Overnight Sourdough Bread Recipe

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

4.79 from 38 votes

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Prep Time 4

Cook Time 45

Fermentation Time 22

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Servings Loaf

Calories 1851 kcal

Equipment

Basic Kitchen Scale (grab them for as little as $10 here)
Mixing Bowl
Dutch Oven

Ingredients

▢ 500 g Bread Flour 100%
▢ 350 g Water 70%
▢ 50 g Sourdough Starter 10% (Fed and Bubbly)
▢ 10 g Salt 2% (increase or decrease according to your taste)

Instructions

Autolyse - Premixing The Dough
Weigh out your sourdough starter and water into a large mixing bowl - whatever you have in the cupboard is fine!
Glass is always good as you can see what's happening underneath your dough. But any plastic, ceramic, stainless steel or glass bowl is fine!
Mix the water and starter together briefly. Then add your flour and salt and mix whole lot together to form a shaggy dough.
The dough will be fairly shaggy and only just brought together (see photo). You might wonder how this will turn into bread, but just wait, time is your friend and the dough will change in around an hour.
Cover your bowl with an elastic food cover or plastic wrap and let it sit for around 1 hour. It's ok if it's a little bit longer, it's not going to matter too much.
This process is called the "autolyse" and allows your flour to soak in all the water and become hydrated.
Forming Up The Dough
After the dough has been through autolyse you need to bring it together into a ball. Work your way around the bowl, grabbing the dough from the outside, stretching it up and over itself, into the centre, until a smooth ball is formed. You shouldn't need more than about 20-25 stretches to form the ball.
You'll notice that the dough is fully hydrated after soaking all the water up. It will be fairly sticky but as you bring it into a ball, it will become smoother and shinier.
Once the dough has formed into a smooth ball, pop the cover back on and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Stretch & Fold - Creating Structure
Over the next few hours you need to create some structure for your dough by "stretching and folding".
Aim to do around 4-6 sets of stretches and folds.
For each set, stretch the dough up and over itself 4 times. Leave around 15 minutes in between each set. Again you do not have to be exact with time, but you need to do at least 4 sets over 2 hours.
Bulk Ferment
Once you've finished your stretch and folds, cover the dough with a plastic cover (a recycled plastic bag is perfect) and allow the dough to double overnight (I have included a sample timeline for you to follow so that you can bulk ferment overnight in the post above).
Shaping The Dough
Once your dough has finished its first ferment, it's time to shape it into either a boule or a batard.
You'll need to flour your counter top with rice flour for this (we use rice flour because it has no gluten). Try to be quite sparing with the rice flour, you only need a very light dusting.
Use a dough scraper to gently ease the dough out of the bowl (your hands work just fine if you don't have one). You want it to land upside down on your counter so that the smooth top of the dough is on the countertop and the sticky underside is facing up. This will make it easier to shape.
You want to pull the edges of the dough into the centre and then flip it over so that the sticky side is now underneath. Using the stickiness, gently pull the dough into a tight ball.
You will need a proofing basket or container to put your dough into. You can find more notes on what to use as a banneton here.
Whatever you're using needs to be liberally floured with your rice flour.
Placing Into A Proofing Container
Once the dough is shaped into a tight ball, place it into your proofing basket or container smooth side down, so your seam is on the top.
If you're using a cloth or tea towel in a bowl it's ok to put your dough with the smooth side up. Just make sure the dough is tight.
Lift your dough around the edges to pop a little more rice flour if you feel it needs it. Just try to handle the dough as little as possible and be really gentle as you really want to preserve all the gases and air bubbles that have formed during your bulk ferment.
Cold Ferment (optional)
Now the dough is in its "shaping container" cover it loosely with a plastic bag and place into the fridge.
I use a large plastic bag to cover it - I just reuse it each time.
Try to leave it in the fridge for a minimum 5 hours. If you're following my timeline above, you'll leave it in the fridge for around 10 to 11 hours.
Counter Proof
If you don't want to put the dough in the fridge for a cold ferment, you can leave it to proof on the counter for a little while. You do need to be careful not to let it over ferment. Ideally, you want the temperature to be on the cooler side (no more than 21C). Let the dough relax into the banneton (no more than 2 hours).
Preparing to Bake
Once you're ready to bake your sourdough, you'll need to preheat your oven to 230C/450F.
Place your Dutch Oven into the oven when you turn it on so it gets hot. Try to preheat for around 1 hour to ensure your oven is super hot - but you know your oven so just adjust this time if you need to.
Leave your dough in the fridge (or counter) until the very last minute - placing a cold dough into a hot oven will give you a great "spring".
When your oven is at temperature, take your sourdough out of the fridge. Gently place it onto a piece of parchment paper or silicone sling if using.
Gently score your bread with a clean razor blade or knife. At minimum a large cross is sufficient, but you can get as artistic as you like. You can find my full guide on how to score sourdough bread here.
Carefully take your dutch oven out of the oven. Place the sourdough into the pot using the silicone sling or parchment paper as a handle. Put the lid on and place into the hot oven.
If you want to you can spritz your dough with extra water before you put the lid on.
BAKE TIME:
30 Minutes with the lid on at 230C/450F plus
10-15 Minutes with the lid off at 210C/410F
Finishing The Bake
When you remove your dough from the oven, carefully remove it from the oven as soon as possible and place on a wire rack to cool.

Notes

Notes on Flour: This recipe is written using strong Bread Flour. Bread flour has a higher protein content than All Purpose flour. If you choose to use All Purpose flour you may have a different result because of this. You can read more about the differences between All Purpose Flour and Bread Flour here.

Notes on Sourdough Starter: This recipe is based on you having an active starter that you have fed a few hours before starting your bake. For info on how to make a sourdough starter, go here.

Notes on Stretch & Folds: If you are going to do the stretch & folds on your bench top, spray your surface with water mist rather than using flour. You can leave the dough in the bowl if you want to. Wet your hands to stop the dough sticking - although it shouldn't be too sticky. It will get less sticky as you do your stretches and folds. For more information on how to do stretch and folds, go here.

Notes on Bulk Fermentation: If your home is warm then your dough will ferment a lot faster and could be done in as little as a few hours. If it's colder, it will take longer. I recommend using this overnight sourdough bread recipe in cooler temperatures, as if it's too warm the dough will over ferment while you're sleeping and you'll wake up to a bowl of soupy dough! You will know your dough is ready to move to the next stage when it has *just* doubled in size. It will be fairly wobbly and full of bubbles. You should be able to see large air bubbles under the surface of the dough.
You don't want to let it go any further than doubled as it will be over fermented.
If you want to do an overnight ferment, but your home is warm, consider using a little less starter (ie 25g).
Less starter means your dough will take longer to ferment and you will reduce the risk of over fermenting your dough.
You'll find more information on these topics here:

When is my bulk ferment finished?
What is the difference between cold ferment and bulk ferment?
Why does the amount of starter matter?

Notes on Baking: If you're worried about the base of your bread burning, place a baking sheet on shelf underneath your Dutch Oven - it works! If you're worried about your bread not being cooked all the way through, turn the oven off and place your dough straight onto the oven rack.
Leave the door ajar and let your bread rest there for a few hours. Make sure you don't close the door or your sourdough will sweat and you'll get a wrinkly, soggy crust.
Remember not to cut into your loaf too soon - you'll need to let it cool for at least a few hours (4-6 is best).

Nutrition

Serving: 100gCalories: 1851kcalCarbohydrates: 372gProtein: 61gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 3904mgPotassium: 501mgFiber: 12gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 10IUCalcium: 88mgIron: 5mg

Keyword Sourdough Bread, Sourdough Recipes

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