Well my, my, my! I have been on a quest for my entire adult life to master sourdough bread making. I’m 68 and just now learning just how easy it really is. My dad,who is now deceased spent his life trying to figure it out too. He was one of the last of the true cowboys and the camp chefs always had a starter and made bread , pancakes, biscuits and cobblers. He always talked about it and he longed to replicate it. He got so desperate that when he got older he even tried adding commercial yeast to his starter to “help" it along! 😩 He used to tell me stories of how the cooks would carry their starter under their coats, close to their chest when it got bitter cold to keep it warm enough from freezing. He would be so proud of me now and I wish he could have known how simple it could have been for him. Thank you so much for the wealth of knowledge.
Thank you for sharing your story of your Dad. How Special. I'm glad you found someone who has made it more simple for you. He'd be so proud of you and jealous, lol.. May he rip♥️Merry Christmas 2023🎄
Ben, Just baked a beautiful loaf of Sourdough Bread, my third loaf and the best yet. This time instead of waiting for the levan to develope I just went into the frig and took out a 3 week old unfed starter that I had just left in there as a backup. I used that cold and right out of the jar, and wow, just like you said it worked. There is so much info out there for sourdough when you have to use your starter and you have disproved most of them. I never baked a loaf of bread in my life until last week and I am retired now at 70 years old. My wife and I just love the taste of sourdough bread, and now we have no desire to buy bread at the store.
I'm watching this video again after recommending it numerous times to people who have enjoyed my sourdough bread. In fact, I had completely given up trying to make sourdough bread after numerous failed loaves. However, as a professional chemist and microbiologist, it seemed ridiculous to me that I couldn't make a decent loaf of sourdough bread. So I searched for a video that included the fundamentals, found this video, and always have homemade sourdough bread for myself and my delighted friends. THANK YOU.
Keep meaning to add a comment : THANK YOU! you have possibly saved my marriage! At the start of lockdown my husband decided to make sourdough - very unsuccessfully! He was trying ever more complicated instructions and getting nowhere except very irritated (and irritating!) Then I found your method. It took some persuasion to get him to try it. "How can something so simple possibly work?" Well it does! He's been making sourdough by your method for a year now and never had a fail - and we're still together!
What a breath of fresh air. I started my sourdough journey a few months ago and in short order, I branched out to 3 different starters. Suddenly I realised my life was no longer my own. I was either feeding a starter or babysitting dough. So, as you predicted, I put the starters in the fridge and fed them occasionally but haven’t baked any more bread. My family has complained that I addicted them to sourdough bread and now they are having to buy it at the supermarket. You have shown me that there is a better way. Bread will be baked tomorrow and every few days after that. A million thanks.
Just saw this lesson today- 4 months after I first started this adventure. My 3 starters ( which I’ve made the mistake of naming) may finally be brought under control by following your sane direction.
Finally, someone who lays it out simply. I've watched a lot (probably way too many) sourdough bread videos and my brain switched off within 10 minutes (probably because I didn't have a damn laboratory to make it in). This is one of the best. Thank you.
Exactly ! I found it out myself and shared a video. I am not a baker by any means... and it worked. And Ben Starr is right on the money. Glad I found his site.
Got you one better 4yrs ago all my B-day gifts were bread baking books with day long confusing instructions some I actually mastered so this man's sounds great-P's-- those books 🙊real pretty covers
You are exactly what I been looking for… no nonsense actual education with no BS. No one on any of the sour dough videos I’ve watched said to use salt without iodine except for you and understanding the science behind what you’re making helps tremendously. Thank you 😊
This was absolutely invaluable for me. Another tip is with two loaf pans you can use binder clips to create a “poor man’s Dutch oven”. I’ve also found spritzing the surface with water before placing the lid adds extra moisture without compromising the dough! Lends to a nice chewy but tender crust, yet a fluffy interior. Thank you so much for the science of cooking that you share. I love knowing the “why” of why things work as they do!
Can't wait to try the trick with the loaf pans! Thank you for this idea Renee! I have muscular dystrophy and am too weak to handle heavy Dutch ovens, so am very excited about this. Going to try this today.
" I am Food Geek and it is my responsibility to teach you the chemistry and physics behind cooking so that you stop being a recipe follower and start being somebody that truly understands cooking and does not need recipes" Instant supporter! Your energy is contagious Chef! Peace and Love from Ventura, Ca.
I’ve never made bread before watching Ben’s series. Started my starter on July 4th, 2022. Was ready in 7 days. Been making at least one loaf a week. Usually 2 at a time. From regular, wheat, rye and the best jalapeño cheddar. Thank you Chef. This is a new staple in our house. We’ve stopped buying store bread. Named the starter Old Glory.
Ben. My dough has been out on the counter (4 hrs) it’s ready to bake but I don’t have time right now. Can I still put it in the fridge at this point ? I have watched this video several times but I’m still not sure.
I have watched countless sourdough videos and have thought to myself, "How is this sustainable for anyone on a long-term basis?!" You, sir, have addressed that problem with this highly helpful video. Thank you!
I live in Michigan for 6 months, and Florida the other 6 months. Typically, I freeze the starter when switching coasts, but i forgot, and my Michigan starter sat in the frig for 6 months untouched. I came.home, fed it and it came back to life! Amazing.
Learned how to bake sour dough bread from this RUclips. I use the recipe Ben uses. Make two loafs at a time on an Italian bread pan. Have been baking every ten days for over a year. The bread has improved with time. This is all you need to know to bake.
My first few sourdough loaves were made using spelt flour 9 months ago and then I've been using einkorn flour since. Today I'm going to make a levain with hard wheat flour so I can try a standard wheat sourdough loaf for the first time.
Ben, took me 12 days to make my starter, but I couldn't bake a loaf, so I put it in the fridge. Two months later I made my first loaf and man oh man, did it ever come out amazing. I am so thankful for your KISS method. I say; minimum effort, maximum results. Thank you again for sharing.
@@aayush_dutt Fabulous, my bread keeps getting better and better with the same starter. And just like Ben says, if your starter sits for a while and forms that liquid on top, DO NOT THROW IT OUT; just mix it back into the starter before using.
I always refer back to Ben’s tutorials. His ‘quirky’ to the point instructions and insight into sourdough make for the moment in time you spend watching a blessing. ‘Sourdough is Life’.
This was my first attempt at bread making and it was absolutely awesome. Tender, great crust and taste. Didn’t expect such great result after watching many more complicated recipes.
WOW!! Just when I was going to give up my dream of making Sourdough bread I found this video. You have renewed my quest on making homemade sourdough bread. All of the complicated recipes had basically scared me into just sticking with my regular homemade bread. Now I'm ready to tackle Sourdough.
I’ve had my starter for a month and didn’t know where to start! I was completely confused, even though I have watched hours upon hours on how to bake a loaf of sourdough. After watching yours, I can’t wait to start mine and have sourdough tomorrow. Thank you so much for making it so clear to understand!
I can't thank you enough for this video! I'm 73 years old and have tried since my 20's (on and off) to learn to make sourdough bread. This is the first time I have been successfull at making a robust starter! A loaf is rising as we speak! Can't wait to watch your other videos to see what else I might learn to make!
I struggled through a few other recopies / processes before finding your factual & humorous process. At 76 & retired, I could take my time but, not waste my time. Have made 2 following your recipe and both were great. I now am actually making a loaf for a couple friends. Never thought I'd make something that I would share outside my wife & I....lol Thank you so much for making this simple and useful.
OMG, thank you! I had just finished making my starter and was ready to learn how to make some sourdough bread. I watched several other tutorials previous to this one and honestly was ready to just forget the whole thing and throw the starter away because the process seemed so time consuming and complicated. Praise be the next video in line was this one, which restored my hope and saved the day! I now feel confident that I too can make a lovely loaf a bread and that I don't need to devote my entire life to the task. Thank you Ben Starr! Subscribed!
I love this guy! explains everything in terms I can understand. Not fancy. He stirred with a metal tablespoon in a plastic bowl! No fancy tools needed. Ive been watching all the videos on making sourdough and I get lost on measurements , steps, and terminology. Ben is my go to guy now.
OMG! My dough was VERY sticky and wet and I wasn’t sure if it would even work, but I bake it anyway expecting a failed loaf…but, I just took mine out of the oven, let it cool, and cut a slice. The best thing ever!!!! Thank you so much chef Ben for sharing your knowledge and skill with us. I will never go back to buying bread. It was fun and easy and the Dutch oven is a phenomenal baking vessel.
Ive been making sour dough bread for 5 years. I just made the most perfect loaf of crusty, beautiful sour dough bread I’ve ever made. THANK YOU! This recipe %100 works. I’ll never make it like I used too. Sprinkle a few sesame seeds in the bottom of your cast iron before you put the bread it. Perfection!
