This recipe consists of only 4 ingredients.

Sourdough starter, salt, flour and water. The secret ingredient is patience of course. You'll be letting it rise a long time to get that beautiful, complex sourdough flavour.

If you haven't made, or acquired a sourdough starter yet, I walk you through it in this previous article: How To Create Unlimited Yeast - Oooooooh, Baby I Like It Sour!

If you don't need the photo steps, scroll down to the bottom of the page for the ingredients & directions.

Begin with 3 & 1/3rd cups of flour, 2 & 1/3rd cups of fresh sourdough starter, and scant (just under) 1 Tablespoon of Salt in a mixing bowl.

As you can see I use my hands for all my mixing, I love being a part of the process this way. Mix these three ingredients together until fully incorporated.

Now, very slowly, start adding between 1 to 1 & 1/2 Cups of water. Be careful to not add too much. Sometimes I don't even use 1 cup of water. It all depends on the weather, how humid it is out. Your goal is to have a moist bread dough.

I always use my dutch oven to cook sourdough bread, but you can use any method that you want. I line mine in parchment too because I hate when it sticks to the side.

Ok, now comes the part you're not gonna like. It's patience test #1. Kneading!!! Um...I really hate to say this, but I knead this dough for 20 minutes. For me, it's relaxing. I zone out and get all zen and the time just flies by. If you're not a fan of zenning out for 20 minutes I can suggest to you, to do 7 minutes of kneading at a time, and take a little break in between.

Once your dough is a beautiful, silky texture it's time to transfer it to your dutch oven (or pan). This recipe can be used to make 2 loaves of bread, or one large one. I always opt for one large. Cover the dough.

Allow dough to rise anywhere between 8 - 24 hours. The longer you let it rise the more sour it will be. Sometimes I can't let it rise as long as I want to because of how hot it is out. In the winter months I can easily pull off a 24 hour rise for extra sour, complex tasting bread.

Once it has risen to where you want it, preheat your oven to 400 F. Keep your dough covered until the oven has heated up. Once the oven has reached temperature, uncover bread and slice it. You can make an "X" shape, you can do multiple lines like I do. You can use a razor or very sharp knife. I always choose to use scissors. Doing this prevents the bread from cracking in unexpected places.

Cover it back up and get it into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on. Remove the lid for the final baking. I usually bake with the lid off for about 15 minutes and it gets a nice golden brown.

Remove the lid after 30 minutes.

After 15 minutes of baking with the lid off it is done.

OOps my bread did crack LOL. I should have made my cuts deeper.

Now you want to cool the bread by the window so all your neighbours can smell it and have their mouths water.

Be sure the bread has cooled completely before slicing into it. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 1/3 cups proofed sourdough starter
• 3 1/3 cup flour
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups water
• Scant tablespoon salt

Directions

• Mix together flour, salt and proofed starter
• Add water slowly until you have a moist dough
• Knead for 20 minutes
• Cover and let rise for 8-24 hours
• Preheat oven to 400 F
• Slice an "X" or make many cuts into the risen dough
• Bake for 30 minutes with lid on (if you are using a dutch oven)
• Remove lid and bake an additional 15 minutes
• Cool completely and serve

Yields one large loaf, or you can split the dough and make two small loaves