Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread
This recipe for Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread will be the easiest loaf of sourdough bread you will ever make! All you need is a dutch oven and 4 ingredients to make this artisan-style bread at home.
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This will be hands down the easiest sourdough bread you ever make! I took my No-Knead Rosemary Bread recipe and subbed out the instant yeast for an active sourdough starter and PRESTO! Amazing bread with little effort. This bread is completely from scratch and it will seem like you took hours folding and kneading. Only you will know the secret.
Ingredients Needed to Make Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread
- all-purpose flour
- salt
- sourdough starter (well fed and active)
- water
How to Make No-Knead Sourdough Bread
Prep the Dough
Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk together to fully combine. Add the sourdough starter and water and combine everything using your spatula. If you feel like you need a little more water, add a teaspoon at a time. The dough will be shaggy and sticky.
Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for a minimum of 12 hours at room temp. I made my dough in the evening and let it rest overnight. Easy and perfect timing!
Form the Dough and Preheat the Oven
Preheat your oven to 450°F and place your dutch oven in to warm up too for 30 minutes.
While the oven is warming, the dough will rest one more time. The dough should have risen quite a bit and have lots of lovely bubbles. Use your silicone spatula to gently scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper. Sprinkle some flour on top of the dough and with floured hands, gently shape the dough in a ball the best you can. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel to rest while the oven is heating up.
Bake the Bread
After 30 minutes, take the parchment paper with the dough on it and place the entire thing in the preheated dutch oven. BE CAREFUL, IT’S HOT! Place the lid on and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes to get a brown crust.
Tools You Will Need to Make this Bread
To make Dutch Oven Bread, you will need a dutch oven. The one I use is made by Lodge and I love it! It’s fairly inexpensive but high quality and will last forever if you take care of it. Using a dutch oven when baking bread creates a beautiful and crunchy crust that most people think of when they think of rustic or crusty bread. The lid of the dutch oven keeps in the steam which helps with the crust and the overall baking process.
And you will want to use a sturdy silicone spatula for mixing and scraping the dough out of the bowl. I use my silicone spatulas every single day and this set has the perfect sizes at a great price.
How to Make a Sourdough Starter
Making your own sourdough starter is actually pretty easy. You just need flour, water, and patience. Find some great tips and the process in this Sourdough Beginners Guide.
What if I don’t have a dutch oven?
The best way to cook this bread is in a dutch oven. If you don’t have one, you can also bake it in a different pot and have delicious bread with hardly any effort. Just make sure you have a pot with a lid that can handle 450º.
Tips for Making Dutch Oven No-Knead Bread
- Only use a sourdough starter that is active, well-fed, and at room temperature to ensure you get the best results possible.
- Not only is this bread no-knead, but there is also no scoring! The crust on my bread shown in the photos happened naturally and looked great!
- Parchment paper is a must! Because the dough for this bread is so sticky, the parchment paper will not only help you move it into the hot dutch oven, it will also keep it from sticking to the pan itself.
- Make sure your dutch oven or pan is rated for high temps because this bread cooks at 450º. As I mentioned above, you need your dutch oven or covered pot to be able to get nice and hot and be safe while doing so.
- Don’t forget to preheat your dutch oven while you are preheating the oven. This will help create the awesome crust and bubbly insides of the bread.
Other Recipes You Might Like
- Cinnamon Zucchini Banana Bread
- Apple Cinnamon Swirl Bread with Caramel Apple Glaze
- Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Icing
- Quick Pita Bread Recipe
- Grapefruit Pound Cake
Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread (no-knead)
Equipment
- dutch oven or oven safe pan/pot up to 450ºF
- rubber/silicone spatula or wooden spoon
- plastic wrap
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (380.5g)
- ¼ cup sourdough starter (73.73g)
- 1½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup water, room temp
Instructions
Dough Prep Part 1
- Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk together to combine. Add the sourdough starter and water and stir it in using your spatula. If you need a little more water, add a teaspoon at a time. The dough will be shaggy and sticky.
- Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for a minimum of 12 hours at room temp. I made my dough in the evening and let it rest overnight.
Dough Prep Part 2
- Preheat your oven to 450°F and place the dutch oven in as well to warm up for 30 minutes.
- While the oven is warming, the dough will rest one more time. The dough should have risen quite a bit and have lots of lovely bubbles. Use your silicone spatula to gently scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a piece of lightly floured parchment paper. Sprinkle some flour on top of the dough and with floured hands, gently shape the dough in a ball the best you can. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel to rest while the oven is heating up.
Bake the Bread
- After 30 minutes, take the parchment paper with the dough on it and place the entire thing in the preheated dutch oven. BE CAREFUL, IT'S HOT! Place the lid on and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes to get a brown crust.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the bread to cool in the dutch oven or on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Only use a sourdough starter that is active, well-fed, and at room temperature to ensure you get the best results possible.
- Not only is this bread no-knead, but there is also no scoring! The crust on my bread shown in the photos happened naturally and looked great!
- Parchment paper is a must! Because the dough for this bread is so sticky, the parchment paper will not only help you move it into the hot dutch oven, it will also keep it from sticking to the pan itself.
- Make sure your dutch oven or pan is rated for high temps because this bread cooks at 450º! As I mentioned above, you need your dutch oven or covered pot to be able to get nice and hot and be safe while doing so.
- Don’t forget to preheat your dutch oven while you are preheating the oven. This will help create the awesome crust and bubbly insides of the bread.
Nutrition
Any nutrition calculations are only estimates using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
Did you Make This Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread?
