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Master Class: Ben Starr's 10 minute Simple Sourdough (for lazy people!)

Byamazingfoodstv


A sourdough loaf so simple ANYONE can do it, with about 10 minutes of actual effort across 24 hours, with NO stretching or folding, using UNFED starter, and without preheating the oven.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not. After more than 4 million views, and 4 years helping viewers troubleshoot this recipe, this video is an incredibly comprehensive Master Class on the easy production of low-hydration sourdough.

Wicked thanks to S0UD10 STUD10 for naughty animation!

PRINTABLE RECIPE:

My Favorite Sourdough Toys:
(I’m an Amazon affiliate. If you buy something from these links, I’ll get a few cents. Thanks!!)

4 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven:
(This is the closest Dutch Oven available on Amazon to the model I am using in the video. If this link doesn’t work, search for a 4-5 quart Dutch oven, approximately 9″ in diameter and 4.5″ deep.)

Professional Kitchen Scale:
(Tough, accurate, runs on AAA batteries rather than pricey ones.)

My favorite oven gloves:
(Comfy, fit well, dexterous, totally heatproof.)

My favorite bread knife:
(I get a new one every 2 years or so…it’s not that easy to effectively sharpen a serrated knife.)

Clear plastic rising bowls with covers:

Pre-cut parchment sheets:

Beeswax cloth:
(Perfect way to store bread)

CHAPTERS:

0:00 Sourdough doesn’t have to be hard
2:48 Quick demo/overview
8:36 Master Class begins
9:06 You MUST have a scale
10:10 Sourdough starter
11:57 NEVER pour off hooch!
12:42 Texture of your starter (thick or thin?)
13:35 How soon can you bake after feeding your starter?
14:15 Water
15:17 Inclusions (adding stuff!)
15:39 Flour
16:30 Whole wheat/Rye/Spelt/Einkorn flour additions
17:11 Salt (why more salt makes the recipe flexible)
18:11 Gluten Free? (Starter? Sure. Bread? Never.)
18:40 Gluten is Everything
20:24 Lowering the salt content
21:14 Mixing
21:52 Too sticky to mix?
22:09 Rising in ziploc bags
23:00 First rise / bulk fermentation times
26:05 Refrigerating the dough option
27:15 Transporting dough to bake elsewhere
27:53 Understanding fermentation
28:35 Science!
28:48 Naughty animation by S0UD10 STUD10
31:52 Sourness of bread
33:02 Is the dough ready to shape?
34:14 Baking vessels (Dutch ovens, loaf pans)
35:36 Size of Dutch oven
36:59 Preventing sticking (oil/spray/parchment)
38:27 Risks of overproofing in ziplocs
40:14 Shaping a boule for Dutch oven baking
42:04 Too sticky to shape?
42:32 Dough tears while shaping?
42:58 Timing of the second rise
43:54 Shaping a loaf for a loaf pan
49:14 Scoring a loaf
49:41 Scoring a boule (Sourdough Ear)
50:10 High humidity delays crust development
51:00 Baking at elevation
51:26 Starting in a cold oven
52:01 Convection is irrelevant
52:28 Importance of cooling fully
53:53 The Insanity of Modern Sourdough Thinking
55:20 Browning or Burning
56:04 Tasting!
56:53 The ONLY kind of bread knife to own
58:19 Preserving freshness with beeswax cloth
59:14 NEVER REFRIGERATE BREAD!!!
1:00:29 Rewarming makes bread moist again
1:00:57 Shameless groveling

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40 Comments

  1. Ben, thank you for sharing this amazing secret. I am fairly new to sourdough baking. Only six months in. Prior to attempting my first loaf, I spent several days reading, researching and reviewing various YouTube channels. Luckily, I stumbled across your channel and let me tell you, you changed my way of thinking and simplified everything, including my life. I have followed your steps and have baked over 50 loaves with complete success each and every time. Not one failure! I have also made your sandwich loaf, English muffins and yes, even your Buttermilk. Thank you again for sharing your extensive knowledge with us.

  5. Ben, I cooked 3 loafs last of the 3 I set my oven to 400 degrees, so far I have 3 loafs with a thin black / burnt bottom, any suggestions, so far everything else seems to be working I used my wheat grinder and added 8oz of whole wheat flour so things are going good with trying this recipe so far.

  8. Is there anything we need to do different if we’re making two loads at a time thank you I’ve been using your recipe and it’s wonderful. I actually felt like I was betraying the other people I used to watch lol but thanks again.

