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Crusty Golden Sourdough Bread with a Soft Chewy Center Recipe

Crusty Golden Sourdough Bread with a Soft Chewy Center Recipe
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5 from 29 reviews

This recipe guides you through making a crusty golden sourdough bread with a soft, chewy center using simple ingredients and traditional techniques like stretch and folds and cold fermentation for enhanced flavor and texture.

Ingredients

Scale

Dry Ingredients

  • 4 cups (500g) bread flour or all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons (10g) salt

Wet Ingredients

  • 1⅔ cups (375g) warm water
  • 1 cup (200g) active sourdough starter

Instructions

  1. Mix flour and water: In a large mixing bowl, combine 4 cups of flour and 1⅔ cups of warm water. Stir until you form a shaggy dough then cover it and let it rest for 30 minutes to allow the flour to hydrate.
  2. Add starter and salt: After resting, add 1 cup of active sourdough starter and 2 teaspoons of salt. Mix everything thoroughly until fully combined into a cohesive dough.
  3. First fermentation with stretch and folds: Cover the bowl with a clean towel or plastic wrap and let dough rest at room temperature. Every 30 minutes for 2 hours, perform stretch and folds by pulling one side of the dough upward and folding it over itself, then turning the bowl a quarter turn and repeating this three more times. This strengthens the dough.
  4. Bulk rise: After the final fold, cover the bowl again and allow the dough to rise for 6 to 8 hours at room temperature until it doubles in size and becomes bubbly and puffy.
  5. Shape the dough: Gently transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and shape it into a round or oval loaf by folding and tucking the edges underneath to build tension on the surface.
  6. Cold proof: Place the shaped dough seam-side up into a floured proofing basket or towel-lined bowl, cover it, and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours to develop flavor and improve crust.
  7. Preheat oven and Dutch oven: The next day, place a Dutch oven into your oven and preheat to 450°F (232°C).
  8. Score and bake: Remove the dough from the fridge, invert it onto parchment paper, and score the top with a sharp knife or razor blade. Carefully place the dough with parchment paper into the hot Dutch oven, cover, and bake for 20 minutes.
  9. Finish baking uncovered: Remove the lid and bake for an additional 25 minutes uncovered to develop a deep golden crust.
  10. Cool: Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing to ensure the crumb sets properly.

Notes

  • Use a sourdough starter that is very active for best rise.
  • Warm water should be around 75-80°F (24-27°C) to encourage fermentation.
  • Stretch and folds help strengthen gluten without kneading.
  • Cold proofing in the fridge enhances flavor and makes scoring easier.
  • Let the bread cool fully before slicing to preserve texture and chewiness.

Nutrition

Keywords: sourdough bread, crusty bread, artisan bread, homemade sourdough, chewy bread

Find it online: https://lucabites.com/crusty-golden-sourdough-bread-with-a-soft-chewy-center-recipe/