10 Essentials of Sourdough
The 10 necessities you need to get started baking sourdough with a few optional honorable mentions
HOBBIES
I am not here to give you some long drawn out recipe or all the tips and tricks. This is a basic and simple "this is what you need to get going". I'll link my favorite sourdough bloggers below - they're the real pro's.
I will say though that if you are like us we hate to see the millions of fillers in bread products these days. Not to mention, I am gluten intolerant and when we are not making sourdough bread at home, we are buying regular gluten-full bread products along with gluten free counterparts just so I can partake. I am a carb girly afterall. I can't tell you the science behind why sourdough is friendly to my stomach, but I can say for sure that it is and it's a crowd pleaser in our home. So why buy all that crap when I can just make some bread once a week? Let's get into it:
Quick Links
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links.
The Details
1. Flour
You are going to need flour. You can use All-Purpose Flour, Bread Flour, and I think Gluten Free Flour (although, funny enough, I haven't tried this before). My go-to is Bread Flour, and my backup is AP Flour, specifically King Arthur brand. If I'm being honest about the brand choice, not much thought has gone into why I chose King Arthur, but I can buy it in bulk and it is simply made (i.e., no fillers!). These are things I like.
2. Sourdough Starter
This probably should have been #1 but here we are. You will need a Sourdough Starter. If you are really committed to starting from scratch, you can always make your own starter. I am not this dedicated. I have purchased two starters in my life, the first of which I neglected and it died, and the second of which is my current starter. I got my first starter from a local sourdough bakery, and they kindly gave it to me for free (!!). This was an already active starter that I just had to immediately feed and that was ready to be used in recipes. After I killed that one I went back to ask for more starter but each time I went they didn't have any on site to give me. So, I decided to order a starter from Etsy. This time I ordered a dehydrated starter that I had to revive. It was easy but time consuming so if you're looking for no-frills I would suggest ordering an active starter. More power to you if you make yours from scratch or rehydrate!
I am not enough of a pro to properly explain starter, active vs. inactive, and feeding. I would suggest a quick TikTok education on the matter as I did. I will say that when it clicks, it clicks. Sourdough is not scary when you get the hang of it.
3. Glass measuring cup (or other microwaveable vessel)
The third most important ingredient for sourdough baking is filtered warm water. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Filtered. warm. water. Whether you use a glass measuring cup or you measure in a non-microwaveable cup and then put it in a microwaveable one, whatever! You do you, but make sure you use filtered warm water. Not hot. Warm. A little tip: if you microwave it and it's too hot, add some more water to it to cool it off.
4. Straight edge jar
You need a home for your starter and you will want a straight edge jar. If you buy something curved at the top you will regret it. You can do it, you will just regret it. You'll mix your starter in this straight edge jar and feed it directly in here.
5. Danish Dough Whisk
I find this to be a necessity but you could also use a fork and your hands, which I have done. There was a solid month where I thought I lost my dough whisk and so, fork and hands it was, but then I found the dough whisk and it made a huge difference. I also hate the feeling of flour on my hands.
6. Rubber band or other marker
You're going to need this to know how much your starter has grown since you fed it. You want to bake with it when it is active, and there's a few tricks to knowing when your starter is active. One tell-tale sign is that it's doubled in size since you fed it. By using the rubber band to mark where the starter was when you fed it, you are able to visualize how much it has grown. Once active, the starter should also be bubbly and float in your (warm filtered) water.
7. Food scale
Absolute necessity. You will find recipes where they are measuring with cups and teaspoons and tablespoons and while it gets the job done, there is nothing better than using a food scale. The majority of recipes will measure ingredients by grams because ~science~. If you want to bake sourdough, do yourself a favor and get a food scale or you might break google looking up all the various conversions.
8. A giant bowl
Once you mix the dough together, it's gotta hang out somewhere while all of the ~science~ happens. You're going to want a giant bowl. I personally love my giant stainless steel bowl, but I have also used a giant glass bowl, and even a giant plastic bowl. Honestly, any giant bowl will do.
9. Cloth or plastic cover
You will need to cover the giant bowl with cloth or plastic. The cloth can be cheesecloth or just a dish towel, or you can use plastic wrap or my personal favorite ... plastic disposable shower caps. They fit perfectly over giant bowls!
10. Parchment Paper
Once all of the stretching, folding, and laminating are done (TT education), you will be transferring the dough to parchment paper before scoring and baking it. For this, the most convenient parchment paper is pre-cut parchment paper but you can also just use a roll. It's all the same.
These are arguably the necessities. But, there are some products that deserve an honorable mention that make the baking process simpler and easier.
Dutch Oven: I may be biased because we owned one of these before I started baking sourdough, but if you are making a regular sourdough loaf, this is the ideal vessel to bake it in. Do you need it to bake sourdough? No, you can do the "open bake" method on a baking sheet with a pan of water in the oven (again, recommend a TT education on this one), but using a dutch oven makes things much easier. A dutch oven is also a great kitchen staple to have so if it's not for the sourdough, do it for the kitchen.
Rubber or Silicone Spatula: The MVP of my kitchen. This is not a necessity but very very helpful in getting every bit of starter out, keeping the starter home jar clean, and getting every bit of dough out of the giant bowl.
Scraper: You could get a stainless steel scraper or a plastic one, but this is helpful for cutting the dough and scraper bits off the counter during clean up.
Scorer: Also called a bread lame. This is used to score the bread and make pretty designs on it.
Twine: Some people use twine to shape the loaf, especially during the holiday season to give the loaf a pumpkin-shaped appearance.
My favorite sourdough influencers: