• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
The Bojon Gourmet logo
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Desserts
    • Dips & Spreads
    • Drinks
    • Main Courses
    • Salads
    • Sauces & Dressings
    • Side Dishes
    • Soups
    • Recipe Finder
    • Recipe Index
  • About
    • In the Press
    • Learn with Me
    • Work With Me
    • Portfolio
  • Cookbook
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
  • About
  • Cookbook
  • In the Press
  • Learn with Me
  • Work With Me
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×

    Home / Breakfast & Brunch / Breads & Rolls

    5 from 2 reviews

    Homemade Sourdough Bread

    By Alanna Taylor-Tobin on Oct 7, 2009 (updated Jan 20, 2020) / 11 Comments

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    This homemade sourdough bread recipe produces a full-flavored boule with an open crumb and a nicely caramelized crust. Adapted from Nancy Silverton.

    slices of sourdough bread

    San Francisco Sourdough Bread

    The first homemade sourdough bread I ever baked, four years ago, turned out as hard and dense as a brick. Living in the sourdough capital of the world, San Francisco, I felt like a real loser. I had followed a lengthy recipe, raising my own sourdough starter from flour and water, nurturing it for three whole days until it began to bubble and smell tangy. My failure probably had more to do with a weak, newborn starter than anything else, but that was cold comfort. As my starter matured, though, the bread I baked with it came out better and better.

    Everything Starts with Sourdough Starter

    Since then, I've raised a few different starters, but I'd always end up killing them out of neglect when the summer months came and it was too hot to fathom cranking the oven up to 500º. Then, last spring, I inherited the most active, robust starter I've ever had the pleasure of baking with. I don't know the origins of this starter, and have suspicions that it may have been started with commercial yeast. But that doesn't matter to me now. I can ignore my starter in the fridge for weeks, then take it out and feed it with nary a pout or obstinate refusal to rise. Instead, it bubbles up beautifully, like a wagging dog greeting you at the door after you've been gone all day, leash in snout, eager for a walk. "No need to make pancakes," it tells me, "I'm ready for the big guns." This one's a keeper.

    Tools of the Sourdough Trade

    Over the years I've equipped myself with the proper sourdough bread baking materials: a baking stone, a coiled willow rising basket, and a lame for slashing the unbaked loaves, as well as the sourdough bible, Nancy Silverton's Breads From the La Brea Bakery, which includes, aside from dozens and dozens of sourdough loaves, boules and flatbreads, recipes for sourdough pancakes, doughnuts, onion rings, and even a souffle-like sourdough chocolate cake. I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone interested in baking sourdough bread, novice and pro alike.

    Though Nancy has been with me through many a glorious loaf, she also encourages one to strike out on ones own. So I decided to write my own sourdough bread recipe.

    My Best Artisan Sourdough Bread Recipe

    Most rustic sourdough bread recipes call for a very little bit of starter, half a cup or so per large loaf. This really bugs me, since I always have such a surplus of starter. I decided to try tripling the amount called for in Nancy Silverton's artisan sourdough bread recipe, adjusting the quantities of the other ingredients accordingly. It was the best sourdough bread I've baked yet; a bit denser than Acme's Levain, my naturally leavened holy grail, but every bit as chewy and full flavored, with an open crumb and a nicely caramelized crust.

    Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

    This recipe gets some whole-grain flavor from whole wheat flour and wheat germ, but it still bakes up light and chewy from plenty of white bread flour.

    What to do with Leftover Sourdough Bread

    Any leftover sourdough bread can be made into killer sourdough croutons. Around these parts, we cube extra bread and store it in the freezer, then fry it in olive oil in a cast-iron skillet, add a sprinkling of salt, and munch them on salads and soups.

    Is Sourdough Bread Vegan?

    Yes! This vegan sourdough bread recipe doesn't contain any animal products and is friendly for all your vegan and dairy-free bread-eaters.

    Is Sourdough Bread Gluten-Free?

    This one is NOT gluten-free (though these days most of my newer recipes are!) If you're looking for a gluten-free sourdough bread recipe, try this multi-grain sourdough bread recipe from Vanilla & Bean or this sourdough boule recipe from Bob's Red Mill.

