This simple sourdough boule is baked up in your favourite cast iron Dutch oven for the perfect size and shape loaf!
What if you don't have a dutch oven for sourdough bread? Thats okay! You can use any oven safe pot, minimum 1 gallon size. An oven safe pot means it can't have any plastic or glass on it. I have a stainless steel pot that I use so I can bake two at a time. If the only "bad" part on your pot is the lid, try putting a metal cookie sheet on as the lid. The point of the dutch oven is that it traps the steam as the bread dough expands/bakes in the oven, mimicking the steam injected industrial ovens.
If you're feeding your starter regularly, you've also got a jar of discard in the fridge. It's perfect for easy banana muffins or plain scones for dressing up with jam. You can also make a sweet challah from sourdough!
Key Ingredients
Flour - I love me some whole wheat flour, but this loaf? It's made for white. That being said, subbing half whole wheat still makes a lovely loaf! All this rambling to say...make it white first...you'll love it.
Starter - Use when it has been fed in the last 24-36 hours and has doubled but not fallen. This is our yeast so it needs to be active!
Sweetener - You can use honey or sugar, just treat honey as a wet ingredient and sugar as a dry and mix in that way.
How to Use a Dutch Oven for Sourdough Bread
Step 1: Mix the wet ingredients in a jar (easy measuring!) and dry in a bowl.
Step 2: Mix wet into dry, and if using fresh wheat, let it rest for 20-30 minutes before proceeding.
Step 3: Knead the dough until smooth and passes the windowpane test. Cover and let rest 8-18 hours, whatever your "usual" is for sourdough in your house depending on temperature and weather!
Step 4: Form your loaf on a sheet of parchment paper. You can set it in the dutch oven you will use for baking, or one a similar shape or between some containers on the counter, whatever works so it spreads UP and not OUT.
Step 5: Preheat the oven and yes, we want the pan IN there to be HOT as blazes as well. Slash your loaf just before you are going to bake!
Step 6: Carefully! Remove the pot from the oven (or slide out the rack) and place your slashed loaf inside, then cover. Bake for 25 minutes before removing the cover to brown.
FAQs
To windowpane test, take a golf ball sized dough ball and stretch it out thin, to see if you can see light through the middle of it before the dough breaks.
You can go all out with fancy shapes and such, but my preference is 3-5 horizontal slashes on a loaf this shape, like if you are using a roaster. This helps it expand in just the right way in the oven as you can see! If you did one "vertical" slash it would rise up and out that way, if that makes sense. It can change the whole shape of your loaf.
Aim for 190-195°F in the center with an instant read thermometer. This is really an invaluable kitchen tool because you can't go by colour! Every oven is different and even every loaf you make yourself will look different. The temperature will help you have the perfect loaf through and through.
Photos by Dante from Shire by the Sea
More Sourdough Recipes
Dutch Oven Sourdough Boule
Equipment
- Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 3 - 3 ¼ cups organic unbleached white flour can sub for up to half whole wheat, including freshly ground
- 4 tablespoons sugar or 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ¾ cup sourdough starter fed in last 24-36 hours, but has doubled since you fed it
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons oil I use olive oil
Instructions
- In a quart jar mix the sourdough starter, water and oil. If using honey, add it here.
- Mix 3 cups of the flour, sugar (if using instead of honey), and salt together.
- Mix wet into dry. (If using any amount of whole wheat in here, let it sit 20-30 minutes to "autolyze.")
- Knead it for a few minutes, until it passes the window pane test.
- Return dough to the bowl and cover.
- Let it sit 8-18 hours depending on how tangy you want your bread.
- Scoop dough out onto a floured counter. Form a loaf by tucking the sides of the dough underneath in on itself until you've got a smooth tight loaf. It will take about 5-6 times.
- Dust the top of the loaf with flour.
- Using parchment as a sling, set dough aside to rest (uncovered!) for 30 minutes to 3 hours. I usually aim for about 1 ½ hours.
- 30 minutes before you want to bake, put your pot in the oven, and turn the oven on to 500°F.
- Deeply slash the top of the loaf (¾-1" deep) .
- Take the pot out of the oven, lower the dough into the pot, put a lid on, and return to the oven.
- Bake for 25 minutes, take the lid off, and then bake for another 5-15 minutes or until it reaches an internal temperature of 195°F.
- Transfer the bread to a cooling rack.
- Let it sit for a minimum of 15 minutes, preferably 30-60 minutes to allow the gluten structure to set up for you.
Notes
- Always use a thermometer to check if your bread is done! There's nothing worse than slicing into a gummy center.
Nutrition
More Sourdough Recipes
Once you've mastered working with sourdough you'll find you're wondering what other recipes you can try with it now? Here are my tried & true favorite sourdough recipes!
Brittany
Can you explain the started? Where do you get it and what do you mean feed it? (Total newbie).
