Easy Sourdough Bread

Name: Easy Sourdough Bread
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 8 h 45 min
Yield: 12 serving
Ingredients: 3 cups bread flour; Greek yogurt; sour cream; 1 teaspoon salt; scant 1 teaspoon

User Reviews

4.4

636 reviews

Good

Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
35 mins
Additional Time
8 hrs
Total Time
8 hrs 45 mins
Servings
12
Calories
145 kcal
Course
Breakfast, Bread
Cuisine
American

Easy Sourdough Bread

Jade Rice

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Easy Sourdough Bread is made with bread flour, Greek yogurt, sour cream, salt, and a small amount of instant dry yeast. The dough is moist and heavy, kneaded until smooth, then left to rise before baking. The yogurt and sour cream contribute to the tang and moist texture typical of sourdough-style bread.

Description

This Easy Sourdough Bread recipe combines bread flour with Greek yogurt and sour cream, which provide both moisture and mild acidity that mimic traditional sourdough flavors. Instant dry yeast is used in a small amount to aid fermentation while simplifying the process compared to natural starters. The dough is kneaded using a mixer fitted with a dough hook or by hand until it achieves a wet, cohesive texture, ensured by adjusting sour cream quantities as needed.

The dough is shaped into a ball, lightly oiled, and left to rise until doubled. This method yields a loaf with a tender crumb and slight tang from the cultured dairy ingredients. Though not a classic sourdough starter method, it offers a simpler way to make tangy bread at home.

For longer rises of 12 to 18 hours, reducing the yeast slightly is recommended to avoid over-proofing. The recipe calls for using yogurt with active cultures to ensure proper flavor development.

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Ingredients

Servings

3 cups bread flour I use King Arthur
Greek yogurt 500 grams, plain, unsweetened, with active cultures; one 17.6 ounce tub
sour cream or Greek yogurt, lite versions are okay, about 1/2 to 1 cup
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
scant 1 teaspoon just slightly less than 1 teaspoon instant dry yeast (I use Red Star Platinum)

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Instructions

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To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or use a large mixing bowl and wooden spoon and your hands), add the flour, Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup sour cream, salt, and yeast.
Turn mixer on low speed and allow it to knead dough for about 5 to 7 minutes (about 7 to 10 minutes by hand using a wooden spoon and then switching to your hands). Add sour cream as needed to form a very moist and wet dough. If it’s at all dry or crumbly, add more sour cream (or Greek yogurt) until it comes together. I used one-17.6 ounce tub of Greek yogurt and almost 1 cup lite sour cream. Dough will be seem like it’s almost too wet and it’s very heavy, but this is what you want. Err on the side of wetter than drier because flour and yeast love moisture when rising.
Remove dough from the mixing bowl, spray a large bowl with cooking spray, pat dough into a round ball, place it in the bowl, and flip it over once so it’s lightly oiled on both top and bottom. It will look like a dimply head of cauliflower.
Cover bowl with plasticwrap (spray it with cooking spray in case dough rises high enough to touch it) and place bowl in a warm, draft-free place to rise for about 6 to 8 hours (I did 6 1/2 hours), or doubled in size. If you want to start this before work or before bed and made as an overnight dough and it’ll go 8-10 hours, that’s fine. There’s really no harm in letting it rise for up to 18 hours and the longer you let it go, the more of a classic sourdough/fermented flavor that will develop. If you suspect you’re going to allow it to rise on the longer side (12-18 hours), reduce yeast to about 1/2 teaspoon so dough doesn’t get too puffy and overflow the bowl.
After 6+ hours of rising, turn dough out onto a floured surface (without punching it down to preserve the air pockets and bubbles that have been created) and knead lightly for about 2 to 3 minutes.Pat dough into a round mound, and place it back into large mixing bowl, seam side down. Cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for 60 to 120 minutes, or until doubled in size (I did 60 minutes; I suspect the longer you let the second rise go, the more ‘holey’ the bread will be). Placing the bowl on the stovetop is a nice spot for this rise because you’re going to turn on the oven and the residual heat emitted helps with rising.
Shortly after dough begins the 60-120 minute rising, turn oven on to 450F and place a covered 7 to 10-quart or sufficiently large Dutch oven (empty) or heavy-bottomed skillet into the oven and allow it to heat for about 45 minutes. Dutch ovens are so heavy and take so long to get truly hot, and when you’re ready to bake the bread, you want the Dutch oven screaming hot.
After about 60-90 minutes or dough has doubled in size, remove Dutch oven from oven (careful, it’s screaming hot, use two pairs of hot mitts) and carefully place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of Dutch oven to prevent bread from sticking.Carefully transfer dough from rising bowl to Dutch oven, cover it, and bake covered for 30 minutes. Don’t open the oven door or the Dutch oven lid to peek; you want to seal in the steam.
After 30 minutes, uncover the Dutch oven, and allow bread to bake uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes (I did 8 minutes) or until it’s as browned as desired. Traditional sourdough has a darker crust than most bread (sometimes almost burnt-looking, but I prefer mine on the lighter side).
Remove Dutch oven from oven, and remove bread from Dutch oven. Place it on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. As tempting as it is, don’t slice too early because the cooling process is important and should be considered an important extension of the baking process. Slice or break off hunks, and serve with honey butter, butter, jam, hummus, etc.
Bread is best fresh, but will keep airtight at room temp for up to 3 days. Older bread may be better toasted.

Notes

Use Greek yogurt labeled with 'active cultures' to achieve proper sourdough flavor.
Reduce yeast to about half a teaspoon if planning to allow the dough to rise for 12–18 hours.
Add sour cream incrementally to reach a very moist dough consistency rather than dry or crumbly.

Nutrition Information

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Serving 1 Calories 145kcal (7%) Carbohydrates 26g (9%) Protein 5g (10%) Fat 2g (3%) Saturated Fat 1g (5%) Polyunsaturated Fat 1g (6%) Cholesterol 6mg (2%) Sodium 181mg (8%) Fiber 1g (4%) Sugar 1g (2%)