Making sourdough bread is not hard. It just takes patience and some TLC. As a matter of fact, your ‘hands on’ time with the bread itself is only a few minutes. Most of the time you are either mixing in some flour and water or waiting for the dough to rise.
Now, I am no expert here. For a real sourdough expert you will want to visit Wardeh @GNOWFGLINS. I used her basic recipe and watched for my dough to ‘do its thing’. However, there are a few things that I am going to tell you NOT to do. You know . . . .like the things that will make your bread hard as bricks! I know not to do them now because I did them and it resulted in crappy bread and a crappy attitude to boot (I hate wasting food!) So, hopefully you can benefit from my oopsies.
My bread has the moisture and similar density to Anna’s Daughter’s bread. However her bread was made with rye and mine was made with spelt. She also adds seeds and fun things in hers that add more texture . . . I’m not there yet. 
But, if you have ever tried this bread you will have an idea of what this bread can turn out like. Just know that this bread is definitely NOT fluffy like what you would find with commercial yeast. The beauty of real sourdough is that it has slow rising bacteria and wild yeasts that break down the bad stuff (phytic acid) and make the good stuff (vitamins and minerals) more available for your body.
First you need a starter. You can either purchase a starter or make one from scratch like I did. Cultures for Health is a great place to get a sourdough starter. Just follow their directions for use. I made my own starter so I could literally tell you how its done from scratch.
[gmc_recipe 7769]
Ingredients
Starter
- 1/3 cup spelt (fresh, but not freshly ground or hot from grinding – NOT SPROUTED)
- ¼ cup filtered water
Sourdough Bread
- 3 cups fresh starter (recently fed and brought to room temperature)
- 1 cup filtered water (warm)
- 1 tablespoon celtic sea salt (or Himalayan)
- butter (or coconut oil. Small amount to coat after making bread)
Directions
Starter
Step 1
First, in a half gallon mason jar (have two so you can alternate), add 3/8th cup spelt and 1/4 cup filtered water. The water needs to be filtered. Chlorinated water will kill any good bacteria and yeast you are trying to grow.
Mix well and cover with a paper towel and a rubber band (or use the screw top over the paper towel without metal the lid to hold it in place).
Leave in a warm place (like the top of the refrigerator) for 12 hours which is when you will feed it again.
Step 2
Second feeding — stir in briefly with a wooden spoon (no metal here!).
Add another 3/8 cup spelt and 1/4 cup warm filtered water.
Mix, scrape down the sides, cover and keep in a warm place for another 12 hours.
Step 3
If at any time you need to take a break, just feed and refrigerate your starter until you can begin again. But the starter will need to be fed at least once a week in the refrigerator.
Bring to room temperature before starting the process again.
Sourdough Bread
Step 4
If refrigerated bring starter to room temp and mix 3 cups spelt with 3 cups filtered water to replace the starter you are taking. I let mine sit for a couple hours after adding flour but this is not really necessary as you will be letting the dough sit out and rise later and it will eat up the anti-nutrients then.
Then take the 3 cups needed for the recipe! Let the remaining starter sit out for 12 hours and then refrigerate to use in another recipe. You should always aim to replace what you take, that way you can always have starter for the next recipe.
Step 5
Mix 3 cups starter with water and 1 tablespoon salt on slow speed in a blender.
Step 6
Slowly start to add spelt flour a 1/2 cup at a time. I only used about 4 cups of spelt even though Wardeh’s recipe called for 5-6.
If you are using hard wheat instead of spelt for the bread you will use closer to 5 or 6 cups. But basically the dough needs to be wet enough that it sticks to your fingers yet desires to stick to itself more.
However, the dough should be pulling away from the side of the bowl and not sticking to it. If it is, add more flour.
When I use hard whole wheat it is closer to the 5-6 cups needed.
Step 7
Knead the dough. I do this right in the Kitchen Aid with the dough hook.
Knead for 5 minutes on slow.
Let the dough rest 15 minutes.
Knead again for another 5 – 10 minutes.
Step 8
Grease a bowl with butter or coconut oil.
Place the dough in the bowl then flip to coat the dough in the grease.
Cover and let rise in a warm place for a minimum of 5-6 hours.
I let mine rise overnight.
You are looking for the dough to a double in size!
Step 9
Once risen, punch down and cut dough in half.
Place in a buttered loaf pan (or free form shape into a boule).
Cover and let rise until double. I have a proof option on my oven. I proofed the dough a second time for 3-4 hours. Dough should double in size again. If you have a glass loaf pan you will be able to see the air pockets form as it rises. Voilà — all natural wild yeasts. None of that commercial stuff!
Step 10
When ready to bake, make diagonal cuts in the loaf or an x in the boule.
Brush with a little butter.
