Diving Deeper into No Knead Sourdough Bread & Answering Your Questions

In this video (shown below) I dive deeper into my no knead sourdough video. 

The no knead process is straightforward and a great entry into the wonderful world of sourdough. My recipe (detailed below) has helped hundreds of new sourdough bakers pull their first freshly baked loaf out of the oven.

In this video I picked the top questions from the many on my YouTube video. I dive a little deeper into each question to help explain the process. If you have any other questions about this video, or another video, be sure to ask in the comments section on YouTube. I cover the most popular questions in my regular emails to my email subscriber community (join below).

Watch the tutorial on YouTube

You can watch the uninterrupted original no knead video by clicking here

Recipe

This will make 750g of dough which works perfectly with my proofing basket. The hydration of the dough is 71%

Ingredients 

128g Active starter (100% hydration)

247g Water

375g Flour (my flour has a protein content of 13.2%)

12g Sea salt

Method 

1. Make sure that your starter has recently been fed and has had time to ferment and is nice and active. My starter is maintained at 100% hydration.

You can find out how to make a sourdough starter by clicking here

2. Add the water to a mixing bowl and dissolve the salt. 

3. Add the starter to the mixing bowl and roughly dissolve. Don't worry if there are small clumps, they'll breakdown during the fermentation period.  

4. Next you can add your flour. I would advise using a flour with a protein content of 12% and above (my flour is 13.2% protein). A bread or strong flour will work perfectly.

5. Mix the dough into a rough dough. It doesn’t need to be smooth at this stage. Cover the bowl and leave out at room temperature to rest for 1-2 hours. This will give the flour time to hydrate a little. 

Note: Your times will be dependant on your room temperature. I explain more on this topic in my YouTube video “How to Avoid Failure, Unravelling the Mystery of My No Knead Sourdough”, shown above.

6. You can then shape the dough into a ball. Pop it back into your bowl and cover properly. The dough will now bulk proof. This took five and a half hours at my kitchen temperature (16-18c). Remember that times will vary depending on temperature. Check the video to see how my dough looked after the fermentation period. 

7. After the bulk fermentation gently turn the dough out onto the work surface. I prefer not to use flour on my bench, I find the sticky contact between the dough and bench helps with shaping. If you are struggling then use a little flour sparingly. Or you could use a spray water bottle and mist very finely. 

8. Pull the dough out a little, into a rough rectangle. You can then fold the sides in on each other creating a loose ball. Rest for 5 minutes while you dust your banneton (bread basket). 

9. Now you can roll your dough up into a sausage shape, seal the dough down as you go. Dust the top of the dough and then flip it over and pop it in the banneton (bread basket). Cover and proof. This took an hour at my room temperature, but your times will be dependant on your temperature. Do not over proof. Check the video to see how the dough should look after the proof. 

10. Once proofed you can dust the top of the dough with flour and turn it out on to a peel or a flat baking tray ready to go into the oven. Brush off any excess flour and score with a sharp knife or a razor blade (bread lame).

11. Bake at 250c on a baking stone, covered with a cloche or in a dutch oven for the first 20 minutes of the bake. Remove the cloche or dutch oven / lid and finish baking at 220c for another 20-30 minutes depending on the colour you want on the outside. 

At the end of the original video I show you how to bake the loaf without a cloche or dutch oven. 

Leave to cool and enjoy!

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