This makes so much sense! I can’t imagine early settlers and gold-rush miners messing about and treating sourdough starter any differently than they would have a fresh yeast. It was more transportable is all. Great vid! Thanks. 😊
@@genkiferal7178 exactly my thought. He began by saying this bread has been around forever before people had fancy gadgets and then berates us for not having a digital scale …. 🙄
@@northwoodfalls1403 isn't that silly? I see the insistence upon scales on RUclips all the time in baking and cooking videos and find it ridiculous. First off, as you mention, people didn't have scales of any kind, certainly not electric ones, for thousands of years and yet they somehow managed to make all kinds of recipes. Second, I find scale use to be non-intuitive and to limit a baker or a cook's ability to build their knowledge of weights by experience...to know what a cup of water looks like or how "big" a tablespoon is by sight. You just don't learn that when you use a scale for everything. It is best, IMO, for all new cooks and bakers to start out with old fashioned cups, teaspoons, etc. They should get a feel for these measurements and be able to approximate a cup of liquid or flour amd a teaspoon of salt, etc, by sight. If they want to move on to exact measurements for baking later, then by all means do that, but the basics of knowing what a cup of something is will always be useful.
@@mygirldarby yes!! When I was learning how to cook, I often asked my mother how she knew when something was done. She told me, “You can smell it.” Fast forward years later, she asked me how I cooked something and asked “How long do you cook it for?” and I replied, “Until it smells done.” She laughed. It sounds overly simplistic, but it’s true. You can smell when the moment happens when the chemical reactions have reached that mysterious moment of alchemy when the raw ingredients have transformed. I mean, a timer is a still a good idea, I’m not denying that lol. But relying on the clock instead of your own senses won’t make you a good cook. It’s also why I prefer using my hands or a knife over mixers and processors as much as is feasible. You have to make physical contact with the ingredients. It’s hard to explain why, exactly, but somehow you pick up on things like how much water there is in the vegetables, how tender the meat is, how much moisture is in your flour that day, etc. You feel the difference between how much volume is in the eggs you’re using, the quality of the butter and on and on and on. I had great success with sourdough bread for a few months and then all of a sudden it all went wrong and I was producing flat hockey pucks again. After scrutinizing every step to figure out what was going wrong, the light bulb went off. I have been using a scale so I could remove factors of unknowns when assessing what was working and what wasn’t BUT we went through massive weather changes in a short period of time. We went from very cold to very hot and humid and back again and it dawned on me that while the scale was accurately telling me how much water I was adding, it can’t possibly tell me how much moisture is in the flour I am using. I went back to doing it by feel, and TA DA! The beautiful loaves I had become used to greeting out of the oven returned. These recipes on the internet are mostly derived from professional bakers. They have a level of control the home baker does not. They can store their flour in temperature and moisture controlled environments, etc. We are always told that we need flour with higher protein in it, etc. Well, here in Canada, protein content in flour is regulated. It’s all basically the same. But that does not at all mean the flour is the same. I’m not a scientist or a wheat expert so I have no explanation, all I know is that it can’t JUST be the protein content because I get wildly different results from different flours, all with the same relative protein content, so relying on numbers alone won’t make you a good baker of bread. The scale is for sure useful. I’m not saying it can’t be helpful. I, as I said, have used it just to help me keep track of what I am doing from one batch to the next for troubleshooting as I am learning. But getting your hands in there and learning to go by feel will always be the best way to cook.
The settlers may not have, but here he is trying to make it as easy as possible for someone struggling with producing even A loaf of bread - at a time when these modern gadgets may make it easier for even a novice to see some success.
Oh and btw, I just baked this and it turned out perfect!! I bake a lot of bread but have always been intimidated by the process of sour dough but your method really breaks it down so anyone can bake sour dough! Thank you so much!
I have been trying to bake sourdough bread for 2 years. I found your videos and in less that 2 weeks I now have a great starter and have baked two wonderful loafs of sourdough bread. THANK YOU!
Thanks for this. I've spent the last two weeks starting, throwing out and re-starting my starter before even attempting the bread! My mom grew up on a small farm in Europe where, in addition to everything else, they grew and ground their flour and of course baked their own bread. I kept wondering how they did it! I can't imagine that they went through all the drama to produce artisanal bread - they had a farm to run and many mouths to feed! Sadly she's not around anymore to guide me but I suspect her approach was more along the lines of the no-nonsense described here. I am ready to give it a go! Again, thanks so much for this.
I've been making sourdough for years quite happily just the way you did and then saw those "other channels" that turned a quick pleasurable experience into a living nightmare. Love your channel, new subscriber x
Hi Ben, I’ve been making your recipe for the past 1.5 years. I’ve tweaked it a bit with 1.5 oz of organic stone ground rye flour, 4 oz.turkey (Yes turkey flour. Can’t find it in Canada anymore) 4 oz spelt four, 2 oz whole wheat flour and 11.5 oz unbleached white flour. Outstanding combo!! I use 4.5 oz of starter and 13.5 oz water. I do a stretch and fold 2X at 30 minute intervals and then leave it covered in the kitchen for 12-14 hours. Outstanding!!
Your combination of flours sounds great. Does it change the interior of the loaf? I made my starter with organic dark rye flour and filtered water, came out great after 6 days. Thanks 😊
I travel sometimes away from my regular home for a month or two at a time. About six months ago I learned to just put my starter in my fridge and forget it. And my bread has been terrific. It’s the best tip I’ve gotten (and used). This is definitely one of the best-ever sourdough videos!
Mr. Starr, thank you so much for this video! You demystified sourdough bread making which has scared me for my whole bread making "career." My husband loves the bread I make, but he's wanted me to try sourdough for years. Hmmm, and then starter appeared from Amazon. I took the hint and was so glad I found your video. I watched it once through and then paused it many, many times throughout the process. We now have a lovely, tasty loaf! Yippee!!! I don't expect such great success every time, but I'm off and running. You must know me, because you left nothing to chance, you told me which rack to use and not to touch the baking vessel without gloves! I sincerely appreciate your video. You're welcome to bake in my kitchen anytime.
The best of the many, many sourdough videos I've watched. The others seemed to get more and more complex, and I was thinking of abandoning my desire to start making sourdough bread. This video changed my mind. Thanks!
Thank you. I’ve been making sourdough for years. I mix it in under five minutes, form a loaf in 4-6 hours and refrigerate overnight. Why do people make it so complicated. I use tap water and salt with iodine and get great oven spring.
it is a good beginning but i would encourage you to look at a bit of the other simple recipes that include shaping and folding, as the crumb improves...but again only obsessed folk have criticized results while reaching for another slice. and yes, starter is much tougher than sooooo many make it to be with all their feeding schedules. even in humid, hot Cambodia, I have yet to lose a starter.
Can I maintain my starter without a fridge and "constant" tempature? I live way way way way off grid, so a fridge and a constant indoor temp is not going to happen.
Dakota, you may need to feed more frequently if your starter lives at room temp. But I've had an experimental starter on my countertop for a month without a feeding, and it seems fine. My recommendation is to keep it in the darkest, coolest spot in your home, and feed it every 2-3 weeks.
Chef Ben, I cannot thank you enough for your series on making sourdough starter and sourdough bread. I especially enjoyed the chemistry lessons that you included in your lessons (I had to take organic chemistry in nursing school so this really made sense to me). I just made my first loaf of sourdough bread (in a 5 qt cast iron Dutch oven) & it turned out beautifully (it looked exactly like the one in this video). I made my starter using unbleached all purpose flour & pineapple juice-AMAZING. I also appreciated your "no frills-no nonsense approach. If not for your videos, I probably would never have tried making sourdough starter & bread. I am 76 years old so who say you can't teach "an old dog new tricks." I'm living proof that it CAN BE DONE. Thank you again.
I made a starter when we started staying home and have been maintaining it ever since and watching videos about bread making. My husband said "are we ever going to have any bread?" I always had the timing off or didn't feed it at the right intervals. After finding this I finally am trying to bake it. Hooray!
YES. This is perfect. I did not want to spend SO MUCH TIME with lift-stretch-turn over and over to get a loaf WITH HOLES. This is a SUPER LOAF. I do not need the "holes". AND I can have a CHOICE....make it in a loaf tin or dutch oven. I am not fond of ROUND LOAVES either. Thanks so much for doing this video. YOU MADE IT SIMPLE and DIRECT.
I so much appreciate the good old fashioned simplicity of this forgiving recipe, thank you for making the process approachable and appealing for the long term
We are well passed the pandemic and sourdough’s popularity is still going strong lol I found your video on a sourdough starter group on FB and I’m so thankful for you. I’ve watched countless videos, almost ordered just as many books on making sourdough and you are such a breath of fresh air. I need basics so my brain can comprehend 😅 Thank you!!!!
This method is fantastic! I’ve been too intimidated by all of the other fussy videos to make sourdough of my own. My friend gave me a six week starved starter so I found this video and made my first loaf. By luck, a veteran bread-baker friend stopped by and tried a slice. He was surprised it was my first loaf and that the starter was six weeks old. Thank you so much for your straightforwardness, your relevant scientific explanations, and for the fun you put in this!
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was almost in tears and feeling like I could never make sour dough bread. Then I saw you wonderful video and got my starter out of the refrigerator ❤️
During the first minute or so, I was about to stop the video because I wanted you to jump to the recipe. I waited and listened and I’m glad I did. I learned about filtered/tap water and non-iodized salt with microbes and many other helpful information. You can teach this 64 year old new stuff! Thanks
After being very intimidated the videos showing the how tos in sourdough bread making, I was so pleased to find your easy, simple way. I gave it a try after learning and doing a starter. My first loaf done in a loaf pan, turned out quite pale, but delicious. I just couldn’t believe or accept the 500 degree oven, so I baked it as I have done my normal bread at 350. Pale bread. It did temp out okay. So my second loaf was baked in a Dutch Oven and was done as per ALL your recipe, which includes the 500 degree oven. Turned out great…nicely browned crusty crust. Okay, I’m now a believer. Thank you for posting this video!!
