Kate's Soft Sourdough Master Recipe

Kate's Soft Sourdough Master Recipe

from venisonfordinner.com
45 min

This one sourdough bread dough can be made into loaves, french bread, cinnamon buns or buns, all soft and fluffy like you didnt know sourdough could be.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup sourdough starter
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • Pre-ferment from above
  • 1 tablespoon butter, coconut oil or olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon honey (sub 1 tbsp honey for 1 tbsp maple syrup or 2 tbsp sugar)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup milk (save buttermilk from making butter for this if you have it!)
  • 2 1/4-2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • Butter (to brush crust after baking)

Directions

  1. 1

    I recommend reading the blog post before the recipe, there is some different steps here that may feel confusing, but are explained in the post. Happy Baking!

  2. 2

    Mix the pre-ferment of sourdough starter, flour, and water up 8-24 hours before you want to bake. The longer beforehand, the more sour your end product will be. If I plan to mix the dough in the morning, I make it before bed. Cover with plastic wrap or a plastic bag and let sit on the counter.

  3. 3

    Melt butter, honey, and salt on low in a saucepan. When it's melted and combined, turn off the heat, add your milk, and stir to combine. With a thermometer or your finger, test the temperature of the mixture. By thermometer, it should be no more than 105F. By your finger...you should be able to comfortably hold it in for 10 seconds. If it's not this warm, turn the heat back on to warm it. If I use a heavy bottom pot, there is enough residual heat to heat the milk, if I use something like a thin enamel pot, there isn't.

  4. 4

    Cover your dough with plastic wrap or a plastic bag and let rise 2-3 hours until it looks like it's kind of doubled (don't overthink it, as long as it's 1.5'd its original size).

  5. 5

    Cover your dough with plastic wrap or a plastic bag and let sit overnight. It will be gigantic and beautiful in the morning. Skip the second rise with the overnight method. see notes

  6. 6

    Punch your dough down, give it a few kneads. Yes, you are letting it rise twice before shaping. For more on this, read the blog post above the recipe card.

  7. 7

    If you're using this recipe for French Bread, Cinnamon Buns, or Normal Buns, this is where you switch over to that recipe. To use as sandwich bread, proceed as follows.