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.
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Sourdough Bread With The Crispiest Crust Recipe
Make Perfect Sourdough Bread at home with this easy beginner-friendly recipe
Sourdough Bread With The Crispiest Crust
- 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
- 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
Sourdough Bread With The Crispiest Crust Tools
Don’t know which sourdough baking tools you need? Checkout my Sourdough Bread Kit and Tools List
Here are my #1 favorite and preferred tools for baking Sourdough Bread. These are the winners of 3 years comparison shopping, research and testing. The full list can be found here: sourdough bread baking tools list.
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