My insanely easy no knead sourdough bread is so delicious! This recipe is so easy to follow you will never want to buy bread from the store again. Not only is this recipe quick for sourdough, it is so simple to follow. I can’t wait to share this easy no knead sourdough bread recipe with you!
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No matter how much baking experience you have- I promise you can make this. For years I dreamed of making fresh bread for my family- but it always seemed out of reach. I felt I had to own expensive bread making equipment, have hours to devote to it and more baking skills than I had. As a mom of two littles more often than not I feel short on time so baking bread just felt like a “maybe one day” dream. If you can relate to this- I am here to tell you this no knead sourdough bread recipe is for you!
Sourdough might seem intimidating or just too time consuming- I get it. Honestly if you asked my husband he would tell you we had a MAJOR fight the first time I tried mixing sourdough bread dough because I was so stressed about messing it up. I look back at that moment and laugh. Sourdough is so forgiving and can be so easy with the right recipe. This recipe can be a jump start into many other sourdough recipes like it has been for my family. From bread, croutons, pizza dough, cookies, muffins and so much more. Now let’s get baking!
Things you will need for this insanely easy no knead sourdough bread
- Active sourdough starter
- Dutch oven
- Parchment paper
- Cooking spray
- Unbleached all-purpose flour
- Unbleached bread flour
- Pink himalayan salt
- Large Mixing bowl
- Large storage bag
How to make my insanely easy no knead sourdough bread
Remove your starter from the fridge and feed it. You will feed it equal parts unbleached all-purpose flour and room temperature (filtered) water. I keep my starter in a 1 quart mason jar so I usually feed mine with 1/2c heaping flour and 1/2c water. Mix together and cover with tea towel. Place in a warm spot to rise.
Once your starter is active, bubbly and has doubled in size it’s ready to combine for your bread dough. (About 6-8 hrs later *this will greatly depend on starter maturity and room temperature).
In a large mixing bowl combine unbleached bread flour (or all-purpose flour), room temperature (filtered) water, active sourdough starter and pink himalayan salt. Mix with hands or silicone spatula until everything is combined. Cover with tea towel and place in warm spot to rest for 30 minutes.
With wet hands take one side of the dough, pull up and gently fold over into the center. This is called a “stretch and fold”. You will turn the bowl just slightly and repeat this process all the way around the dough until a smooth side is formed underneath.
Flip the dough over (smooth side up) and cover with tea towel. Place bowl in warm spot and allow to rise 8-12 hours.
The next morning:
Heat oven to 425°F ( You do not need to preheat)
Uncover dough and remove from bowl onto greased parchment paper. You will do an envelope fold by taking one side and gently pulling up then tucking into the opposite side. You will do this for each of the four sides of dough.
Then flip the dough over (smooth side up), pick up the greased parchment paper, dough and all, and place into dutch oven.
Cover with lid and place in oven for 45 min until bread appears to be turning golden.
Remove lid and bake and additional 10-15 min until crust is browned.
Place bread on cooling rack. Allow bread to cool and enjoy!
Tips for making insanely easy no knead sourdough bread
- I prefer to bake my bread in the morning, however, you can bake yours in the evening if that works better for your lifestyle/schedule. If the evening is better for you just adjust these times.
- A few notes on feeding your starter:
- When you are feeding your starter equal parts flour and water you are trying to get a consistency of thick pancake batter. So if it appears to be too runny add a bit more flour, if it appears to be dry add more water. Sourdough is so forgiving and it does not have to be an exact science by any means. (*please note: always heaping amount of flour).
- I typically add the flour first to the unfed starter and mix that in slightly, then slowly add in the water to the mixture. This is helpful to get the “thick pancake batter” consistency, rather then making it too thin and having to add more flour.
- Your sourdough starter strength/maturity as well as the room temperature will dictate how quickly your starter and bread dough will rise. So the warmer the room and the more mature your starter is the quicker the rise will be. The cooler your room and the less mature (maybe a brand new starter) the longer it might take to rise.
- If you need a lot of starter- say you want to make two loafs of bread you can split your starter into to containers then feed them both. You can feed your starter as much or as little as you want 1/4cup to 1 cup, even more, and it will yield more or less starter depending on how much you fed it.
Common questions when making insanely easy no knead sourdough bread
- My bread didn’t rise as much as the last time. This could be for a couple of reasons: the temperature in your kitchen, your starter might have been under or over proofed (it didn’t have enough time to rise or had too much time).
- I have a cast iron dutch oven, do I have to preheat it before adding the dough? The simple answer is no. Cast Iron does take more time to heat up but it is not completely necessary to bake a wonderful loaf of sourdough bread. If you choose to not preheat your cast iron dutch oven like me you may decide your bread needs a little longer to bake while covered. You will see through trial and error how your oven and dutch oven perform together. ** Please note: My times baking times above are with my cast iron dutch oven that is not preheated.
