No-Fuss Sourdough for Absolute Beginners

Step-by-Step Instructions

Follow along photo by photo — every stage below shows exactly what to look for before you move on.

1. 1
   

   Step 1Step 130 minutes

   Mix flour and water, then walk away

   Stir the flour and water together until no dry patches remain — it will look rough and shaggy, which is fine — then cover the bowl and leave it for thirty minutes.

   This rest, called an autolyse, lets the flour drink up the water and begin forming gluten with no kneading at all. It is the reason this recipe needs no machine and no stretching gymnastics later on.

2. 2
   

   Step 2Step 25 minutes

   Add the starter and salt

   Add the active starter and the salt, then squeeze the dough repeatedly between your fingers until both disappear completely. It will feel unpleasantly sticky for the first minute and then suddenly come together — keep going until it does.

   Your starter should be at its peak: doubled, domed and smelling sweet rather than sharply acidic. A tablespoon dropped into water should float. If it sinks, feed it and wait a few hours.

   Tip · Wet your hand before squeezing the dough; the dough sticks to dry skin far more than to damp skin.

3. 3
   

   Step 3Step 32 hours, then overnight

   Fold four times, then leave it overnight

   Every thirty minutes, wet a hand, reach under one edge of the dough, stretch it up and fold it over the centre. Rotate the bowl and repeat four times. Do this in four sessions, then stop.

   Cover and leave at room temperature overnight. By morning the dough should have risen by about half, feel airy and jiggly, and show a few bubbles across the surface. A cold kitchen simply means a longer wait — go by the look, not the clock.

4. 4
   

   Step 4Step 41 hour

   Shape into a round and chill

   Tip the dough onto a lightly floured counter and pull the edges into the middle to build tension, then flip it seam-side down and drag it in a circle to tighten the surface.

   Place it seam-side up in a banneton or a bowl lined with a floured tea towel — rice flour is best as it does not absorb moisture — and chill for at least an hour. Cold dough scores cleanly and holds its shape in the pot.

5. 5
   

   Step 5Step 545 minutes

   Bake covered, then uncovered until bronzed

   Preheat the covered pot at 250°C (480°F) for half an hour. Turn the loaf out onto parchment, score it once with a decisive slash about a centimetre deep, and lower it in with the lid on.

   Bake twenty-five minutes covered, so the trapped steam keeps the crust soft and lets the loaf spring, then twenty minutes uncovered to colour it. Go darker than feels comfortable — that deep bronze is flavour. Cool on a rack for a full hour before cutting.

   Tip · Slicing a hot loaf gums the crumb. If you can hear it faintly crackling, it is still setting.