Best Sourdough Boules Recipes

SOURDOUGH BOULES

Steps:

• Levain: On day 1 at night, mix together starter, flour, and water in a large bowl. Cover with a damp kitchen towel or a large plate and let stand at room temperature 10 to 12 hours.
• Dough: On day 2 in the morning, make an autolyze: Add 525 grams (2 1/4 cups) water to levain, stirring to dissolve. Stir in flour, using a rubber scraper and then your hands to fully incorporate. (Autolyze should not feel too wet or sticky; if it does, add more flour. Err on the side of a drier dough, especially as you will be adding more water later.) Cover bowl with a damp kitchen towel; let stand at room temperature at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.
• Dissolve salt in remaining 50 grams water (about 1/4 cup). Incorporate into dough by squeezing it in with your hands. Cover and let stand 30 minutes.
• With dampened hands, grab underside of dough, stretch it out, and fold it back over itself. Rotate bowl one quarter-turn and repeat 6 more times. Cover and let stand 30 minutes. Repeat process 5 more times, letting dough stand 30 minutes between each. After final folding, dough should be soft and elastic; let rest 30 minutes more (this step should take about 3 1/2 hours total).
• Turn rested dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into two pieces with a bench scraper or a sharp knife. Using your hands, shape each into a loose round, rotating as you go. Let stand about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, flour 2 banneton baskets or kitchen-towel-lined bowls.
• With floured hands, fold edges of dough into center to create a tighter bundle: Start by folding edge closest to you in toward center. Then fold in sides, as if creating an envelope; finally, fold top edge down. Flip dough seam-side down. Using both hands, and keeping the sides of your hands in contact with work surface, cup side of dough farthest from you and gently drag it down toward your body in a half-circle motion, simultaneously using the side of your hand to tuck edges under dough round. (This will create tension on the outside of the dough, which is necessary to maintain the shape of the finished loaf.) Continue rotating and dragging until dough is taut, smooth, and uniformly round, 3 to 4 more turns.
• Use bench scraper to gently transfer shaped round to a prepared banneton or bowl, seam-side up. Repeat with second piece of dough and banneton. Cover with damp kitchen towels and refrigerate at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.
• On day 3, line a 6-quart or larger Dutch oven with a square of parchment (to prevent dough from sticking to bottom) and cover with lid. Place in oven on lower rack and preheat to 500°F. Meanwhile, take dough out of refrigerator. (It does not have to return all the way to room temperature.)
• Invert one dough, seam-side down, into preheated Dutch oven (or first into your hands to round it out, then into Dutch oven). Use a bread lame, razor, or knife to score top of loaf. Drop a couple of ice cubes on top (optional), cover, and bake 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 450°F; bake 10 minutes. Remove lid and bake until crust is dark golden brown and boule sounds hollow when tapped, 15 to 25 minutes more.
• Remove from oven; transfer loaf to a wire rack and let cool completely. Let Dutch oven cool 10 minutes before cleaning it out and repeating entire process with second loaf. (If you have two Dutch ovens, you can bake both loaves at the same time.) Cooled loaves last about 2 to 3 days, well-wrapped at room temperature. Or cut them into quarters or slice, place in freezer bags, and freeze up to 1 month.

SOURDOUGH BOULE

Steps:

• Mix the flour and 1 1/2 cups of the water in a large bowl until a shaggy dough forms. Cover the bowl with a lid or plate and let stand until the flour absorbs the water, 30 to 45 minutes.
• Add the sourdough starter, salt and remaining 3 tablespoons water to the dough. Squeeze and twist with your hands until a sticky dough forms (it will be soupy at first, but continue mixing). Knead the dough in the bowl by scooping under the dough, stretching it up and twisting it while you rotate the bowl a quarter turn; slap down the dough and repeat. Continue kneading until the dough smooths out and pulls away from the bowl, 5 to 7 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and cover with a lid. Let rest in a warm place, 30 minutes.
• Uncover the dough. Gently reach under the dough with a wet hand, stretch it up as far as it will go without tearing, then fold the dough over itself. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat three times; this is a set of turns. Do another set of turns, then re-cover the bowl and return to a warm place to rest, 30 minutes.
• Do two sets of turns every 30 minutes until the dough has increased in size by one-third and has large bubbles in spots, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 more hours, covering the bowl after each time. After the last set of turns, cover the bowl and let the dough rest another 30 minutes.
• Turn out the dough onto a generously floured work surface. Slide a bench scraper or large spatula underneath and fold the dough in half. Cup floured hands around the dough and gently roll it in a circular motion into a taut ball. Let rest, uncovered, 20 minutes (the dough will flatten a little).
• Line a medium bowl with a clean lint-free towel and dust generously with flour. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour, then slide a bench scraper or large spatula underneath and flip it over. Working gently to not deflate the dough, pull each of the four "sides" of the dough up and into the center, folding the last side to cover the whole top of the dough. Roll the dough over so the seams are on the bottom. Slide a bench scraper or large spatula underneath and gently invert the dough into the towel-lined bowl with the seam up. Cover loosely with the overhanging towel. Let rest in the refrigerator, at least 8 hours and up to 18 hours.
• About 30 minutes before baking, place a 10- to 11-inch Dutch oven with a lid in the middle of the oven and place a baking stone or large cast-iron skillet on the bottom rack to absorb the heat; preheat to 450˚ F. Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the oven and uncover. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, uncover and lay a large round of parchment on top. Invert the dough onto the parchment. Carefully lower the dough (on the parchment) into the hot Dutch oven. Using kitchen shears or a sharp knife, make a few 1/4- to 1/2-inch-deep cuts in the top so that the dough can expand.
• Transfer the pot to the oven; cover with the lid. Bake until the bread has risen and the crust is pale, about 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until the crust is browned and crisp and a thermometer inserted into the center registers 210˚ F, 25 to 35 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes in the pot, then transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 2 hours.