This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for. I've just started this SD journey during the covid lock down & it's been one crazy season of sleepless nights & madness - coaxing the starter to rise & piling up discard in many tupperware, stretching & folding every hour or so. Thank you, Ben. This will definitely let me take back control of my life (was living around hourly alarm stretching & folding)
By the way, I discovered that discarded starter is great to pan-fry in butter as a sort of chappati. Delicious! It's unsalted, of course, so it's good to put some sort of salty topping on the chappatis - I like a slice of smoked lamb.
I first watched your video about a year ago and lost my fear of my starter. Now I only keep about a tbs of starter when I bake. I add about a half cup (200g) of water to the Mason jar and shake it to "clean" up the dough off the sides. A cpl of tbs of cheap unbleached AP flour mixed in, and the starter goes back into the fridge without letting it grow. It's happened that I've been sick for a lengthy time and my starter has been neglected for up to 3 months and it was revived as you described. The resulting 75% whole wheat bread has still been amazing. You've been a gift to my family. Thank you!!
You just saved my starter from going into garbage! My starter was sitting in the fridge and was not fed for over two months. I thought it was no good but now it will be used for baking. Thank you!
UPDATE: Today I made the best sourdough bread with your method. It even stuck a little in my banneton bowl and deflated some but it still turned out sooo good. I seriously almost gave up but then came across this video. I really appreciate your help and your videos. THANK YOU!
I tried for months to bake a sauerdough and it always turned out to be a flat bread. With your recepie I finaly succeded! And no babysitting, no strong flower, unbelievable! So happy! Thanks Ben! Love from Antwerp, Belgium 😁
I'm so happy to have found this video, this is going to be so fun to watch! I started my starter during pandemic and studied all kinds of videos on how to..over time I started my own routine. No or little stretch/fold, starter fed or not..depending on my timeline, hydration, flour, everything just by feel. The only thing I barely ever nail is the salt content!! Since I don't measure the flour, I never know how much I should add. I did 100% spelt until this year. Starting to tolerate wheat better since my last pregnancy, and bread is so much easier with wheat!
Ditto to the previous comments: Thank you for an everyday sourdough recipe. I've always wanted a recipe that I could use in a loaf pan for sandwiches. I tried yours out today, this one is just perfect. Thank you again.
Awesome tutorial. I just pulled my first loaf made your way out of the oven and it looks amazing . My wife got sick of trying the other complicated methods and achieving mediocre results and gave it up and over to me. I thought surely there is an easier way. And I found your video. Thank you so much.
god bless you!!! i was about to give up on bread making because i was looking at joshua weissmann and other folks... jesus christ their recipes are positively insanely complicated. this restored my confidence fully! you are a baker to my taste -- positive and easy going and enjoying life and you realize that bread making is a forgiving thing, not something for scientists in some laboratory.... good luck and thank you again!
Exactly! Why is that guy so popular? I'm sure his exactness makes a great loaf of bread but my brain starts hurting 2 mins into any of his vids. I'm no idiot but I think I have a more artist temperment (or something). Regardless, cannot handle those overly complicated videos. However, I have yet to perfect my sourdough breadmaking skills by any means. I keep vascillating between going with the more complicated, traditional process, and then the no knead process. Still...all to no avail. Haven't made a loaf I'm truly happy with yet :(
I am one of those who have had many attempts at sourdough especially using the numerous methods on RUclips, with varying results. I found you because I had left my starter for several months, followed your method with a relaxed attitude I got pretty well perfect results! Thank you Ben!
I'm slighty lazier than even you and still make fantastic sourdough bread with very similar techniques. Totally right about starter being bulletproof. You do not have to baby it, or the dough. I prefer two rolled baguettes on a pizza stone w parchment over the boule in the dutch. 25 min at 450 and much less risk of burns when you use a pizza peel, but you still get the thermal mass effect. Made my latest batch just this morning.
@@jamiehsieh5843 yep, I just cut the doughball in half and roll out 15" long logs with my hands on a flour dusted stone counter. My pizza stone is about 15" square and my roll of parchment is about 15" wide. I use 4 cups flour to 2 cups of water to give you an idea of the volume of the dough ball. Sourdough is very forgiving and everyone develops their own technique and preferences. I say just give it a shot and if you think there is room for improvement, tweak your technique to fix any flaws. My first loaves had a gummy line in the bottom fixed by upping the temperature, dialing in the time and switching to the thinner baguette form. I also started by doing a seedy crust, but it doesn't stick well and was a mess to clean up. If I want seeds I put them straight in the dough. Lately I've fallen in love with doing an egg wash on my loaves. It makes the crust more elastic initially, eliminating the need to slash the top and the finished crust is shiny deep brown and crispy.
@@isabelchilian2930 do you mean tbsp of starter? I keep my starter in a Mason jar in the fridge. The night before baking I take it out, there is ~2tbsp remaining. I don't pour off the hooch. I add 1tbsp sugar, 1tbsp rye flour, 3tbsp bread flour, 5tbsp water and stir with a butterknife. I heat 2 coffee mugs of water to boiling in the microwave. I put the jar in the microwave and let it wake up in the hot steamy environment overnight. 8am, I mix the dough (4cups bread flour, 2cups water 2tsp salt, 1/4 cup sugar, nuts/seeds/oats to taste) and put all but 2tbsp of starter in and put it back in the fridge for next time, usually 1-4 weeks. I don't feed it in between. I then heat 4 mugs in the microwave and put the dough in to rise while i go to work. 5pm i stretch and fold ~6x, rest for 2hrs. 7pm oven to 450, roll out loaves on parchment. When preheated bake 28min. Cool on a wire rack, ready to eat in 30 min.
@@dexterne Hi Tim, Thank you so much for writing so soon!! I really appreciate it. So lazy me I did not check my message to you before I sent it... it was about the amount of salt! Now I know you use 2 tsp salt! Fantastic! Your recipe in cups and tablespoons measurement I love it!! In ounces It messes me up big time. Thank you Tim :)
Hi Ben, After watching your you tube Sourdough Bread method about a year ago where you said your starter doesn't have to be fed regularly I made my starter as per your instructions and put some in the fridge as well. I pulled it out and fed it a couple of days ago and 18 hrs later it was ready to go and tripled in size. It shows that once you have a good starter its hard to kill. You know your stuff mate, keep on teaching!!! Thanks Chris.
Love the simplicity! I've used THIS video for about a year now - saved in favorites & refer to it whenever I make a loaf. Also love your presentation style and have watched several of your sourdough discussions. Thanks for being here! ❤
By far the simplest sourdough recipe I've ever seen. Great for an everyday loaf. Once confident in this method, save the fancy recipes for special occasions.
Finally, a sourdough recipe and instructions that isn’t daunting? This will definitely a keeper recipe and will be a staple in our household. You are amazing, Ben! We have watched you in Masterchef and we were all rooting for you!
Thank you!!!! Have been trying to learn how to make sourdough bread from the recipes that require hours of folding and fussing and had many failures. Tried your method yesterday and this morning I baked a huge delicious boule of sourdough worthy of acclaim! Glad I found your video. Simple, easy, delicious! Thumbs up!
Thank you for teaching us the uncomplicated way with sourdough. It makes so much sense. As our forefathers couldn’t be bothered with waste and complicated methods to feed their families. I wish I had started baking with sourdough years ago.
Ok I am IMPRESSED! I have recently decided to take up Sourdough baking at home and been following the usual methods with mixed results. Some loaves are good and some aren’t. And everyone says it’s really not that much time hands on, it’s just spread out. But it becomes a bit of a pain. Just tried your method and I am so happy with the result! Could have proofed it a touch longer but it’s good and delicious and was easy AF! I even made it using my started discard I’d been hoarding in the fridge. THANK YOU!
I use this recipe as my base. Change the kinds of flour add seeds or nuts or dried fruits. Makes an effortless bread and the taste is FANTASTIC. Had for a while gone back to those fussy recipes and just never seemed to get the right proofing. This is just amazing. And even better when you just don't have time when it is done fermenting you can just chuck it in the fridge. Thank you again Ben for making sourdough bread baking so effortless.
Hi, do you mind sharing at which stage you add the dried fruits? I love this recipebut would like to start adding extras and wasnt sure if I should add them at the beginning or when shaping the loaf after the initial 12hour rise. Thank you
@@yasisspace It depends, if it is seeds then with all the other ingredients but nuts and dried fruit after I mixed the primary ingredients. You may need more water if using dried fruit, alternative is soaking. I usually use figs or cranberries and they don't usually need lots more water.
This is by far the best video on sourdough I have ever seen. I baked the most beautiful loaf of bread ever. Thanks for making your sourdough videos. I am a big fan.
