Ingredients
- Flour: 500g (about 4 cups), bread flour works best for structure.
- Water: 350g (about 1 ½ cups), preferably filtered.
- Salt: 10g (about 2 teaspoons).
- Starter: 100g sourdough starter (if you’re new to starters, grab one from a baking friend or make your own with flour + water).
Instructions
- Activate Your Starter: Feed your starter 4-6 hours before you bake. It should be bubbly and full of life when you start mixing.
- Mix the Dough: In a large mixing bowl, blend your flour, water, salt, and starter. The dough will be sticky, but that’s normal. (Pro tip: Resist the urge to over-add flour. Sticky dough = airy bread.) Cover it up and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
- Knead or Stretch and Fold: Either knead the dough for 10 minutes or use the stretch-and-fold method every 30 minutes over 2 hours. Do what feels less complicated!
- Bulk Fermentation: Let your dough rise for about 6-8 hours in a warm spot. Longer if your kitchen’s cold — looking at you, winter bakers! Once it’s doubled in size, pat yourself on the back.
- Shape the Bowls: Divide the dough into 2-3 evenly-sized balls. Place them on parchment-lined baking sheets, smoothing the tops.
- Second Rise: Cover them with a towel and let them rise for about 1 hour. This is a good time to catch up on Netflix or scroll TikTok.
- Bake: Heat your oven to 475°F (yes, crank it up). Score the tops of the dough with a knife and bake each bowl in your Dutch oven for 25 minutes with the lid on, then 10 additional minutes uncovered.
- Cool: Let those beauties cool completely before hollowing them out. I know it’s hard, but trust me — the bread needs time to settle.
Notes
Kitchen Tools to Keep Handy:
- Mixing Bowl: A large one — this is sourdough, ya need space.
- Dough Hook or a Strong Mixing Spoon: Unless you’re kneading by hand, which is totally fine too.
- Dutch Oven: For baking, because it traps steam for a crisp outer shell. (If you don’t have one, you can improvise with a casserole dish and an oven-safe lid.)
- Sharp Knife/Scoring Tool: For slashing that decorative top. I’ve used clean kitchen scissors in a pinch — no shame.
- Bench Scraper or Clean Counter: Because sticky dough gets messy.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes (active) + 6-12 hours (rising)
- Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
- Category: Bread, Appetizer, Main Dish
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl (based on a recipe yield of 4 bowls)
- Calories: 250-300
- Sugar: 1-2g
- Sodium: 300-400mg
- Fat: 2-4g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5-1g
- Carbohydrates: 45-50g
- Fiber: 2-3g
- Protein: 8-10g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Keywords: Sourdough Bowl