Homemade Sourdough Bread No Yeast Recipes

BASIC SOURDOUGH STARTER WITHOUT YEAST

Steps:

• Day 1: Combine a half cup of flour with a scant half cup of water. Stir vigorously to incorporate air. Cover with a breathable lid and allow to sit in a warm space for 12 hours. Repeat feeding with same quantities of flour and water.
• Days 2 & 3: Continue feeding starter as above at the same 12 hour intervals. By the third day a bit of life should show up. There should be bubbles. A sour smell will begin to be evident.
• Days 4, 5, & 6: Continue feeding starter as above, but discard all but 1/2 cup of the starter just before you feed it. (There are plenty of good uses for "discarded starter" in the Grains chapter of my book.) You should now see and smell signs of sourdough. More bubbles are forming, the starter is growing in volume in between feedings, etc.
• Day 7: Your starter should now be very airy when it hits its peak, 4-8 hours after a feed. Continue feeding as on days 4-6 and feel free to start baking! You have successfully made this easy sourdough recipe without yeast.
• Continue to feed once per day going forward, if the starter sits at room temperature and you wish to maintain an active starter for regular baking.
• Alternatively, if you won't be using the starter regularly, store it in the refrigerator and remove to bake with it as you need it. Just be sure to remove it 24 hours before mixing up your dough.
• To reactivate an inactive starter, remove it from the refrigerator, feed it with 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water, and allow to sit at room temperature. Maintain it as noted in step 5 above.

NO YEAST SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl combine the starter, water, and 3 cups of flour. Beat vigorously for 1 minute.
• Cover, and let rest at room temperature for 4 hours.
• Refrigerate overnight, for about 12 hours.
• After refrigeration, add the remaining 2 cups of flour, sugar, and kosher salt.
• Knead to form a smooth dough. Knead either by hand or with a dough hook attached to a mixer.
• Allow the dough to rise in a covered bowl until it's light and airy, with visible gas bubbles. Depending on how active your starter is this may take up to 5 hours, or even longer. For best results, gently deflate the dough once an hour by turning it out onto a lightly floured or lightly greased work surface; stretching and folding the edges into the center; turning it over, then returning it to the bowl. Adding these folds will help strengthen the dough's structure, and allow you to feel how it's progressing over time.
• Note: sourdough bread (especially sourdough without added yeast) can be finicky and may not go exactly to the written plan. Please allow yourself to go with the flow, and not treat this as an exact to-the-minute process.
• When the dough is ready, transfer the dough to a lightly floured or lightly greased work surface and gently divide the dough in half.
• Gently shape the dough into two oval loaves, and place them on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise until very puffy, about 2 to 4 hours. This step could take longer but give them sufficient time to become noticeably puffy. Don't worry if the loaves spread more than they rise, they'll pick up once they hit the oven's heat.
• Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 425°F.
• Spray the loaves with lukewarm water.
• Slash the loaves. If you've made round loaves, try one slash across the center, and a curved slash on each side of it; or slash in the pattern of your choice. For oval loaves, two diagonal slashes are fine. Make the slashes fairly deep, a serrated bread knife works well here.
• Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it's a very deep golden brown.
• Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack.
• Store bread, loosely wrapped in plastic, for several days at room temperature or freeze for longer storage.