Absolutely gorgeous I have been baking with sourdough for many years today I discovered something worthy every second i watched your video. Good luck and many thanks
I can just simply say: Thank you. Several months I watched countless videos and explanations about a perfect sourdough and went crazy. As you mentioned in your video sourdough bread is one of the oldest methods to backing bread. They just backed bread. But when I watched all the videos how to bake a perfect sourdough bread: you need a doctor degree in since and need lots of time. We all have so many things to do to handle our daily live. My husband started to went crazy when he noticed I‘m again and again just concentrated myself on my sourdough to reach a „perfect bread“. 2 days ago we had a discussion about this and I find your video. Thank you for bringing me back to earth. I was flying in a sourdough sphere to reach a perfect bread and was lost. I backed very delicious breads but I was never satisfied with the shape or the size of the crumbs or the size of the oven spring etc. but now I can proudly say I bake sourdough bread and it’s delicious and I do it like you describe: as simple as possible.
I've been struggling to make sourdough for a month now and this is hands down the only recipe that worked like it should for me. I love how he included the loaf pan as that is how I like to bake it. I did have to increase the salt a bit for my taste but other then that this is now my go to sourdough recipe.
Dude. I consider myself the luckiest bread baker to have found your channel. I am all about contrarian anything, and your methods are simply the best. Thanks for this and keep up the great work!
I’ve always abused my starter and it’s always worked well. Just discovered no knead bread. So much easier than folding every hour and as you said, the holes cannot be buttered. Thank you.
I’ve been watching all the labor intensive videos on RUclips. Glad I found yours. This seems like a better use of time rather than being pinned to your kitchen for a day. I’ll be trying this method in a few days when my starter is a bit more mature. Thank you for this video 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 lots of great info here.
I had almost given up on sourdough. I’ve taken the Masterclass and tried dozens of RUclips video recommendations. Learned a lot of great techniques but never produced a loaf that I thought was worth the effort. What I got from your video was that I wasn’t letting the dough rise enough, I was too rough when shaping causing degassing, and my wheat flour ratio was too high. I finally made a loaf I’m happy with. Thank you.
I have been overwhelmed in the recipes after I created my starter. AND only tried 2 times and NOT GOOD. I am so excited to try your method. THANK YOU SO MUCH
I can't tell you how helpful all of your videos are. I made my starter based on your series out of bleached all purpose flour. Your scientific explanations are so, so helpful and interesting. Please keep making more videos and series like these! I'm seriously sharing a playlist of them with all of my friends, you are the best!
I can't thank you enough for this wonderful, wonderful tutorial. My first loaf following your instructions didn't come out as tall as yours and was a little salty for my taste, but it was still way better than the dense loaves I had been getting. Today I made my second loaf (used a bit less salt). My boule shaping was better this time, but I could use some more practice. Even so, this second loaf is fantastic. I'm grateful for your devotion to home cooks like me who are not trained bakers or chefs.
You, sir, are a God send. Thank you for this. I originally used an Irishman's method and recipe for my sourdough bread. I have my starter fed, and it's approximately 1 year old. I'm definitely switching to your method. Thanks!
Thank you! This method is the greatest thing since sliced bread….lol! I work full time and can still maintain my starter and bake sourdough bread every week with almost no effort. Game changer!
I knew as soon as I started to grow a starter, the yeast shortage would end. Yesterday I started & today I found boxes & boxes of yeast on the store shelves! But I love the sour dough taste & hate the big open holes in it. Your loaf looks like the texture I prefer. I will surely try it your way. Thank you.
I made the traditional sourdough really well so I wasn't keen to try this except I was too busy to make my recipe so I gave this a shot. Ben is right, not quite as good as regular sourdough but still an very excellent loaf. I would say my regular recipe is 10/10 and this recipe is 8/10 for essentially no work at all. I still make both but I will make this more often because it is so easy and really good. Everyone loved it. The ingredients are excellent no fillers and garbage that is in regular bread. To get a homemade loaf of sourdough with less effort than a yeast loaf? Well just amazing
Hello could you give me your first version and recipe please, so I can try another version also to. Thank you very much if you could share it. Best to you, and stay healthy.😊😊
I love this recipe, I use my stand mixer to make it super lazy, no chance of messy fingers. Weigh starter in stand mixer bowl Weigh distilled water from the distiller (heck you can leave tap water out in a jug for a day or two and all the anti microbe stuff dissipates, its safe for yeast then) Mix with dough hook that's been in the hand Weigh flour Put in stand mixer with hook Mix for a few mins Remove and cover bowl for the night Risen nicely, lets hook mix till dough is stretchy and see through, add flour and dash of ex vir olive oil for softer crumb. Pour into oiled bread tin (butter/xtra vir olive oil), cover and let sit till risen again, then bake. Good results every time, I really love my starter, it's such a Nordic rich sour flavor.
I have been making sourdough since 1972 and still have my original starter! I have been telling people for literally YEARS that all of those videoes and books made sourdough baking a lot harder than it is but no one believed me. THANK YOU!! !
This is crazy good. I just baked 2 loafs and my kiddos are almost done with 1. Super informative and may we say crazy easy!!! Thank you so much Ben Starr the ultimate food geek!
This is the best sourdough I have ever made it has the best rise I ever had really soft in the middle with a crunchy crust I mixed it in the morning next day I shaped it and left it in fridge untill next day I would recommend leaving it in fridge for 24 hours brilliant beautiful bread thanks ben best on utube
OMG, I have been doing the “other” method and half the time don’t end up making the bread because the timing wasn’t right. Can’t wait to try your method. Thank you for sharing!
Doesn't look like this guy reads his comments....he certainly doesn't respond. But I really hope he realizes what a valuable contribution he has made with this video. I've watched dozens, and this one is BY FAR the most comprehensive and informative without being over complex. This is the ONLY video anyone needs to make a great loaf of sourdough bread.
@@ultimatefoodgeek That's awesome, because I DO have a question, LOL. Almost all the tutorials I've seen or read stress the need to "stretch and fold" the risen dough 3-4 times over a period of a few hours. The point seems to be to increase the protein/gluten activity, resulting in a stronger dough. Clearly it's not necessary judging the success of your method. Do I have it right that neither kneading of stretch-fold are important steps? Thank you.
@@jakemitchell1671 This recipe has been designed to eliminate those steps by decreasing hydration, raising the salt content (which strengthens gluten), and extended fermentation (for max gluten development.) Higher hydration/lower salt recipes require the stretching and strength building so the loaf can hold itself up and hold in CO2.
Well my, my, my! I have been on a quest for my entire adult life to master sourdough bread making. I’m 68 and just now learning just how easy it really is. My dad,who is now deceased spent his life trying to figure it out too. He was one of the last of the true cowboys and the camp chefs always had a starter and made bread , pancakes, biscuits and cobblers. He always talked about it and he longed to replicate it. He got so desperate that when he got older he even tried adding commercial yeast to his starter to “help" it along! 😩 He used to tell me stories of how the cooks would carry their starter under their coats, close to their chest when it got bitter cold to keep it warm enough from freezing. He would be so proud of me now and I wish he could have known how simple it could have been for him. Thank you so much for the wealth of knowledge.
I found a German lady with a similar approach. It has taken the fear out of it for me, plus I’m lazy 😆
That's a great story. I bet your dad is smiling down on you from somewhere, happy that you finally get to do what he tried to do for so long.
At 60 I ain’t got time for grams … ?!?!.. I ain’t lazy .. but I ain’t got time fer grams
@@brianboe3774it’s a button on your scale. Smaller unit of measure. Easier to be more accurate. I’m 58 and I found the button.
Thank you for sharing your story of your Dad. How Special. I'm glad you found someone who has made it more simple for you. He'd be so proud of you and jealous, lol.. May he rip♥️Merry Christmas 2023🎄
Finally...someone who has more things to do than "nurse" their sourdough starter and explains it simply with humor thrown in. Love it! Thank you!
Ben, Just baked a beautiful loaf of Sourdough Bread, my third loaf and the best yet. This time instead of waiting for the levan to develope I just went into the frig and took out a 3 week old unfed starter that I had just left in there as a backup. I used that cold and right out of the jar, and wow, just like you said it worked. There is so much info out there for sourdough when you have to use your starter and you have disproved most of them. I never baked a loaf of bread in my life until last week and I am retired now at 70 years old. My wife and I just love the taste of sourdough bread, and now we have no desire to buy bread at the store.
Al, this makes me SO happy!
@@ultimatefoodgeek Ben, I prefer the close crumb in the loaf you just baked. Beautiful!
I'm watching this video again after recommending it numerous times to people who have enjoyed my sourdough bread. In fact, I had completely given up trying to make sourdough bread after numerous failed loaves. However, as a professional chemist and microbiologist, it seemed ridiculous to me that I couldn't make a decent loaf of sourdough bread. So I searched for a video that included the fundamentals, found this video, and always have homemade sourdough bread for myself and my delighted friends. THANK YOU.
Keep meaning to add a comment : THANK YOU! you have possibly saved my marriage!
At the start of lockdown my husband decided to make sourdough - very unsuccessfully! He was trying ever more complicated instructions and getting nowhere except very irritated (and irritating!) Then I found your method. It took some persuasion to get him to try it.
"How can something so simple possibly work?"
