Overnight Sourdough Bread Recipe

This easy sourdough bread recipe is great for beginners and busy bakers who require less hands on dough time. It utilises the time you sleep to ferment the dough to save time and give you a more flexible process.

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Keyword Sourdough Bread, Sourdough Recipes

Prep Time 4

Cook Time 45

Fermentation Time 22

Total Time 1 2 45

Servings Loaf

Calories 1851kcal

Author Kate Freebairn

Equipment

Basic Kitchen Scale
Mixing Bowl
Dutch Oven

Ingredients

350 g Water
50 g Sourdough Starter
500 g Bread Flour
10 g Salt

Instructions

Fermentolyse - Premixing The Dough
Weigh out your sourdough starter and water into a large mixing bowl - whatever you have in the cupboard is fine! Mix the water and starter together briefly. Then add your flour and salt and mix whole lot together to form a shaggy dough.
Cover your bowl with an elastic food cover or plastic wrap and let it sit for around 1 hour. It's ok if it's a little bit longer, it's not going to matter too much.
Forming Up The Dough
After the dough has been through fermentolyse you need to bring it together into a ball. Work your way around the bowl, grabbing the dough from the outside, stretching it up and over itself, into the centre, until a smooth ball is formed. You shouldn't need more than about 20-25 stretches to form the ball. Once the dough has formed into a smooth ball, pop the cover back on and let it rest for 30 minutes.
You'll notice that the dough is fully hydrated after soaking all the water up. It will be fairly sticky but as you bring it into a ball, it will become smoother and shinier.
Stretch & Fold - Creating Structure
Over the next few hours you need to create some structure for your dough by "stretching and folding".
Aim to do around 4-6 sets of stretches and folds.
For each set, stretch the dough up and over itself 4 times. Leave around 15 minutes in between each set. Again you do not have to be exact with time, but you need to do at least 4 sets over 2 hours.
Bulk Ferment
Once you've finished your stretch and folds, cover the dough with a plastic cover and allow the dough to double overnight (I have included a sample timeline for you to follow so that you can bulk ferment overnight in the post above).
Shaping The Dough
Once your dough has finished its first ferment, it's time to shape it into either a boule or a batard.
Use a dough scraper to gently ease the dough out of the bowl (your hands work just fine if you don't have one). You want it to land upside down on your counter so that the smooth top of the dough is on the countertop and the sticky underside is facing up. This will make it easier to shape.
Placing Into A Proofing Container
Once the dough is shaped, place it into your proofing basket or container smooth side down, so your seam is on the top.
If you're using a cloth or tea towel in a bowl it's ok to put your dough with the smooth side up. Just make sure the dough is tight.
Lift your dough around the edges to pop a little more rice flour if you feel it needs it. Just try to handle the dough as little as possible and be really gentle as you really want to preserve all the gases and air bubbles that have formed during your bulk ferment.
Cold Ferment
Now the dough is in its "shaping container" cover it loosely with a plastic cover and place into the fridge.
Try to leave it in the fridge for a minimum 5 hours. If you're following my timeline above, you'll leave it in the fridge for around 10 to 11 hours.
Counter Proof
If you don't want to put the dough in the fridge for a cold ferment, you can leave it to proof on the counter for a little while. You do need to be careful not to let it over ferment. Ideally, you want the temperature to be on the cooler side (no more than 21ºC). Let the dough relax into the banneton (no more than 2 hours). You could even pop it in the freezer while your oven preheats if you do want to bake it straight away.
Preparing to Bake
Once you're ready to bake your sourdough, you'll need to preheat your oven to 230ºC/450ºF.
Place your Dutch Oven into the oven when you turn it on so it gets hot.
When your oven is at temperature, take your sourdough out of the fridge. Gently place it onto a piece of parchment paper. Score your dough.
Carefully take your Dutch oven out of the oven. Place the sourdough into the pot using the parchment paper as a handle. Put the lid on and place into the hot oven.
BAKE TIME:
30 Minutes with the lid on at 230ºC/450ºF plus
10-15 Minutes with the lid off at 210ºC/410ºF
When you remove your dough from the oven, carefully remove it from the oven as soon as possible and place on a wire rack to cool.

Notes

Notes on Flour: This recipe is written using strong Bread Flour. Bread flour has a higher protein content than All Purpose flour. If you choose to use All Purpose flour you may have a different result because of this. You can read more about the differences between All Purpose Flour and Bread Flour here.
Notes on Sourdough Starter: This recipe is based on you having an active starter that you have fed a few hours before starting your bake. For info on how to make a sourdough starter, go here.
Notes on Stretch & Folds: If you are going to do the stretch & folds on your bench top, spray your surface with water mist rather than using flour. You can leave the dough in the bowl if you want to. Wet your hands to stop the dough sticking - although it shouldn't be too sticky. It will get less sticky as you do your stretches and folds. For more information on how to do stretch and folds, go here.
You will know your dough is ready to move to the next stage when it has *just* doubled in size. It will be fairly wobbly and full of bubbles. You should be able to see large air bubbles under the surface of the dough.
You don't want to let it go any further than doubled as it will be over fermented.
If you want to do an overnight ferment, but your home is warm, consider using a little less starter (ie 25g).
Less starter means your dough will take longer to ferment and you will reduce the risk of over fermenting your dough.
You'll find more information on these topics here:
When is my bulk ferment finished?
What is the difference between cold ferment and bulk ferment?
Why does the amount of starter matter?
Notes on Bulk Fermentation: If your home is warm then your dough will ferment a lot faster and could be done in as little as a few hours. If it's colder, it will take longer. I recommend using this overnight sourdough bread recipe in cooler temperatures, as if it's too warm the dough will over ferment while you're sleeping and you'll wake up to a bowl of soupy dough!

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