Hello everyone! I’ve been learning all about how to make sourdough at home and I have been so excited to share this with you! I’ve tried trying my own sourdough a few time and failed. I almost gave up but I got a sourdough starter to help me from ballerina farm and it’s been SO helpful in getting my starter up and going!

I will say that making sourdough bread takes time, so make sure you are baking these on a day where you’ll be at home for most the day!

Why make sourdough?

Why make sourdough? Sourdough is a great natural way to make homemade bread without having to buy yeast from the store. You can naturally make it in your own kitchen! Sourdough is good for you since it acts as a prebiotic, which means that the fiber in the bread helps feed the “good” bacteria in your intestines. It’s also lower in gluten than other breads, which might be good news for you if you are sensitive to it!

Getting Started

First things first, to get started making sour dough you’ll need:

• A strong healthy sourdough starter
• Filtered Water
• Unbleached flour
• Dutch Oven Pot
• Bread Pan
• Dough blade (or a sharp knife)

What is a Sourdough Starter?

If you don’t know what a sourdough starter is, it’s how people used to make bread in the old days! It is simply a certain amount of water and flour mixed together left to ferment and grow good bacteria. I will warn you that bread made with sour dough takes much longer to rise, but it’s well worth the time investment!

All you need

My Sourdough Starter

Everyone’s sourdough will be different, and when it’s growing I would advise you to use the same flour! (I like central millings).

‘Feeding Your Starter’

Since sourdough is alive, you need to feed it to keep it going!

For my starter, this is what I do to ‘feed’ it:

• 30 grams starter
• 125 grams water
• 140 grams unbleached flour

You’ll need to ‘feed’ your starter every 24 hours, its best used when starter has reached its peak activity and slightly fallen. A mature starter will grow 3-4x in volume in 24 hours.

Cold temperatures slow the growth

If you need a break from baking, cold temperatures slow yeast activity, when you need a break you can do the following:

Fridge: If you refrigerate it, you’ll still need to feed it once a week, your starter may need 2-3 regular feedings at room temp to be strong enough to bake with again.

Freezer: You can also freeze your starter for up to a year. All you have to do is thaw it and feed it again before use, it may take a couple of feeds to be strong again.

Dehydrate: Feed the starter, then spread a thin layer on parchment paper-lined sheet trays. Set aside at room temperature to dry out completely, which will take about 3 to 5 days depending on the temperature of your kitchen. OR if you have a dehydrator you can also dehydrate your starter on parchment paper for 24 fours at 95 degrees. Once completely dried, break the mixture into pieces and store in an airtight glass container.

Rehydrating your starter

To Rehydrate your starter, you’ll need to do the following:

Day one:

5 grams dried sourdough
25 grams water
20 grams flour

Cover and let it sit for 24 hours

Day two:

10 grams of starter
25 grams water
25 grams flour

Day three:

10 grams of starter
25 grams water
25 grams flour

Day four:

10 grams of starter
25 grams water
25 grams flour

Day Five:

Your starter is ready to bake with! You’ll know it’s ready when there are lot’s of bubbles, at least double its original size, and has a yummy ‘dough’ smell!

Traditional Sourdough

This recipe is from Ballerina’s farm! It’s one I watched on her Instagram stories and it’s a great simple recipe.

Serving Size: 2 Loafs

• 250 grams active starter
• 735 grams room temperature water
• 1000 grams unbleached flour
• 24 grams salt

Directions

1. Add your active sourdough starter to a bowl.
2. Add the water and mix together until it is milky.
3. Add the flour and combine together, knead it well for 2-3 minutes.
4. Cover at let the bowl rise for 1.5-2 hours.
5. After it’s rested add your salt, wet your hands and pinch in the salt.
6. Now ‘stretch’ and fold the dough for about 5 minutes, cover the bowl and let it rise for another 2 hours.
7. Check your dough, it should be strong and the gluten should be strong enough that it won’t ‘tare’ when you lift it!
8. Dump the dough out and divide it in half, fold over the sides and roll it up. Push it away from you and pull it towards you to build tension in the loaf.
9. After your first shape, leave the loaves on the counter for 20 minutes, then shape your dough one more time. The dough will remember it’s shape now! Careful not to add too much flour.
10. Flour your poofing baskets and put the dough in them to rise for another 1-2 hours. Be careful not to let the dough over poof.
11. Make a few slices with your dough bread for room for the dough to grow.
12. Cover with a lid and bake for 25 minutes at 450, then remove the lid and put it back in for another 5-10 minutes.
13. Let it cool and enjoy!

The Best Sourdough

This recipe I found from Venison for Dinner, just with a few tweaks! She nailed this sourdough, it’s my personal favorite! It is literally the master sourdough, with it you can make:

• Sandwich bread
• Cinnamon Rolls
• Dinner Rolls
• French Bread (Great for french toast!)

I told you, it’s amazing!

Serving size: 1 Loaf

For this recipe, you can do it a few different ways, but I don’t like my dough to sit out over night to rise, I don’t love my sourdough to be too ‘sour’. So I choose to make it in one day, it does take a bit of time, but it’s well worth the wait!

Pre ferment mixture

• 1/2 cup sourdough starter
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2/3 cup flour

Ingredients

• preferment mixture
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 1/4- 2 3/4 cup flour
• butter to brush crust after baking

Directions

1. Melt butter, honey, and salt on low in a saucepan. When it’s melted and combined, turn off the heat and add the milk. Test the temperature of the mixture (It should be no more and 105F).
2. Add the liquid to your bowl and add your pre-ferment.
3. Add flour and knead together until it’s a nice dough. Let sit 15-30 min, then knead the dough on low for 10-15 min.
4. Cover and let rise for 2-3 hours (or until doubled). Punch down and let it rise again for another 2-3 hours.
5. Dump your dough out and spread the dough out to a rectangle and then shape it. Let it rest for 10min then shape it again for your bread pan.
6. Cover and let it rise one more time until it’s doubled (2-3 hours).
7. Preheat oven to 375F and slash the top of the dough with a sharp blade to allow for expansion.
8. Bake for 20 min. and flip around and bake for another 15 min. When the bread is done, butter your loaf with a stick of butter to make the crust soft. Enjoy!
9. You can also make rolls (cook 20 min), french bread (cook 25 min), and cinnamon rolls (cook 25 min)!

Water/oil Resistant Sourdough label:

If you are wanting the recipe label for my sourdough, head over to my etsy shop and you can put it on any container! It makes it so easy and convenient to find when you are making your bread, no more searching for the recipe! They are water/oil resistant so they will withstand the splashes of the kitchen!

And that’s really all there is to it! If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, please feel free to leave a comment below!

Thank for visiting!

xo, Jamie

Bread Sourdough Sourdough starter