Well it does! He's been making sourdough by your method for a year now and never had a fail - and we're still together!
😂😂😂😂 Love your story
What a breath of fresh air. I started my sourdough journey a few months ago and in short order, I branched out to 3 different starters. Suddenly I realised my life was no longer my own. I was either feeding a starter or babysitting dough. So, as you predicted, I put the starters in the fridge and fed them occasionally but haven’t baked any more bread. My family has complained that I addicted them to sourdough bread and now they are having to buy it at the supermarket. You have shown me that there is a better way. Bread will be baked tomorrow and every few days after that. A million thanks.
I also have two or three jars of starter sitting in the fridge just waiting, and waiting…
Babysitting dough...
giggle 😂❤
Hey how is it going now after 8 months? I just saw this video and curious about learning your experience
Just saw this lesson today- 4 months after I first started this adventure.
My 3 starters ( which I’ve made the mistake of naming) may finally be brought under control by following your sane direction.
Finally, someone who lays it out simply. I've watched a lot (probably way too many) sourdough bread videos and my brain switched off within 10 minutes (probably because I didn't have a damn laboratory to make it in). This is one of the best. Thank you.
Awesome instruction !!! NOW I will try to make sourdough bread. I can actually understand how. Thank you, thank you!
Exactly ! I found it out myself and shared a video. I am not a baker by any means... and it worked. And Ben Starr is right on the money. Glad I found his site.
Ditto!!!!!!!!
Seems simple enough to try
Thanks .
Got you one better 4yrs ago all my B-day gifts were bread baking books with day long confusing instructions some I actually mastered so this man's sounds great-P's-- those books 🙊real pretty covers
You are exactly what I been looking for… no nonsense actual education with no BS. No one on any of the sour dough videos I’ve watched said to use salt without iodine except for you and understanding the science behind what you’re making helps tremendously. Thank you 😊
I hear alot of them say this
This is the first place I heard no idodine and I have watched so many sourdough videos! Like I’m sure some others say it but not everyone.
This wasn't just informative, but highly entertaining as well. I utterly enjoyed watching.
Same
Ben ROCKSTARR
I agree. He is so down to earth and very relatable.
This was absolutely invaluable for me. Another tip is with two loaf pans you can use binder clips to create a “poor man’s Dutch oven”. I’ve also found spritzing the surface with water before placing the lid adds extra moisture without compromising the dough! Lends to a nice chewy but tender crust, yet a fluffy interior. Thank you so much for the science of cooking that you share. I love knowing the “why” of why things work as they do!
Renée These were very astute comments and your extra tips are appreciated.
Can't wait to try the trick with the loaf pans! Thank you for this idea Renee! I have muscular dystrophy and am too weak to handle heavy Dutch ovens, so am very excited about this. Going to try this today.
Brilliant!
" I am Food Geek and it is my responsibility to teach you the chemistry and physics behind cooking so that you stop being a recipe follower and start being somebody that truly understands cooking and does not need recipes" Instant supporter! Your energy is contagious Chef!
Peace and Love from Ventura, Ca.
I’ve never made bread before watching Ben’s series. Started my starter on July 4th, 2022. Was ready in 7 days. Been making at least one loaf a week. Usually 2 at a time. From regular, wheat, rye and the best jalapeño cheddar.
Thank you Chef. This is a new staple in our house. We’ve stopped buying store bread.
Named the starter Old Glory.
@@AbesNbacon Jalapeño cheddar is my absolute favorite
Ben. My dough has been out on the counter (4 hrs) it’s ready to bake but I don’t have time right now. Can I still put it in the fridge at this point ? I have watched this video several times but I’m still not sure.
I have done that and put bowl or basket inside a produce bag from market and retrieve when you are able and finish up.
I meant put in bag then place in fridge👌🏻
I have watched countless sourdough videos and have thought to myself, "How is this sustainable for anyone on a long-term basis?!" You, sir, have addressed that problem with this highly helpful video. Thank you!
I live in Michigan for 6 months, and Florida the other 6 months. Typically, I freeze the starter when switching coasts, but i forgot, and my Michigan starter sat in the frig for 6 months untouched. I came.home, fed it and it came back to life! Amazing.
Learned how to bake sour dough bread from this RUclips. I use the recipe Ben uses. Make two loafs at a time on an Italian bread pan. Have been baking every ten days for over a year. The bread has improved with time. This is all you need to know to bake.
My first few sourdough loaves were made using spelt flour 9 months ago and then I've been using einkorn flour since. Today I'm going to make a levain with hard wheat flour so I can try a standard wheat sourdough loaf for the first time.
@@OceanFrontVilla3how did it turn out?
Ben, took me 12 days to make my starter, but I couldn't bake a loaf, so I put it in the fridge. Two months later I made my first loaf and man oh man, did it ever come out amazing. I am so thankful for your KISS method. I say; minimum effort, maximum results. Thank you again for sharing.
Oh wow 12 days?? Okay that gives me hope
Did you make more breads using this method? How is your experience 9 months later?
@@aayush_dutt Fabulous, my bread keeps getting better and better with the same starter. And just like Ben says, if your starter sits for a while and forms that liquid on top, DO NOT THROW IT OUT; just mix it back into the starter before using.
I always refer back to Ben’s tutorials. His ‘quirky’ to the point instructions and insight into sourdough make for the moment in time you spend watching a blessing. ‘Sourdough is Life’.
What over-generous words. Thank you!!
Hi Ben, can I use this to recipe to make a sandwich loaf in Pullman’s pan with the lid? Thanks
This was my first attempt at bread making and it was absolutely awesome. Tender, great crust and taste. Didn’t expect such great result after watching many more complicated recipes.
WOW!! Just when I was going to give up my dream of making Sourdough bread I found this video. You have renewed my quest on making homemade sourdough bread. All of the complicated recipes had basically scared me into just sticking with my regular homemade bread. Now I'm ready to tackle Sourdough.
I’ve had my starter for a month and didn’t know where to start! I was completely confused, even though I have watched hours upon hours on how to bake a loaf of sourdough. After watching yours, I can’t wait to start mine and have sourdough tomorrow. Thank you so much for making it so clear to understand!
I can't thank you enough for this video! I'm 73 years old and have tried since my 20's (on and off) to learn to make sourdough bread. This is the first time I have been successfull at making a robust starter! A loaf is rising as we speak! Can't wait to watch your other videos to see what else I might learn to make!
I struggled through a few other recopies / processes before finding your factual & humorous process. At 76 & retired, I could take my time but, not waste my time. Have made 2 following your recipe and both were great. I now am actually making a loaf for a couple friends. Never thought I'd make something that I would share outside my wife & I....lol
Thank you so much for making this simple and useful.
OMG, thank you! I had just finished making my starter and was ready to learn how to make some sourdough bread. I watched several other tutorials previous to this one and honestly was ready to just forget the whole thing and throw the starter away because the process seemed so time consuming and complicated. Praise be the next video in line was this one, which restored my hope and saved the day! I now feel confident that I too can make a lovely loaf a bread and that I don't need to devote my entire life to the task. Thank you Ben Starr! Subscribed!
I love this guy! explains everything in terms I can understand. Not fancy. He stirred with a metal tablespoon in a plastic bowl! No fancy tools needed. Ive been watching all the videos on making sourdough and I get lost on measurements , steps, and terminology. Ben is my go to guy now.
OMG! My dough was VERY sticky and wet and I wasn’t sure if it would even work, but I bake it anyway expecting a failed loaf…but, I just took mine out of the oven, let it cool, and cut a slice. The best thing ever!!!! Thank you so much chef Ben for sharing your knowledge and skill with us. I will never go back to buying bread. It was fun and easy and the Dutch oven is a phenomenal baking vessel.
Ive been making sour dough bread for 5 years. I just made the most perfect loaf of crusty, beautiful sour dough bread I’ve ever made. THANK YOU! This recipe %100 works. I’ll never make it like I used too. Sprinkle a few sesame seeds in the bottom of your cast iron before you put the bread it. Perfection!
This makes so much sense! I can’t imagine early settlers and gold-rush miners messing about and treating sourdough starter any differently than they would have a fresh yeast. It was more transportable is all. Great vid! Thanks. 😊
i bet they nevr used a scale, either
@@genkiferal7178 exactly my thought. He began by saying this bread has been around forever before people had fancy gadgets and then berates us for not having a digital scale …. 🙄
@@northwoodfalls1403 isn't that silly? I see the insistence upon scales on RUclips all the time in baking and cooking videos and find it ridiculous. First off, as you mention, people didn't have scales of any kind, certainly not electric ones, for thousands of years and yet they somehow managed to make all kinds of recipes. Second, I find scale use to be non-intuitive and to limit a baker or a cook's ability to build their knowledge of weights by experience...to know what a cup of water looks like or how "big" a tablespoon is by sight. You just don't learn that when you use a scale for everything. It is best, IMO, for all new cooks and bakers to start out with old fashioned cups, teaspoons, etc. They should get a feel for these measurements and be able to approximate a cup of liquid or flour amd a teaspoon of salt, etc, by sight. If they want to move on to exact measurements for baking later, then by all means do that, but the basics of knowing what a cup of something is will always be useful.