Thanks!
katehosie
Check out my blog post Sourdough 101 for all the details! 🙂
Rebecca Schwen
Okay, questions- the parchment is okay to go into the Dutch oven at 500!? And when you say the starter was fed in the last 24 -36 hours and has doubled - like doubled because it's so bubbly or doubled because you added and equal quantity of flour and water to it as were already present?
katehosie
Sorry for the delayed response...doubled because it has been fed and bubbled up to double. Yes parchment is just fine! It'll be brown but it's not exposed or touching open flame. Check out sourdough 101 blog post for more details 🙂
Julie Huntsman
Kate,
How many loaves does this make?
Also thanks for making sourdough baking easy.
Julie
katehosie
Just one loaf!
Lindsay
I’ve tried this recipe about 4 times now and I keep getting a very burned/black bottom of the loaf. I’ve tried not preheating my Dutch oven, lowering baking temp, shortening time....still burned bottom. Any advice?
katehosie
Try taking it out of the dutch oven and put it directly on the oven rack. Some ovens just seem to burn this bread for no apparent reason...
Desirae Howell
Would you take it out after the 25 minute mark? I had the same issue, but I could eat the rest of it all by myself lol!
ambertaube
My oven does not go all the way to 500. How long would you bake on 425?
katehosie
Checking your internal temp is really important, hard to guess
Anne
Hello! Is step 8 done in the fridge or in a warmish spot in the home? Thanks!
kateschat
are we talking step 9? If so, on counter in warm spot.
Anne
Hi! So sorry for late reply! I meant to type step 6 (bulk ferment). I tried it without refrigeration and it worked great. Wondered if cold ferment would make a difference. Thank you!
kateschat
Love it!
Kaeleigh
Love these easy to follow boule instructions! I make this one when I want a "fancier" looking bread compared to the sourdough sandwich loaf.
Heather
This is my go to recipe for boule. We love it!!!
HealthyLivingwithChristene
This tutorial mixed with the highlights on IG have helped me come along way in sourdough.
Heather
Well worth the process! Crowd pleaser for sure!
Heather
I love using this recipe when I want a fancy, yet easy-to-make sourdough loaf. The step-by-step instructions are so helpful! Kate is definitely my sourdough hero, I have learned a lot from her. 🙂
Carli Morrow
This recipe and your tutorial helped me immensely when I started baking sourdough, it is definitely a go-to for us!
Carli Morrow
We love this bread and the tutorial that goes with it!
Susanna
The first sourdough recipe I made, so easy and delicious!
Kim
Love this recipe!
Kelsey Carter
So this recipe is also very easy to follow. I tend to like more of an open crumb on my sourdough boules, so I should try adding more water or slightly less flour. Thank you!
Cassidy
Such an easy and simplistic recipe for a delicious outcome!
Can’t go wrong with this basic boule
TAMARA STERR
Love this recipe! Even my husband will eat this one. He doesn't like chewy sourdough, so this is fantastic! Thank you.
Kaitlyn
This was the first sourdough recipe I ever made. Super delicious. All the employees at our company ask when I am making more.
Emily Theresa Gardella
This is such an easy, straight forward recipe and helped me get over the baking my own bread hump. Thanks for creating a resource that helps make sourdough accessible.
Shaundy
This has become my favorite go-to sourdough boule recipe! The texture is perfect!
Mariah Babcock
This was a pretty easy recipe to make. It tastes delicious! The video on youtube was super helpful to watch as I looked at the recipe just to make sure I was going it right.
Anna
A great beginner recipe! Followed steps exactly and it turned out perfect! Thanks!
Morgan
Have you ever made this with gluten free flour?
Tara
Hello
Thank you for the recipe. I am in step one.
For the kneading part.. I didn't see if I was allowed to dump it out on a floured surface and kneed it but I did that because it was too wet to work with but I did minimal flour just in case. Hoping that is okay!
As for the baking part later. I have a convection/ regular baking oven with both options. Is there a better one to choose when baking sourdough?
I will check over this recipe again and your sourdough baking 101 in case I missed it there. But I don't recall seeing anything.
Thank you for your help 🙂
[email protected]
They say it's better to baking on regular and not convection, but I bake sourdough on convection knowing that it will be ready sooner. Seems to be fine for me.
Amy Gerber
How can I make this ahead? Is it good frozen?
[email protected]
You can definitely make this ahead and freeze. I have used it as sandwich bread and also as garlic bread and it's delicious.
Tanya
Do you not do stretch and folds for a boule?I make sourdough artisan bread.and do stretch an folds.just wondering what the crumb would b without stretch folds?
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Kate said that "it's because it's a very simple recipe and those steps aren't necessary unless you are trying to make big holed bread. This recipe is awesome without extra time consuming steps"
Sally
My bread is always burned on the bottom and very dark on top. Should I reduce the amount of time it cooks without the lid on?
[email protected]
I wonder if your oven runs a bit hot? I would suggest turning oven down 15-20 degrees and monitor the baking once you take the lid off. When this happened for me, that was my solution.