Bake at 175ºC / 350ºF / Gas Mark 4 for about 35 – 40 minutes. I have a convection oven so my time might be less than yours. If you don’t have a convection oven it might be closer to an hour of baking.
Keep checking at about 35 minutes on. The loaf should be golden brown on the outside. And there should be no bounce back if you push on the crust.
Step 11
When finished, brush with coconut oil or butter to keep the crust from getting too hard.
Step 12
Let cool completely before cutting into the bread.
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Ok I have been putting off sourdough making because I’m SO afraid of it! Ha! I really need to do this though – I was trying to make gluten free bread in a bread machine that I found at a resale shop for 6 bucks but I have had NO luck. I have healed gluten sensitivities and incorporate a sourdough bread from our local bakery a few times a week that I love because I can digest it very well now! Is there a way of making sourdough in a bread maker?
Renee,
First of all congrats on getting over gluten sensitivity! Woo Hoo! As far as the breadmaker . . .never tried it. I actually own one but have not had much luck with it so it stays in my cabinet. This looks like a lot of steps but it really isn’t. I just put a lot of details in it. Once you do it one time you’ve got it. The starter is what takes the longest to make. But even that is pretty hands off except feeding twice a day (like a little pet)
I thought it was hard too. I even got discouraged early on when I made them and they turned out hard as bricks. But a year later I got my nerve back. I followed instructions that Wardeh gave and it turned out perfect. You can do it!
Let me know how if comes out especially if you use the breadmaker. I’d love to know how it worked for you. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Thanks for the encouragement Jen! Isn’t a lot of new real food things just that way?! Once you try it once you get the hang of it and it just becomes part of your day
I will try doing the bread maker and let you know how it works.
One question and this may sound so novice/stupid to you! Ha! Anyway, so to make the starter you just need the spelt and water? No culture to sour it? I see your recommendation for buying the starter culture but that if you want to make your own you just feed flour and water for 3 days? Just want to make sure I’m reading that right!
Thanks again!
Ahhh, that’s an excellent question and I will have to add some more info because I wasn’t clear about how to finish it. You continue to feed for up to 7 days. The third set of directions says the ‘third feeding and afterward’. Remember that you are feeding every 12 hours so that’s twice a day. The sour smell hits about day 3 but you will need to continue until you have a bubbly sour mix and about 3-4 cups. That will take about 7 days.
OK! That makes sense. And just for timing and planning for myself I just wanna make sure I’m right – It will take 1 week to make enough starter for 1 batch of the bread (3c starter)? So will I want to make sure I have more than 3 cups of starter so that when I take the 3 cups out to make the bread I will have some leftover to feed and make more? Does that make sense? Sorry for all the questions! I need to just DO IT
I’m such a freakin’ planner 
Yes, if you are going to make it right away you can make more than 3 at first. However, if you go on to the bread recipe I talk about how you can add 3 cups flour and 3 cups water and let set out for a day. Then take the 3 cups you need for the bread. There should be enough bacteria and yeasts to eat up the antinutrients quickly at room temperature by that point. Great questions!
Oh and you are correct . . . no culture to sour it. The cloth covered mason jar grabs wild yeasts and bacteria from the air. Water and flour are all you need. It’s pretty amazing. Once you make the bread portion you can really see the yeast and bacteria work by creating CO2 bubbles in the bread. No commercial yeast is needed and it is actually healthier for you because the process is much slower which allows the bacteria to eat up all the phytic acid and excess gluten.
Thanks Jen
So as I scoured some pointers on making the sourdough in the breadmaker last night I discovered that they all call for commercial yeast in addition to the sourdough starter…??? I wonder why? Thanks for all your time answering my questions 
I really appreciate it! I’m going to dive in next week when I can get to the store and get some spelt!
You can also use hard wheat. I just like spelt for the starter. Often I will use spelt for the starter and hard wheat for the regular recipe. It seems to turn out softer that way. Not sure why.
Hi there-I saw a post from Renee about healing her gluten intolerance. May I ask you if this was done through the gaps diet. I have tried it a few times but can never last long as while I love stock in soups, curries etc I cannot drink that much of it, I would love to know if there is another diet that can help.
