The EASIEST sourdough bread (that's actually good)

The goal of this video is to show you the absolute easiest and least time-consuming sourdough recipe that I could come up with. So there's no folding, no scoring, no leaven, and the dough is a low hydration so it's pretty easy to handle, but the end result will still be incredible. So let's get straight into it. My name is Charlie and on this channel I show you how to make delicious food using simple ingredients and techniques. So let's make some bread. Now for this recipe you'll need an active sourdough starter and I do have a video on my channel showing you how to make one. And if you haven't downloaded my free sourdough quick start guide, it basically walks you through everything you need to know to get started in sourdough, including how to make a starter. So I'll link that below as well. But aside from your starter, all you really need for this recipe is flour, water, and salt, along with a bowl to mix in. So I'm also going to be using a few other pieces of equipment which I'll mention as they come up, but again if you have those few basic supplies you can make this recipe. And to make it the first thing we're going to do is mix the dough. So start by adding 255 grams, which is about 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon of water to a bowl, along with 30 grams of your active starter, which should be about 1 and 1 third tablespoons. Now I always recommend that you measure by weight for the most accurate results, but since this recipe is meant to be as simple as possible and the dough is pretty forgiving, you can measure by volume here if you need to. So next just add 400 grams, or about 3 and a third cups of either bread flour or all purpose flour, so in this case I'm using bread flour. Then stir until all of the flour is fully saturated, and I also like to give it a few kneads with my hand until the dough forms a rough ball. And I'll also mention that if you want to incorporate some extra flavor into the dough, you could swap up to 40 grams of the white flour for some whole wheat or rye flour. So for example you could use 360 grams of bread flour plus 40 grams of whole wheat flour, rather than 400 grams of bread flour. But once the dough is mixed, I also like to scrape down the sides of my bowl with this flexible bench scraper, which is a great tool to have if you make bread even somewhat frequently. So you can get them for very cheap on Amazon, and it'll also come in handy later when we shape the dough, so I'd highly recommend it. So then just cover up your dough, preferably with something airtight, and let it rest for about 25 minutes. This resting period is going to allow the gluten in the dough to start forming, which is going to help the dough to become nice and strong, but if you're short on time, you could technically skip this resting period. But either way, we're next going to add 9 grams of salt, which is about 1 tablespoon if you're using diamond crystal kosher salt like I am, or 1 half tablespoon if you're using table salt. But the volume can vary greatly depending on what type of salt you're actually using, so I'd recommend looking at the label on your salt container for the exact conversion. Then knead the dough for about 7-8 minutes until it forms a nice smooth ball. So I am going to use my stand mixer here just for convenience, and for reference, I'm using my stand mixer on a medium to low speed, and I'm using the dough hook attachment, but you could certainly knead by hand if you prefer. So once you've got your smooth dough, form it into a taut ball by folding it over itself like so, about 4-6 times around the perimeter of the dough. And I also like to flip the dough over so the seam side is facing down as I return it to the bowl. Now at this point, we just have to wait for the dough to rise until about doubled in size, which takes around 8-10 hours at my room temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit. But keep in mind that if your environment is warmer than this, your dough will rise faster, and if your environment is cooler, your dough will rise slower. Now like I mentioned, you're ideally looking for the dough to double in size, but in reality, it can rise to anywhere from about 1.5-3 times its original size and still turn out fine. So that translates to anywhere from about 6-12 hours of rising, so really whatever fits into your schedule is fine. And as usual, I'll leave a few recommended baking timelines in the full post on my website. Now in this case, my dough has been rising for 10 hours, and it's a bit more than doubled in size. So I'm just going to flip it over and perform the same folding process that I did before to create as much tension as possible, because that tension is very important for helping the dough maintain its structure and achieve a great rise in the oven. And a little tip here is that if you wet your hands before handling the dough, you can pretty much completely prevent it from sticking. So then just turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface with the seam side facing up, so that the non-seam side becomes lightly coated in flour. Then flip the dough over onto the unfloured portion of your surface so that the seam side is now facing down, and roll it around a few times like so to close off that seam. So your dough should be just slightly sticking to your surface in order to create some nice tension as you drag it along, but if that isn't happening, it does help to spread a little bit of water over your surface to help the dough pick up traction. And this is where your bench scraper comes in handy, because you can use it to guide the dough as you shape it, but of course you can also do this completely by hand if you don't have a bench