@@mygirldarby yes!! When I was learning how to cook, I often asked my mother how she knew when something was done. She told me, “You can smell it.” Fast forward years later, she asked me how I cooked something and asked “How long do you cook it for?” and I replied, “Until it smells done.” She laughed. It sounds overly simplistic, but it’s true. You can smell when the moment happens when the chemical reactions have reached that mysterious moment of alchemy when the raw ingredients have transformed. I mean, a timer is a still a good idea, I’m not denying that lol. But relying on the clock instead of your own senses won’t make you a good cook. It’s also why I prefer using my hands or a knife over mixers and processors as much as is feasible. You have to make physical contact with the ingredients. It’s hard to explain why, exactly, but somehow you pick up on things like how much water there is in the vegetables, how tender the meat is, how much moisture is in your flour that day, etc. You feel the difference between how much volume is in the eggs you’re using, the quality of the butter and on and on and on. I had great success with sourdough bread for a few months and then all of a sudden it all went wrong and I was producing flat hockey pucks again. After scrutinizing every step to figure out what was going wrong, the light bulb went off. I have been using a scale so I could remove factors of unknowns when assessing what was working and what wasn’t BUT we went through massive weather changes in a short period of time. We went from very cold to very hot and humid and back again and it dawned on me that while the scale was accurately telling me how much water I was adding, it can’t possibly tell me how much moisture is in the flour I am using. I went back to doing it by feel, and TA DA! The beautiful loaves I had become used to greeting out of the oven returned. These recipes on the internet are mostly derived from professional bakers. They have a level of control the home baker does not. They can store their flour in temperature and moisture controlled environments, etc. We are always told that we need flour with higher protein in it, etc. Well, here in Canada, protein content in flour is regulated. It’s all basically the same. But that does not at all mean the flour is the same. I’m not a scientist or a wheat expert so I have no explanation, all I know is that it can’t JUST be the protein content because I get wildly different results from different flours, all with the same relative protein content, so relying on numbers alone won’t make you a good baker of bread. The scale is for sure useful. I’m not saying it can’t be helpful. I, as I said, have used it just to help me keep track of what I am doing from one batch to the next for troubleshooting as I am learning. But getting your hands in there and learning to go by feel will always be the best way to cook.
The settlers may not have, but here he is trying to make it as easy as possible for someone struggling with producing even A loaf of bread - at a time when these modern gadgets may make it easier for even a novice to see some success.
Oh and btw, I just baked this and it turned out perfect!! I bake a lot of bread but have always been intimidated by the process of sour dough but your method really breaks it down so anyone can bake sour dough! Thank you so much!
I have been trying to bake sourdough bread for 2 years. I found your videos and in less that 2 weeks I now have a great starter and have baked two wonderful loafs of sourdough bread. THANK YOU!
Excellent. My work here is done
Thanks for this. I've spent the last two weeks starting, throwing out and re-starting my starter before even attempting the bread! My mom grew up on a small farm in Europe where, in addition to everything else, they grew and ground their flour and of course baked their own bread. I kept wondering how they did it! I can't imagine that they went through all the drama to produce artisanal bread - they had a farm to run and many mouths to feed! Sadly she's not around anymore to guide me but I suspect her approach was more along the lines of the no-nonsense described here. I am ready to give it a go! Again, thanks so much for this.
I've been making sourdough for years quite happily just the way you did and then saw those "other channels" that turned a quick pleasurable experience into a living nightmare. Love your channel, new subscriber x
There are a million ways to skin a cat...or bake a sourdough bread!
Hi Ben,
I’ve been making your recipe for the past 1.5 years. I’ve tweaked it a bit with 1.5 oz of organic stone ground rye flour, 4 oz.turkey (Yes turkey flour. Can’t find it in Canada anymore) 4 oz spelt four, 2 oz whole wheat flour and 11.5 oz unbleached white flour. Outstanding combo!! I use 4.5 oz of starter and 13.5 oz water. I do a stretch and fold 2X at 30 minute intervals and then leave it covered in the kitchen for 12-14 hours.
Outstanding!!
Your combination of flours sounds great. Does it change the interior of the loaf? I made my starter with organic dark rye flour and filtered water, came out great after 6 days. Thanks 😊
I travel sometimes away from my regular home for a month or two at a time. About six months ago I learned to just put my starter in my fridge and forget it. And my bread has been terrific. It’s the best tip I’ve gotten (and used).
This is definitely one of the best-ever sourdough videos!
Mr. Starr, thank you so much for this video! You demystified sourdough bread making which has scared me for my whole bread making "career." My husband loves the bread I make, but he's wanted me to try sourdough for years. Hmmm, and then starter appeared from Amazon. I took the hint and was so glad I found your video. I watched it once through and then paused it many, many times throughout the process. We now have a lovely, tasty loaf! Yippee!!! I don't expect such great success every time, but I'm off and running. You must know me, because you left nothing to chance, you told me which rack to use and not to touch the baking vessel without gloves! I sincerely appreciate your video. You're welcome to bake in my kitchen anytime.
The best of the many, many sourdough videos I've watched. The others seemed to get more and more complex, and I was thinking of abandoning my desire to start making sourdough bread. This video changed my mind. Thanks!
Thank you. I’ve been making sourdough for years. I mix it in under five minutes, form a loaf in 4-6 hours and refrigerate overnight. Why do people make it so complicated. I use tap water and salt with iodine and get great oven spring.
it is a good beginning but i would encourage you to look at a bit of the other simple recipes that include shaping and folding, as the crumb improves...but again only obsessed folk have criticized results while reaching for another slice. and yes, starter is much tougher than sooooo many make it to be with all their feeding schedules. even in humid, hot Cambodia, I have yet to lose a starter.
I find that the harder I have to work, the better the bread so will just have to continue...
ditto!
I know 🤦🏻♀️
Thank you finally. Someone who can throw out all the muck and priggish arrogance. Finally a simple reasonable instructions.
Can I maintain my starter without a fridge and "constant" tempature? I live way way way way off grid, so a fridge and a constant indoor temp is not going to happen.
Dakota, you may need to feed more frequently if your starter lives at room temp. But I've had an experimental starter on my countertop for a month without a feeding, and it seems fine. My recommendation is to keep it in the darkest, coolest spot in your home, and feed it every 2-3 weeks.
Chef Ben, I cannot thank you enough for your series on making sourdough starter and sourdough bread. I especially enjoyed the chemistry lessons that you included in your lessons (I had to take organic chemistry in nursing school so this really made sense to me). I just made my first loaf of sourdough bread (in a 5 qt cast iron Dutch oven) & it turned out beautifully (it looked exactly like the one in this video). I made my starter using unbleached all purpose flour & pineapple juice-AMAZING. I also appreciated your "no frills-no nonsense approach. If not for your videos, I probably would never have tried making sourdough starter & bread. I am 76 years old so who say you can't teach "an old dog new tricks." I'm living proof that it CAN BE DONE. Thank you again.
Patricia, I LOVE this comment, thanks so much, and I'm so thrilled you've started baking sourdough in retirement!!!
You are very welcome. My next task is to keep my supply of buttermilk going and going and going!
I made a starter when we started staying home and have been maintaining it ever since and watching videos about bread making. My husband said "are we ever going to have any bread?" I always had the timing off or didn't feed it at the right intervals. After finding this I finally am trying to bake it. Hooray!
That's great, let us know how it turns out!
I baked my first sourdough loaf today in my small enameled cast iron Dutch oven. . The flavor is lovely. Texture is lovely. It was hard to cut evenly.
@@sandrat5971 yes that so you have an excuse to eat slices like a doorstop
YES. This is perfect. I did not want to spend SO MUCH TIME with lift-stretch-turn over and over to get a loaf WITH HOLES. This is a SUPER LOAF. I do not need the "holes". AND I can
have a CHOICE....make it in a loaf tin or dutch oven. I am not fond of ROUND LOAVES either.
Thanks so much for doing this video. YOU MADE IT SIMPLE and DIRECT.
I so much appreciate the good old fashioned simplicity of this forgiving recipe, thank you for making the process approachable and appealing for the long term
We are well passed the pandemic and sourdough’s popularity is still going strong lol
I found your video on a sourdough starter group on FB and I’m so thankful for you. I’ve watched countless videos, almost ordered just as many books on making sourdough and you are such a breath of fresh air. I need basics so my brain can comprehend 😅
Thank you!!!!
Must be here from the same group lol
This method is fantastic! I’ve been too intimidated by all of the other fussy videos to make sourdough of my own. My friend gave me a six week starved starter so I found this video and made my first loaf. By luck, a veteran bread-baker friend stopped by and tried a slice. He was surprised it was my first loaf and that the starter was six weeks old. Thank you so much for your straightforwardness, your relevant scientific explanations, and for the fun you put in this!
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was almost in tears and feeling like I could never make sour dough bread. Then I saw you wonderful video and got my starter out of the refrigerator ❤️
I started right way 💪🏻
During the first minute or so, I was about to stop the video because I wanted you to jump to the recipe. I waited and listened and I’m glad I did. I learned about filtered/tap water and non-iodized salt with microbes and many other helpful information. You can teach this 64 year old new stuff! Thanks
Thanks so much for the simplicity. As someone with ADHD, I found other videos overwhelming. This is the one I will try.
well said
I have dyslexia I really gave up. Finding this was a perfect accident!! I’m soooo happy!!
