Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

This simple same day sourdough bread is a great place to start if you are new to sourdough baking or just need an easy recipe with very little hands-on time. It can be made from start to finish in one day and yields a loaf with a soft and airy crumb and a thin and crispy golden crust.

Note: For this recipe, you need a sourdough starter.

Sliced loaf of freshly baked sourdough bread with a small plate of butter on the side.

Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need

All you need is a sourdough starter, flour, water, salt, and a bit of patience. This recipe uses a simple 1-2-3 ratio (1 part sarter: 2 parts water: 3 parts flour) and can easily be made in just one day.

Sourdough starter – for this recipe, you need a sourdough starter that’s strong enough to double in size within 4 – 6 hours of feeding. If you haven’t fed your starter in a while, give it a couple of feedings before baking to make sure that it’s active enough.
Flour – you can use bread flour or all-purpose flour with a protein content of around 11-12%.
Fine sea salt – fine grain salt is easier to distribute evenly throughout the dough.
Digital kitchen scale – for best results, always weigh your ingredients. It’s more accurate than measuring by volume.
Fork or dough whisk – to mix the ingredients.
Bench scraper – to help shape and handle the dough.
Banneton – to help the bread retain its shape while proofing.
Plastic wrap or tea towel – to cover the dough while resting.
Bread lame or sharp serrated knife – to score the bread before baking.
Dutch oven or large oven-safe stock pot – this creates a steamy environment for the bread to be baked in and results in better oven spring, a softer crumb and a thin and crispy crust.

Ingredients for sourdough bread: Flour, sourdough starter, water and salt.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1

In the morning, prepare your leaven: Mix the sourdough starter with water and flour and let it rest in a warm spot (around 28 degrees Celsius) for 4 -6 hours. It’s ready to use, when it has doubled or tripled in size, looks bubbly and still has a slightly domed top.

Step 2

Prepare the main dough: In a mixing bowl, dissolve the leaven in the water and add flour and salt. Use a dough hook or a fork to bring everything together until you have a shaggy dough. Finish mixing with your hands. Make sure that all the flour is well incorporated without any dry patches left. Cover with a damp tea towel and let it rest on the counter for 30 minutes. After the first rest, knead the dough for a few minutes by hand until it starts to look and feel smoother. This only takes about 1–2 minutes.

Mixing bread dough in a glass bowl with a fork.

Step 3

For the bulk fermentation, place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and let it rise in a warm spot for around 4 hours or until you can see visible signs of fermentation. At this stage, the dough should have visibly grown in size, but it doesn’t necessarily have to double. You should see lots of smaller air bubbles throughout the dough and some larger ones on the surface. If the dough still looks dense, let it rest longer.

Step 4

Flour the banneton and set aside. Time to pre-shape: Gently turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, bring all 4 corners of the dough into the center, overlapping, to form a loose ball. Flip it over and let it rest for 10-20 minutes. During the bench rest, the gluten will relax, and the dough will spread out a bit. Flip the dough over again and shape a batard. Put the dough into the banneton and let it rest in a warm spot for the final proof, around 1.5 -2 hours. During the last 30 minutes of proofing, pre-heat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius with the dutch-oven inside.

Shaped bread dough in a banneton to rest for the final proof.

Step 5

Turn the dough out on a piece of parchment paper, score, and bake for 30 minutes inside the dutch-oven. Then, lower the temperature to 220 degrees Celsius. Lift the bread out of the Dutch oven and finish baking directly on the oven rack for another 10 minutes, or until the crust has a deeply golden color. Let the loaf cool on a cooling rack for at least one hour before slicing. If you cut into it while it’s still hot, you risk ending up with a gummy and sticky crumb. The wait is worth it! This bread is best enjoyed on the day it’s baked.

A loaf of sourdough bread on a wooden board with a bread knife and a beige tea towel next to it.

Tips & Tricks

In the winter, or when your room temperature is much lower than 28 degrees Celsius, you can let the dough rise in the oven with just the light turned on. Or place a baking dish filled with hot water on the bottom rack. This creates a warm and humid environment for the dough to rise.
If you don’t plan to bake the dough on the same day, you can put it in the fridge after shaping and bake the next morning. Cover the banneton with a plastic bag and put it in the fridge overnight. The cold temperature slows down the final proofing time and allows the bread to develop a stronger flavor.

Common Questions About Sourdough Bread

It’s possible that your starter wasn’t strong and active enough. When you make the leaven, make sure that it doubles or triples in size within 4-6- hours and contains lots of air bubbles. That’s a sign of strong fermentative activity. Also, make sure that you let the dough rise in a warm spot. Sourdough ferments best at temperatures between 25-30 degrees Celsius. Warm temperatures speed up the fermentation, lower temperatures slow it down. If your dough looks dense, give it more time to rise.

It’s best to store sourdough bread cut-side down in a bread box at room temperature. You can also wrap it in a linen tea towel.

If you don’t have a Dutch oven, you can bake the bread on a pre-heated baking stone and cover it with a large oven-safe stockpot. Just make sure that the pot is large enough for the dough to expand and rise.

During proofing the dough grows and expands in the banneton, however, it does not have to double in size. After proofing, the dough should look soft and airy. You can also do the “poke” test: Lightly poke the dough with your finger and notice how it bounces back. If it bounces back quickly, it needs more time to proof. If it doesn’t bounce back at all, your dough is most likely over proofed. If it bounces back slowly and leaves a little indentation, it’s ready to bake.