    Looking for more sourdough recipes? Try these:

    • Sourdough Rye Bread
    • Sourdough Olive Bread
    • Sourdough Pie Crust & Apple Pie
    • Sourdough Pizza Crust & Mushroom Pizza
    • Sourdough Waffle Recipe
    • Sourdough Deep Dish Pizza Recipe
    • Sourdough Pancakes with Apple & Cheddar
    • Easy Sourdough Focaccia

    More Bread Recipes:

    • Multi-Grain Nut and Seed Bread {gluten-free, vegan}
    • Oatmeal Molasses Bread
    • Multi-Grain Sandwich Bread
    shot of boule being sliced
    *Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram,  Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this homemade sourdough bread recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet  and  #bojongourmet.*
    5 from 2 reviews

    Homemade Sourdough Bread

    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    This sourdough bread recipe produces a chewy and full-flavored artisan boule with an open crumb and a nicely caramelized crust. Adapted from Nancy Silverton. Read the notes below before starting this recipe!
    Alanna Taylor-Tobin
    Total: 9 hours hours
    Servings: 12 servings (one 2lb loaf)

    Ingredients

    • 12 oz. liquid sourdough starter, active, bubbly and ready to go (about 1 1/2 cups stirred down, or 3+ cups at full froth)
    • 8 oz. room temperature or lukewarm water (1 cup)
    • 1 oz. wheat germ (1/4 cup)
    • 5 oz. whole wheat bread flour (1 cup)
    • 8 - 10 oz. white bread flour (1 2/3 - 2 cups)
    • 1/4 oz. sea salt (2 1/4 teaspoons)

    Instructions

    • Stir together the ingredients in a large bowl in this order until a rough dough forms. Add more bread flour if your dough is very wet. Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface (a stiff, plastic scraper is perfect for this), invert the empty bowl over the dough, and let it rest for 20 minutes. (This is called autolyse and allows the flour to absorb some of the water and the gluten strands to begin straightening out; it makes for less kneading in the end, and will prevent you from adding too much flour right off the bat.)
    • After 20 minutes, remove the bowl and knead the dough vigorously for about 10 minutes, adding as little flour as possible to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands and the surface, until it feels smooth, springy and elastic.
    • Place the dough in a large, lightly oiled ceramic bowl or a large plastic container at least twice the size of the dough. You can mark the outside of the vessel with a piece of masking tape where the dough will be when it doubles, if you like. Cover the vessel tightly with plastic wrap or the lid, and allow it to rise until doubled, three to four hours. The warmer the spot you choose, the faster it will rise, the ideal temperature being 75-85º. You can also let the dough rise in the fridge or a cool place overnight. Let the dough come to room temperature before shaping it, and be sure that it has doubled in bulk to properly develop the glutens.
    • Gently turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, pressing out the air bubbles. Shape into a boule by tucking the edges under itself, then gently rotating the dough on the surface to form a taught outer layer of dough. Here's a quick video of how to shape a boule.
    • If you have a rising basket, sift a light layer of flour onto the inside, and place the boule in it upside-down, pinching the seam shut. (If you don't have a rising basket, place the boule directly on a peel or board dusted with cornmeal or flour.) Place the whole deal in a large plastic bag, such as a trash can liner. Inflate the bag and close it with a twist tie or clip. Let the bread rise a second time until doubled, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
    • When the bread is ready to bake, it will hold an indentation of your finger when you press it lightly, rather than springing back. While the bread is rising, about an hour before you're ready to bake, remove all but the bottom rack of your oven. Place a baking stone on the rack (or a heavy duty baking sheet), and place a metal pan that you don't care about sacrificing (it will get rusty) on the floor of the oven. Crank the oven up to 500º.
    • When the bread has doubled, gently turn it out onto a wooden peel dusted with flour or cornmeal. Holding a lame or sharp knife at a 45º angle to the loaf, draw the blade, about 1" deep, across the top of the loaf, beginning and ending 2" from the bottoms of the boule. (Just look at the darn picture, ok?) Fill a 1 cup measure with ice cubes. Quickly slip the boule off the peel and onto the stone, and toss the cubes into the hot pan on the floor of the oven. This will steam the outside of the loaf, allowing it to expand as it bakes.
    • Bake 20 minutes, then turn the oven down to 450º and bake another 20 minutes or so, until the bread is a deep, burnished golden-brown. An instant read thermometer inserted into the middle should read 210º, the temperature at which the dough is set.
    • Let cool completely on a wire rack, one to two hours, before enjoying. At this point, the bread is still "baking" from the residual heat and steam inside the loaf. The best way to store this type of bread is in a paper bag at room temperature for a couple days. After that, I put the whole thing, paper bag and all, into a plastic bag and continue to store at room temp. After a couple of days like that, it there's any left over, we make croutons.