Same here! Love his videos
After being very intimidated the videos showing the how tos in sourdough bread making, I was so pleased to find your easy, simple way. I gave it a try after learning and doing a starter. My first loaf done in a loaf pan, turned out quite pale, but delicious. I just couldn’t believe or accept the 500 degree oven, so I baked it as I have done my normal bread at 350. Pale bread. It did temp out okay. So my second loaf was baked in a Dutch Oven and was done as per ALL your recipe, which includes the 500 degree oven. Turned out great…nicely browned crusty crust. Okay, I’m now a believer. Thank you for posting this video!!
This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for. I've just started this SD journey during the covid lock down & it's been one crazy season of sleepless nights & madness - coaxing the starter to rise & piling up discard in many tupperware, stretching & folding every hour or so. Thank you, Ben. This will definitely let me take back control of my life (was living around hourly alarm stretching & folding)
By the way, I discovered that discarded starter is great to pan-fry in butter as a sort of chappati. Delicious! It's unsalted, of course, so it's good to put some sort of salty topping on the chappatis - I like a slice of smoked lamb.
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I first watched your video about a year ago and lost my fear of my starter. Now I only keep about a tbs of starter when I bake. I add about a half cup (200g) of water to the Mason jar and shake it to "clean" up the dough off the sides. A cpl of tbs of cheap unbleached AP flour mixed in, and the starter goes back into the fridge without letting it grow.
It's happened that I've been sick for a lengthy time and my starter has been neglected for up to 3 months and it was revived as you described. The resulting 75% whole wheat bread has still been amazing.
You've been a gift to my family. Thank you!!
You just saved my starter from going into garbage! My starter was sitting in the fridge and was not fed for over two months. I thought it was no good but now it will be used for baking. Thank you!
UPDATE: Today I made the best sourdough bread with your method. It even stuck a little in my banneton bowl and deflated some but it still turned out sooo good. I seriously almost gave up but then came across this video. I really appreciate your help and your videos. THANK YOU!
Great news 👏 I’m starting my starter right now.
Well done you
I tried for months to bake a sauerdough and it always turned out to be a flat bread. With your recepie I finaly succeded! And no babysitting, no strong flower, unbelievable! So happy! Thanks Ben! Love from Antwerp, Belgium 😁
I'm so happy to have found this video, this is going to be so fun to watch! I started my starter during pandemic and studied all kinds of videos on how to..over time I started my own routine. No or little stretch/fold, starter fed or not..depending on my timeline, hydration, flour, everything just by feel. The only thing I barely ever nail is the salt content!! Since I don't measure the flour, I never know how much I should add. I did 100% spelt until this year. Starting to tolerate wheat better since my last pregnancy, and bread is so much easier with wheat!
Ditto to the previous comments: Thank you for an everyday sourdough recipe. I've always wanted a recipe that I could use in a loaf pan for sandwiches. I tried yours out today, this one is just perfect. Thank you again.
Awesome tutorial. I just pulled my first loaf made your way out of the oven and it looks amazing . My wife got sick of trying the other complicated methods and achieving mediocre results and gave it up and over to me. I thought surely there is an easier way. And I found your video. Thank you so much.
david keefe errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
god bless you!!! i was about to give up on bread making because i was looking at joshua weissmann and other folks... jesus christ their recipes are positively insanely complicated. this restored my confidence fully! you are a baker to my taste -- positive and easy going and enjoying life and you realize that bread making is a forgiving thing, not something for scientists in some laboratory.... good luck and thank you again!
Exactly! Why is that guy so popular? I'm sure his exactness makes a great loaf of bread but my brain starts hurting 2 mins into any of his vids. I'm no idiot but I think I have a more artist temperment (or something). Regardless, cannot handle those overly complicated videos. However, I have yet to perfect my sourdough breadmaking skills by any means. I keep vascillating between going with the more complicated, traditional process, and then the no knead process. Still...all to no avail. Haven't made a loaf I'm truly happy with yet :(
I am one of those who have had many attempts at sourdough especially using the numerous methods on RUclips, with varying results. I found you because I had left my starter for several months, followed your method with a relaxed attitude I got pretty well perfect results!
Thank you Ben!
3 month Update: Thank you Ben. Im baking two perfect loaves of bread each weekend now. This video put me on the right path.
I'm slighty lazier than even you and still make fantastic sourdough bread with very similar techniques. Totally right about starter being bulletproof. You do not have to baby it, or the dough. I prefer two rolled baguettes on a pizza stone w parchment over the boule in the dutch. 25 min at 450 and much less risk of burns when you use a pizza peel, but you still get the thermal mass effect. Made my latest batch just this morning.
may i ask you...do you just take this recipe and cut in half for the 2 rolled baguettes? what approximate size do you shape the baguettes to be?
@@jamiehsieh5843 yep, I just cut the doughball in half and roll out 15" long logs with my hands on a flour dusted stone counter. My pizza stone is about 15" square and my roll of parchment is about 15" wide. I use 4 cups flour to 2 cups of water to give you an idea of the volume of the dough ball. Sourdough is very forgiving and everyone develops their own technique and preferences. I say just give it a shot and if you think there is room for improvement, tweak your technique to fix any flaws. My first loaves had a gummy line in the bottom fixed by upping the temperature, dialing in the time and switching to the thinner baguette form. I also started by doing a seedy crust, but it doesn't stick well and was a mess to clean up. If I want seeds I put them straight in the dough. Lately I've fallen in love with doing an egg wash on my loaves. It makes the crust more elastic initially, eliminating the need to slash the top and the finished crust is shiny deep brown and crispy.
Hi Tim Dexter, thank you for sharing your techniques. In tablespoon measurement, how many tables spoon do you use for your recipe dough ?
@@isabelchilian2930 do you mean tbsp of starter? I keep my starter in a Mason jar in the fridge. The night before baking I take it out, there is ~2tbsp remaining. I don't pour off the hooch. I add 1tbsp sugar, 1tbsp rye flour, 3tbsp bread flour, 5tbsp water and stir with a butterknife. I heat 2 coffee mugs of water to boiling in the microwave. I put the jar in the microwave and let it wake up in the hot steamy environment overnight. 8am, I mix the dough (4cups bread flour, 2cups water 2tsp salt, 1/4 cup sugar, nuts/seeds/oats to taste) and put all but 2tbsp of starter in and put it back in the fridge for next time, usually 1-4 weeks. I don't feed it in between. I then heat 4 mugs in the microwave and put the dough in to rise while i go to work. 5pm i stretch and fold ~6x, rest for 2hrs. 7pm oven to 450, roll out loaves on parchment. When preheated bake 28min. Cool on a wire rack, ready to eat in 30 min.
@@dexterne Hi Tim,
Thank you so much for writing so soon!! I really appreciate it. So lazy me I did not check my message to you before I sent it... it was about the amount of salt! Now I know you use 2 tsp salt! Fantastic! Your recipe in cups and tablespoons measurement I love it!! In ounces It messes me up big time.
Thank you Tim :)
I love it that your mom named her starter. My starter is 1 1/2 yrs. old and is named Yeastie Boys.
Brilliant, clever! 😀👍🏼🍞
I named mine the same thing! Love it!
Great minds think alike!
Thank you!
I have yeasty boi and I put him under the oven light and play albums to him on the regular
Hi Ben,
After watching your you tube Sourdough Bread method about a year ago where you said your starter doesn't have to be fed regularly I made my starter as per your instructions and put some in the fridge as well. I pulled it out and fed it a couple of days ago and 18 hrs later it was ready to go and tripled in size. It shows that once you have a good starter its hard to kill. You know your stuff mate, keep on teaching!!!
Thanks Chris.
Love the simplicity! I've used THIS video for about a year now - saved in favorites & refer to it whenever I make a loaf. Also love your presentation style and have watched several of your sourdough discussions. Thanks for being here! ❤
By far the simplest sourdough recipe I've ever seen. Great for an everyday loaf. Once confident in this method, save the fancy recipes for special occasions.
This is great! My starter was neglected for 2 weeks, and has been dormant. I tried your technique out of the fridge and got a very nice loaf. Bravo!
I love that I can make this without having to go buy special proofing bowls or tools. Literally have everything!
THANK YOU!
Finally, a sourdough recipe and instructions that isn’t daunting? This will definitely a keeper recipe and will be a staple in our household. You are amazing, Ben! We have watched you in Masterchef and we were all rooting for you!
Thank you!!!! Have been trying to learn how to make sourdough bread from the recipes that require hours of folding and fussing and had many failures. Tried your method yesterday and this morning I baked a huge delicious boule of sourdough worthy of acclaim! Glad I found your video. Simple, easy, delicious! Thumbs up!
Thank you for teaching us the uncomplicated way with sourdough. It makes so much sense. As our forefathers couldn’t be bothered with waste and complicated methods to feed their families.
I wish I had started baking with sourdough years ago.
Ok I am IMPRESSED! I have recently decided to take up Sourdough baking at home and been following the usual methods with mixed results. Some loaves are good and some aren’t.
