Overnight Sourdough Bread

Prepare the dough at night, bake it in the morning. The rise happens while you sleep.

“The beauty of sourdough bread is that no two loaves are ever exactly the same.”

Light and airy with a dark, crispy crust, a crumb with a creamy texture and a superb mouthfeel – this simple, overnight sourdough bread recipe might be the only one you’ll ever want.

This is an easy and simple sourdough bread recipe, especially helpful if you’re a beginner and new to sourdough bread baking.  We’re not using starter when it’s active and at its peak.  Instead, we’re going to use a slightly hungry starter – one that is just passed peak, last fed approximately 12 hours earlier.  

There are no days spent waiting and shaping.  All the shaping happens right in the bowl.  Two sets of stretch and folds in the evening, then while you sleep – the bulk fermentation (rise) happens.  In the morning, you’ll perform two more sets of folds, again all inside the bowl.  The dough will rest in the refrigerator while a Dutch oven heats up to a scorching level, and then you’re ready to bake.  That’s it.

Sourdough Starter

First things first, you’ll need an established and strong sourdough starter.  Even if its’s a new one – so long as it’s established and it’s been tripling – yes, tripling, at least – and consistently rises and falls in 12 hours like clockwork. I’m in the camp that once you’ve reached that point, and it’s been consistent, go and make yourself some bread. If your starter has since been refrigerated, that’s fine too, you can use a cold starter straight from the fridge for this recipe – so long as it was fed within the last 7 days.

As an aside, I made my starter from scratch and I was struggling for a long time to get it going – it took me a little over two months before it doubled.  So don’t be discouraged if you’re reading this, wanting to make your first loaf and still struggling with your starter.  You’ll come across a lot of resources that will say it should only take 7-14 days.  That’s probably true, most of the time – but, not always.  It can take months, even if that is the exception.  A sourdough starter (and sourdough bread baking) will depend on so many factors: the environment, the temperature, the ratio.  So, don’t give up – and don’t start over (unless you see signs of mold), just keep discarding and feeding, you’ll get there.

I was feeding our starter an equal ratio of 1:1:1 (starter, organic flour, filtered room temperature water) like everything I read said I was supposed to do.  The starter would volumize, there would be some bubbles and signs of hope, but it never doubled.  I bought a heat wrap (since I started this in autumn and our counters are cold) and made sure the jar had a small towel underneath to keep the bottom warm.  Still, nothing.  Then I read somewhere to double the flour and “almost double” the water – and that’s what worked for me.

With a 1:2:1.3 ratio our starter not only doubled, it’s been consistently quadrupling.  No idea why our starter responded to that and nothing else, but that’s what has worked and I’ve stuck with it. 

In traditional form, we’ve named our starter.  She’s Sara Dough – because… it sounds like sourdough… (my daughter thought of that clever little name).  But we just call her Sara.

In any event, while I was waiting for something, anything, to happen with my starter, I began to research beginner sourdough recipes.  I wanted something I could easily incorporate into our busy school and sports schedule.  Sylvia, from at Feasting at Home, offered a wonderful beginner’s recipe – I strongly suggest you head over there for additional tips and tricks or for using a refrigerated sourdough starter.  That’s where I started, but I’ve made some minor adjustments along the way. I’m sharing what has worked best for me, with you.

The Rise – Troubleshooting & Essentials

On your sourdough bread making journey, you’ll have to see what works best in your environment.  There are no real rules here, rather a method based on judgment, technique, experience, and your personal environment.

As a collector of old, historical cookbooks, I began to thumb through the pages to see if there were any tips for heirloom breadmaking that would help me now.  Remember, the task of making homemade wild yeast and bread was the only way bread was made for thousands of years.  Here’s an excerpt to remind you that this journey, no matter the era, is unique and personal:

“It is more difficult to give rules for breadmaking than for anything else; it depends so much on judgment and experience.  In summer, bread should be mixed with cold water; during a chilly, damp spell, the water should be slightly warm; in severe cold weather, it should be mixed quite warm, and set in a warm place during the night.  If your yeast is new and lively, a small quantity will make the bread rise; if it is old and heavy, it will take more.  In these things I believe wisdom must be gained by a few mistakes.” The American Frugal Housewife, 1833

What works for me is to feed my starter in the morning, let it rise and begin to fall, and about 12 hours later, when it is clearly time for another feeding, I prepare the dough for our daily bread.  The bulk fermentation happens overnight in my turned-off oven with the ambient light on, as my kitchen and counters can be quite cold during the night.  Through trial and error, I’ve found that an 8-9 hour rise is when my dough is ready. For you it could be the same, or longer.

By the time 7:00 a.m. rolls around, I begin my morning folds.  I take my children to school, and come back to bake it.  We’ve had fresh homemade sourdough bread everyday now for months.  Even on busy weekends, when we need to leave the house by 9:00 a.m., our bread is done and cooling on the counter until we come home.  While there’s recipes for lamination, and days worth of shaping and waiting, you won’t find that with this easy and simple recipe.  My family looks forward to this loaf everyday.  My daughter’s friends ask me for it – telling me that it’s the best bread they’ve ever had in their life.  So it’s safe to say that my heart is full – and this recipe is easy to fit into my schedule – and that’s enough for me to be quite content.

