Sourdough bread is a great alternative when wanting a healthier bread. If you haven’t read my article on sourdough bread, you can read it here: A Healthy Bread That Is Good For You! I have always loved an authentic sourdough loaf. A true sourdough loaf is made with wild yeast or a sourdough starter. If you haven’t read my post on how to start a sourdough starter, you can do that here: How To Start Your Own Sourdough Starter. This loaf of bread has 4 ingredients, that is it! It is super easy to make but does take some time to ferment. This dough actually ferments for 19 hours. Don’t let that scare you…the whole process will take you 10 minutes of prep time and the rest of the time the dough just sits there getting better and tastier.
There are several things that you will need to get started. It is a good idea to have a digital scale to measure your ingredients but is not absolutely necessary. I do my best to show you how to utilize what you have in your kitchen so you don’t have to buy any special equipment. I use a dutch oven to cook my bread in. Often times people will cook sourdough in a La Cloche, but I find it just as easy to use a dutch oven. Another item that is often used when cooking sourdough bread is a proofing basket or a round brotform (pictured at bottom of post). Again, I just use what I have in my kitchen. You can make a proofing basket by using a colander lined with a thin towel (not a thick towel). You might want to purchase a Danish dough whisk, but a slotted spoon works as well. See the bottom of this post to see where you can purchase these items. I have pictures showing you all of this. This recipe was modified from Breadtopia, a great website that teaches us all how to make a better loaf of sourdough! So let’s get started.
The first thing you need to do is measure out 350 grams (1 1/2 cup) of filtered water (at room temperature). Place water into a ceramic bowl, not metal. Stir in 3 tablespoons of honey. If using raw honey, melt the honey on low heat until it turns into a liquid.
Add 1/4 cup of sourdough starter (learn how to make your own sourdough starter here) to the water mixture and mix well. Your sourdough starter should look like this.
Add 1/4 cup of this starter to the water mixture and stir well.
In another bowl, measure out 530 grams (about 5 cups fluffed) of 100% whole spelt flour. Add 10 grams (1 1/2 tsp) of unrefined sea salt and stir. Please note, you need to use whole spelt flour, other flours will not work with this recipe.
Mix the flour mixture in with the water mixture. Stir with a slotted spoon until well combined. The dough will be a wet dough.
Cover with plastic and store in a warm place for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, dust your hands and the top of the dough with flour. Pick up the dough and stretch and then fold the dough. Stretch once again in the opposite direction. Place back into the bowl and cover with plastic for another 1/2 hour. After a half hour, do a second stretch and fold in both directions. Put back in the bowl and cover with plastic for another half hour. After a half hour do a final (third) stretch and fold in both directions. Place the dough back into the bowl and cover with plastic and allow it to sit overnight. I usually start this whole process at 3:30 pm and bake it the next morning at 9:30 am.
In the morning you will need a wood cutting board, a colander and light dish towel.
This is what your dough will look like in the morning. Yours might rise a bit more, it all depends on the weather and how warm your kitchen is. It was cooler in my kitchen, so it didn’t rise as much, but don’t let that alarm you, it will still rise as it proofs and cooks.
Flour the cutting board, hands, the dish towel in the colander and the top of the dough with rice flour. Gently scrape the dough out of the bowl and place it onto the cutting board. Pull the sides up and pinch the dough at the top. Place dough into the lined colander and cover with plastic and allow the dough to rise for another hour and a half.
In a 400º-450º F oven(temperature might vary depending on your oven, 450ºF was too hot for me, I cooked mine in a 400º F oven). Preheat a dutch oven with a lid on for the last half hour that the dough is rising. Pull the very hot dutch oven out of the oven and gently transfer the dough into the hot dutch oven by flipping the dough gently out of the colander. Put the lid back on and return to oven and bake for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes remove the lid and allow to bake for 10 additional minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 195º-200º F.
Remove bread from Dutch oven and allow the bread to cool for 1 hour before serving. Serve with some grass fed butter and enjoy!
How To Make A “Real” Sourdough Spelt Loaf
Prep Time: 20 minutes- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 20 pieces 1x
- Category: side dish
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
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Pin RecipeDescription
Learn how to make your own sourdough spelt loaf. It really is quite easy!
Ingredients
- 530 grams (5 fluffed cups) spelt flour
- 3 tbsp honey
- 350 grams (1 1/2 cup) water
- 10 grams (1 1/2 tsp) unrefined sea salt
- 1/4 cup sourdough starter, see recipe
Instructions
- See Instructions in this post
Notes
Nutrition Info: Calories: 143.8 Fat: 1.0g Carbohydrates: 28.5g Protein: 4.1g
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece
Hi,
Am I correct in thinking there is no needing involved?
yes, you are correct.
