The Simplest Sourdough Bread Recipe Ever

I’ve been on a bit of a sourdough bread journey the past few years. I swear I’ve tried every recipe out there. I’ve followed all of the influencers, used all of their tips and tricks, and bought all of their fancy sourdough supplies… but I’ll level with you… more work does not equal a better bread.

So I went back to the basics. I cut out all of the chemistry lab junk and used this simplest sourdough bread recipe that never fails me. I swear by this recipe and I’m thrilled to share it with you. Hopefully your family will love it as much as mine does.

Here is a free printable of my simple sourdough recipe. Please feel free to download and print this for your recipe book. The more you make this recipe, the more you will get a feel for what the dough should feel like, if you need to add more flour or more water, etc.

Since a lot of the questions I get is about when I do this, or when I do that… I wanted to share a little timeline of how I do my sourdough bread.

Timeline If you want bread ready for dinnertime:

• 8:30 am- After I get my kids off to school, I start making my dough. Add 150 g starter, 300 g warm water, 450 g flour, and 10 g salt to a medium mixing bowl. Combine ingredients until no dry spots are left. Cover the bowl and let it sit on the counter for about 6-8 hours until doubled in size.
• 8:30 am- Feed sourdough starter. You should have about 50 g of starter left in your jar. Add 100 g water and 100 g flour and mix. You want it to look like a thick paste.
• Around 4:00 pm- Turn sourdough out onto a floured countertop. Shape dough into a ball. Place on a floured piece of parchment paper. Score and put into cold Dutch Oven. Bake at 475 degrees for 45 minutes. Do not preheat oven.
• 45 minutes later- Check the bread. At this point, I remove the lid and continue to bake for 5-10 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
• Around 5:00- FRESH, hot sourdough bread from the oven. Ready for dinner.
• 8:30 am the next morning- Repeat. Your starter should have doubled in size overnight and should be ready to bake with again. If you follow these steps, you should be able to make one loaf per day. If you don’t want to make a loaf per day, read my instructions below for storing starter in the fridge.

Timeline If you want bread ready for the day:

• 8:00 pm- After dinner is cleaned up, I start making my dough. Add 150 g starter, 300 g warm water, 450 g flour, and 10 g salt to a medium mixing bowl. Combine ingredients until no dry spots are left. Cover the bowl and let it sit on the counter for about 6-8 hours until doubled in size.
• 8:00 pm- Feed sourdough starter. You should have about 50 g of starter left in your jar. Add 100 g water and 100 g flour and mix. You want it to look like a thick paste.
• Around 8:00 am- Take sourdough out of the fridge and set on the counter for 1-2 hours until no longer cold.
• Around 10:00 am- Turn sourdough out onto a floured countertop. Shape dough into a ball. Place on a floured piece of parchment paper. Score and put into cold Dutch Oven. Bake at 475 degrees for 45 minutes. Do not preheat oven.
• 45 minutes later- Check the bread. At this point, I remove the lid and continue to bake for 5-10 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
• Around 11:00 am- FRESH, hot sourdough bread from the oven. Ready for dinner.
• 8:00 pm that night- Repeat. Your starter should have doubled in size overnight and throughout the day. It should be ready to bake with again. If you follow these steps, you should be able to make one loaf per day. If you don’t want to make a loaf per day, read my instructions below for storing starter in the fridge.

I’ve also had a ton of questions about all sorts of Sourdough Bread things… So here are my answers to pretty much everything you’ll need to know to start your sourdough bread journey.

