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no knead sourdough bread boule resting on a towel on top of a wood table
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No-Knead Sourdough

No-knead breads using commercial yeast have become incredibly popular because they are easy and low maintenance. They utilize a much longer bulk fermentation time to compensate for the gluten activation that typically occurs in a traditional autolyse or kneading period. I was happy to discover that the same method could work with wild yeast from sourdough starters. For anyone who loves the traditional sour, tangy sourdough like you’d find in San Francisco, this is the recipe you want to try! Even if you haven’t mastered the timing of activating your starter, you can use a portion of active or inactive (discard) starter.
Author: Jenny Prior

Equipment

  • Food Scale
  • large bowl
  • Spoon
  • plastic dough scraper
  • Parchment Paper
  • proofing bowl or colander lined with a kitchen towel
  • large Dutch oven or steam tray or manual steam method
  • bread lame or serrated bread knife
  • Cooling Rack

Ingredients

For the dough

  • 320 grams water 1 1/3 c.
  • 20 grams sourdough starter (active or inactive) 1 1/2 T.
  • 550 grams all-purpose or bread flour 3 2/3 c.
  • 10 grams sea salt 1 1/2 t.

For dusting the proofing bowl

  • Rice flour or cornmeal

Instructions

  • Scale: Place a mixing bowl on the scale, tare the weight of the scale, and weigh all the dough ingredients (water, sourdough starter, flour, and salt). (When using the scale to measure ingredients, use the tare function to remove the weight of the mixing bowl and other previous ingredients so you can weigh each individual ingredient easily as you add each one to the bowl.)
    woman's hands holding salt to add to a bowl of flour and water for making no knead sourdough bread
  • Mix: Using a spoon, mix the dough ingredients together (if you have a stand mixer and a dough hook, mix until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl). There should be no dry spots of flour. After the initial mixing, it can be helpful to mix the dough with your hands or with a plastic dough scraper to make sure that all the water is incorporated into the flour. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl so no dry pieces of dough stick to it.
    woman's hands mixing bowl of flour and water for making no knead sourdough bread, second image using a dough scraper to mix
  • Bulk fermentation: Cover the bowl of dough and leave it at room temperature to ferment for 10 to 12 hours.
  • Prepare the proofing bowl: Dust a proofing bowl or an 8-inch-wide colander lined with a kitchen towel generously with rice flour or cornmeal so that the sides and bottom have a thick, even coating.
  • Shape: Lightly flour a clean work surface. Turn out the dough onto the work surface and shape it by hand into a ball.
    woman's hands shaping no knead sourdough dough into a round ball with red dough scraper, two image process
  • Proof: Place the ball of dough into the prepared proofing bowl and let proof for 1 to 2 hours, until the dough is 1 ½ times its original size and an indentation made by lightly pressing a finger into the dough slowly rises back.
    woman's hands putting ball of no knead sourdough into a rattan proofing basket, second image covering the proofing basket with a cloth to proof
  • Preheat: Preheat the oven to 500°F. Place a Dutch oven or cloche into the oven on the center rack to preheat for 30 to 60 minutes. If not using a Dutch oven or cloche, use the manual steaming technique in Troubleshooting (page XX).
  • Bake: Cut a large piece of parchment paper that is approximately twice as wide as the dough. Center the parchment over the proofing bowl and flip the bowl upside down to release the dough onto the parchment. Using a serrated bread knife or a bread lame, cut a slit all the way across the top of the dough, about 1/4-inch deep. Carefully transfer the dough from the parchment into the preheated Dutch oven or cloche (or onto a cookie sheet, if using manual steam) and cover it with the lid. Place the bread in the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 460°F and bake for 20 minutes. Carefully remove the bread from the Dutch oven and place it directly onto the oven rack (remove the steam tray if using manual steam). Reduce the heat to 450°F and bake for an additional 20 minutes to create a golden-brown crust.
  • Cool: Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and allow it to cool for at least 60 minutes before slicing.

Notes

Troubleshooting

Q: My dough is not at the proper volume at the end of the proofing time, what do I do?
A: If your dough is not at the proper volume at the end of the specified proofing time, it may be because the room temperature is too cool. You can extend the proof for another hour. Look for the volume to be 1 ½ to 2 times larger and conduct a poke test by wetting a finger and poking the dough about ½ inch deep. If the dough rises about halfway back up but the indentation remains, it is just right.
Q: Why is the crumb of my bread irregular or tight?
A: Doing a traditional round shaping technique (sometimes called a boule) may help with the final structure and shape of your no-knead bread. If results are still not ideal, follow the shaping instructions outlined in my Sourdough Country Loaf recipe here.
Q: Why is my crust coming out too dark?
A: It is overbaked or the temperature is too hot. Some ovens bake at a different temperature than the set temperature control by a few degrees. It can be helpful to use an in-oven thermometer to get an accurate temperature your oven is baking at; it could be baking a few degrees hotter or cooler than the set temperature. You can also try reducing the second half of baking to 15 minutes, which should keep the crust from getting too dark.
Q: Why did my loaf burst on a different section than where I scored the dough?
A: It may not have rested or proofed long enough. When a loaf of bread bursts in one or multiple areas during baking, it is creating vents to release the built-up pressure of the heat and moisture. This can be avoided by allowing the dough to rest or proof longer before baking and making sure the score cut is large enough to allow the dough to expand easily.
Starter substitution tips:
To replace the sourdough starter with commercial yeast: Use 3 grams of instant yeast instead of the sourdough starter. The flavor will be very different and will not be sour. The timing will be the same.