If you make this No-Knead Sourdough Bread, don’t forget to leave a comment and rating below. And if you snap a pic, tag me on Instagram or Facebook.
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I made this once now and will definitely be making it again. It was super easy and delicious. I do have a question about the starter. How long after feeding the starter do you recommend using it to mix the bread loaf? Some recipes suggest using the starter at it’s peak after feeding (about 4-6 hours) and I saw another source with a similar recipe to this one which suggested letting the starter be slightly past it’s peak (beginning to deflate after feeding) to improve flavor. How is performance of the bread rising affected by the starter at different stages post-feeding? Thanks. I’m a newbie to sourdough.
Hi Lynn, thanks for trying the recipe, I’m so glad you like it! Easy is my goal. and I have to admit, while I love baking with sourdough, I am not the technical wizard…hence the no-knead option. I am not sure there is a major difference, my goal is to use the starter at it’s peak and I generally use it after feeding the night before, so it could be even after it’s “peak”. Since everyone’s starter is different, climate is different, etc. I would say experiment and see what you love! Thanks again!
This was my first time making bread that wasn’t a quick bread or mix for the old bread machine. I have a 400 year old sourdough starter that I used and this was amazing!!! I bae 2 more batches setting up for tomorrow. I’m putting some whole cloves of garlic from a garlic confit I made last week into one of tomorrows loaves.
*chefs kiss*
Deni, that’s amazing! I’m jealous you have an old sourdough and I bet your bread was amazing!! I’m also jealous of the garlic and confit and now will be making this over the weekend.😁 Happy Baking!
The loaves with the garlic confit were absolutely amazing and a huge hit. I made a second batch using the same garlic confit and. Some sun dried tomatoes I made in the air fryer so no extra oil. This base is absolutely amazing for so many variations. Chopped apples and cinnamon made a great breakfast bread. ❤️
Deni, these all sound amazing! Please tell me your secret to cooking the bread in the air fryer…I just got a new one but have never been brave enough to do bread.🥰
I was wondering can you use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose? Thanks. The bread looks amazing.
Hi Sam. I have not tried using whole wheat flour yet, however, I do think you can make this bread with it. Just expect the bread to be denser and a little more gritty as is common when using whole wheat flour. If you do try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Must I preheat the dutch oven. LeCreuset does not recommend?
Hi Rosie, I have seen that on the LeCruset website but I have not tried baking this bread without preheating the dutch oven. If you do try this recipe without preheating the dutch oven ahead of time, I’d love to hear how it turns out! Next time I make this bread maybe I will give it a try as well.
I discovered sourdough over the summer and now I can’t get enough! This looks fantastic and I appreciate all the process shots.
Thanks, Sam! I hope you enjoy making this version of sourdough in your dutch oven.😀
Thank you for such detailed instructions! This was so fun to make!
I’m so glad you liked this recipe, thanks for giving it a try!
I love baking bread in my dutch oven. It always comes out wonderfully!
Dutch oven bread baking is one of the easiest ways to bake bread. It’s hard to make it any other way after knowing how great it turns out in the dutch oven.
I’ve made Dutch Oven bread before but never imagined you could make sourdough bread this way! This is a must try for me!
You are going to love it and I imagine it’s similar to the bread you have already made. Enjoy!
I’ve spent way too much money lately on sourdough bread, so it’s time for me to learn to make my own. I didn’t know it was that easy. Thanks for the tips 🥰
I can’t wait to try it! It
This sourdough version is definitely a shortcut to the classic sourdoughs you see in bakeries. However, you will still get a loaf of delicious bread with sourdough flavor and none of the stress.
This is perfect! Love a good bread recipe!
Thanks, Andrea!
Yum! I love this dutch oven bread! It is so easy and simple to make!
Isn’t it the best?? I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Emily your recipes always amaze me I love the simplicity of them all. You made sourdough less intimidating for me.
Wow, thanks, Gabriela! I try to make things simple, and sourdough can definitely be intimidating. I would call this cheater sourdough bread but no one else will know!😁
So simple but so tasty!
Absolutely loved how this bread turned out!
So happy to hear it!
Oh wow! The sourdough bread looks amazing… Can’t wait to make it! I hope its as beautiful as yours!
You are going to love making this sourdough bread and I promise your’s will look just as good! Enjoy!
I love this no knead recipe. It is so easy!
Thanks for trying this recipe, Angela! I’m so glad you found it easy to make.
The step by step pictures really helped! I love a good no knead recipe.
So glad the photos helped. Thanks for trying this recipe out!
This bread is so good!
This was among the best breads ever made!
Thanks, Luca!!
Loved this recipe, so easy and the bread had the best texture!
Thanks, Amanda, I’m so glad you liked it.😊
Completely satisfying meal. Loved it!
I love how straightforward these instructions are. I especially love how sourdough turns out in a Dutch oven. Thanks for sharing all the tips!
I always try to make it as easy as possible, I’m so glad you found it helpful. Enjoy!
I’ve always wanted to learn how to make this bread. Fantastic recipe.
Thanks, Mirlene. It’s such a good recipe to have on hand.
I love the ease of all your recipes and I feel I can make them easily at home looks fantastic!
My goal is to make my recipes as easy as possible and I’m so glad you thought it was! Thanks, Claudia.😁
This is beautiful, I am making it this weekend for breakfast! Thank you for sharing such a nice recipe!
You are welcome! This bread makes excellent avocado toast if you need a suggestion for breakfast. Enjoy!!