    Notes

    Total time: about 9 hours, not including refreshing starter
    Timeline:
    Refresh starter four hours before beginning recipe mix
    Knead and autolyse dough, 1 hour
    First rise, 3 - 4 hours (or overnight in fridge)
    Shape dough, 10 minutes
    Second rise, 1 1/2 - 2 hours
    Bake, 45 minutes
    Cool loaf, 1 - 2 hours
    A few notes:
    Nancy Silverton's book is an amazing resource for learning about sourdough. This is a nice looking site if you want to learn how to raise your own starter; I haven't tried his exact method, and I've always started mine with white flour, though he calls for whole wheat.
    In order to raise bread, your starter has to be refreshed, full of bubbles and vigor. If your starter isn't doubling within four or five hours when you feed it, it will not be strong enough to raise bread. "If baking is all about patience, sourdough baking is all about more patience." I read that somewhere. So make sure your starter is active and full of bubbles; if it isn't, don't despair; bake some sourdough crackers and give the starter another feeding or two til it's ready. I keep my starter rather thick and almost gloppy, the consistency of a very thick pancake batter. Thinner starters will make a wetter dough.I like to weigh my starter, as it is extremely sticky to put it in a measuring cup and then try to scrape out. You also get a much more accurate amount, since the bubbles will drastically effect the volume, by a factor of two or three even. Plus, there are fewer dishes to wash if you weigh everything into one bowl.
    This recipe assumes you have the following accoutrements: plastic dough scraper, rising basket, wooden pizza peel (or a large, smooth cutting board), baking stone, dough slasher or sharp knife, large plastic bag such as a trash bag, and something to close it with, sacrificial metal pan to put ice in to steam the oven. 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 142kcalCarbohydrates: 28gProtein: 5gSodium: 231mgPotassium: 82mgFiber: 2gCalcium: 8mgIron: 0.7mg
    Making this? I'd love to see!Tag your snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet!

    A loaf boule with grains around it

    You might also like...

    Dairy-FreeVegan
    « The most decadent eggs you will ever eat
    Chocolate Granola Recipe »

    Get new recipes by email

    Please wait...

    Thanks for subscribing!

    the cover of the award-winning cookbook, Alternative Baker

    Hungry for more?

    Alternative Baker celebrates the unique tastes and textures of 14 gluten-free flours, from buckwheat flour to almond flour to sorghum and coconut! This cookbook will fill your kitchen with sweet treats that burst with flavor every month of the year.

    Learn more and find out where to buy →

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. racheljherr says

      February 18, 2010 at 6:03 pm

      As I type my sourdough is in the middle of its first rise, per Nancy Silverton's direction. I've had two so-so results and this is my third try at the basic country white loaf. Your entry has been helpful; thanks!

      Reply
    2. alanna says

      March 05, 2010 at 7:51 pm

      Awesome - I hope it came out well! So much of sourdough baking is just getting your starter strong enough in the first place. Give the sourdough focaccia on this site a try sometime - really good, and really easy (if I do say so).

      Reply
    3. Paula says

      March 31, 2010 at 3:03 pm

      Thank you for this simple recipe. After spending 2 weeks developing Nancy Silverton's starter, this recipe does it justice! My first attempt at this sourdough boule was a success! I appreciate the easy to follow directions, and plan on making this my go to sourdough recipe!

      Reply
    4. alanna says

      April 01, 2010 at 1:27 am

      I am so glad to hear that - happy baking! : )

      Reply
    5. Xeratdark.Hostinggratis.it says

      October 10, 2015 at 12:14 pm

      Bookmarked this web page, will come back for more articles.
      You, my friend, ROCK! I found just the information I already searched all over the place and just could not come across.

      What a great site.

      Reply
    6. Alex Lamm says

      October 22, 2020 at 11:24 am

      I'm obsessed with this bread! I've made it so many times and I just wanted to let you know how much I love it. I do have a question about the salt. In your two olive sourdough loaf you have the salt go in after the autolyse process and in this one it goes in from the jump. Is there a reason why? Just curious! p.s. today I'm adding seeds into the dough. I hope it isn't lame. LOL.

