams flour
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon yeast (optional)
Instructions
On the day prior to baking, mix active starter, flour, and water together in a large bowl with a spatula. Mix it really well, for a minute or two, scraping the bowl as you go. Cover bowl and let sit out at room temperature for 4 hours – you should see some small bubbles starting to form. Then place in refrigerator overnight.
On the morning of baking (plan for at least 8 hours or rise time plus 1 hour for baking), remove wet dough from fridge. Add remaining ingredients and mix together, using hands and lightly kneading until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
Cover and let sit for 1 hour. Remove the lid and use hands to stretch and fold from the outsides into the middle, turning the bowl and repeating several times. Repeat this 4 more times (total of 5 hours of rising followed by 5 times folding).
On the fifth and final fold, everything should have come together into a smooth, pliable, and light dough which is ready for shaping. After folding and pinching, turn the dough over so the bottom (now the top) forms a smooth dome and place it into a Dutch oven prepared with non-stick cooking spray. Cover and let sit for 3 more hours.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Score the top of the sourdough with a lame or sharp knife, and sprinkle a little water on top to create steam during baking. Cover and bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove the top and return to the oven for 5 minutes more to brown the top a little, keeping any eye on things to make sure the top doesn’t burn.
Allow the bread to cool for a bit before cutting.
Rachel’s
Secrets of Success
- This is my go-to sourdough recipe that I refined while on lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a scaled down and simplified version of this full recipe on the King Arthur Flour blog, which makes an even bigger loaf, but definitely read through that page for more details and cooking science tidbits.
- Sourdough starter should be recently fed and bubbly. I feed my sourdough starter (ratio 1:1:1 of starter, flour, and water) with whole wheat flour. Then I use all-purpose (or bread flour, if I have it on-hand) for the bread; there’s just enough whole wheat in the starter to give it a little color and flavor.
- This recipe doesn’t really need any yeast, assuming the starter is active, but since I keep a large bag in my fridge, I usually pour a bit in just to ensure a nice rise.
- Ideally cook this in a Dutch oven. Otherwise, use a covered, oven-safe baking dish or large pot. And you can look up volume conversions if you want, but I always weigh ingredients out for both ease and accuracy.
- We love this bread for dipping in cheese fondue, sliced on a charcuterie tray, or hollowed out for spinach dip. It makes a large loaf, and the leftovers are great toasted as a base for avocado toast or diced up and rebaked as croutons for Caesar salad.
Cooking with the Claremons 
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