Looking for a shortcut to great sourdough bread at home? Here’s my fast and easy sourdough bread recipe! This is the lazy sourdough bread recipe I use when I’m in a pinch for time. I shared this a few times on Instagram and y’all wanted all the details, so I’m sharing my 5-step process with you today!
Why lazy sourdough bread? Sometimes you’re in a time crunch or sometimes you just want to make bread with less effort. Whatever the reason, this lazy sourdough bread recipe requires less time (both overall and active time) and still gets you that delicious sourdough bread.
Who should use this lazy sourdough bread recipe? Anyone can use this shortcut recipe for easy sourdough bread. However, I would caution beginners to make sure they understand how to tell if your dough is fully proofed and ready to bake. Once you have that down, this recipe is super easy!
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This recipe is adapted from my favorite go-to sourdough bread recipe. If you’re looking for tips and the full, proper sourdough bread process, that blog has all the tips I’ve learned since I first started baking sourdough bread at home.
Tools Needed:
- Mixing Bowl (I just bought this set of mixing bowls with lids and LOVE them!)
- Mixing Spoon or Dough Whisk
- Stand Mixer (Optional)
- Bread Lameor sharp knife
- Proofing Basket or Bowl
- Parchment Paper
- Dutch Oven or Sheet Pan
*If you’re new to sourdough, this proofing basket set comes with all the basics you need to get started with sourdough bread!
Ingredients:
- 200 grams unfed sourdough starter
- 260 grams warm filtered water (about 80-90 degrees)
- 420 grams unbleached flour (my favorite is a mixture of 25% whole wheat einkorn flour and 75% Italian 00 flour)
- 1 ¾ tsp salt (this ancient sea salt is my favorite!)
- Oil to coat bowl (optional)
Directions:
Before I get into the steps of this lazy sourdough bread recipe, I do want to mention that if you have time for ANY proper steps, I do recommend doing the ones you can fit it and only leaving out what you don’t have time for. For example, I’ve followed this recipe but with fed starter, with only doing stretch and folds, with letting it rise and leaving in the fridge overnight instead. The point of this post really is to tell you that it’s okay to break the rules, even all of them at the same time. But those rules do help you make consistently great bread.
In the spirit of keeping this as simple as possible, this recipe will basically ignore all sourdough “rules”. Yes, you can get great bread while breaking all the rules, I promise! Now, here’s my fast and easy sourdough bread recipe.
1. Mix Your Sourdough Ingredients
In your mixing bowl, add the 200 grams of unfed sourdough starter (yes, I said UNFED!) and combine with 260 grams of warm water. Since I keep my starter in the fridge, adding warm water helps to “wake up” the starter and give it a boost. Mix until the starter is fully dissolved into the water. Then add the flour and salt. Mix until well incorporated.
I know what you’re thinking… Dani, isn’t rule number one of sourdough bread to feed your starter and use it at it’s peak?!? Yes, it is. But, I generally see rules as guidelines, and this is a lazy sourdough recipe. Nothing about this is best practice, but it works when you’re in a pinch! I’ve followed this process multiple times and my bread rose just fine. The difference is it will take longer, but I address this in the recipe, so read on!
2. Knead Your Dough for 3-5 Minutes
If you’ve followed my go-to sourdough bread recipe then you know I usually incorporate an autolyse and stretch & folds into my recipe. Those are best practice, so if you have time, I would recommend doing them, even if for a shorter period of time (such as a 10 minute autolyse and 2 stretch and fold cycles instead of the normal 3-4). However, I’ve skipped those altogether for this lazy sourdough bread recipe it worked out just fine. So skip them if you don’t have time!
If you are skipping the autolyse / stretch and folds, then you do need to make sure your dough is mixed well and do just a bit of gluten development by kneading, either by hand or with a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. I used this easy sourdough recipe late at night after a long trip home, and did the absolute minimum because I was exhausted. I kneaded my dough for maybe 2 minutes and called it good enough. So don’t worry too much about the kneading, the main goal here is to make sure your ingredients are fully incorporated since we’re going to just let the dough do its thing after this.
3. Proof Overnight on the Counter
Once your dough is mixed, cover the bowl and leave it on the counter overnight. Or, if you’re making this during the day and need it to go faster, you can put your covered bowl in a warm spot to help your bread proof faster.
By morning, your dough should be about double in size, jiggly, and have some bubbles forming. That means it’s time to shape the dough!
4. Shape Your Dough and Let Rise
How you shape your dough depends on what shape you want. The goal of shaping is to create tension on the outside of the dough to help the bread hold its shape.
To shape your sourdough bread, gently pour your dough onto the counter and stretch it into a rectangle. For a boule, you’ll want to fold the four corners over one another, then flip the dough over, seam side down, and roll the dough on the counter like a ball, gently pulling the edges under to create a tight, smooth ball.
Place into a floured proofing basket or oiled bowl, cover and put in the fridge until ready to bake. FYI, you can leave your ready sourdough in the fridge for up to a couple of days and it will be just fine. The cold slows down the fermentation process, so if you run out of time, don’t stress and just leave it covered in the fridge until you want to bake it!
5. Bake Your Sourdough Bread
For this lazy sourdough bread recipe, the cold proof is minimal (I only had my dough in the fridge while the oven was heating up – about 30 minutes). Once you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (note that oven temps can vary, so adjust to your oven). Preheat your dutch oven at the same time (see notes below if using a sheet pan).
Once the oven is up to temperature, flip your dough out of the proofing basket and onto a piece of parchment paper (alternatively flour the bottom of your dutch oven/pan). Cut your dough with the bread lame (the simplest cut is one large cut down the length of the dough, aiming for about ½ inch deep). Mist or brush your dough with water, cover, and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the lid and allow the steam to escape. Bake for another 20 minutes uncovered, or until golden brown.
SHEET PAN NOTE: If using a sheet pan, you may want to start with a lower temperature to prevent your crust from setting too soon. I usually heat up to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Brush your dough with water and add a handful of ice cubes to the pan when you put it in the oven to add steam. After 20 minutes, open the oven to allow any steam to escape and bake for another 20 minutes.
That’s it! Allow your bread to cool before cutting into it (or don’t!), and enjoy your delicious, fast and easy sourdough bread.
If you try this lazy sourdough recipe, I’d love to hear how it went for you! Leave a comment below with your feedback and/or questions.