Everything You Need to Know About Sourdough Starter

• Sourdough starter is just flour and water that sits on the counter and ferments. Because of this, it bubbles and grows. So when you use this “starter”- just flour and water- in your bread recipes, it acts as a leaven and makes your bread rise. It acts as a replacement for yeast.
• You can make your own sourdough starter by mixing flour and water until it starts to ferment. This takes about a week or two. If you don’t want to go to that trouble, you can buy dehydrated sourdough starter. I got mine on etsy. You just mix this with water, then add flour and continue “feeding” it, and it will turn into active sourdough starter.
• Sourdough starter can be fed at whatever ratio you’d like. Feeding it at a higher starter to flour/ water ratio will make the starter ready to use quicker. Feeding it at a lower starter to flour/ water ratio will make it ready to use later. Image it as though you are feeding an actual animal or a group of animals. The less water and food you give that group of animals, the faster they’ll need to be fed again. But if you have a small group of animals (starter) and give them plenty of food, they won’t need to be fed again for a while.
• I have found that the perfect ratio to bake about every 24 hours is 1 part starter to 2 parts flour and water. For me, that is usually 50 g starter, 100 g flour, 100 g water (1-2-2).
• You’ll know if the starter is ready to use because it will be bubbly, and will grow. I use the rule of thumb that if it has doubled in size, then I know it’s nice and active and ready to use.
• If you want to only bake bread about once a week, here is what I would do… Let’s say you want to bake one loaf every Monday. On Monday, you will make your bread according to my recipe. Then immediately feed your starter (1-2-2). I would put the starter right into the fridge and pull it out of the fridge next Sunday (about 24 hours before I want to bake). Feed the starter (1-2-2) and hopefully it will get nice and bubbly and revive itself overnight. Then when you wake up on Monday morning, you should be ready to bake. Then bake your bread, feed your starter, put it in the fridge, and pull it back out again Sunday morning. This cycle can continue.
• Every time you feed your starter, you don’t need to put it into a new jar. Once you get the feel for what the starter should feel and look like, you actually don’t need to measure at all. I simply leave my starter in the jar it has been in, then add flour and water until it reaches the texture I like. I honestly rarely measure. But I’ve also been doing this for a couple of years. After about a week, my jar starts to get kind of gross, so then I will transfer my starter to a clean jar. Until you get to that point, you may want to use a new clean jar each feeding. That way, you can know how much starter you have and how much flour and water you’ll need.
• You can share starter with anyone you want. Simply double your feed one day that you aren’t planning on baking. Keep the same ratios (1-2-2), but make a larger batch, then give half to a neighbor or friend, and keep half for yourself. You could also dehydrate your starter to share.
• You can dehydrate your own starter. This is good if you want to preserve your starter for any reason. All you do is spread a thin layer of starter out onto a piece of parchment paper. Then let it sit on your counter and dry. Once dry, crumble up and store in an airtight ziplock bag or jar. This acts like the starter I purchased from Etsy. If you ever need new starter for any reason, or want a backup in case of an emergency, this dehydrated starter is perfect.

Everything You Need to Know About Sourdough Discard

• Sourdough discard is any additional starter that you don’t use. Because you won’t need it, you “discard” it.
• With the method I’ve given you, you shouldn’t have much discard, if any.
• The way I see it, there is no need to feed your starter more than you are going to use each day, just to have some “discard” go to waste. I simply feed my starter each day- 1 part starter, 2 parts flour and water (50g starter, 100 g flour, 100 g water). This makes just enough starter so I can use it in for my bread that day and also have enough starter leftover to feed for the next day.
• If your starter is sitting on your counter, you need to feed it each day. If it is in the fridge, it does not need to be fed until you desire to use it again. But say your starter is sitting on your counter and you do not bake with it that day. You will still need to feed it so it doesn’t sit on the counter and die. But once you feed it, it will now be about twice as much as you’ll need to bake a loaf of bread. Each day you feed it (50 g starter, 100 g water, 100 g flour), you will have enough to bake a loaf of bread. So say you feed it 3 times in a row without baking. In this case, you will have enough to either bake 3 loaves of bread on your next baking day, or you will need to discard 2/3 of the starter so you will have enough for just one loaf.
• Instead of discarding starter, you may want to store some in the fridge in case you ever need it. Or you can dehydrate it (see instructions above).
• Some people like discard and they use it for other things, such as cookies, cakes, crackers, etc. If you are hoping to be able to use some discard for such things, you will want to up your feeding amounts. Still keep the same ratios- 1 part starter, 2 parts flour and water. But instead of 50g starter, 100 g flour, 100 g water, you will want to probably double that (100g starter, 200 g flour and 200 g water). Then you can use your starter for your bread and also have enough to use some as discard for your other recipes.

