My Everyday Sourdough Bread Recipe | Hurst House

I’ve been making sourdough at home for a while now, and over time it has become one of those things I hardly think twice about. I feed my starter, mix the dough, and work the different steps into whatever else we have going on that day.

It took some trial and error to find a method that felt simple enough to make regularly, but this is the recipe I come back to every time. It doesn’t require anything complicated, and once you get the rhythm down, most of the process is really just giving the dough time to do its thing.

This recipe uses just four ingredients and makes a beautiful, crusty loaf of sourdough. It’s simple, delicious, and the one I make in our home again and again.

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Recipe at a Glance

Makes: 1 loaf
Hands-on time: About 30 minutes
Bake time: 40–45 minutes
Total time: About 8–18 hours

Most of the time is hands-off, allowing the dough to rest, rise, and proof.

What I Use

You don’t need much to make sourdough at home, but there are a few things I reach for every time I make a loaf. I use a kitchen scale to measure everything, a large glass mixing bowl, a dough whisk, and a mason jar for keeping my starter.

For shaping and baking, I use a banneton, bread lame, parchment paper, and a Dutch oven. These are the basics I’ve found make the process simple, and once you have them, you can use them loaf after loaf.

The Ingredients

I keep my everyday sourdough simple with just four ingredients:

100 g active sourdough starter
375 g warm water, around 85°F
500 g bread flour
11 g salt

For the best results, start with a sourdough starter that is active and bubbly. I usually make my dough when my starter is at or near its peak after feeding.

How I Make My Sourdough

1. Mix the Dough

Add the sourdough starter, warm water, bread flour, and salt to a large mixing bowl. Mix everything together with a dough whisk until a shaggy dough forms.

Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let the dough rest for one hour.

2. Stretch and Fold

After the dough has rested for an hour, begin your stretch and folds. Gently pull one side of the dough up and fold it over itself, then rotate the bowl and repeat until you’ve worked your way around the dough.

Complete four rounds of stretch and folds, about 30 minutes apart, keeping the dough covered with a damp towel between each round.

With each round, you’ll notice the dough becoming smoother and easier to work with.

3. Bulk Fermentation

After the final stretch and fold, cover the dough again and let it rest until it has risen by about 50 percent. In my kitchen, this usually takes around one to two hours, but the timing can vary depending on the temperature of your kitchen and how active your starter is.

I pay more attention to the dough than the clock here. It should look slightly puffed and airy and have a little movement when you gently shake the bowl.

4. Shape the Loaf

Once the dough has risen by about 50 percent, turn it out onto a clean counter and gently stretch it into a large rectangle. Fold the sides inward, then flip the dough over and use a candy cane motion to shape it into a round loaf.

Cover with a damp towel and let it rest for 10 minutes, then repeat the shaping process once more to create tension on the surface of the dough.

5. Proof the Dough

Place the shaped dough seam-side up in a lightly floured banneton and cover it with a damp towel.

From here, you can let it proof at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours, or place it in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours. I usually use the refrigerator method because it makes the timing easy and lets me bake the loaf when I’m ready.

The dough should rise by about 50 to 75 percent during this final proof.

6. Score the Loaf

When you’re ready to bake, place your Dutch oven in the oven and preheat to 450°F for 30 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and lightly dust the top with flour. Using a bread lame or sharp blade, score the loaf. You can keep it simple with one deep score or add a design if you’d like.

7. Bake

Carefully lower the loaf into the preheated Dutch oven using the parchment paper. Cover and bake at 450°F for 35 minutes.

Remove the lid, lower the oven temperature to 425°F, and bake uncovered for another 5 to 10 minutes, until the crust is golden and crisp.

Transfer the loaf to a cooling rack and let it cool for at least one hour before slicing.

A Few Things I’ve Learned

Sourdough doesn’t have to be as complicated as it can sometimes seem. The more loaves I’ve made, the more I’ve learned to pay attention to the dough itself rather than following the clock perfectly every time.

A few things make the biggest difference for me: starting with an active, bubbly starter, giving the dough enough time to rise, and letting the finished loaf cool completely before slicing. Your timing may look a little different depending on the temperature of your kitchen, and that’s completely normal.

And not every loaf comes out looking exactly the same. Some are prettier than others, but they’re almost always delicious.