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Overnight Sourdough Bread

Prep Time8 hours
Cook Time45 minutes
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: Bread
Keyword: Overnight Sourdoughbread, Sourdoughbread
Author: Ester van Boesschoten

Equipment

  • 1 Dutch oven pan

Ingredients

  • 3 Cups Unbleached all purpose flour roughly 500 grams
  • 1 1/2 Teaspoon Sea salt I use Le Guerandais Gros salt
  • 1 Cup Purified water or filtered water roughly 290 grams
  • 2/3 Cup Active bubbly starter, stirred down 150 gram

Instructions

Night before

  • Mix salt and flour in a big mixing bowl
  • Add the starter and gently mix in with spatula.
  • Stir in the water and mix with hand until the dough is well combined. Around a minute.
  • Cover the dough with cling wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes in a draft free and warm place.
  • After 30 minutes gently stretch each corner out and fold the dough onto the opposite corner. The dough is sticky so it helps to have a little bowl of water next to you that you can wet your hands in throughout the folding process. After each stretch, fold and rotate the bowl to continue going around. Do this for 1 minute. See instruction video for additional explanation.
  • Cover and let the dough rest overnight on the counter, 8-12 hours. When it is doubled in size you are ready for the next step.

Baking

  • Preheat your oven ,with the Dutch oven and lid inside it, to 475 Farhenheit.
  • Dust your counter with a little flour and carefully scape the dough out onto it. You want to keep all the air bubbles in the dough. Shape the dough gently into a ball. See instruction video.
  • Place the dough into your proving basket dusted with flour and cover. Let it rise for 30 minutes. Don’t overprove. It is best to set a timer for this one. If you don’t have a proving basket, place the dough on parchment paper and cover with cling wrap.
  • Carefully turn the dough onto a large piece of parchment paper. Both the dough and parchment paper will need to fit into the Dutch oven so keep that in mind when cutting the paper. Now it is time to get creative with a sharp knife or a lame to score the dough. See video for example.
  • Remove the Dutch oven from the warm oven. Remove the lid and carefully place the parchment paper with the bread into the pan. Replace the lid back and place in the oven.
  • Reduce the oven to 420 Farhenheit and bake for 20 minutes.
  • After 20 minutes remove the lid, set oven to 425 Farhenheit and bake for another 20-25 minutes. Until it is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when softly knocking on the bottom.
  • Once done remove the bread from the dutch oven and let cool on a cooling rack.