      Reply
      • Alanna says

        October 23, 2020 at 12:33 pm

        Hi Alex! I'm so glad you're loving this recipe! That's a great question about the salt.There are theories about the best point at which to add salt in a bread recipe since it has an effect on the glutens and yeast. But I'm not sure why I did it differently in two recipes that I published a week apart! But given that I add the yeast at the beginning of my most recent sourdough recipe, I'm going to go ahead and say that you can add it at either stage and the recipes will work. If you experiment, please let me know!

        Let me know how the seedy version turns out - obviously I'm a big fan of seeds too!

        Reply
    7. Holly Hon says

      May 01, 2022 at 11:47 am

      Hi, in your GF sourdough recipe, it calls for liquid starter. Which GF starter you used? The one on the Vanilla bean blog is different from Bob’s Mills. Or do you used a different one completely? I am finding a sourdough starter recipe on your blog. Thanks for your response and guidance in advance.

      Reply
      • Alanna Taylor-Tobin says

        May 01, 2022 at 2:03 pm

        I'm so sorry for the confusion - the sourdough recipes on my site are all wheat-based, from before I went GF. I would go with Vanilla and Bean, or check out Aran at Canelle e Vanille!

        Reply
    8. Leatha says

      April 09, 2023 at 4:46 pm

      Can you leave out the wheat germ?

      Reply
      • Alanna Taylor-Tobin says

        April 10, 2023 at 8:22 am

        I think that should work fine. Please let me know how it turns out!

        Reply

    Leave a comment and rating Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Rate this recipe after you've made it:




    Primary Sidebar

    Welcome

    Alanna Taylor-Tobin smiling and holding her cookbook, Alternative Baker

    I'm Alanna, a recovering pastry chef-turned food photographer, stylist, videographer, and award-winning cookbook author. The Bojon Gourmet is a celebration of the sweet, savory, and occasionally boozy recipes that I create in my San Francisco kitchen. About →

    Get new recipes by email

    Please wait...

    Thanks for subscribing!

    the front cover of Alternative Baker, a cookbook by Alanna Taylor-Tobin, winner of the IACP Cookbook Awards

    My cookbook, Alternative Baker, contains 100+ recipes featuring corn, oat, chestnut, almond, buckwheat, sorghum, and other gluten-free flours. Find out where to get your copy! →

    Fresh from the blog

    Gluten-Free Rhubarb Cake with Almond Flour

    Vegan & Gluten Free Rhubarb Crisp

    Homemade Gluten-Free Rhubarb Crisp

    Beginner’s Guide: Baking with Gluten-Free Flours

    Coconut Bacon Recipe

    4-Ingredient Vegan Coconut Flake Bacon

    Oatmeal Teff Chocolate Chip Cookies (GF)

    Footer

    Instagram

    Gluten-Free #treslechescake (DF option) Last week Gluten-Free #treslechescake (DF option)

Last week I shared my favorite gluten-free sponge cake recipe, and here's another fun way to use it. Add an extra egg white to the batter and soak the cake with sweet milks (or coconut milks) for a gluten-free (and optionally dairy-free) riff on the beloved Latin-American sweet. 

I developed the gluteny version of this recipe during my years as a pastry chef at a Latin-American restaurant here in SF. I would bake the cake in a large hotel pan, cut out rounds to make individual cakes for plating, and promptly devour all the cake scraps. 

While I don't recommend having cake for lunch, I do recommend whipping up a tres leches cake for your next gathering. They're brilliant for parties because they can be made a day or two ahead and refrigerated until ready to serve. 

Top slices with whipped cream (or whipped coconut cream) and fresh berries or, more traditionally, a layer of cinnamon sifted over the top. Creamy, comforting deliciousness. 

The last shot is the coconut flour tres leches cake from #alternativebakerbook topped with lime-kissed mango. So fresh!

https://bojongourmet.com/gluten-free-tres-leches-cake-dairy-free/

#glutenfreebaking #glutenfreecake #glutenfreetresleches
    As blueberries come into season here in California As blueberries come into season here in California, I've been dreaming about this gluten-free blueberry coffee cake. It's moist and tender, layered with jammy fruit and an addictively salty-sweet streusel topping. 

