Recipe Bake Ingredients Steps

No-Knead San Francisco Sourdough

San Francisco Sourdough Bread using the no-knead method

It might be easy, but it's not a compromise... we're using real sourdough starter (no baker's yeast shortcuts here!) and showing you how you can use long fermentation and stretch-and-fold techniques to produce this iconic type of bread without any advanced bread knowledge.


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Author: Loafhacker (Brendan)
2x (897g)
79%
5 hrs 30 mins
Loaves
Hydration
Starter Peaks
Day 1 @ 8:00 AM
23 hrs
Day 2 @ 5:15 PM
Start
Cold Proof
Ready
Change Start Bake Stop Bake
Ingredient
Baker's Pct
Levain
This is a 50/50 mix of water and flour
15%
Strong white bread flour
All Purpose/Plain flour can be used if Strong White bread flour is not available
100%
Water
Main water
75%
Salt
1.9%
Avocado oil (or other neutral oil)
Oil is not required but it does add some softness to the crumb, and allows it to stay fresh longer as well
2.2%
When
Step
Duration
Levain
5h
  1. Make the Levain
  1. Make the Levain by mixing even parts of flour and water together with a small amount of starter. A suggested mix is 30g of starter with 70g of flour and 70g of water which will allow enough levain for the recipe with enough left over to continue your starter.
  2. Mix flour, water and starter as per above Keep at 27-30°C (80-85°F) if possible
Timing is automatically calculated based on time entered for starter to mature above. It will not be mature by the end of this step. It factors in the steps before during autolyse before the levain is mixed in which should allow it to then be at full maturity.
Mix the Ingredients
5m
  1. Mix the dry ingredients
  1. Whisk together the 924g of flour and 18g of salt in a large bowl
5m
  1. Mix the wet ingredients
  1. In a separate bowl, combine the 693g of water and the 139g of levain and mix together well.
5m
  1. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together
  1. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together with a spatula.
  2. Once they are incorporated, switch to a bowl scraper or just your hands and continue to mix until a uniform consistency is achieved.
Bulk Fermentation
30m
  1. Initial Bulk Fermentation Period
  1. Leave to begin the fermentation process
5m
  1. Start bulk fermentation
  1. Cover with a tea towel, foil or a shower cap so the dough doesn't dry out
  2. Place in a nice warm proofing spot - ideally between 27-30°C (80-85°F)
If you cannot raise the temperature to this level, then the Bulk Proofing timings will need to be extended.
5m
  1. Stretch and Fold
  1. Do one set of stretch and folds
30m
  1. Second Bulk Fermentation Phase
  1. Cover it up again and then back to the warm proofing spot to continue bulk fermentation
5m
  1. Stretch and Fold
  1. Do one set of stretch and folds
30m
  1. Third Bulk Fermentation Phase
  1. Cover it up again and then back to the warm proofing spot to continue bulk fermentation
5m
  1. Stretch and Fold
  1. Do one set of stretch and folds
30m
  1. Final Bulk Fermentation Period
  1. Cover it up again and then back to the warm proofing spot to continue bulk fermentation
Pre-Shape
15m
  1. Pre-shape loaves
  1. Tip out onto countertop
  2. Lightly sprinkle with flour on the top only
  3. Divide into portions for loaves
  4. Pull in and rotate multiple times to develop surface tension
  5. Develop surface tension of each loaf. Watch youtube on how to do this if you are unsure
20m
  1. Rest the pre-shaped loaves
  1. Rest to relax the gluten (loaves will flatten)
5m
  1. Second shaping
  1. Push each loaf in in all directions to develop surface tension a bit more
15m
  1. Rest the shaped loaves
  1. Rest a second time
  2. Loaves will flatten - but not as much as the first time
Final Shape
5m
  1. Final shaping of loaves
  1. Push each loaf in in all directions to develop surface tension a bit more
5m
  1. One Last Rest!
  1. Rest one more time seam-side down for 5 minutes just to get it all to seal up properly.
5m
  1. Place in banneton
  1. Put seam side up into banneton (floured with a mixture of 75% rice flour and 25% AP flour)
  2. Cover bowl with shower cap or towel
If you don't have rice flour or a banneton, a bowl with a heavily floured tea towel, or a bowl with a lightly oiled crumpled sheet of baking paper will work
Retard
22h
  1. Retard dough
  1. Retard the dough in the fridge
Use a fridge that doesn't open very often if possible. Otherwise try to avoid opening it too much as it will change the temperature of the dough and, ultimately, could lead to your dough overproofing
Bake
1h
  1. Preheat oven
  1. Preheat oven at 250°C (480°F) at least one hour before baking
Scoring a cold loaf is much easier than a room-temperature one. It can be even easier if you put it in the freezer for 10-20 minutes before scoring. That's completely optional though, and really only needed if you are scoring a detailed pattern or really want to get ears on a higher hydration loaf.
10m
  1. Score and put into oven
  1. Put loaf onto baking paper to allow it to be transferred after scoring
  2. Tuck in the edges a little bit with bench scraper to help it stand proud if so desired
  3. Score bread in chosen pattern
  4. Place in hot dutch oven (or onto hot baking steel if using that method) by lifting and placing with the baking paper sticking out from either side
  5. Dutch Oven Method: Carefully place the loaf into a preheated Dutch Oven then close the lid immediately and put dutch oven into the oven
  6. Baking Steel Method: Pour boiling water into metal tray with tea towels or lava rocks and spray inside of oven with water from a spray bottle a few times and then close oven door immediately
  7. Turn down to 240°C (465°F) immediately
25m
  1. Bake with steam at 240°C/465°F
  1. Dutch Oven: Bake with top on
  2. Baking Steel: Avoid opening door as all the steam will escape!
10m
  1. Bake without steam at 220°C/430°F
  1. Dutch Oven: Take lid off
  2. Baking Steel: Remove steam tray
  3. Reduce to 220°C/430°F
  4. Bake for another 10 mins
15m
  1. Final bake at 215°C/420°F
  1. Dutch Oven: Take out of dutch oven and put back in directly on a wire rack
  2. Baking Steel: Do nothing!
  3. Reduce to 215°C/420°F
  4. Bake for up to 20 minutes more - until desired crust is achieved
Enjoy
30m
  1. Take out and rest before eating
  1. Take out and rest 30-60 mins
If you don't rest it, the inside may not be fully cooked, and could be gummy when you cut through it. At least wait 10 minutes!
0m
  1. Eat!