Hi Lara
I have been healed from gluten (and eggs, dairy, and a few other things!) for about 2 years now. I just learned about GAPS last year so I didn’t even know it existed! I would say that what I did is fairly similar although maybe not as ridgid? I had a food sensitivity panel done at my doctor that showed up for a zillion and one things that I was sensitive to including very severe for gluten, eggs, dairy, and soy. I made a commitment, cut every single food on that list OUT for 6 monnths. At the end of 6 months I brought back in most of the list little bits at a time but really felt lead to stay gluten free, and after reading about soy continued to avoid soy like the plague 
I stayed gluten free for 2 years before I ever tried it again and only in soaked or sourdough type forms. It has now been 6 years since then and in the last 2 years I can say that I have been successful at bringing gluten into my diet on a regular healthy basis in sourdough, and occsaionally “cheat” and go out to dinner with my husband and will have a piece of bread or something with gluten in it. I still use more sprouted rice vs wheat and choose to make flax bread to alternate with sourdough – some because of wanting the nutrition of it, and a lot because I like maintaining the train of thought to alternate foods in the same group. I also still subscribe to eating with the seasons. We drink raw milk and in the winter the cows don’t make as much so I go milk free in the winter so my little girls have milk to drink and I give my gut a break and drink homemade coconut milk. Same with eggs. I think God made them to slow down in the winter for a reason – to give our guts a break 
And it makes us enjoy them that much more in the spring 
He He He! During the healing process where my diet was stricter I was very strict about taking high grade probiotics, cod liver oil, and a few mineral/amino acid supplements that my dr said I was very deficient on. Within that time I learned about WAPF and how to make bone broth and I did incorporate that in my diet although not everyday. So I think I was similar to the GAPS diet just maybe not as ridgid 
Hope that helps! I have written out my real food journey story at a Mama blog community I don’t mind sharing as long as Jen says it’s ok – I don’t wanna barge in on her post with other stuff 
Blessings,
Renee
Renee — it’s ok. Share away. We learn from each other. Thanks for being considerate and asking though.
I like your thinking about even eating eggs in season. Makes perfect sense to me. I also love that your journey shows a way to heal without using GAPS. I have heard that it is possible but just takes a bit longer if one doesn’t use GAPS. Sounds in line with all that I have heard. GAPS does sound extreme to me but I guess some may need that to heal quickly if they have multiple food allergies and major gut damage
Thanks Jen
I would have probably gone all in with GAPS had I known about it back then and maybe would have healed faster (?) but it’s pretty cool knowing how great our bodies can bounce back eh?!
It’s a tough crowd cuz the majority of the Mama’s on there are just as Americanized as the rest so a lot of these ideas are foreign just as they were to all of us when we started our journey! Hopefully I can help just one!
I just started writing for this blog about a month ago – 2 of the Mama’s that write for the blog know me well and about 6 months ago asked if I would start sharing some of the ways I feed my family since my girls have never touched a processed box of food and have only had raw dairy and pastured meats…they think I’m nuts because I’m so busy otherwise but it really is so do-able
Thanks again – from one foodie to another – enjoy!
http://www.simplemomreviews.com/2012/07/my-journey-into-real-food.html
I just started using a natural sweet yeast. It is alot like sourdough, just not sour. It needs to be feed everyday also. It is fun. The first bread I made was a flop, but I turned out a pretty good loaf in the dutch oven for our Pioneer day celebration. It is fun to do. It makes me happy to be feeding my family real food! It is not “fluffy motel pillow” kind of bread with no life. It is real hearty bread. For others who are struggling with it, Keep trying there is a real learning curve to it. It is a dying art but one that I am reviving.
Good for you Melanie! Eventually I want to play around with various versions too. I want to make sourdough pancakes and other such fermented wheat products. I thought about trying a dutch oven loaf but I need to get a better one before I can do that. How do you make the sweet starter? Does it use a sweetener to take off the sour edge?
It’s about time
I’ve been waiting for you to perfect this so I don’t have to go though the same trial and error. Congrats!!!!!!
Ha Ha! I waited until I made a few batches so I knew that the first good one wasn’t just a fluke. I made it once with soaked and dehydrated sunflower seeds. I think that is my favorite way to eat it so far. But most of the time I just make it plain and it’s great that way too. Let me know how it turns out for you!
I would also like to know how to make the “natural sweet yeast”. Can you post the recipe/sourcce?
Joie, I hope she answers. I’d like to know as well. However, I have read that you can take the sourness out of the bread by adding baking soda to the bread when mixing in the water and salt. I haven’t tried it but it might be worth a shot.
I got the starter from a good friend Caleb Warnock. he gives out starts to people who would like one. You can email him at calebwarnock@yahoo.com to get a start. He is also a co-author of a new book “The art of baking with natural yeast.” He has a blog too. calebwarnock.blogspot.com
Thanks Melanie!
Oh my goodness, I lOVE this informational instruction post… about sourdough, My favorite kind of bread! I would love for you to share this at Healthy 2day Wednesdays this week up until Saturday evening and also add your other healthy posts each week! Yum, now I want some of this!
BTW, you made my use my brain for that math question hehe!
Thank you so much for your instructional! I am off gluten, so that would include spelt as well, but in the future I do want to try fermented spelt like you did here.