How to make a small batch of sourdough

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I recently had dinner at a friends house and went snooping through her freezer (as you do…) and was shocked by how empty it was. She wasn’t storing leftovers or loaves or bread. She didn’t even have a bottle of vodka and a frozen pizza. It was just empty.

Here’s the thing about my freezer: It’s always full.  Like overflowing, stacked to the brim, full.  There’s a couple of mostly empty ice cream containers, a bunch of frozen pastries, half a packet of tortillas and no free space.  

Is this just a me thing? Or do most people have perfectly empty freezers with loads of space…? If so tell me your secrets.

You see in an ideal world I would bake bread in large batches and freeze the extra.  But (see rant above on lack of freezer space) I don’t have the space to freeze loads of bread.  

Which is where this little recipe comes in handy.  It’s a small batch sourdough recipe that you can eat over a couple of days with one or two other people.  

A Brief Intro to Sourdough

This is by no means a How to Make Sourdough blog post.  It’s more of a How to Make LESS Sourdough blog post.  

So let’s recap a couple of ideas before launching into the recipe.

Sourdough starts with a starter.  The starter is this weird alive thing that makes your bread rise and taste delicious.  The night before you start baking you take a small piece of starter, mix it with flour and water and you get your levain.

Leave the nice levain overnight and then the next morning you do a bunch of mixing and stretching and proofing (letting it chill while you’re on a zoom call) and shaping to make your sourdough.

Then on the third day (yes the third day!) you bake your bread! If this seems like way too much time and energy, I have a recipe for same day sourdough bread, which is also great. It’s got a slightly less sour – sourdough flavor, but it’s much faster!

Why Make this Small Batch Sourdough Bread?

• Flavor – I know this recipe takes forever, but the time really builds the flavor!
• Texture – The crust is crispy and crunchy and the interior is so soft and fluffy
• Simple Ingredients – The ingredients for this recipe are so incredibly simple, which I love!

What Do I Need to Make this Recipe?

Sourdough starter:

Starter: This is an obvious one, but you’ll need a sourdough starter. If you don’t have one, I recommend you make one following this fantastic guide from The Perfect Loaf.

Flour: You’ll want a mixture of whole wheat bread flour, white bread flour and rye flour for this recipe. If you don’t have whole wheat or rye, you can try my white bread same day sourdough recipe.

Banneton: I use a banneton basket to help my bread hold its shape while it’s raising. I’ve linked a couple I recommend below, but you can also use a kitchen towel in a bowl.

Lame: I use a sharp razor blade, called a lame, to score my sourdough. Again, I’ve linked one that I love below!

Dutch Oven: These are great for cooking sourdough in because they trap steam to give you the perfect crust! I use a lodge cast iron pan which works really well, but you could also use an enameled cast iron Dutch oven such as the Emile Henry Cloche*.

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Expert Tips

Scoring is difficult

Normally I let my dough rest in the fridge overnight and then score the cold dough. If that’s what you’re used to as well, you’ll find that the warm dough in this recipe is much harder to score than dough that’s cold from the fridge. Don’t despair though, just do your best with a lame (something like this* works well) or give it a few quick cuts with scissors and accept that it might not be your prettiest loaf.

Bake in a Dutch Oven

A Dutch oven is a great option for baking bread because it will trap steam while your dough is baking. This steam is great for developing a good crust and a great oven spring.

Two great options are:

• A Lodge cast iron dutch oven* – This is what I use currently. It’s a great cheaper option and can be used for other things as well. Downside is you need to keep it properly seasoned.
• Emile Henry Cloche* – I’ve used these in the past and loved them. Pro is they’re really easy to use and work very well. Downside is that you can’t really use them for anything other than baking bread, and they’re more expensive.

Recipe FAQ

How long after feeding sourdough can I make bread?

This depends on your starter and the weather. An active, well-fed starter, should be ready in about 4-6 hours. When it’s ready, you should see plenty of bubbles, and it will have risen significantly. If you’re worried about timing, use lukewarm water when you feed your starter and leave it somewhere warm to rise.

Can I make my sourdough bread in one day?

Definitely! I have a whole recipe for same day sourdough bread, so check that out!

Can you make sourdough bread without a Dutch oven?

Yes you can! It’s a bit more of a hassle though. You’ll want to bake your bread on a pizza stone or on a cookie sheet if you don’t have a pizza stone.

You’ll also want some kind of baking pan in the oven that you can add water to right as you put your loaf in the oven. In addition to the baking pan with water, you can use a spray bottle to spritz water on the loaf after 5 minutes of baking.

That being said, a Dutch oven has definitely been the most reliable method in my experience.

How to Make This Small Batch Sourdough Bread

Let’s step through this in a bit more detail, so you know what to expect from this small batch sourdough recipe. 

Evening of day 1:

You want to start with a strong starter that’s been fed recently.  The evening before you mix your dough, you’ll combine the starter with rye flour and whole wheat flour.  The rye flour is an awesome food for sourdough, so it’ll help make your dough rise really nicely.  Then you leave the levain overnight.

Day 2:

The next morning you should notice that your levain has grown and has some air bubbles.  This tells you that it’s nice and active.  Now combine the rye flour, whole wheat flour and bread flour with the water and levain.  You mix this all together and then let it sit for an hour.

If you don’t have whole wheat and rye flour don’t panic!  You can use all bread flour or sub whole wheat for rye as needed.  Make sure you keep the total weight of the flour the same and you should be good to go.

After an hour mix a bit more water and the salt and then cover it again.  We’re now going to stretch the dough every half hour for 2 hours.  What you want to do is take one side of the dough and stretch it up and out of the bowl and then fold it over the top.  You’ll repeat this on all 4 sides and then cover it again.  That’s one set of stretches and folds. 

After four sets of this stretching and folding you leave the dough for another two hours.

Come back to the dough and we’ll reshape it into a ball on the counter then let it chill for ten minutes.   Next you’ll shape it into a loaf and let it sit for another 20 minutes before refrigerating it over night.

Morning of day 3

Finally on the third day grab it out of the fridge and score the loaf.

Then bake it for about 40 minutes in a dutch oven and enjoy! 

It’s a bit of a long process but all of the individual steps are short and sweet so it’s perfect to do in between meetings if you’re working from home!

Recipe FAQ

Why Bake in a Dutch Oven?

A Dutch oven is a great option for baking bread because it will trap steam while your dough is baking. This steam is great for developing a good crust and a great oven spring.

Two great options are:

• A Lodge cast iron dutch oven* – This is what I use currently. It’s a great cheaper option and can be used for other things as well. Downside is you need to keep it properly seasoned.
• Emile Henry Cloche* – I’ve used these in the past and loved them. Pro is they’re really easy to use and work very well. Downside is that you can’t really use them for anything other than baking bread, and they’re more expensive.