Oat flour, sorghum flour, and sweet rice flour build a moist and flavorful cake, and almond flour in the topping helps the streusel hold together. 

It would be an ideal addition to weekend brunch or potlucks, and it takes well to variations. I've made it with rhubarb instead of berries, for instance - so good!

Here are a few things readers have said about this cake:

"Better than any gluten-full coffee cake I ever had. This recipe is a keeper. THANK YOU!!" 

"So this is the best coffee cake I’ve ever had, GF or otherwise! Another genius recipe!"

"This was such a hit last night served as a dinner dessert. People were having seconds and thirds! It was absolutely delicious, fluffy and moist and flavorful with a crunch from the pecans on top." 

"This coffee cake is so good - a light, tender crumb and with a pleasant touch of lemon. If I didn’t know it was gluten free I wouldn’t even suspect so."

Recipe linked the_bojon_gourmet. If you make it, please let me know how you like it! 

https://bojongourmet.com/gluten-free-blueberry-coffee-cake-streusel/

#singluten #glutenfreerecipes #glutenfreecake #blueberrycake #coffeecake
    Gluten-free sponge cake is so easy to make. This a Gluten-free sponge cake is so easy to make. This airy cake can be turned into #victoriaspongecake, tiramisu, tres leches, or layered with your favorite frosting and toppings. 

This version with whipped mascarpone, berry chia jam, and fresh berries was actually our wedding cake!

A trio of flours - millet, sweet rice, and oat - give the cake a mild, neutral flavor with a moist & springy crumb. 

The cake layers are naturally dairy-free and can be sweetened with maple syrup instead of sugar if you prefer.

Recipe linked the_bojon_gourmet 

https://bojongourmet.com/gluten-free-sponge-cake-dairy-free/

🎥: nadia.creativity & rdaphoto 

#victoriasponge #victoriaspongecake🍰 #glutenfreecake #glutenfreecakes #spongecake #chiffoncake #glutenfreespongecake #recipereel
    This gluten-free strawberry rhubarb crisp uses an This gluten-free strawberry rhubarb crisp uses an unusual technique to create an exceptionally crunchy streusel. Watch to see how it’s done! 
 
Full recipe linked the_bojon_gourmet 

#strawberryrhubarb #rhubarb #glutenfreecrisps #glutenfreebaking #recipereels 

https://bojongourmet.com/gluten-free-strawberry-rhubarb-crumble/
    If you liked the gluten-free scones that I shared If you liked the gluten-free scones that I shared recently, you're going to love these gluten-free strawberry #shortcakes! 🍓

Tender almond flour biscuits (adapted from the scone recipe) are smothered with billows of whipped cream (shown here with culinayogurt for an easy DF option) and juicy strawberries. They're buttery, creamy, bright-tasting, and not too sweet.

Shortcakes make an ideal dessert for spring gatherings because the components can all be prepared ahead and assembled when you're ready to serve up dessert. 

Feel free to play around with different berries. Add other flavors to the biscuits (I especially love the lemon ginger variation from the scone recipe here). Or add a splash of liqueur to the fruit. 

Recipe linked the_bojon_gourmet 

Bojon appétit!

https://bojongourmet.com/gluten-free-strawberry-shortcake/

#glutenfreebaking #glutenfreebiscuits #glutenfreescones #strawberryshortcake #f52farmstand
    Tender, buttery gluten-free #scones 🧈 These ba Tender, buttery gluten-free #scones 🧈

These bake up sturdy and moist thanks to a blend of gluten-free flours: sweet rice, almond, oat, and tapioca. Made in about an hour with endless mix-in suggestions. 

I’ve been baking scones for 20+ years and I’ve compiled all my top tips and tricks into this post, linked the_bojon_gourmet 

Bojon appétit! 

🎥: nadia.creativity & rdaphoto 

https://bojongourmet.com/gluten-free-scones-almond-flour/

#recipereel #recipereels #glutenfreebaking #sconesofinstagram #sconesrecipe

    Navigation

    • Recipe Finder
    • Cookbook
    • About
    • In the Press

    Get new posts in your inbox

    Please wait...

    Thanks for signing up!

    This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, see our Privacy Policy.

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

    More Bojon

    • Learn with Me
    • Work With Me
    • Portfolio

    Copyright © 2023 The Bojon Gourmet | Site by Jaime Asatsuyu Hammack