scraper. Now once you've got a nice taut ball, just coat it with a light dusting of flour and cover it with a kitchen towel for a short 25 minute resting period. This is going to let the surface of the dough relax before we shape it one final time to develop even more tension. So again, this resting period isn't 100% necessary, but I would highly recommend it. Now after that 25 minutes, just flip the dough over and perform that same folding and shaping process from before in order to develop that last bit of tension before we leave it to rest again for the final proof. So at this point, you'll also need to prepare your proofing vessel, and traditionally you'd use a banneton, which is pretty much just a bowl designed specifically for bread proofing. But if you don't have one of these, you can also just use a bowl lined with a dish towel. The most important thing is just that the bowl is the proper size because the main goal here is to provide structure and support to the dough as it rises. So just line your bowl or banneton with a bit of flour to prevent any sticking, and rice flour works best if you have it. Then gently place your dough in with the seam side facing down. It's very important to place the dough in that way because the seam side is going to end up being the top of the loaf when we bake it, so the steam will be able to escape from those seams as the loaf bakes. Then just cover your banneton with something airtight, so I'm using a biodegradable dough cover here, but the easiest way would just be to place the whole banneton into a sealed plastic bag. Then we'll just have to let the dough rise until about doubled in size again, which should take another 8-12 hours at room temperature. So you'll notice that when we first put the dough into the banneton, it's still pretty firm and it springs back right away when poked. But by the time it's done proofing, it's not only risen quite a bit, but it feels a lot softer and springs back much more slowly when poked. So that's the sure way to tell that it's done proofing. And once your dough is just about at that point, it's time to get ready to bake. So when it comes to baking bread at home, you're generally going to achieve the best results by baking your bread in a dutch oven. And that's because dutch ovens do a great job of trapping in the steam that's released by the bread as it bakes, and that steam helps the dough's crust to remain soft for as long as possible, which ensures that the bread rises sufficiently. So if you have any type of dutch oven, it should work perfectly fine, but even better than that is a combo cooker type vessel like I'm using here because it's just easier to set the dough in without burning your hands. So I'm using a challenger bread pan, which I've made a full review about if you're interested, but the lodge combo cooker is also a great cheaper alternative. Now if you don't have a dutch oven or you don't want to buy one, there are some other methods you can use to create steam in your oven, although they aren't quite as effective. So the easiest way would be to place the dough onto a preheated pizza stone or baking tray, which you've placed on the middle rack of your oven. Then place two pans with about three quarters cup of ice in each onto the bottom rack of your oven. But whichever method you use, you'll want to preheat your oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 260 degrees Celsius, with your dutch oven or baking tray inside for at least an hour before baking. And during that time, I also like to place my dough into the fridge, so that'll slow down the proofing and it'll also help to firm up the dough so it better maintains its shape when it comes time to bake. So starting with the dutch oven method, once your oven and pan are both preheated, go ahead and gently transfer the dough into your pan, and optionally you can place a couple of ice cubes inside the pan as well to create a bit of extra steam. And normally at this point we'd also score our dough to give the steam a place to escape from, but in this case there's no need since the seam side of the dough is facing upward. So working as quickly as possible, just place the lid back onto your pan and return it to your oven to bake for about 18 minutes. Then after that time, remove the dutch oven lid and reduce your oven temperature to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 230 degrees Celsius, and continue baking for about 10 to 15 more minutes until the loaf is browned to your liking. And I also like to rotate it about halfway through that time to be sure that the loaf browns evenly. Now if you're not using a dutch oven, once your oven and pizza stone are preheated, you can just slide the loaf in using a baking tray lined with parchment paper, then go ahead and place the trays of ice onto the bottom rack. And in this case, you'll again want to start by baking for 18 minutes. And if you have a spray bottle, it also helps to spray the surface of the dough about two to three times throughout that first 18 minutes to ensure that the crust stays soft. Then after that time, remove your ice trays and reduce your oven temperature to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, then bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until the loaf is browned to your liking. Now you'll also want to let the loaf cool for at least an hour before cutting into it, but once you do, you should be greeted with a beautifully crispy crust and a uniform, ever so slightly tangy interior. And once you've made this basic loaf, I'd recommend checking out the video in the bottom right corner of the screen, where I provide you with some tips on how to get an even better oven spring. So there you go. I'll see you all in that next video.