Classic Artisan Sourdough Boule 🍞

Based on 1500 grams of flour. 

Produces 3 boules.

Takes about 12-36 hours from start to finish. 

Timeless and tasty, these classic boules are our go-to for fresh bread. We hope you enjoy making them as much as we do!

This simple no-knead recipe takes us about 24-36 hours to make a batch, that's counting from when we mix the levain into slightly warm water to the time we pull the loaf out of the oven. You need to have fed and activated your starer PRIOR to starting your batch of sourdough. How to activate your starter? That's easy! Pull it out of the fridge and feed it every 12-16 hours for a 48 hour period before you start your sourdough bread batch. 

TIPS

Personally not a fan of those online recipes that take 3 pages to get to the actual recipe, so let's keep this short. 

1. Don't over-mix. If you over-mix, the gluten strands will be shredded and your rise will not be as high.  
2. Don't over-proof. It'll take some experience to know how long is too long, but if you over-proof your dough, it will flop or collapse and you'll end up with a pancake looking thing that could have been a boule.

Things you’ll need 

• Proofing baskets
• Double Dutch Oven
• Bread Lame 
• Towels
• Mixing bowl
• Spoons
• Bench Knife
• Scale

The Formula 

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Steps

Dough

• Float test your levain to make sure it is ready,
• Mix levain into warm water, add flour and mix till combined.  (should produce a shaggy dough)
• Mix by hand for 5 mins or by mixer with a dough hook for 1 minute
• Allow to rest for 30 minutes 
• Add salt and bassinage as needed to incorporate salt into dough
• Stretch and fold or knead ( by hand or by mixer with dough hook) for 5 minutes
• Cover with a damp towel place in room temperature 65°
• Allow dough to bulk ferment and grow by 30% in size. (this may take between 4 to 6 hours if room temp is at 65°) There should be bubbles on the surface of the rising dough. 
• Float test dough to ensure readiness for next steps

Shape

• Pour dough out onto work surface & split into 1000g sections
• Form into boule and shape
• Let sit for 15-20 mins
• Shape again
• Roll boule around in a bowl of rice flour
• Transfer dough to banneton, seam side up.
• Cover with damp towel & let sit room temp for an hour
• Retard / cold proof for 12-16 hours 

Bake

• Preheat the oven and your dutch ovens at 450. 
• Flour the seam side of boule, place boule into hot pan
• Score & then cover and place into oven
• Bake with lid on for 30 minutes
• Remove the lid & continue baking
• Bake for up to 20 minutes and/or until very light brown, the oven spring is complete & the crumb is formed 

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TERMS

• Boule (French for “ball”) is a round-shaped loaf.
• A batard (again, from the French) is an oval-shaped loaf.
• A banneton is the basket that holds the dough while retarding (cold proofing) to help shape it. 

Bon Apetit!