After a lot of experimenting and tweaking, I am so happy to share my perfect, minimal hands-on time, easy no-knead sourdough bread recipe with you!
I have been baking a lot of sourdough breads, mostly the European-style multigrain type of bread. But I wanted to create an easy no-knead sourdough bread recipe that was fluffier, lighter, and yes, whiter.
Therefore, I have also been playing with artisan sourdough breads in my cast iron dutch oven. For that reason, I now have two sourdough starters (a white one and a dark one).
While there are a gazillion good recipes out there, most of them are pretty involved. There is a lot of folding and stretching and keeping an eye on the clock.
I really wanted a reliable recipe with minimal hands-on time that would give me a perfect bread. I wasn’t looking for big holes but a nice, fluffy texture and good crust.
With a bit of trial and error and experimenting with unusual ingredients, I am so happy with the recipe that I have come up with. And I am even happier to share that with you!
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“Secret ingredients” of the easy sourdough bread
This bread is a true sourdough bread because we are using a very ripe sourdough starter (you can easily make your own). And there is a 10 or so hour fermentation time. So you get all the health benefits from sourdough fermentation.
However, I am adding these two “secret ingredients” to boost this recipe:
Commercial dried/instant yeast
Adding yeast to the sourdough helps with the rising. Sourdough, while I love it, can be a bit temperamental. It is highly affected by ambient temperature, humidity, and wild yeasts in the air. Using dry or instant yeast is a bit of insurance to get a good rise. I can just step away from the bread dough and know that in a certain amount of time, I will get a good bread, no matter what.
Diastatic barley malt
You may have never heard of this ingredient before. But trust me, professional bakers use it all the time. I would say it is a bit like steroids for the yeast. Because if its sugars, it boosts the yeast, gives the bread a better flavor, texture, and crust. Ever since I have started adding a bit to my yeast doughs, I have only been loving the results. This malt flour is pretty easy to find (go here).
How to make this easy sourdough bread
Here are the ingredients for one big loaf – or you could make two smaller ones:
2 cups warm water (about 500 grams)
1 cup very active sourdough starter (about 200 grams)
5 ½ cups of flour ( I prefer using about 70% regular white AP flour and 30% whole wheat flour but any ratios will work, even 100% whole grain flour)
1 tsp of dry/instant yeast
1 tsp of diastatic barley malt
and 1 tablespoon of salt (about 20 grams)
How to make this easy no-knead sourdough bread
This bread couldn’t be simpler!
I start making it right before I go to bed. I’ll just mix all the ingredients into a wet, shaggy dough, cover it with plastic (no worries, it shouldn’t touch the dough if your bowl is big enough), and let it sit overnight.
In the morning, I use floured hands to form a dough ball. Then I let the dough ball rise right in my dutch oven for a few hours.
When I am happy with how much it has risen, I put the bread (in the dutch oven with a lid on) in a cold oven, set the temperature to 450 degrees and the time to 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, I take the lid off.
Then I bake it for another 20 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned.
Let the sourdough bread cool on a wire rack. Done!
Most of the time, we are so curious to see how it turned out that we will cut a slice or two once the bread has cooled enough to touch it for cutting. We love it with a bit of homemade butter and salt.
Sourdough breads do keep for a while but they do taste best fresh. We wrap it in some linen and keep in the (obviously) cold oven since there is a bit more airflow. You can also freeze it for later, either whole or cut in slices.
Do you see how there really is very minimal hands-on time? That is my kind of recipe and I have a feeling you might fall in love with it, too! No matter how you’re spending your day, it is very easy to weave making this sourdough bread into your schedule.
Printable recipe
Easy No-Knead Sourdough Bread
Equipment
- Dutch oven with lid
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm water (about 500 grams)
- 1 cup active sourdough starter (about 200 grams)
- 5 ½ cups flour (about 700 grams white, whole grain or any combination of flours)
- 1 tsp dry/instant yeast
- 1 tsp diastatic barley malt
- 1 TBSP salt (about 20 grams)
Instructions
- In a non-reactive bowl, mix all the ingredients into a uniform dough. It will be somewhat wet, sticky, and shaggy! Cover with plastic and let stand overnight.
- In the morning, scrape the dough off the sides of the bowl and with floured hands form into a dough by stretching the top side and roughly folding the dough underneath.
- Line a large cast iron dutch oven (or two smaller ones) with parchment paper. Set the dough ball inside the dutch oven. Put the lid on. Let it rise in a warm spot for a few hours or until is has about doubled in size.
- Gently flour the dough. Using a sharp knife or lame, score the top (optional).
- Set oven to 450˚ F. Put the lid back on the dutch oven and place it in the cold oven. Set a timer to 40 minutes.
- After 40 minutes of baking, remove the lid and bake for another 20 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned.
- Carefully lift the bread out of the dutch oven, remove the parchment paper, and let cool on a wire rack.
Let me know all your comments and questions in the comments below!
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Thank you so very much for the starter recipe and this sourdough bread recipe. This has been my first try with both and I could not be more satisfied with the results. Starter and bread results were just as your YouTube depicted. Kudos, Anja.
Yay, that makes me so happy to hear!! Thank you so much for sharing, Jo!!
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My question is, if I need 2 cups of starter how do I go about enlarging the starter when I take it out of the refrigerator the night before I want to use it? I am really anxious to try your starter, it
sounds so nice and simple which is exactly what I’m looking for, thank you so much.
Good question! If you need more starter than what you have, I would take it out 2 nights before and add about ½ cup extra flour and enough water to make it thick runny. Then let it sit for a day. The next day you should have at least 2 cups of starter. Hope this helps – let me know if you have more questions ~ Anja
This looks really interesting! What do you think would happen if you baked it in a preheated dutch oven and oven, instead of cold? Love the idea of no stretching and folding.. lol.
Oh, I think it would work really well! However, I like the cold oven method since that way I don’t have to deal with dropping the dough into a piping hot dutch oven. So glad you like this recipe!
Dear Anja,
I made the bread today and WOW it turned out great! It was so easy to make and it is delicious!!! You have been so helpful to me. My husband and I are so excited that we have this now and plan to make bread all the time going forward. Thank you so much for sharing with us!
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Great post! I love no-knead bread recipes!
Yes, me too, so easy!
No kneading!!! Now that sounds like the bread recipe for me! Thanks so much for the info!
Yep, very simple, so glad you like it!!
do yo think this could also work if you wanted to make mini sandwich loaves for Italian subs? does the pan have to be covered? Thanks in advance for any ideas you would have for this.
I would think that could work. You’ll want to watch them closely as they’ll be done sooner than a big bread. If you do, let me know how they turn out ~ Anja
That bread looks amazing and I can’t wait to try the barley malt!
Yes, I am sure you’ll love it! Happy baking, Emily!
Love a good no knead recipe! I’ll try this one. Also love and use your tips for keeping a dryer no fuss starter…in the fridge!
Thank you! I am so glad you like both my bread recipe and my sourdough method ~ Anja
That looks so good, Anna! I’ve never heard of this barley malt before. Thank you for teaching me something new!
Yeah, so happy I can share things! Happy baking, Sylvia!
can this be baked on anything other than a cast iron pan?
I haven’t tried it but a glass or metal loaf pan should work 👍
I often add dry yeast too! Love your post, really great read!
Thank you – your comment means so much to me!!