The Best Sourdough French Bread Recipe (2024)

Butter and Honey make this The Best Sourdough French Bread Recipe incredibility delicious with every bite.

The Best Sourdough French Bread Recipe Video

Sourdough Bread has been around for centuries combining just flour and water and set to capture wild yeast in the air. The yeast that grows in the flour and water mixture is filled with many health benefits and a natural way to leaven bread creating a tangy, sour flavor.

The longer the sourdough starter ages the stronger the flavor that is created especially in a French Loaf of Bread.

Remember when working with sourdough starter and proofing your dough it needs to be in a warm place at around seventy degrees room temperature.

Is Sourdough French Bread Healthy?

Sourdough French Bread has many health benefits, filled with many great benefits and a way to grow yeast to rise breads. Probiotics are live microbes that have health benefits that grow naturally within the environment. Sourdough helps to relegate metabolism, helps relieve allergies, cancer protection and balances the immune system along with reducing inflammation.

Sourdough has been around for centuries as far back as the Egyptians. This wild yeast is fermented naturally, leavened many breads and desserts. Sourdough adds a tangy, earthy taste to all baked goods and filled with many health benefits.

Tips on Creating Best Sourdough French Bread

• Water quality is important.
• Do not use city water or water that is chemically treated because it will breakdown wild yeast within the sourdough.
• Use filtered water or bottled water.
• Sourdough Starter should be warm but not hot.
• A good starter to be around 70-80 degrees. If your home is cooler place by a fireplace, furnace or on top of your refrigerator.
• Check your humidity; because you need a moist starter that is hydrated.
• Cover your sourdough starter with cheese cloth or tea towel, secure with a rubber band. Covering your starter will help to keep pest out and prevent it from drying out.
• Bubbles in your starter is a great sign that your sourdough starter is alive and working.
• Texture of your sourdough starter should be tacky
• Smell of your sourdough starter will be sour.
• Sourdough must be feed daily, or it will go dormant or die.
• If you cannot feed your starter daily because of vacation, cover with an airtight lid and store in the refrigerator.
• When ready to use sourdough starter pull out about twenty-four hours beforehand. Feed your starter and use in twenty-four hours.
• Do not let metal come into contact with your sourdough starter because it will stunt the growth of good bacteria. I use a glass jar, and wooden spoon to stir and store Sourdough Strater and making any breads.

Shaping Sourdough French Bread Recipe

Shape your sourdough dough by folding edges to the center. After first rise punch down the dough before shaping into the loaf. Turn and fold your dough on a lightly floured surface being gently to ensure you do not knock any of the air out.

Form your dough into a ball, push and pull dough to create tension. Every recipe has specifics on how to shape the final rise. When dough is placed in a loaf pan or baking sheet it will need to rise again. When the dough is doubled in size, your two fingers should make an indentation in the dough. This is an indication the dough is ready to bake.

What is Bulk Fermentation in Sourdough Bread?

Bulk fermentation in creating a create French bread is vital. Once the sourdough starter and when the salt is added the fermentation process is beginning. Bulk fermentation gives the dough volume and a lightness that is essential. The temperature in your home will determine how long bulk fermentation takes it can take up to twelve hours.

Best Sourdough French Bread Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 1 cup filtered water
• 3 cups good quality all purpose or bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp grass fed butter
• 1 large egg; lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon milk add to egg

Instructions

1. Feed your starter four to eight hours before starting this recipe. It should be very active and bubbly.
2. Next, to a mixing bowl, sourdough starter and water and mix well. Now add your flour and mix, I find mixing with wet hands to work the best. Let it sit covered with a plate for about one hour.
3. Add salt to sourdough and pull side in a complete circle to cover the salt. Cover and let sit for thirty minutes. Come back every thirty minutes up to four times stretch and fold in a complete circle; resting between.
4. Cover in plastic wrap, beeswax wrap, or something that is airtight to keep dough moist overnight. Bulk fermentation will happen overnight.
5. Allow to ferment for 8 to 24 hours in a warm place. The next day, it should have at least doubled in size.
6. Punch down the dough, and place on a floured surface and flat into a large square. Spread honey and butter all over the dough and roll up. Roll again and shape into a long rectangle.
7. Place seemed down onto a parchment line bowl, basket, etc. and cover! Place into fridge and allow it to double again.
8. Place French bread dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
9. Score French bread diagonally with a lame, knife or razor blade to allow for steam to release during baking. Combine egg and mile in a small bowl and beat until blended. Brush with a lightly beaten egg and milk.
10. Preheat to 500. Reduce heat and add about ten ice cubes to the bottom of oven to create a crusty sourdough bread. Bake Sourdough French Bread for twenty to twenty-five minutes. After the first first fifteen minutes turn sourdough French bread ninety degrees to finish baking.
11. Allow French Bread to cool serve with butter or jam. Enjoy

Store in an airtight container for up to three days.

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