Slow Rise Sourdough Baguettes

These slow rise sourdough baguettes are so flavorful that they just might be my favorite ever loaves. Slice and serve with butter. So good!

This recipe is made in several easy steps and can take a couple of days but most of it is hands-off time. The dough is very forgiving so if you get busy and miss a pull and turn or leave it a bit longer in the refrigerator, no worries. Just pick up where you left off and it will be fine. 

We start by making the dough which spends the first overnight in the refrigerator then the next day, the sourdough starter is added, and you’ll pull and fold the dough a few times to build up the gluten. Then there’s a final night in the refrigerator before shaping and baking the baguettes on the third day. 

Slow Rise Sourdough Baguettes

This recipe is adapted from one on The Fresh Loaf. Mine didn’t turn out near as holey but the flavor is all there. 

Ingredients for two baguettes

3 2/3 cups or 455g strong white bread flour

1 1/3 cups or 320ml cold water

2/3 cup or 160g 100% hydration starter (fed equal parts water and flour by weight)

2 teaspoons fine sea salt 

Method

Mix the flour and cold water together to form a soft dough. 

Put it in a bowl and cover that with cling film. Refrigerate for 12-24 hours. Mine went in at 2:40 p.m. on day 1.

On day 2, using your clean hands, mix the sourdough starter and salt into the dough until it’s evenly distributed. 

I did this step at 11:40 a.m. that day so my dough was in the refrigerator for about 21 hours. 

Leave the dough out, the bowl covered with cling film, at room temp (70 to 75°F or 21 to 24°C) for about three hours until it grows about 1/3 in volume. 

Stretch and fold it every half hour or so to develop the gluten. (I set a timer to remind myself. You might want to do the same.) If your kitchen is too cool, find a warmer place to set the dough.

When the three hours are up, put the covered dough bowl back in the refrigerator for another overnight stay. Mine went back in the fridge a few minutes after the three-hour rise time was up, so around 2:50 p.m.

On day three, when you are ready to bake, take the dough out of the refrigerator. If it has not doubled or nearly doubled, give it more time to rise at room temperature. Mine was just about doubled that morning around 8 a.m. but I left it out for two hours to warm up. 

After your dough is sufficiently risen, divide it into two equal balls and and rest them for 40 minutes. 

Shape the dough into baguettes using this method here from King Arthur Flour: https://youtu.be/IRDL3lPQSkc

Proof for 24-28 minutes, then score deeply with a sharp knife or lame. Again, I offer you a King Arthur Flour video for method: https://youtu.be/ZaLnzomvEF8 Even after watching that a bunch of times, I still didn’t cut as deeply as I should have! 

During that last proof, preheat your oven to 450°F or 232°C with an iron skillet, if you have one, or another baking pan, if you don’t, on the bottom of the oven. 

Put the baguettes into the preheated oven bake and quickly add boiling water to the skillet on the bottom. Close the oven door immediately to keep in the steam. 

Bake the baguettes for about 25 minutes or until golden brown and well risen. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. 

When cool, slice to serve. 

Enjoy! 

It's the second Tuesday of the month so that means it's Bread Bakers time! Today we are sharing baguette recipes Many thanks to our host, Renu of Cook with Renu. Check out the recipe links we are sharing below:

• Chocolate Baguettes from A Messy Kitchen
• Gluten Free Artisan Baguette from Sneha’s Recipe
• No Knead Gluten Free Baguette from Cook with Renu
• Italian Pane Francese from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Slow Rise Sourdough Baguette from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Slow Rise Sourdough Baguettes!

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Overnight Sourdough Cinnamon Waffles #BreadBakers

While the sourdough starter in these overnight sourdough cinnamon waffles adds flavor, the addition of buttermilk and baking soda makes them fluffy and light. 

Since we got back to Jersey a couple of months ago, I’ve nursed my sourdough starter back to robust good health and have enjoyed using it in a number of baked treats like sourdough baguettes, rolls and muffins. 

Since it survived the several months of abandonment, I decided it finally deserved a name so it was duly christened Jane Dough. The quart jar sports a label now with her name.

Jane is the most forgiving of souls. She lives in the refrigerator most of the time, but when I know I’m going to need her good services, she has place of pride on the countertop where she gets a decent meal (100 percent hydration which means 50g water and 50g flour, stir well) and sits out for a night. If it’s chilly, I warm her up by sitting her jar in a bowl of warm water first. 