  9. ben I dont know if I should thank you or give you hard time, a lot of hard time. I followed your instructions for the starter and all 4 times I had to throw it out because of the mold. I took a picture of the last one and I have evidence for the failure.

  18. All I have besides a loaf pan is a 2 qu 4:57 art glass casserole dish. Would it work if I line with parchment paper and make a foil dome for a lid?
    I do have a heavy stainless steel round roasting pot with a lid but the sides are straight up.
    Which of these would you recommend?

  21. Ooh this is exactly what I need! I’ve made three loaves the complicated way…one turned out gorgeous but near flavorless, the next two were tasty but very dense.

    I now have a dough bulk fermenting on my counter per your recipe and I look forward to seeing how it comes out! It definitely feels like a nicer, less sticky dough than my previous attempts.

  28. Your recipe seems NEVER to fail! My daughter likes rye sourdough so I used your recipe. I subbed in rye starter, and 100g rye flour. Yummy!! I got about 2/3 the rise of white flour but expected that since rye is so heavy. Big beautiful boule! Thanks Ben!! ❤️

  32. Good to see you again, Ben! I've been making sourdough using your method and recipe for about 2 years now. It's wonderful! I happen to not like a thick, crisp crust, so I use 2 oz of oil, and 10 oz of water. It turns out lovely! I use mine mostly as toast, and boule slices don't fit into my toaster, so I bake in a loaf pan. Let me tell you, it makes a mean grilled cheese sandwich! I'm also the only sourdough lover in my household, so sometimes I don't eat it fast enough before it gets too dry. I started cubing the leftovers and freezing them. Then in November, I dehydrated them all and made stuffing from scratch for Thanksgiving! It turned out pretty well, but I was surprised the stuffing had more sourness than the bread usually does. I plan to use more herbs next time to counter balance that. Thank you for making sourdough reasonable for busy people!

  34. Thank you! I have not had any luck so far with making sourdough and have had a lot of issues with getting my starter going…too much info and some of it just really bad and lead to a very weak starter. I can't believe this worked out considering all I'm about to share, and it's not the best loaf of bread but it's edible! Which is a great triumph over my last attempt using a different method.
    My starter is very new, less than a month old. For this trial I actually used discard that had been in my fridge for about 5 days. I used the plastic bag method and after 24 hours, much like in your video, my dough had spread out but there wasn't really any rising and there was very little to know puffiness to the bag but it was starting to puff.
    Since I was getting ready to go to bed, I decided to pop the bag in the refrigerator overnight. This morning I took the bag out and put back on the counter and about 8 hours later it looked like maybe it was doubled and there was a good bit of puffy up in the bag so I decided to go for it. It took me many more than 10 turns to get it even remotely smooth and I did have some tears in the dough. Once I got it as smooth as I could I put in teh dutch oven and covered for 90 minutes. When I came back, the dough has spread out a bit and had some tears on top. I took it out and did the shaping again getting it as smooth as I could, still not great but scored it anyway and poped in the cold oven and followed all your directions for baking. After the 15 mintues without a lid it looked like bread but wasn't very brown so I left it in another 10 mintues.
    It's not the prettiest and I'm going to try again with my actual starter that is probably stronger, but I am excited that I may have found my path on this sourdough journey and I won't be waisting tons of flour anymore. If it worked for me with all of this, I think anyone should be able to get a good loaf of bread with your method. Thank you again so much!

  39. Hi Ben, thank you so much for these videos! At last, someone who thinks the way I do and who addresses every detail. Fantastic! FIRST QUESTION: What is your take on using a pizza stone as a base, and inverting the Dutch oven lid over the baking boule? As I only have an enameled Silit pot with glass lid at present, I baked like this one time, actually with a gluten and lectin-free sourdough recipe. It worked just fine. But, I would like to hear your thoughts on this anyway. 2nd QUESTION: my brand-newly created starter collected fluid, not directly on top, but directly under a thin top layer of starter, after just 4 days. So I proceeded to the next step. Is there a difference between Hooch on top, and Hooch just under a thin starter layer on top? Now it's 19 days into making the starter, and it's rising pretty well (about twice its size) and falling within 8 hours,…but not yet to "almost to the top" of a 1-liter container. Should I continue to feed every two days, until it REALLY rises to "almost to the top"? Or is it okay now? Thank you for your help!

  40. I was ready to quit before I even tried! Until I found your channel. I’m no longer clogging my brain with all of the other “crazy” information out there! You are not only a great baker it seems, but a great instructor that makes something a little intimidating seem so simple! Now I can’t wait to get my starter going and dive right in to my sourdough adventure! Thank you so much! You are my one and ONLY source for all things sourdough!

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