Sourdough

This recipe makes two loaves of sourdough bread.

Good

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Whisk together all the ingredients, making sure to add the salt last so it doesn't mess with the yeast in the sourdough starter. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside, letting it rest for about 30 minutes. This is the autolyse period. It doesn't have to look perfect; it can be clumpy and shaggy.

Step 2

Knead the dough for a brief amount of time—just gently shape it into a smooth ball, really. It shouldn't look so messy anymore. Cover with the towel again and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Step 3

Stretch the dough and fold it over itself four times, turning it each time so that you're always folding a different side of it. Cover again and let sit for one hour.

Step 4

Repeat Step 3. This is the second time you're doing this process.

Step 5

Do one more round of folds; this time, however, you want to leave it in a nice, neat ball. It doesn't have to be perfect—in fact, I think that a lot of the charm in homemade bread comes from its imperfections, and I like how they remind you that a human handmade this, rather than a machine—but you also don't want it to look awful.

Step 6

Coat a proofing basket with cornmeal and place the dough inside it, making sure that the smoother side faces down and the underside from when you were shaping it faces up at you. Cover the basket with the same kitchen towel as before and let it sit for 30 minutes. This is the proofing time.

Step 7

Toward the end of the proofing time, place a Dutch oven inside the oven, with the lid on, and preheat it to 450°F.

Step 8

After the bread is done proofing, place a sheet of parchment paper on top of the proofing basket, and turn it over. Lift the basket off so that the dough sits on the paper. Use a bread lame (or very sharp knife) to score the bread. You want to make at least one reasonable deep gash so that steam can escape, and I like to make additional, shallower cuts in the top because I like to create designs with them. Those are purely cosmetic.

Step 9

Remove the lid from the Dutch oven once it's been preheated. Lower the loaf of bread into the Dutch oven, using the parchment paper. You can leave the paper in there with the bread. Then, cover with the lid and let it bake for 25 minutes.

Step 10

Remove the Dutch oven's lid and let bake until the bread is golden-brown and crispy. That usually takes another 30 to 35 minutes, but sometimes it takes longer.

Step 11

Let the loaf of bread sit for an hour until you slice into it. I know it's hard! If you don't, though, the inside doesn't have the best texture. Bear with me and wait; it's worth it.