Overnight Sourdough Cinnamon Waffles

This recipe is adapted from one on the King Arthur Baking website. They used sourdough discard but I decided to feed Jane Dough up the day before instead because she was getting low and the half cup would have been a lot to use, leaving her dangerously small. If you have enough discard, certainly use it. 

Ingredients - makes 8 square Belgian waffles

For the overnight sponge: 

1/2 cup or 113g sourdough starter (fed or unfed)

1 cup or 125g flour

1 cup or 240ml buttermilk

1 tablespoon sugar

For the batter:

all of the overnight sponge

1 large egg

2 tablespoons canola or other light oil

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

To make the overnight sponge, stir down your starter, and remove 1/2 cup or 113g. In a large bowl, whisk together the starter, flour, buttermilk and sugar, 

Cover with cling film and leave rest at cool room temperature (about 65°F to 70°F) for about 12 hours, or overnight.

The next morning, beat the egg and oil together in a small bowl. As you can see off to the left, Jane Dough has done some good work overnight. Bubbling along nicely. 

Add it to the overnight sponge, stirring just to combine.

Add in the cinnamon, salt and baking soda and fold well to combine. 

To make the waffles: Pour the batter onto your preheated, greased waffle iron, and bake according to the manufacturer's instructions. 

Repeat with the remaining batter.

If you like crunchy waffles, I suggest serving them immediately. You can hold them in a warm oven till they are all baked but they do lose some of their crispness then. 

Serve with a generous smear of softened butter and lashings of syrup. 

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it Bread Baker day! We are sharing recipes for breads with spices. Many thanks to our host, Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen. Check out all the links here: 

• Ajwain Paratha by Cook with Renu
• Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Ginger and Earl Grey Sourdough with Dates by A Messy Kitchen
• Fire Roasted Corn Fritters by Palatable Pastime
• Kardemummabullar (Swedish Cardamom Buns) by Culinary Cam
• Sourdough Chocolate Cardamom Bread by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Overnight Sourdough Cinnamon Waffles by Food Lust people Love
• Stuffed Cheesy Braided Turkish Kebab Bread Rolls by Sneha's Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Overnight Sourdough Cinnamon Waffles!

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Soft Sourdough Pretzel Knots #BreadBakers

These soft sourdough pretzel knots are simple to make, requiring only one rise before shaping. They are wonderful warm or toasted for snacking. Split in two, they are great for small sandwiches.

Most traditional pretzel recipes, like those for good chewy bagels, call for a quick dip in boiling water before baking. Sometimes I’m up for it but often I’m not so I was glad to find a recipe on kingarthurbaking.com that skipped that step. The pretzels still turned out lovely, soft and a little chewy. 

We’ve been enjoying them with all sorts of fillings and toppings. Definitely a keeper recipe!

Soft Sourdough Pretzel Knots

As mentioned above, this recipe is adapted from one on the King Arthur Baking website. The final wash calls for non-diastatic malt powder or granulated sugar but I figured, if the point was color, dark brown sugar would help. It did! I also substituted powdered coconut milk to great effect, making this a vegan recipe. 

Ingredients

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 cup or 227g sourdough starter, unfed/discard

3 cups or 381g unbleached bread flour

1/4 cup or 28g powdered coconut milk (or dry milk powder)

1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt

For baking:

1 tablespoon, firmly packed, dark brown sugar 

1 tablespoon water

flakey salt

Method

Prepare a baking sheet by spraying it with vegetable oil spray, or lining it with parchment paper. Grease the parchment with vegetable oil spray to make double-sure the pretzels won't stick.

Measure the dry active yeast into a small bowl and stir in the two tablespoons of warm water along with the sugar. Set aside to prove. The yeast should activate and become foamy. 

Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Mix and knead the dough ingredients, including the bowl with the activated yeast — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to make a cohesive, fairly smooth dough. It should be slightly sticky; if it seems dry, knead in an additional tablespoon of water.

Cover the dough with a damp cloth or cling film and let it rest for 45 minutes. My kitchen is pretty chilly right now so I put my dough bowl in a larger bowl of warm water. That works a treat to help the dough rise properly. 

Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface then divide it into 12 equal balls, each weighing about 2 1/2 oz or 71g. (My whole dough ball weighed 848g so that weight for each ball was spot on.)

Roll each piece of dough into an 12 in or 31cm rope. 