And everyone says it’s really not that much time hands on, it’s just spread out. But it becomes a bit of a pain.
Just tried your method and I am so happy with the result! Could have proofed it a touch longer but it’s good and delicious and was easy AF! I even made it using my started discard I’d been hoarding in the fridge. THANK YOU!
Cool! Be sure you check out my newer views ("Even Simpler Sourdough") as I've made the technique even easier.
I use this recipe as my base. Change the kinds of flour add seeds or nuts or dried fruits. Makes an effortless bread and the taste is FANTASTIC. Had for a while gone back to those fussy recipes and just never seemed to get the right proofing. This is just amazing. And even better when you just don't have time when it is done fermenting you can just chuck it in the fridge. Thank you again Ben for making sourdough bread baking so effortless.
Hi, do you mind sharing at which stage you add the dried fruits? I love this recipebut would like to start adding extras and wasnt sure if I should add them at the beginning or when shaping the loaf after the initial 12hour rise. Thank you
@@yasisspace It depends, if it is seeds then with all the other ingredients but nuts and dried fruit after I mixed the primary ingredients. You may need more water if using dried fruit, alternative is soaking. I usually use figs or cranberries and they don't usually need lots more water.
This is by far the best video on sourdough I have ever seen. I baked the most beautiful loaf of bread ever. Thanks for making your sourdough videos. I am a big fan.
Absolutely gorgeous I have been baking with sourdough for many years today I discovered something worthy every second i watched your video.
Good luck and many thanks
I can just simply say: Thank you. Several months I watched countless videos and explanations about a perfect sourdough and went crazy. As you mentioned in your video sourdough bread is one of the oldest methods to backing bread. They just backed bread. But when I watched all the videos how to bake a perfect sourdough bread: you need a doctor degree in since and need lots of time. We all have so many things to do to handle our daily live. My husband started to went crazy when he noticed I‘m again and again just concentrated myself on my sourdough to reach a „perfect bread“. 2 days ago we had a discussion about this and I find your video. Thank you for bringing me back to earth. I was flying in a sourdough sphere to reach a perfect bread and was lost. I backed very delicious breads but I was never satisfied with the shape or the size of the crumbs or the size of the oven spring etc. but now I can proudly say I bake sourdough bread and it’s delicious and I do it like you describe: as simple as possible.
We all love this recipe! My kids saw the videos title and started calling me lazy (a very busy homeschooling mom of 4😂)
I’m there with ya too!! Except I have three kiddos 😊
One of the best sourdough videos I’ve watched. Very educational and kept my attention the entire time! Well done!
I've been struggling to make sourdough for a month now and this is hands down the only recipe that worked like it should for me. I love how he included the loaf pan as that is how I like to bake it. I did have to increase the salt a bit for my taste but other then that this is now my go to sourdough recipe.
Dude. I consider myself the luckiest bread baker to have found your channel. I am all about contrarian anything, and your methods are simply the best. Thanks for this and keep up the great work!
I’ve always abused my starter and it’s always worked well. Just discovered no knead bread. So much easier than folding every hour and as you said, the holes cannot be buttered. Thank you.
Really enjoy your humor and whole out look, thank you, I’m just getting into the whole sour dough thing and we love it
I’ve been watching all the labor intensive videos on RUclips. Glad I found yours. This seems like a better use of time rather than being pinned to your kitchen for a day. I’ll be trying this method in a few days when my starter is a bit more mature. Thank you for this video 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 lots of great info here.
Ok I’m back and just finished my first loaf with this recipe. It turned out so well. Thanks Ben 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I had almost given up on sourdough. I’ve taken the Masterclass and tried dozens of RUclips video recommendations. Learned a lot of great techniques but never produced a loaf that I thought was worth the effort. What I got from your video was that I wasn’t letting the dough rise enough, I was too rough when shaping causing degassing, and my wheat flour ratio was too high. I finally made a loaf I’m happy with. Thank you.
I have been overwhelmed in the recipes after I created my starter. AND only tried 2 times and NOT GOOD. I am so excited to try your method. THANK YOU SO MUCH
I can't tell you how helpful all of your videos are. I made my starter based on your series out of bleached all purpose flour. Your scientific explanations are so, so helpful and interesting. Please keep making more videos and series like these! I'm seriously sharing a playlist of them with all of my friends, you are the best!
EXCELLENT! One of the best sourdough videos I've ever watched & I've watched a lot of them! THANK YOU
I have literally spent the whole day looking at sourdough recipe videos and yours is by far the simplest! Thank you.
Finally some one who has made sense to the lay person.
Thank you.
I can't thank you enough for this wonderful, wonderful tutorial. My first loaf following your instructions didn't come out as tall as yours and was a little salty for my taste, but it was still way better than the dense loaves I had been getting. Today I made my second loaf (used a bit less salt). My boule shaping was better this time, but I could use some more practice. Even so, this second loaf is fantastic. I'm grateful for your devotion to home cooks like me who are not trained bakers or chefs.
How much salt did u use?
You, sir, are a God send. Thank you for this. I originally used an Irishman's method and recipe for my sourdough bread. I have my starter fed, and it's approximately 1 year old. I'm definitely switching to your method. Thanks!
Thank you! This method is the greatest thing since sliced bread….lol! I work full time and can still maintain my starter and bake sourdough bread every week with almost no effort. Game changer!
wow, I have watched 4 easy no knead sourdough today, and is the best! simple, easy to follow, achievable! cheers!
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@@889Kimberly Yes! WWG1WGA!
You talk too much.
I knew as soon as I started to grow a starter, the yeast shortage would end. Yesterday I started & today I found boxes & boxes of yeast on the store shelves! But I love the sour dough taste & hate the big open holes in it. Your loaf looks like the texture I prefer. I will surely try it your way. Thank you.
I made the traditional sourdough really well so I wasn't keen to try this except I was too busy to make my recipe so I gave this a shot. Ben is right, not quite as good as regular sourdough but still an very excellent loaf. I would say my regular recipe is 10/10 and this recipe is 8/10 for essentially no work at all. I still make both but I will make this more often because it is so easy and really good. Everyone loved it. The ingredients are excellent no fillers and garbage that is in regular bread. To get a homemade loaf of sourdough with less effort than a yeast loaf? Well just amazing
Hello could you give me your first version and recipe please, so I can try another version also to. Thank you very much if you could share it. Best to you, and stay healthy.😊😊
Love your energy thanks for sharing luv n light x
I love this recipe, I use my stand mixer to make it super lazy, no chance of messy fingers.
Weigh starter in stand mixer bowl
Weigh distilled water from the distiller (heck you can leave tap water out in a jug for a day or two and all the anti microbe stuff dissipates, its safe for yeast then)
Mix with dough hook that's been in the hand
Weigh flour
Put in stand mixer with hook
Mix for a few mins
Remove and cover bowl for the night
Risen nicely, lets hook mix till dough is stretchy and see through, add flour and dash of ex vir olive oil for softer crumb.
Pour into oiled bread tin (butter/xtra vir olive oil), cover and let sit till risen again, then bake. Good results every time, I really love my starter, it's such a Nordic rich sour flavor.
Thanks for the deets, Kielan! Sounds delicious, and glad you've got a good routine worked out.
Best sourdough video instruction I’ve seen
Thanks for de-mystifying the starter in the back of my fridge for many years. I’ve been turning out some really good, “pandemic” sourdough bread.
I have been making sourdough since 1972 and still have my original starter! I have been telling people for literally YEARS that all of those videoes and books made sourdough baking a lot harder than it is but no one believed me. THANK YOU!! !
This is crazy good. I just baked 2 loafs and my kiddos are almost done with 1. Super informative and may we say crazy easy!!! Thank you so much Ben Starr the ultimate food geek!
This is the best sourdough I have ever made it has the best rise I ever had really soft in the middle with a crunchy crust I mixed it in the morning next day I shaped it and left it in fridge untill next day I would recommend leaving it in fridge for 24 hours brilliant beautiful bread thanks ben best on utube
OMG, I have been doing the “other” method and half the time don’t end up making the bread because the timing wasn’t right. Can’t wait to try your method. Thank you for sharing!
Doesn't look like this guy reads his comments....he certainly doesn't respond. But I really hope he realizes what a valuable contribution he has made with this video. I've watched dozens, and this one is BY FAR the most comprehensive and informative without being over complex. This is the ONLY video anyone needs to make a great loaf of sourdough bread.
Thanks! I reply to most comments that ask questions. 😁
@@ultimatefoodgeek That's awesome, because I DO have a question, LOL. Almost all the tutorials I've seen or read stress the need to "stretch and fold" the risen dough 3-4 times over a period of a few hours. The point seems to be to increase the protein/gluten activity, resulting in a stronger dough. Clearly it's not necessary judging the success of your method. Do I have it right that neither kneading of stretch-fold are important steps? Thank you.
@@jakemitchell1671 This recipe has been designed to eliminate those steps by decreasing hydration, raising the salt content (which strengthens gluten), and extended fermentation (for max gluten development.) Higher hydration/lower salt recipes require the stretching and strength building so the loaf can hold itself up and hold in CO2.
“Time is gold”; thus, i’m gonna go for this instruction once my sourdough starter is ready! Really enjoyed watching your video! 😁