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Sourdough Bread With The Crispiest Crust

November 8, 2024 by 3 Comments

Print Recipe·5 from 1 review

Sourdough Bread With The Crispiest Crust

The best sourdough Bread recipe for that extra crispy crust

Baking epic sourdough with that signature crispy crust is easier than you think!

This simple, foolproof recipe will have you whipping up Instagram-worthy loaves that will wow everyone who tries them.

Sourdough Bread With The Crispiest Crust Recipe

Make Perfect Sourdough Bread at home with this easy beginner-friendly recipe

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Sourdough Bread With The Crispiest Crust

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5 from 1 review

  • Author: Roselle Blore @howtomakesourdough
  • Prep Time: 4-6hrs for your sourdough starter to come to peak
  • Fermentation Time: 6hr room temp proof (70F) + 10-24hr cold proof (36F)
  • Cook Time: 20 min with the DO lid on + 20 min with the DO lid off
  • Total Time: 20-24hrs depending on your cold proof
  • Yield: 1 1x
  • Category: Sourdough Baking
  • Method: Dutch Oven steam baking

Ingredients

Scale
  • 450g All Purpose flour
  • 50g whole wheat flour
  • 50g white rice flour
  • 335g water (61% hydration)
  • 100g sourdough starter (20% starter)
  • 10g salt (2% salt)
  • 12g olive oil

Instructions

The sourdough bread baking process can be boiled down into 7 Steps:

Step 1 – FEED STARTER:

  • Feed your sourdough starter and use when it’s at peak –basically when it can no longer rise and it starts to crater a little

Step 2 – MIXING:

  • In a bowl, mix ingredients together thoroughly until there are no dry clumps

Step 3 – FOLDING DURING BULK FERMENTATION

  • For this particular recipe, our room temp (70F) fermentation will be 6hrs long
  • during this time window, fold your dough until it starts to resist, and
  • then let it rest until you see it start to lose its shape,
  • then fold your dough again until it starts to resist,
  • then let it rest until you see it start to lose its shape,
  • Repeat this until room temp proofing is over (again, 6hrs for this particular recipe)
  • you will prob be able to do 4-6 sets of folding sessions during this time window

Step 4 – SHAPING:

  • After 8hrs, your sourdough dough should’ve risen 1.5x its size and should hold its shape after folding.
  • Shape your sourdough dough and then place into your proofing basket

Step 5 – COLD PROOFING:

  • Cover your dough and cold proof your dough in your fridge at 36F for min 8hrs, max 20hrs

Step 6 – SCORING:

  • When your oven is done preheating at 485-500F,
  • take our your dough out from the fridge,
  • flip it onto parchment paper and score it

Step 7 – BAKING:

  • Immediately bake in a Dutch Oven with the lid on for 20 min at 485-500F;
  • then lower the temp to 450F and bake with the Dutch Oven lid off
  • wait 1-2hrs before cutting into it
  • enjoy!

Notes

For a more detailed explanation of the 7 Steps of Sourdough Baking, please get the Sourdough For Beginners Course

ATTENTION:  To get maximum crispiness, after scoring, place your dough onto your HOT dutch oven.  Spray the dough with cold water and then put 2-3 ice cubes in between the parchment paper and DO.  This will create A LOT of steam (ice cubes needs to be touching the cast iron).  Immediately close with the DO lid and out into the oven.

Sourdough Bread Schedule

Need help With the timing? I made You A Schedule That’ll Help you see the Timeline:

Friday

Preparation

9pm – Feed your sourdough starter

Saturday

1st rise – Bulk Fermentation

9am – Mix ingredients

9:15am – 1st folding session

11:15am – 2nd folding session

1:15pm – 3rd Folding session

2:15pm – Shape dough

3pm – Put dough in fridge

2nd rise – Cold Proofing

3pm – Cold proof for 24hrs

Sunday

Baking Day

2:30pm – Preheat DO in oven

3pm – Score dough

3:01pm – Bake in DO, lid on

3:20pm – Bake in DO, lid off

3:40pm – Done

Beginner Sourdough Bread Tools

Don’t know which sourdough baking tools you need? Checkout my Sourdough Bread Kit and Tools List

Sourdough Bread Kit

Here are my #1 favorite and preferred tools for baking Sourdough Bread. These are the winners of 3 years comparison shopping, research and testing. This is everything I use from start to finish.

Sourdough Starter

Thermometer and Hygrometer

Plastic Bench Scrapers

Metal bench scraper

My Favorite Kitchen Scale

Brod & Taylor Proofer

Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl 10 in

KitchenAid 8q – 4 loaves

Pyrex 11 cup glass

Banneton

“Banneton” $1.25

Flour Sack Towels (better)

Magnetic Bread Lame

Feather Razor

Parchment Paper

The Best Dutch Oven

Bread Knife

Beginner Sourdough Bread Video

Watch This Video of the Beginner Sourdough Bread recipe To Get A Quick Summary Of The Process

Filed Under: Sourdough Bread Recipes Tagged With: Artisan Loaves

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anthony Fay says

    January 22, 2025 at 1:13 am

    Hello thank you for all your knowledge you’re sharing ! Question when during the stretch and fold process does it have to be within the first 2 hour window or can it be more of the time ? I was told to do 4 sets every 30 min would love to hear your feedback back

    Reply
  2. Jeanette says

    November 12, 2024 at 2:11 am

    Hi.
    I live at 5000 ft. Would I need to do anything different from your recipe?

    Reply

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