Shape each rope into a knot. I found this very tricky but the key seemed to be making sure the piece of dough was at least 12 inches long. Any shorter and forming the knot is a struggle. Video instructions here, also from King Arthur Baking.

Dissolve the brown sugar in the water. Brush the pretzel knots with the solution, and immediately sprinkle them lightly with flakey salt.

Bake the pretzel knots for 20-25 minutes, until they're a lovely golden brown. I turn my pan halfway through to make sure they brown evenly since my oven seems to have hot spots. 

Remove the pretzel knots from the oven. Serve warm or leave to cool on a wire rack. 

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for me and my fellow Bread Bakers to share recipes. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host Renu from Cook with Renu who chose our theme Anything Pretzel. 

• Air Fryer Soft Pretzel Bites from Cook with Renu
• Homemade Pretzel Bites from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Keto Pretzel Bites from Sneha's Recipe
• Pretzel Hamburger Buns from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Soft Sourdough Pretzel Knots from Food Lust People Love
• Toffee Apple Pretzels from A Messy Kitchen
• Double Jalapeno Cheese Pretzel from Magical Ingredients

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Soft Sourdough Pretzel Knots!

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Mixed Grain Sourdough Soda Bread #BreadBakers

This mixed grain sourdough soda bread is delicious when freshly baked but is also great toasted. Serve it with your favorite jam, cheese or salad. 

Last fall, when the weather was starting to turn just a little bit cooler, I got a text from a dear friend inviting me over for a casual lunch outside on her patio. The menu was chicken salad, cheese and fruit. She already had a dessert planned as well so I decided to bake some healthy bread to accompany our lovely lunch.

When our Bread Baker host chose "no knead bread" for this month's theme, I realized that I had never shared the recipe. It is adapted from one on the King Arthur Baking site and calls for their “King Arthur Harvest Grains Blend, or other seeds and grains of your choice.” 

I used a mix of quick cook grains from Central Market, a Texas grocery store, that includes farro, barley, brown rice, wheat and oat groats so I chose to soak them briefly first before baking. If you are using a mix like the one sold by King Arthur Flour, meant to be baked in bread, by all means, skip this step. 

Mixed Grain Sourdough Soda Bread

This loaf is the perfect accompaniment to chicken or tuna salad but equally, we loved it with a swipe of butter and jam. Best of all, it’s full of flavor from the sourdough starter but is quick to make and bake. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups or 180g whole wheat flour

2/3 cups or 83g flour

1/4 cup or 45g mixed grains

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup or 150g sourdough starter, ripe (fed) or discard

1/2 cup or 120ml milk, plus extra as needed

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons honey

Optional, but recommended, for after baking: melted butter for brushing on top

Method

Pour boiling water over your mixed grains in a small bowl. Soak for about 3 minutes then drain and pour them onto a clean kitchen towel to dry them out.  Separate out a teaspoon or two and reserve for topping. 

Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C. Lightly grease a 9 in or 23cm round springform pan or line it with baking parchment. 

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, the larger pile of grains, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sourdough starter, milk, butter and honey. 

Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. I use a Danish dough whisk for this step which makes mixing it much easier. 

The dough will be a bit crumbly. If it's too dry to hold together when you squeeze it, you can add a tablespoon or two more of milk. 

Press the dough into a nice round ball shape. Flatten the ball slightly, and press the reserved grains into the top. Put it in your prepared pan.

Use a sharp knife or lame to cut a cross in the top about 1/2 in or 1 cm deep. 

Bake the loaf for 30 to 40 minutes, until it’s golden brown and a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

Remove the loaf from the oven, and brush the top with melted butter, if using.

Pop it onto a cutting board. 

Cool completely before slicing. 

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, our Bread Bakers theme this month is No Knead Breads. Many thanks to Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe for hosting. Check out what we've been baking below: 

• Chocolate Chestnut Bread From A Messy Kitchen
• Easy No Knead German Crusty Rolls From Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Mixed Grain Sourdough Soda Bread From Food Lust People Love
• No Knead Knead Marbled Brioche From Passion Kneaded
• Pide Ekmek (Turkish Flatbread) From A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Vegan No Knead Tomato Basil Bread Form Magical Ingredients
• Rustic Homemade No Knead Bread From Sneha’s Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Mixed Grain Sourdough Soda Bread!

