Recipe: Beginner Sourdough Sandwich Loaf (2024)

FAQs

How much of my starter should I use for a sourdough loaf? ›

As with any sourdough recipe, before you start baking bread, you want to make sure that your sourdough starter is as strong as possible. My basic sourdough recipe uses just 50g of starter for 500g of flour (so just 10% of starter).

There is no single best ratio, but I've found a ratio of 1:5:5 fed twice daily at 12-hour intervals to produce a sourdough starter that's strong and healthy. This ratio corresponds to 20% ripe starter carryover, 100% water, and 100% flour (a mix of whole grain rye and white flour) at each feeding.

Don't worry– it happens to the best of us. When sourdough bread dough doesn't rise, it's usually because the starter you used wasn't active enough. To remedy this problem, make sure you're using recently fed, active starter with lots of bubbles.

When the oven is at temperature, take your loaf of sourdough out of the fridge and score it (you don't have to score it if you don't want to). Lightly spray the top of the dough with water. Place it into the hot oven.

If you have too much starter compared to the additional flour and water you're adding, your hungry starter consumes all the nutrients and then it's not as bubbly.

Typical feeding ratios are 1:2:2 or 1:3:3 (old sourdough: fresh flour: water). However, even extreme ratios like 1:50:50 would still work. In that case, the freshly fed sourdough would just require more or much more time to grow and reach its peak, as judged by the maximum volume increase in the jar (at least doubled).

All you need to do is take 20g of the starter you already have and then feed it with 20g of flour and 20g of water (so 1:1:1). Then you'll have a 60g starter, which is considered a smaller amount. You can of course reduce these amounts even further if you wish, but this is a reasonable size to keep waste to a minimum.

Most likely when this happens, it's not you - it's your starter. If your loaf is dense, has uneven holes and a gummy texture, most likely there wasn't enough active wild yeast in your starter to make the bread develop and rise during baking. This can be the case even if your starter seems really happy and bubbly.

Note: As loaves begin to overproof they lose their height and shape. The crumb becomes more dense. The holes become more ragged and irregular in shape. The crust begins to thin and separate from the crumb.

Can you let sourdough rise overnight on the counter? ›

If you don't want to put the dough in the fridge for a cold ferment, you can leave it to proof on the counter for a little while. You do need to be careful not to let it over ferment. Ideally, you want the temperature to be on the cooler side (no more than 21C / 69.8F). Let the dough relax into the banneton.

What happens if you don't score sourdough bread? Scoring allows you to control where your sourdough opens up when it's baked. If you don't score it, it will open or break at its weakest point. You may find you have a few openings or tears.

Score directly from the refrigerator - cold dough is much easier to score, and the contrast in temperature will help with the dough rise even higher. Use a specialized tool - even the sharpest bread paring knife won't have an edge that can neatly cut through wet dough.

The idea is to turn the boule into something manageable so you can get consistent slices. I cut it in half, and then cut one of the halves in half. Then I slice off the tall part of the quarters. Slices that came from adjacent parts of load will fit together and make great sandwiches or grilled cheese sandwiches.

Sourdough starters should be fed a minimum ratio of 1:1:1, meaning equal WEIGHTS of starter to flour to water. If you feed your starter this way and keep it at a consistently warm temperature 78ºF, your starter should peak and become active/bubbly in about 3-4 hours.

For example, for 100 grams of active sourdough starter, I recommend beginning with 15-20 grams of mature starter, then adding the 50% weight in equal parts of 50 g water and 50 g flour to create the amount needed and some leftover.

A common ratio for feeding starter at 166% hydration with volume measurements is 1:1:1, but this is a pretty variable ratio depending upon different factors. Feed your starter at least once everyday if it is not being kept in the refrigerator.

A 1:2:2 feeding ratio would consist of one part existing starter, two parts flour and two parts water. For example, if you have 30g of existing starter, you would feed it 60g of flour and 60g of flour. The most common feeding ratios for daily maintenance are 1:1:1 or 1:2:2.