Timeline for my insanely easy no knead sourdough bread
9 am: Remove starter from fridge and feed equal parts Unbleached All-Purpose Flour and Room Temperature (filtered) water.
5pm (approximately 6-8 hours later) after starter is bubbly and doubled in size (Time will depend on maturity of starter) combine your bread dough.
30 min rest
5:30pm Stretch and Fold. Place dough smooth side up, cover with tea towel and let ferment in warm place for 12 hours.
The next morning
9am Heat oven to 425°F. Remove dough from bowl, do envelope fold. Flip dough smooth side up on greased parchment paper. Place parchment paper with dough in dutch oven, cover and bake for 45 min until starting to turn gold brown.
Remove lid and cook additional 15 mins or until top is browned
Place bread on cooling rack- allow to cool and enjoy!
How to Store your insanely easy no knead sourdough bread
There are many ways you can choose to store your homemade loaf. I have tried several ways and my favorite is to use a gallon sized storage bag. No matter which storage method you may choose the most important thing to remember is – always allow your bread to cool completely before storing it.
I prefer the airtight storage method over allowing air circulation for my loaf. This allows the bread to retain the most moisture inside- with this method you do loose the crunch of the crust, however, I prefer this over harder bread. The storage methods like using a tea towel or bread bag do keep the crust hard however moisture escapes faster from inside the loaf making the loaf itself hard within a few days. Again the most important aspect of fresh bread storage is to cool your bread completely before storing it!
Enjoy your no knead sourdough bread within 3-4 days for optimal freshness!
You can store your no knead sourdough bread several different ways:
- Cotton or linen bread bag
- Gallon sized storage bag
- Plastic bread bags
- Tea towel
- Bread box
I thought sourdough was super time consuming?
There are a hundred different ways you can make sourdough bread more complicated, fancy (for lack of a better word) and next level. This recipe is not that- this is designed to be quick, easy and simple to follow. It’s in the title- Insanely easy sourdough bread! I want you to enjoy this recipe, to incorporate this into your lifestyle and begin exploring other recipes with your sourdough starter. Once you get the hang of this easy no knead sourdough bread recipe, the sky is the limit!
Tools you will need
- Dutch oven
- Parchment paper
- Large mixing bowl
- Baking scale
- Tea towel
- EVOO spray
- Large storage bag
Other recipes to try with your no knead sourdough bread!
No Knead Sourdough Bread
My easy no knead sourdough recipe is sure to be a hit! In 24 hours you can have a gut healthy, crispy, warm loaf to enjoy!
Ingredients
- 600g Unbleached Bread flour or all-purpose flour (4 1/2 cups)
- 400g Room Temp Water (Filtered)
- 150g Active Sourdough Starter
- 13g PInk Himalayan Salt
Instructions
Feed your starter
Remove your starter from the fridge and feed it. You will feed it equal parts unbleached all-purpose flour and room temperature (filtered) water. I keep my starter in a 1 quart mason jar so I usually feed mine with 1/2c heaping flour and 1/2c water. Mix together and cover with tea towel. Place in a warm spot to rise.
Mixing your dough
- Once your starter is active, bubbly and has doubled in size it's ready to combine for your bread dough.
- In a large mixing bowl combine unbleached bread flour (or all-purpose flour), room temperature (filter) water, active sourdough starter and pink Himalayan salt. Combine with hands or silicone spatula until everything is combined. Cover with tea towel and place in warm spot to rest for 30 minutes.
- With wet hands take one side of the dough, pull up and gently fold over into the center. This is called a "stretch and fold". You will turn the bowl just slightly and repeat this process all the way around the dough until a smooth side is formed underneath. Flip the dough over (smooth side up) and cover with tea towel. Place bowl in warm spot and allow to rise 8-12 hours.
Baking
- Heat oven to 425°F
- Uncover dough and removed from bowl onto greased parchment paper. You will do an envelope fold by taking one side and gently pulling up then tucking into the opposite side. You will do this for each of the four sides of dough. Then flip the dough over (smooth side up), pick the greased parchment paper dough and all and place into dutch oven. Cover with lid and place in oven for 45 min until bread appears to be turning golden. Remove lid and bake and additional 15 min until crust is browned.
- Place bread on cooling rack. Allow bread to cool and enjoy!
Notes
It's important to remember that your room temperature, and starter maturity can affect the time it takes for the starter and bread dough to rise.
You can allow the bread to do an additional bulk ferment for 12 hours in the fridge after the first 12 hour ferment if you would like. The longer it ferments the more sour the bread may become and the more beneficial the gut benefits are.
- Dutch oven
- Parchment paper
- Large mixing bowl
- Baking scale
- Tea towel
- EVOO spray
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