No-Knead Sourdough I Beginner Sourdough Bread

Hey guys it's Bettie from BakerBettie.com and if you aren't familiar with me I'm a trained chef and baking instructor and my goal is always to help you become a better baker through teaching classic baking techniques and approachable baking science. Now today I am going to show you how to make my easiest sourdough bread recipe. This is the bread that I encourage all new sourdough bakers to start with and it is a no-knead bread. It takes very little effort and it turns out so beautifully. I mean look at this bread. It's crusty, it's rustic, and it is so delicious. Okay let's go ahead and dive in. So about 8 to 12 hours before you are going to mix your dough you want to feed your starter. So I'm taking 25 grams of starter and feeding it with 25 grams of whole wheat flour, 50 grams of unbleached all-purpose flour, and 75 grams of water at about 90 degrees Fahrenheit or 32 degrees Celsius. And I'm mixing all of that together and I'm just going to let it sit for about 8 to 12 hours to get nice and vigorous. Now to check if your starter is ready to put in your dough you can gently drop a spoonful of it into a cup of water. If it floats then you are good to go but if it doesn't float then it either isn't ready yet or you have waited too long to use it and it has started to fall and lose its gases. So to start our dough we're going to pour 300 grams of 90 degree Fahrenheit water into a large mixing bowl and to that we're going to add 100 grams of our ripe starter and just give that a mix together to evenly distribute the starter throughout the water. Now add 500 grams of unbleached all-purpose flour or bread flour to the bowl and then 10 grams of fine sea salt or kosher salt right on top. Now we're just going to mix all of that together. I like to start the process with a bowl scraper and then finish mixing it with my hands. It will come together into a thick and sticky dough and we aren't trying to knead the dough here we are just making sure that everything is hydrated and evenly mixed together. And that is really it for this dough there's only a few simple ingredients and you're going to get this really beautiful and rustic bread. Now I know I'm going to get a few questions about using whole wheat flour in this recipe so I will add some information about that in the written recipe but I will say that because this is a no knead bread it really does work best with white flour. We'll be using some whole grains in more advanced recipes down the road. Now once the dough is completely mixed together we are going to cover it and let it sit at room temperature for 12 to 14 hours to bulk ferment. I like to use these shower caps to cover my dough and then I just rinse and reuse them each time. To prep your banneton basket we are going to give it a good dusting with rice flour. This is the best flour to use for your banneton basket so that your dough doesn't stick to it. If you don't have a banneton basket you can just use a bowl and line it with a lint-free towel and dust that well with rice flour. Once your dough has fermented for at least 12 hours it should look puffy and full of air and now we are going to shape it. So very lightly dust your countertop with a little flour and turn it out onto the counter being careful not to deflate it. To shape your dough we're going to start by pulling on all four sides and bringing them into the center one at a time. This will start building a little tension on the outside of the dough. Next we're going to go all around the dough pulling in on the edges into the Flip the dough over and on an unfloured part of the counter use your hands to round it and tighten it into a ball. As I'm doing this I'm using my right hand to sort of pull underneath the dough a little bit and pull it towards me using the counter to build some tension and then I'm using my left hand to sort of finish turning the dough. This takes a little bit of practice but just do the best you can. Once the dough is tightened up into a ball use a bench scraper or you could use a spatula if you don't have a bench scraper and turn it into the banneton basket with the seam side up. Now dust a little bit more rice flour over the top of the dough and we're going to cover it again to let it proof. You want to let it proof for about three to four hours. In the last hour of your proofing go ahead and preheat your oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit. You want to give it at least a full hour to preheat so it is very hot when the bread goes in. Now the way you check to see if your dough is ready to bake is to gently press in on it with your finger. If it springs back up immediately then it needs a little more time to proof. If it springs back very slowly then it is ready to go in the oven. Turn your dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and use a bread lom or a very sharp knife to score it. Now you can score it however you want but since we are keeping it simple today I'm just going to do one right across the top. When you score your dough it is important to move really quickly and confidently to get a nice cut. Transfer the bread on the parchment paper into a dutch oven or an oven safe pot and you might have noticed that we did not preheat the pot as many recipes call for. I have recently learned that you can get just as nice of a bake without preheating. Place the pot in your oven and turn the temperature down to 425 degrees fahrenheit. Bake with the lid on for 40 minutes. Now remove the lid and then continue baking the bread for about 15 more minutes or until your bread is a dark golden brown. Transfer your cooked loaf onto a cooling rack and let it cool for one hour at the very minimum and preferably at least eight hours. Cutting into hot or even warm bread is going to make it stale very quickly and the bread will have a more gummy texture. I absolutely love how beautiful and delicious this bread turns out with such little effort. It has a very mild sour flavor and it's chewy in the middle and crusty on the outside. It makes the perfect toast for butter and jam or it's really nice to dip in some hearty soup and I just know you are going to love it. Now I really hope you enjoyed this recipe tutorial and if you did please give it a like and if you're new here make sure you hit that subscription button and ring the notification bell so you never miss a video. You can follow me at Baker Buddy on Instagram and on Facebook and I'll see you guys next time with another recipe tutorial.