I started my sourdough journey in the third trimester of my pregnancy to distract myself from being pregnant. It took me years to hop on the train because honestly it sounded intimidating, but now that I’ve made my fair share of loaves (and had many failed attempts) I’ve come to love the process and find it so refreshing.

I like the fact that it takes me more than one day. It reminds me to slow down, take my time and be patient. I also love having fresh, homemade bread to eat and knowing exactly what is in it. Making things from scratch to feed my family and friends has quickly become one of my favorite ways to spend my time.

If you’re like me and maybe a little hesitant to try sourdough, I hope this post encourages you! I tried to make the steps as simple and concise as possible to make it easy to understand and impossible to mess up. The thing with sourdough is that it really is intuitive and no loaf will be the same. You have to do it a few times to figure out how to read the dough and adjust accordingly. But if you do one thing a little differently or have a few grams off here or there, don’t freak out, it’s really forgiving.

I hope you come to love this process as much as I do and oh, adding rosemary to your loaf will elevate it to a whole other level. (of course you can omit for a plain sourdough but once you add it, you may never go back) Let me know how you do and enjoy!!

Rosemary Sourdough Bread

Day 1

1. Activate your starter: Feed your starter in the afternoon (if you’ve been storing it in the fridge) and before you go to bed, make your levain.
2. Make your levain: In a separate jar, combine 14g active starter with 68g warm water and 68g bread flour. Keep on counter covered with a towel overnight to rise.

Day 2

1. Make your dough: in a large mixing bowl, mix 290g warm water, 13g sea salt and all of your levain until salt and starter are dissolved and there are no clumps.
2. Add 450g bread flour and stir until dough is shaggy and there are no exposed flour bits. Let rest on counter, covered for 35 min.
3. Perform your first set of stretch and folds, sprinkling in chopped rosemary on each fold. Perform 4 sets of stretch and folds allowing the dough to rest 35 min between each round. Here is a video explaining what this looks like: CLICK HERE
4. Allow your dough to rest and bulk ferment for 5-8 hours until your dough has increased by 50%. You know it’s ready when you shake your bowl and the dough jiggles and shows bubbles on the top and when pressed, makes an indent and slowly disappears. This will depend on the temperature of your kitchen and humidity where you live. Sometimes I put mine covered in the oven with the light on!
5. Once the bulk fermentation is done it’s time to shape. Dump your dough out onto the counter and gently pop any bubbles you see. Stretch the top of the dough up and fold it in to the center of the dough. Do the same with the bottom and then the sides. Flip your dough over and cup your hands around the dough, gently twisting and pulling it down toward you. Let it rest on the counter for 20 min.
6. Final Shape: Flip your dough over so the seam is up. Stretch your dough into a chubby rectangle. Stretch the top of the dough up and out and then bring it to the center of the dough. Repeat with all 4 sides. Flip dough over and cup your hands around it, pulling it down and towards you while turning counter clockwise like before. Flip the dough upside down into a wicker basket or banneton (seam side up) and gently pinch the seam closed. Cover with a towel or plastic (I like using a shower cap) and refrigerate overnight for 12-36 hours for the final fermentation.

Day 3

1. Preheat your oven to 500F with your dutch oven inside for 30 min minimum. (45-1 hour is ideal)
2. Flip your dough out onto a floured surface or silicone bread sling (seam side down) and score with a bread lame or sharp knife.
3. Transfer your loaf to your dutch oven and bake with the lid on for 15 min.
4. Take the lid off and lower the temperature to 450F and bake for another 20 min or until golden brown.
5. Remove loaf from the dutch oven and let rest until completely cooled on a rack. (this step is super important! wait until the bread has fully cooled, 2-3 hours before slicing.)
6. Enjoy! (Store in a bread bag or box for up to 1 week.)