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Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread #BundtBakers

This Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread is soft and fluffy, full of flavor from the sourdough starter, herbs, garlic and lots of butter!

We are super fans of garlic bread in our house so when our host for this Bundt Bakers event proposed the key ingredients “herbs” I decided to make a garlicky herby bread instead of a cake or quick bread. It was a good decision!

Once it came out of the oven, all golden, fragrant and delicious, I said to my husband, “You know what would be nice? Pizza sauce to dip the monkey bread in!” He heartily agreed. Fortunately, I almost always have homemade pizza sauce in the freezer. I warmed it up and we enjoyed this pretty little loaf as supper with a salad. I suggest you do the same!

Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread

We want lots of springy fluffiness for this soft monkey bread so while the sourdough starter is there for flavor, I use active dry yeast as well to make sure these puff right up. For the herbs, I used a mix of fresh oregano, rosemary and Italian parsley. Use your favorite fresh herbs!

Ingredients

For the bread dough:

3/4 cup or 155ml milk

3 tablespoons or 42g butter, plus extra for greasing the Bundt pan

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 cup or 57g sourdough fed starter 

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 1/2 cups or 312g flour, plus extra for kneading

Several sprigs assorted herbs, stems discarded, leaves chopped

For baking: 

1/4 cup or 57g butter 

1 clove garlic, smashed and minced

(1/2 the herbs from above)

Optional for serving:

1/8 cup or 28g butter, melted, for brushing on finished bread

Method

Put the milk in a large microwaveable vessel and add in the butter. Microwave until the butter is mostly melted. Let it cool for a few minutes.

Put the yeast and sugar in your mixing bowl and pour in the warm milk/butter mixture and set aside for about 10 minutes. You are hoping that the yeast activates and gets all bubbly. If it doesn’t, you need to buy some new yeast and start over.

Now add the sourdough starter, the egg yolk and the salt along with about half of the flour to your mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until all of the flour is incorporated.  

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to mix in any flour left there. It’s a very runny batter at this point.

Continue mixing and add the remaining flour by spoonsful until all is incorporated. Now it should be wet and soft sticky dough but that’s what is needed for soft and tender rolls.

Now add half of the herb mix and knead for 3-4 minutes, changing to the dough hook, if necessary, to help develop the gluten.

Cover the bowl with cling film and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it doubles in size. If it's cold in your kitchen, you can partially fill the sink with hot tap water and put the bowl in it for warmth.

Meanwhile, grease your 6-cup Bundt pan liberally with butter.

Add the other half of the chopped herbs and the minced garlic to a microwave safe bowl with the butter. Microwave on high until the butter is melted, stirring once or twice. This takes just a minute or so. 

Once the first rise is done, punch the dough (620g) 17 balls about 26g each down and knead it briefly on a floured surface. Cut the dough ball into small pieces about the size of golf balls. Roll the dough pieces into balls, pinching them from underneath to stretch the tops so they are nice and round. 

Roll them in the herby butter then put the balls, side by side, then on top in another layer, pinched side down, filling your prepared Bundt pan as you go. 

Spoon any leftover herb garlic butter over the dough balls. 

Put the whole baking pan in a clean, new garbage bag, capturing some air before you clip it shut, so that the bag doesn’t touch the top of the dough. Allow the monkey bread to rise in a warm place for about an hour.

About 15 minutes (or however long your oven takes) before the second rise is completed, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Bake the monkey bread in your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until it is golden brown all over. I like to put the Bundt pan on another larger pan to make it easy to 

Allow to cool for a few minutes then invert the pan and decant the monkey bread. Brush with more butter, if desired. (Do it!)

Serve warm, if possible.

Enjoy! 

It’s the third Thursday of the month so that means it’s time to bake something in a Bundt pan! Our original host for this event is Lara of Tartacadabra. We send her our best wishes for good healthy and well-being and thank Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm for stepping in to take over the hosting duties! Check out all the Bundt bakes with herbs below!

• Blueberry Citrus Thyme Bundt Cake from All That’s Left Are The Crumbs 
• Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread from Food Lust People Love
• French Kissed Mini Bundts from A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Bundt from Magical Ingredients 
• Lime and Thyme Mini Bundts from Passion Kneaded
• No Knead Pizza Bundt Bread from Sneha’s Recipe  
• Sweet Peppermint Bundt Cake from Patyco Candybar

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Buttery Herb Sourdough Monkey Bread!

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