Cabin Baking: No-Knead Sourdough Bread

I’ve enjoyed making No-Knead English Muffin Bread, but I also like to make sourdough bread. I found a recipe that combined both.

No-Knead Sourdough Bread

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups bread flour
½ package active dry yeast
1 ¾ teaspoons salt
2/3 cup sourdough starter
1 ½ cups water

Directions:

Combine flour, yeast and salt in a bowl. Combine sourdough starter and water in a large mixing cup and add to flour mixture. Mix with a rubber spatula to form the wet and sticky dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 18 hours.

After 18 hours the dough will be dotted with bubble and it will have doubled in size. Dust a wooden cutting board with flour and turn the dough out in one piece. The dough will be loose and sticky. Do not mix in any more flour.

Dust the top lightly with flour and cover with a clean cloth. Let dough rise an additional 2 hours.

Thirty minutes before the rising period ends, heat a 3½ quart cast iron Dutch oven in the middle of the oven to 425°F. Once it reaches temperature, remove the Dutch oven and carefully place parchment paper in the bottom and up the sides. It'll be extremely hot!!

Uncover the dough and use plastic dough scrapers to shape it into a ball by folding it over onto itself several times. Lift the dough with the dough scrapers and let it fall onto the parchment paper in the heated Dutch oven.

Cover the Dutch oven and bake it at 425°F for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to bake for 15-20 additional minutes or until the top of the loaf is brown.

Take the Dutch oven out of the oven and carefully remove the bread with a spatula and place it on a rack to cool. It may be hard, but it’s recommended to let it cool completely before slicing.

This loaf is rustic looking, crusty, airy, and has that distinctive sourdough taste. It’s now my favourite homemade bread recipe. And it’s so simple I'll be making it all the time.

Check out the Creative Muster Linky Party for more great ideas. -- Margy