TROUBLESHOOTING

If you live in a rather warm and humid area or if the season dictates such, allowing the dough to rise overnight on the counter, covered with a damp towel, will likely be sufficient. In fact, it might be ready to bake in 8-9 hours. If the season or kitchen temperature is quite chilly or the temperature fluctuates it could take upwards of 12 hours or more to rise on the counter at “room temperature.” You need to keep in mind where you live and the temperature of your personal environment.

For me, in New Jersey, with a drafty kitchen and fluctuating temperatures (by way of season and/or air conditioning and heat) I use a controlled temp setting for my starter and the ambient heat in my turned-off oven with the light on to bulk ferment my bread overnight. Please note that some ovens get too hot with the light on, so do a temp check beforehand.

The target bulk fermentation temperature range is 78-82F / 25.5-28C. Think of it this way, warmer helps turn up the dial to ferment faster, colder slows it down. That’s why we use the refrigerator to stunt the rise. If your kitchen hovers around 72F you might need the full 12 hours.

ESSENTIALS

To help regulate starter temperature I used a heat wrap pad on a low setting, I’m linking it below for you. This worked throughout the fall and into the summer. Summertime in New Jersey brings about fruit flies that are attracted to the fermentation (basically anything vinegar-y). Once I heard about this, I purchased the Brod and Taylor sourdough house before I could even entertain that problem. It was a preventative measure and a great option if you think you might encounter that, too. It’s temperature controlled and allows me to keep a consistent environment. I don’t think this is necessary though unless you are in an area where fruit flies and temperature fluctuations could pose an issue, I’m linking that too if you think it could be helpful. Other than that, a Danish whisk (also called a broad pisker) and reliable jars with loose lids are all you really need, those are linked for you, too.

This link will bring you to my Amazon Affiliates page: Sourdough Essentials

The Crumb

You’ll certainly get a gorgeous crumb, with different sized air bubbles, some big and interesting, some not so much.  You will not get the kind of open crumb that will make all the contents of your sandwich fall out.  I love a really big, open crumb, too – I know it’s the holy grail for a lot of sourdough bread bakers, but there’s a time and place for everything.  A widely open crumb is perfect for serving alongside soup, or with charcuterie.  In my opinion, it’s not an everyday bread for most families with children and teens.  My children love butter and chocolate on their bread after school (a French thing), or cheese and chocolate (an Italian thing) depending on the day and the mood, we love a quick grilled cheese and just your everyday sandwich – and we want the contents of what’s on our bread to stay there.

The Night Before you Bake: 

• After the dough comes together in a cohesive, shaggy mass, you will let it rest for 15 minutes covered with a damp towel. See the Texture & Consistency video below to best understand how to mix this dough and the consistency to expect.
• Then, with a bowl of water nearby and a clean, wet hand, you will perform a set of stretch and folds until the dough begins to resist.  Wetting your hand as needed. See the Evening Stretch and Fold video for an understanding of the stretch and fold.
• Cover the bowl again with a damp towel and rest for 15 minutes.
• You’ll perform one more set of stretch and folds the exact same way, flipping it over in the bowl once it begins to resist.
• Cover with a damp towel and keep somewhere warm, not hot.  If you have a warm kitchen, the counter will do.  Otherwise, place the bowl in a turned-off oven with the ambient light on if you know it won’t get too hot in there, or anywhere else you prefer that is warm.

The Morning of the Bake: Stretch and Fold

In the morning, after you’ve uncovered the dough and checked to see if it almost doubled in size, has bubbles on the surface, and perform a poke test (gently poke a slightly damp finger into the surface to see if the indent gently springs back) – you will perform two sets of stretch and folds again. The last set will end in a parchment-lined and flour dusted bowl.

• Keeping a bowl of water nearby to wet your clean hands, you will gently loosen the dough from the perimeter of the bowl. See the Morning Stretch and Fold video below.
• With wet hands, you will reach under the belly of the dough and pull it straight up, folding it over and under.  Do this about 2-3 more times before rotating the bowl to fold the other end under once.
• Quarter turn the bowl to gently fold twice in the other direction.  Cover the bowl with a damp towel for 15 minutes.
• Perform another set of folds the same way, except when you quarter turn the bowl you will fold and lift the dough out and into the prepared banneton or parchment-lined bowl dusted with flour.

NOTE:  Keep a bowl of water nearby to wet your hands as needed.  These folds are simply techniques to help strengthen the gluten network, which is important. 

 Join the Conversation!

If you’ve made this recipe, let me know!  Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you.  Don’t forget to tag a photo @chasingtheseasons on Instagram, I’d love to see.

“There’s no aroma in the world quite like the smell of a fresh sourdough loaf baking in the oven.”

_{Adapted from Feasting at Home}

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