Everything You Need to Know About Storing Sourdough Starter

• If your starter is sitting on your counter, you need to feed it each day. If it is in the fridge, it does not need to be fed until you desire to use it again. This is why storing it in your fridge is good if you do not intend to bake a loaf of bread each day. Otherwise you will be feeding your starter and throwing away a lot of discard.
• I like to think of starter going into the fridge like a bear going into hibernation. When I think of it that way, it makes a lot of sense to me. Just like a bear, the starter can be in hibernation (the fridge) for a while and not need constant feedings. It will still be alive, just dormant.
• Sourdough starter can last pretty much forever in the fridge. So don’t be afraid if yours has been in the fridge for a while. Once you pull it out, you’ll just feed it until it’s bubbly and “active” again. The longer it has been in the fridge, the longer it will take to “wake up”.
• Whenever your starter goes into the fridge or out of the fridge, you need to feed it. Again, we are thinking about this as if it were a bear going into hibernation. Before the bear goes to sleep for months at a time, she will get as much food as she can. She wants to go into hibernation feeling full and have enough nutrients to last several months of sleep. Then once the bear wakes up in the spring, she will be ravenous. So she will need to be fed as soon as possible. And it will probably take a couple of feedings for her to regulate herself. So it is with our starter- feed before and after hibernation (the fridge).
• If your starter has only been in the fridge a couple of days or maybe a week, you should be able to pull it out of the fridge, feed it immediately (1 part starter, 2 parts flour and water). Then you will probably be good to bake with it the next day. If it has been in the fridge a month or two, you may need to feed it two days in a row before it is bubbly and ready to use for your sourdough bread.
• You’ll know if the starter is ready to use because it will be bubbly, and will grow. I use the rule of thumb that if it has doubled in size, then I know it’s nice and active and ready to use- look back to the previous section where I talk about how much to feed the starter based on when you will need it.
• If you store your sourdough starter in the fridge for a really long time, it may get some grey-ish looking substance on the top of the starter. This is called a hooch. It won’t hurt you and you can just mix it into the starter when you feed it again. If you are worried about the hooch, you can just scrape it off and discard it. Then feed the remaining starter at a 1 part starter, 2 parts water and flour ratio.

Everything You Need to Get Started with Sourdough Bread

• I have linked every item I use for sourdough bread on this Amazon list. But I’ll also write out everything you need below so you can decide what you need for yourself.
• I like kits like this one on Amazon, because it comes with nearly everything you need, and is a better price than buying separately. There are a couple of things in the kit I never use, but pretty helpful overall.
• DUTCH OVEN– A Dutch oven is a must to bake your sourdough. I have used two different Dutch ovens. I have this Martha Stewart Dutch oven that I’ve used for years. It produces a basic round shaped bread. But recently I purchased this Oval Dutch oven from Amazon and I love the shape of these loaves because it’s easier to slice.
• SCALE– You will need a kitchen scale. Since all of the ingredients are in grams, you’ll want to use the scale as you mix up your bread dough and your starter. I have this scale from Amazon, and it has worked great!
• BOWL- Honestly, you can just use whatever bowl you have in your cupboard, I use an old 4 quart mixing bowl that I have had forever. I love that one because I’m sentimental. But my favorite bowl to use is a regular stainless steel mixing bowl.
• JARS- You will need two sourdough starter jars. I have used regular old wide mouth mason jar for years and it’s been totally fine. I love these lids if you are using a mason jar. But recently I purchased this straight sided jar with a wooden lid, and I love this so much! I recommend two so you can use one and have one washing.
• SPURTLE– Honestly, my favorite sourdough tool is this wooden spurtle. I love it sooo much. I use it to mix up my starter- it’s the perfect size to reach inside a jar. I also use it to mix up my sourdough bread dough. If you’d rather a silicone option, I have these silicone spurtles too. I use these if my wooden one isn’t clean. But either will work.
• PARCHMENT PAPER– You can get this at your local grocery store, and I actually love getting it at Sam’s Club. But you’ll need some parchment paper to put in your dutch oven. I prefer the unbleached kind.
• SCORING LAME– I use this basic bread lame to score the top of my bread before it bakes.
• BREAD KNIFE– I have tried a ton of different knives and I keep coming back to this basic serated bread knife. It really is the best for cutting through the crust of the sourdough bread.
• CAKE STAND– I always store my bread in this cute domed cake stand. It keeps it fresh and it’s so cute to display your beautiful bread.
• BREAD BAGS– The best part of baking sourdough bread is giving it away as gifts. I love using these bags whenever I gift sourdough bread to friends, family, or neighbors.
• BOWL COVERS– These bowl covers are like shower caps. I use them to cover my bowl while my sourdough rises. But I also use them for leftovers or to cover paper plates when taking cookies to friends. I love having these on hand for anything.