The crust should have a deep golden-brown color and if you tap the bottom of the loaf with your knuckle you should hear a hollow sound. If it doesn’t sound hollow, bake for an additional 10 minutes and check again.

A loaf of sourdough bread on a wooden board lightly covered with a beige tea towel.

Sample Baking Schedule

Day 1

8 AM: Make the leaven
12 PM: Make the main dough and start bulk fermentation
4 PM: Pre-Shape
4:30 PM: Shape and proof
5:30 PM: Pre-heat the oven
6 PM: Bake

More Sourdough Recipes You May Like:

Freshly baked rosemary sourdough bread with a small jug of olive oil and fresh twigs of rosemary next to it.

Three baguettes on a white tile backdrop with a blue pattern.

A slice of soft and sweet sourdough bread with butter and apricot jam.

A freshly baked sourdough brioche on a white marble surface in golden hour sunlight.

Flatlay of sliced sourdough olive bread.

Sourdough ciabatta rolls with a bread knife next to them.

Simple Same Day Sourdough Bread

published by: Julia

This simple same day sourdough bread is a great place to start if you are new to sourdough baking or just need an easy recipe that doesn’t require a lot of hands-on time. It can be made from start to finish in one day and yields a loaf with a soft and airy crumb and a thin and crispy golden crust.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep 15

Cook 40

Total Resting Time 11

Total 11 55

Course Bread, Breakfast

Cuisine Sourdough Bread

Servings Loaf

Calories 1183 kcal

Equipment

Digital kitchen scale – for best results always weigh your ingredients. It’s more accurate than measuring by volume.
Fork or dough whisk – to mix ingredients
bench scraper – to help shape and handle the dough
Banneton – to help the bread retain its shape while proofing
Plastic wrap or tea towel – to cover the dough while resting
Bread lame or sharp serrated knife – to score the bread before baking
Dutch oven or large oven-safe stock pot – this creates a steamy environment for the bread to be baked in and results in better oven spring, a softer crumb and a thin and crispy crust.

Ingredients

For the leaven:

30 g Sourdough starter – for this recipe, you need a sourdough starter that’s strong enough to double in size within 4 hours of feeding
35 g Water – lukewarm
70 g Flour – All-purpose

For the main dough:

100 g Leaven – the remaining leaven will be your starter to store in the fridge for the next use
200 g Water – lukewarm
300 g Flour – bread flour or all-purpose flour with 11-12% protein
7 g Sea salt – fine grain

Instructions

Mix the sourdough starter with water and flour and let it rest in a warm spot* (around 28 degrees Celsius) for around 4 – 6 hours. It’s ready to use when it has doubled or tripled in size, looks bubbly and still has a slightly domed top.
When the leaven is ripe, prepare the main dough: Remove 100 g of the ripe leaven to use in the recipe and store the glass jar with the remaining leaven in the fridge for the next use. In a mixing bowl, dissolve the leaven in the water and add flour and salt. Use a dough hook or fork to bring everything together until you have a shaggy dough. Finish mixing with your hands and make sure that all the flour is well incorporated without any dry patches left. Cover with a damp tea towel and let it rest on the counter for 30 minutes.
After the first rest, knead the dough for a few minutes by hand until it starts to look and feel smoother. This shouldn't take much longer than 1-2 minutes.
For the bulk fermentation, place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and let it rise in a warm spot for around 4 hours or until you can see visible signs of fermentation. At this stage, the dough should have visibly grown in size. You should see lots of smaller air bubbles throughout the dough and some larger ones on the surface. If the dough still looks dense, let it rest longer.
Flour the banneton and set aside. Pre-shape the dough: Gently turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface, bring all 4 corners of the dough into the center, overlapping, to form a loose ball. Flip it over and let it rest for 10-30 minutes. During the bench rest, the gluten will relax, and the dough will spread out a bit. Flip the dough over again and shape a batard. Put the dough into the banneton and let it rest in a warm spot for the final proof, around 1.5 -2 hours**. During the last 30 minutes of proofing, pre-heat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius with the dutch-oven inside.
Turn the dough out on a piece of parchment paper, score, and bake 30 minutes inside the Dutch oven. Then, lower the temperature to 220 degrees Celsius. Lift the bread out of the Dutch oven and finish baking directly on the oven rack for another 15 minutes, or until the crust has a deeply golden color.
Let the loaf cool on a cooling rack for at least one hour before slicing. If you slice the bread while it's still hot, you risk ending up with a gummy and sticky crumb. This bread is best enjoyed on the day it’s baked.

Video

Notes

* In the winter, or when your room temperature is much lower than 28 degrees Celsius, you can let the dough rise in the oven with just the light turned on. Or place a baking dish filled with hot water on the bottom rack. This creates a warm and humid environment for the dough to rise in.

** If you don’t want to bake the dough on the same day, you can put it in the fridge after shaping and bake the next morning. Cover the banneton with a plastic bag and put it in the fridge overnight. The cold temperature slows down the final proofing time and allows the bread to develop a stronger flavor.

Nutrition

Calories: 1183kcalCarbohydrates: 248gProtein: 34gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 0.5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.3gSodium: 2731mgPotassium: 322mgFiber: 9gSugar: 1gCalcium: 53mgIron: 14mg

Keywords Artisan Bread, Beginner-friendly, Easy, Sourdough baking