I won’t be able to make this bread in a dutch oven or a lidded oven proof anything for some time until I can invest in such. What will my results be like if I use a loaf tin?
So disappointed. Beautiful bread destroyed by the dutch oven. It stuck and tore and destroyed itself when removing it after baking. Not sure what i could have done to prevent it since the container was WAY too hot to put anything on it to prevent sticking.
Hi:
Have you tried putting it on baking paper and then lowering it into the oven? No sticking and won’t affect bottom moisture. Also makes cleanup non-existent.
R
I am glad someone else has addressed the sticking to the bottom of the Dutch oven. I will try putting parchment paper in the bottom next loaf. This is my first try at baking this bread. It certainly a Labor of Love with the two week starter. I was hoping to master this spelt loaf before Thanksgiving. If the loaf doesn’t come out after it cools then I will use it to make my dressing. I will not waste it.
★★★★★
I have an enameled cast iron Dutch oven. The bread doesn’t stick if I wait till the Dutch oven cools prior to trying to remove the loaf.
Hi Halle. Agree also that its a very clear recipe and looking forward to.trying it (after yesterday’s abortive go at another one). I now understand the honey. Can you pls explain the reasoning behind the dutch oven? I have one and will give it a try. I do like rectangular loaves though and would like to know how to manage with tins.
Dutch oven is thick and creates a really nice crust. I suppose you could use a rectangular loaf pan, I am just use to a traditional sourdough loaf being round 🙂
The idea behind using an enclosed baking pot is to mimic the steam supplied by a professional baker’s oven. A normal domestic oven doesn’t have this facility, with the result that the loaf starts to form a crust before it has finished on the oven spring, and consequently can burst through the crust. This produces an unsightly loaf AND a very thick crust. In the pot, the dough steams as it heats up and the result is a fully risen, shapely loaf with a crisp, thinner crust.
I have made this recipe a few times now, but my loaf doesn’t really rise. It looks pretty, but it’s the same small blob I put into the pan, just split and crusty on top and the loaf is very dense. I started weighing my flour because at first I didn’t and got a rock. I have also been sifting it because I buy in bulk and it gets clumpy. I have been using a casserole dish with a lid because my Dutch oven was burning the bottom of my loaf and it was impossible to get it out (kept sticking badly). any advice on getting it to rise better? I’m out of ideas.
Is your starter bubbly and at least doubles in size?
Yes it does. My starter seems healthy and smells like it should. I’m using a stone ground organic spelt flour.
Does it have to bake with a lid on? I may try a loaf pan and see if different dimensions cause it to go up?
Hi:
Have you tried putting it on baking paper and then into the oven? No sticking and won’t affect bottom moisture. Also makes cleanup non-existent.
R
Yes it does.
Has anyone made this in bread tins ? Does it work ? Any advice for making a “sandwich loaf” stye ?
Thanks a lot for the recipe! Make spelt bread today and it end up beautifully.
It was my first ever home made bread.Even though I fed starter for 3 weeks by accident :o) it still worked it magic!
★★★★★
Hi I started my sourdough starter yestetday i used 2 tablespoons of spelt flour and 2 tablespoons of fresh orange juice but it doesnt look very much, should i have used heaped tablespoons. If so can i carry on with the same starter and just use more for day 2 or do i need to start again
Thanks
I have made this close to a dozen times and it is always great. The one thing I can’t do is get the very center of the bread to bake thoroughly. There is always a slightly doughy spot in the very center. I have extended baking time to 55 minutes but even that doesn’t work. We live at a mile high in altitude, so don”t if that makes a difference. Love the bread though.
★★★★
I need some help troubleshooting my recipe. As I let it sit overnight, I wake up to the dough being very bubbly, doubled in size, and very liquidy. It becomes extremely difficult to work with or shape at all. It is too liquidy and I end up pouring it into the dutch oven. Any suggestions on how to stop this? The past 3-4 times I have done this, this has happened. Then the bread does not bake evenly or very large in the oven. HELP!
Your dough has over-proofed. Don’t leave it as long (overnight is too long) before you bake it.
I made this bread using a rye flour starter, and proofed and baked it in a clay baker It is about the best sourdough to come out of this kitchen so far. Thanks!
So happy you enjoyed this recipe!